Chapter 1 1

Ace Hubbard stared at the plate of homemade fettuccine on the granite counter. It was her favorite, the one he only made for anniversaries, a creamy alfredo he'd perfected over two years. The sauce had formed a congealed skin on top, the steam long gone. It was a cold, unappetizing mess, much like the feeling currently settling in his stomach.

He checked his watch. 9:45 PM.

He touched the raised, jagged scar tissue on his left ribcage through his flannel shirt. It was a phantom ache, a reminder of a night in Aleppo that went wrong, a habit he couldn't break when the silence got too loud. He picked up the velvet ring box sitting next to the salt shaker. It felt light, almost insignificant in his calloused hand. Inside was a one-carat diamond, a modest stone he had saved six months of wages for, sweating on construction sites, hauling drywall and mixing cement.

His phone pinged. The screen lit up the dark kitchen.

Instagram notification: Jefferson Medina mentioned you in a comment.

Ace didn't move for a full ten seconds. His pulse, usually a steady drumbeat, didn't spike. It just grew heavier. He reached out and tapped the screen.

The photo loaded. It was high definition, filtered to perfection. The location tag read Soho House Chicago. The image showed a candlelit rooftop table, a bottle of Dom Perignon chilling in a silver bucket. Jefferson's hand was resting possessively on a woman's waist. She was wearing the red dress Ace had bought her for her birthday, the one she said was "too fancy" for their dinner dates.

Brittni Ramirez was smiling. It wasn't the tired, stressed smile she gave him when she came home late from work. It was radiant. It was hungry.

The caption read: Some things are worth the wait. Back with my queen.

Ace looked at Brittni's smile. It was the smile of a woman who had found what she was looking for, and it wasn't the man waiting in her apartment with cold pasta.

He scrolled down. Brittni had replied three minutes ago. A single red heart emoji.

Ace set the phone face down on the counter. He didn't throw it. He didn't scream. A strange, cold calm washed over him, a sensation he hadn't felt since he left the sandbox. It was the override. The "Ghost" persona kicking in, shutting down the unnecessary noise of heartbreak to focus on the mission parameters.

The last two years were a lie. He had built this life on the foundation of her pity and his desperate need for normalcy. He wanted to be Ace the builder, Ace the boyfriend, Ace the man who mattered because he was there, not because of his last name.

A text message popped up on the screen.

Brittni: Stuck at a late-night board meeting, babe. Don't wait up. Love you!

Ace read the words. He looked at the timestamp. 9:52 PM. The Instagram photo was posted at 9:40 PM.

He stood up. The movement was fluid, predatory. The fatigue that usually clung to him after a ten-hour shift vanished. He walked to the hallway closet, knelt down, and pried up a loose floorboard in the back corner.

Underneath lay a black Pelican case, covered in dust.

He spun the combination lock. Right to 12. Left to 24. Right to 05.

The latches hissed as the pressure seal released.

Inside, there was no gun. Just a heavy, satellite-enabled smartphone and a gold signet ring bearing a crest-a lion holding a broken spear. The Hubbard family crest.

Ace picked up the ring. It was heavy, cold against his skin. It was the symbol of the dynasty he had sworn to leave behind, the blood money he had rejected. He thought of his mother, Celesta. He thought of the police report that called her death an "unfortunate mechanical failure."

He couldn't protect her memory from the shadows of a construction site. He couldn't find the truth while pretending to be a man who worried about rent.

He picked up the satellite phone. The screen glowed blue, searching for a signal. He dialed a number he had memorized but never called in five years.

One ring.

"Ace?" The voice on the other end was gravelly, authoritative, and tired.

Ace cleared his throat. The words tasted like ash. "It's time, Harve. I'm coming home."

There was a silence on the line, heavy with unsaid things. Then, a sharp intake of breath.

"The motorcade is already being dispatched," Harve Hubbard said.

Ace ended the call. He walked back to the kitchen. He picked up the velvet ring box one last time. He didn't open it. He simply dropped it into the trash can, right on top of the cold, wasted pasta.

He stood alone in the dark, waiting for the sound of engines.