Chapter 2 Confused Emotions

I don't dream of him. I relive him.

The feel of his hands.

The weight of his body.

The lies tangled between his tongue and mine.

I woke to an empty bed, the sheets still warm where he'd been. My robe was draped over the footboard, and the taste of him still clung to my lips like regret.

What he said before leaving replayed over and over.

"Your sister wasn't the only one with secrets."

My stomach twisted. Ace wasn't the type to say things he didn't mean. Especially not in bed. Especially not after sex that felt like both salvation and punishment.

The man didn't do pillow talk. He did puzzles.

And I just realized-I'd woken up in the middle of one.

By noon, I still hadn't seen him.

I wandered down the marble staircase into the penthouse's living area, my heels echoing sharply against the stone. My father was nowhere to be seen, but a familiar voice murmured from the glass-walled security room.

I stopped just outside.

"...her schedule needs to change," Ace was saying into a headset. "I want full surveillance-blind spots filled. We're not playing defense anymore."

His back was to me, muscles tense under another black shirt, arms folded behind him like he was still in the military.

"I want movement reports every six hours. Anything that even smells off-I want to know first."

He turned slightly.

Then he noticed me.

Eyes dark. Face unreadable.

His voice dropped. "We're done here."

He pulled off the headset and opened the door.

"Eavesdropping?" he asked coolly.

"Hard not to when you're barking orders about my life."

"You're a target, Aria," he said, voice sharp. "I'm not letting you die because you're curious."

I crossed my arms. "I'm not some doll you can box up and babysit."

"No," he murmured, eyes dropping to my lips. "You're the girl who kisses like war and screams like sin."

My heart skipped.

He stepped closer. "And last night didn't make this job easier, princess. It made it harder. For both of us."

I should've slapped him.

But instead, I whispered, "Then why did you come to my bed?"

His jaw clenched. "Because I knew I'd never get another chance if I didn't."

That's when I saw it-guilt. Regret.

And something he wasn't saying.

"You're hiding something," I whispered.

"I'm hiding a lot of things," he replied darkly.

Then he stepped back.

"Get dressed. We have somewhere to be."

He didn't tell me where we were going.

Only handed me a black dress, told me to wear flats, and led me to a sleek black SUV that wasn't in my father's usual fleet.

When I asked again, he just said, "Trust me."

Right.

Like I hadn't done that once before.

The drive was long-an hour outside the city, the skyline fading into trees and private gates. We finally turned onto a secluded road that led to a towering modern house built into a cliffside.

Private. Isolated. Secure.

"Ace," I said slowly. "Whose place is this?"

He didn't answer until the door was closed behind us.

Then he locked it.

All four bolts.

"Yours," he said softly.

"What?"

"I bought it. Two years ago. It's been in your name ever since. If things ever went sideways... I needed you to have somewhere to run."

I stared at him.

"You bought me a safehouse... two years ago?" My throat was dry. "Before you left me?"

He nodded.

"I knew something was coming. I didn't know what. But I had a feeling."

I backed up, away from him.

"So you knew there was a threat," I said slowly. "And instead of warning me... you disappeared?"

"I was protecting you," he growled.

"By ghosting me?" My voice cracked. "By letting me think I meant nothing?"

"You meant too much," he snapped. "I couldn't stay. Not with what I knew."

"What did you know, Ace?" I demanded, stepping into his space. "What was so important you had to ruin me to save me?"

His jaw ticked.

"I knew your sister wasn't just your sister."

The world tilted.

"What?"

"She wasn't who she said she was. And neither was the man she was seeing."

I blinked. "Nora wasn't seeing anyone. She was too-"

"Private?" he cut in. "Or was she hiding something from you, too?"

I stepped back, heart pounding.

"What are you saying?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm saying that Nora was being watched. She was meeting with people she shouldn't have. And she didn't die in an accident."

"I know that-" I started.

"No," he growled, grabbing my wrist. "You think you know. But you don't. Nora was involved in something deeper than just politics. She was working with-"

The window behind him shattered.

Glass exploded everywhere.

Ace pulled me down, covering my body with his. Bullets ripped through the living room wall, slicing the silence with violence.

"Down!" he barked, dragging me across the floor behind a steel-reinforced couch.

"Who the hell-?" I gasped, adrenaline flooding me.

"Sniper. Back ridge. Moved too soon. I'll kill the bastard," Ace hissed, yanking his gun from his waistband.

He handed me a knife.

"Stay behind cover. If anyone comes close, use this."

"I'm not-"

"I know," he said, pressing the blade into my hand. "But you survived Nora's funeral. You can survive this."

Then he was gone-melting into the shadows like death himself.

The next five minutes were hell.

Gunfire.

Silence.

A scream. Then none.

Then footsteps.

Heavy. Controlled.

My breath caught. I gripped the knife tighter.

"Ace?" I called softly.

A pause.

Then-

"You always hold a blade that tight?" he murmured, stepping into view. Blood on his shirt. Calm as ever.

He looked like he'd just gone for a walk.

"I handled it."

I stared at the crimson streak down his neck.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry. He won't talk again."

I swallowed hard.

"I need answers, Ace. Now."

He stared at me for a long moment.

Then he walked over, gently pulled the knife from my fingers, and pressed his mouth to my forehead.

"I'll give you everything, Aria. But you need to decide something first."

"Decide what?"

He lifted my chin.

"Whether you want the truth," he whispered, "even if it destroys everything you thought you knew."

Later that night, back at the penthouse...

I couldn't sleep.

Again.

Not after that.

I stood on the balcony, hair wild in the wind, still barefoot in a stolen sweatshirt of his. The stars were too bright. The night too quiet.

Behind me, I felt him come closer.

I didn't turn.

"You always watch me when I'm broken?" I asked softly.

"Only when I want to be the one who breaks you next," he murmured into my neck.

I turned then.

And kissed him like the world was ending.

Because maybe it was.

This time, it was rougher.

Faster.

Clothes came off with no patience. No thought. Just hands and mouths and the desperate need to feel alive.

He bent me over the balcony railing, his hand pressed against my spine as he slid into me from behind-deep and hard, swallowing my gasp with a hand over my mouth.

"Keep quiet, princess," he growled. "Or your father's guards are going to hear just how much you like it."

Shame and heat flooded me.

I arched into him, body clenching around every word.

He pulled my hair back, kissing the line of my neck as he moved deeper, harder, his other hand teasing where I needed him most.

"You wanted this," he hissed. "You opened the door again."

I nodded, unable to speak.

"Say it."

"I wanted it," I gasped. "I want you."

"You have me."

He buried himself deeper, faster, until the world shattered around me.

And when I came, his name was the only thing I could remember.

Later, breathless and sore, I curled against him on the bed.

And whispered, "Tell me the rest."

Ace stared up at the ceiling.

Then said three words that changed everything.

"Nora was pregnant."