“Ace?” I called again, but the shadow didn’t move.
Padding closer, I squinted. The lightning that cracked outside left a flash of luster on his face for a fleeting second. Stormy gray irises were set on me. But they were dark tonight. Much stormier than I ever encountered.
I let out a sigh of relief. “What the hell is wrong with you? You almost gave me a heart attack!”
When he didn’t answer, I found the switch and turned the lights on.
And there he was.
Still in his last night’s pants and a fresh black shirt, the one he must have worn before storming out, his disheveled form sat silently on the couch. Some of the buttons of his shirt were undone, giving me a sinful sight.
I missed him.
I mentally shook myself. It wasn’t a time to drool over him.
“So, you finally came back.” My tone was sharp.
I pressed my lips together when he just continued to stare at me with his icy gaze.
“I’m talking to you! Where were you the whole night and the entire day? I was going crazy out of concern!”
“You were concerned about me? I thought you were too busy spending time with your special friend.” His bitter voice came out with his head tilted to the side.
Special friend? What was he talking—
Oh!
But how did he find out about Warner? He wasn’t even here.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I held a straight face. “I don’t think it should bother you if I spend a little time with my friend.”
“Of course, it should bother me!” He snapped, standing straight. I flinched back at his thunderous voice. “My woman is getting cozy with her ex-boyfriend behind my back in my own house, and you’re saying it shouldn’t bother me? It does fucking bother me!”
I stilled.
Behind his back?
“Behind your back? What are you implying, Ace?” My voice came out as a whisper.
My chest tightened. How could he think I’d ever do that to him?
Shock flashed over his eyes in place of rage as realization of his own words hit him. “I meant…” Tone thick. “When I wasn’t present here. What was he doing here in my penthouse? How did you even let him in? Even after knowing how I feel about it? Even after knowing how he feels about you!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to let my friends in your penthouse. I’d have definitely asked for your permission if you were available on the phone.” I faked a sweet smile.
I thought it was our home…
I blinked away the burn in my eyes. Was he even aware how he was hurting me getting lost in his anger and jealousy?
His fists clenched. “Emerald, don’t test my patience. You know very well what I’m talking about.”
Emerald again?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Warner came here to talk to me, and we had a little chat. Then he left. I don’t know what we did for you to think I was cheating on you.”
Striding closer, he pulled me close by my arms. “I said I didn’t mean that! Don’t twist my words!”
I wiggled out of his grip. “I’m not twisting your words! I’m just stating what you said. You were clearly implying I was cheating on you! I can’t believe you think I could ever do that to you. How could you?”
“I know you can’t ever do that, damn it! The one I don’t trust is that man!” He cupped my cheeks, holding my gaze with his furious ones. “Can’t you see what he’s trying to do? Can’t you see what he wants? He wants to take you away from me. And you’re letting him!”
“Just like you took away his career from him? Just like you sent him to Seattle because you wanted him away from me?”
A muscle of his jaw ticked, but he stayed silent. His unapologetic, flaming gaze drove my temper haywire.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe this. How can you ruin someone’s career like that? He’s just a friend to me, he always was. How many times do I have to tell you? I ignored everything you did in these past months. You buying Cooper’s company so you could bring me back to California, putting guards after me, threatening off any men who came near me and making me an equal owner of everything you own.” I counted the only incidents I could remember at that moment. “I let everything go, thinking you’ll come around eventually. But I won’t tolerate this! I won’t let you do this to Warner!”
His nostrils flared. “Why?”
I frowned.
“Why is he so important to you? Why, even after I’m telling you he wants to steal you from me, you’re still fighting for him!” He roared, cupping my jaw. But no matter how furious he was, his grip was gentle. “Why do you still care for him that much now that he isn’t your boyfriend anymore?”
I gritted my teeth. Didn’t he hear what I was saying again and again?
“Because he’s one of my best fri—”
“You love him?”
Words caught in my throat as soon as the question came out of his mouth.
Pressing his forehead against mine, his thumb gently brushed over my cheek. Vulnerability flashed across his eyes, along with the light of thunder that fell on us through the open window. “Do you still have feelings for him, Rosebud? Does he love you more than I do? Do you regret leaving him, leaving a good, sensible man for a crazy, obsessed man like me who has a tainted past?”
