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Chapter 24
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2024-10-29 19:42:56ACE
I stuffed my clenched fists into the pockets of the black jeans I wore and rose my chin in natural defiance. This was a bad idea. Matter of fact, this was probably the worst idea that had ever wormed its way into my fucking head and yet, I didn't or couldn't find one good reason to stop myself from doing this. To just turn back and maybe take the Harper's advice.
Squaring my shoulders and loosening a breath, I prepared myself for what lay ahead. A cocky smirk tugged at my lips. One that was practiced. One that I used to scare the people I did business with. The elevator doors parted and I looked straight ahead as I stepped out. Silence - pin drop silence - descended upon the room but I didn't care to even glance at the morons gawking at me as if I had fallen from fucking heaven.
I snorted at the thought. It made more sense if I crawled out the depths of Hell. No part of me was made for Heaven and I lik
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MIRANDA Jake, short for nothing because his parents' looked at him the day he was born and said to themselves 'This face looks like a Jake', made up for his boring, simple name with his looks and — above all — his knowledge. I had the pleasure of having a short conversation with him before the class could begin and I learned that he was both well-spoken and the complete opposite of my sister. Whereas she could have ruled a town named 'Grumpyville' her counterpart was all sunshine, rainbows, and freaking unicorns. He smiled more than me and every smile that graced his soft-featured face was nothing short of genuine. He was nineteen but had been teaching self-defense since the age of sixteen with his mother — who had taught him everything she knew since she was a marine back in the day. I watched as my sister swiftly took him down, following his instructions to intimate the move so the class would understand with a visual representation. The only thing this class was watching, however,
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ACE Fuck! My imagination nor memory did not do the woman standing in front of me justice. I thought one year of not seeing her face or hearing her voice would be enough to end my infatuation with the little thing but I was mistaken. So fucking mistaken. Those big, round eyes of hers traveled down my frame. They were the kind of blue that made me believe God had carved out a piece of the sky just to bless her face with those perfect colored eyes. She had grown out her lush mane of chestnut waves, leaving it to brush those sharp shoulders. My gaze traced the line of her high cheekbones, down her straight nose, and lingered on her pink-stained cupid bow lips that were set in a pout. I wanted to see her smile, or at least bare those blinding white teeth at me. She had a long knitted sweater on that hung from one of her shoulders, the rust color brought out her tanned skin and black tights that clung to her
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Ace Epilogue
ACE "Hey," I caught Miranda by her wrists, the pads of my thumbs tracing over her thrumming pulse points, "you need to breathe, baby. Take in a deep breath for me." Her sky blue eyes held my hazel ones as she inhaled deeply through her nose, chest inflating with air and round tits pressing against the bodice of her dress. My gaze flickered down before I could stop myself but I instantly regretted it. I locked my jaw and forced myself to plant my feet in place so I wouldn't attack her with my insatiable need for her, "Now," my voice sounded strained to my ears but I continued through clenched teeth, "release that breath for me, baby." She exhaled sharply through her mouth, sweet-scented breath flooding my senses, "I'm fine." "You're running around like a fucking headless chicken.