The crack in his voice hit my heart like a dagger.
“W-what?”
Achilles Valencian was showing me his fear, insecurities. So that’s why he was so vexed about Warner hanging around me that much? Not only his jealousy, but his insecurities made him do all these things. Because he thought he wasn’t good enough for me?
But why would he think like that?
“I wouldn’t be with you right now if I regretted even a bit. I wouldn’t be in your arms like this if I had loved him and not you.” I held his gaze as I said those words. “If I didn’t love you, and only you, I wouldn’t be waiting here for you, even after the way you left last night.”
“Then why do you still care for him so much? Why are you still letting him in your life?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Ace!” I jerked away from him. “Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I’ll throw him out of my life! I won’t because he’s my friend, and I’m telling you this for a thousand times! I don’t love him, I never did! I don’t understand why you’re so insecure about him being around me?”
“Because even after you broke up with him, he still wants you! He wants you back in his life, can’t you see it!” His shoulders rose and fell with every heavy breath he took. “You don’t know him, Rosebud. He wants to take you away from me. He—”
“I don’t care if I know him or not!” I cut him off. “Nor do I want to know him. I thought I knew you. But guess what? I don’t know anymore.”
A tear left my eye as I stared at him. His gaze followed it, his hands clenched.
“You lied to me,” I whispered. “I didn’t think my Ace would lie to me like that.”
His lips pressed tight. “I don’t remember you asking me about Warner suddenly getting hired and anything regarding his job.”
“That’s one of the things you hid from me. But I’m not talking about it right now,” I said. “I’m talking about your father’s death. You told me he committed suicide. But it’s not the truth. He didn’t commit suicide, he was murdered.”
His shoulders tensed. In place of the rage on his features sat an unreadable mask now. But no matter how much he tried to hide his true feelings, his stormy grays revealed everything. Shock, confusion, frustration, anger and… fear.
I had decided to give him some time to reveal everything before me. I didn’t want to force him to do anything. Understanding how sensitive it was for him, I thought I’d give him his needed space before he was ready to let me in.
But now seeing his irrational fear, insecurities, and jealousy, seeing to what extent he went under the influence of them, I couldn’t sit quietly. Because of that past, he had this assumption that he wasn’t good enough for me. That I could leave him anytime realizing the fact. A secret that was eating him alive and was the reason behind his fear of losing me. I wanted to be aware of that. Because the way he was behaving every time at the mere mention of his past, I didn’t think he’d be ever ready to tell me anything.
Because he thought if I knew about this dark past of his, I’d leave him. And he’d do anything but let me go.
I wanted him to trust me, to let me in. I wanted to heal him. I wanted to be beside him, the thing I couldn’t do years ago. And for that, I needed to know everything.
“How… how do you know that?” Greek accent was deeper than ever. “Who told you about this?” A silent tension was rolling off his stance, ready to explode any moment. His nails dug into his palms.
Even though I knew Warner wouldn’t lie to me, I was still shocked knowing his father was indeed murdered.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” A shaky breath left my lips. “Your father was murdered.”
“Who told you that?” Sharp jaw ticked.
“Who did it, Ace?” I asked, ignoring his question. “And why did you hide it from me?”
He inhaled deeply, eyes darker than earlier. “I didn’t lie about anything. Whoever told you this nonsense doesn’t know shit. So just forget about it.”
“Don’t lie to me again, Ace! I can see it in your eyes!” I glared. “I don’t know why you’re even hiding anything from me. We both know what the truth is. Then why—wait,” I tilted my head. “Are you trying to save someone? Are you trying to hide the person who killed your father?”
The unnerving silence and the storm brewing in his gaze was my answer.
I gasped. “It’s true then. You’re trying to save a murderer.”
“Emerald, stop it.”
Shaking my head, I gaped at him. “So, it’s also true it was you who bribed the cops to save the culprit.”
“Stop—”
“How could you? No. I don’t believe this. You can’t do that. There must be a reason behind that, right? There was a valid reason. You can’t do that to your own father—”
“I said stop!”
I flinched at his thunderous roar. My horrified gaze met his flaming one.
“Fucking stop it already! I’ve had enough! Can’t you get one fucking thing in your head that I don’t want to talk about it?” he hissed. “I don’t owe you anything. I don’t need to tell you every fucking thing about my life. Stay the hell out of my past! And leave me alone!”
Turning away, he stormed out of the room, to his bedroom.
My hands curled into balls. My blood boiled in my veins. I wouldn’t let him have his way tonight. Not after everything he did.
Soon, my legs followed him to the bedroom.
“No! I won’t leave you alone until you tell me everything! I won’t let you hurt yourself every night because you like to keep everything bottled up. I won’t let you behave like this with me just because you don’t want to share anything with me! And I’ll definitely not let you accuse me of cheating out of jealousy because you fear you will lose me if I know about your past!” I held my ground. “You have to tell me! I have every right to know—”
“You have no right to know anything! You’re not my fucking wife that I need to explain everything to you!” he snapped.
My breath caught in my throat. A pain shot through my heart at his words.
I had no right? No right?
My lower lip trembled, but I was quick to bite it still. I could feel something breaking inside me.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I should know my boundaries. Silly me, I thought I meant something to you,” I whispered, my treacherous eyes blurred with tears no matter how much I tried to mask my feelings.
His gaze snapped to me. Guilt washed over his face as again realization of his words set in. The pain he caused me reflected in the windows of his soul. His gray eyes.
“Rosebud…” he gulped. Cupping my face, he made me look up at him. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. You mean the world to me. You’re the reason I’m alive…”
I shook my head. A tear slipped down my cheek. “You can’t just say sorry and say you didn’t mean it after you literally accused me of cheating on you and then tell me I don’t mean anything to you.”
His words hurt like a bitch. I knew he was disturbed, but he couldn’t just spit venom at me like that.
“You’re not my Ace. My Ace would never speak to me in that manner. He would never hurt me like that. You’re not the Ace who promised not to hurt me on purpose.” I removed his hands from my cheeks. “And you’re hurting me purposely.”
I could see how my tears affected him.
“No, baby. I-I’d never hurt you on purpose. You’re my whole world. I’m so sorry I said those things. I was mad. I didn’t have any control. I just wanted to make your questions stop. I didn’t mean it at all. I’m sorry, Rosebud. Please forgive me.”
“You’re not sorry. If you were, you’d explain to me why you’re doing all these things. Why you’re behaving like that. You’d let me in. If I was really that important to you, you’d trust me and open up to me. You’d let me be there for you, help you with your past. But you clearly don’t want that. Because I’m not that important for you to tell me the most important truth of your life.” Warner’s words echoed throughout my head. “I must be just an obsession for you that you don’t want to lose. That’s all I am to you, aren’t I?”
A muscle of his jaw ticked as he pulled me against him. “Yes, you’re my obsession! You’re my obsession because I love you. I’m obsessed with you because I can’t live without you! And I don’t want to lose you because my heart fucking refuses to beat without you!” Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment before they met mine again. “But… I can’t tell you this, Rosebud. Please don’t force me. I can’t tell you this one thing. I just can’t.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because you’ll hate me once you know how tainted my past is. You won’t want to stay with a damaged man like me.”
I held his gaze. “Do you think a bitter truth that happened in your past will make me leave you? Do you think my love for you is that shallow?”
“Rosebud…”
“Don’t you trust me, Ace? Don’t you trust my love? Don’t you trust me enough to let me know every dark secret of yours?”
Silence. Nothing came out of his mouth. He just stared at me.
“Ace?”
Nothing. Not even a word.
I stepped away from him.
My heart was breaking into pieces.
“You don’t trust me,” a whisper slipped through my lips.
Another step back. He tried to pull me in again, but stopped when I shook my head. Tears fell down my cheeks. My throat tightened.
“If there’s no trust in a relationship, then that’s nothing but a shallow façade. You say you love me, but love comes with trust. And there’s no trust in your love,” I said. A shaky breath left my lips. “And I don’t think I can stay in a relationship where there’s no trust in it.”