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MIRANDA"Would you stop moving," I chastised but the words came out muffled since I had a pin pressed between my lips, "if I poke you it will be entirely your fault, don't even think of blaming me."Ace scowled down at me, jutting out his lower lip and batting his stupidly long eyelashes, "You've already poked me more times than I can count on one hand.""And I'll poke you some more if you keep looking at me like that," I grumbled, continuing my work of sewing the button of his black button-down while the shirt was still tightly stretched over his body."Is this totally necessary?" He asked, catching my wrists in his large hands and yanking me close until the tip of his nose was to mine. I was certain my brain forgot how to perform all bodily functions suddenly I was rendered mute while my lungs refused to inflate with air. My mind became dizzy as I drowned in those rich
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MIRANDAI eventually pulled myself together while Odette held me, whispering words of comfort that fell on deaf ears. It took me a while to blink away my tears and note that she was alone, no partner in sight, and no other cops trailing behind her to cordon off the crime scene. Her face was set in a placid mask that had my trembling bones calming.She smoothed down my knotted hair, green eyes softening when they landed on my injured head and shoulder. When her attention moved to the dead man on the floor I swear a shadow of fury flickered across her face before her mask slipped into place again."You're okay," she murmured, shrugging off her jacket and draping it over my shoulders, "you're safe."I didn't realize how cold I was until the warmth of the jacket danced over my icy skin. With white knuckles, I held the jacked close to me and breathed in a sigh, allowing a sho
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MIRANDA I groaned. My head felt heavy on my shoulders with a pounding headache that rivaled every single hangover I ever had in my life. My thoughts were scrambled but I forced myself to stitched them back together because there was a nagging feeling at the back of my mind telling me life depended on it. I remembered Ace dropping me off at my apartment this morning before heading to see his brother. Then, I got showered, dressed, and made my way down to the basement parking with my sister so I could attend classes today. From there onwards, everything was a blur coming back to me in flashy fragments. I remembered the cold chill that ran down my spine and then the even colder chill of the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my head. There was a phone call but I couldn't remember the details of it and then I was driving to God only knew where because I couldn't remember. But
Ace Chapter 38
ACE"I'm going to kill him," I seethed, pacing the length of Gunnar's office at Astor Architecture. After I had driven Miranda home to get ready for her day, I came here. I should have stayed with her. If I had stayed with her this wouldn't have happened, "no, I'm not going to kill him," I stopped pacing and glared out the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the city in all its beauty, "I'm going to cut his dick off, blend it and then make him drink it before slowly peeling his skin from his body.""Let's find them first before you decide on what you're going to do with him," Gunnar, as calm as fucking ever, said from his seat behind his desk, "Odette has Quinn, and Jericho is tracking her car through any and every camera he can hack into. I'm going to the warehouse to fetch Goldilocks and you find them when Jericho gives you a location. I'll have a team at your disposal if you need it.""If he doesn't
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MIRANDA"So, a psychopath is officially going to be my brother-in-law unless you find a way to royally fuck it up again," my sister mused while jabbing the button on the elevator like a possessed freak while baring her teeth."Hey," I glowered at her words, circling my fingers around her wrist and yanking her hand away from the poor button—it wasn't as if her fighting with it lessened our wait time, "what makes you think I'll find a way to fuck this up? He's just as capable of doing that.""Sure he is," my sister's black-stained lips pulled into a grin but it held no warmth. When she dressed as if a black hole had chewed her and then spat her out then warmth was the last thing I expected to grace her face right now, "but you're you and he's, quite frankly, made you his obsession from the moment he set eyes on you. The last thing he's going to do is something that will fuck up what he's finally got his hands on after you held out on him for so long.""You haven't even had a proper conve
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MIRANDA "Are you going to at least tell me how you know her?" Quinn prodded, fluttering her strawberry blonde eyelashes at Jericho. We were at the Astor home—Gunnar in his home office and Ace in the gym. That was when Quinn decided to pounce on Jericho. We still hadn't spoken. She was making it a point of ignoring me and I couldn't blame her. However, I needed to make it up to her. She was my best friend and I couldn't stand her being mad at me even if I did deserve to be shunned. Jericho leaned back in his chair and crossed his muscle-corded arms over his broad chest as he stared us down, "If I won't tell my brothers, what makes you think I'd tell you?" I snorted at his question, tucking my feet under my butt on his bed so I could settle in, "She can be persuasive." Quinn whipped her head to me—she was seated beside me but left enough room between us for a wall of tension to build itself, "At least I'm not a cunning bitch." "Okay, I think I'm going to leave," Jericho made to mov
Ace Chapter 35
ACE"WHAT DID YOU DO?" I yelled into my phone.We had turned the tables. Instead of those fuckers following us, we were following them. It might have given the game away that we were onto them but it gave them a taste of their own God damned medicine. Though, we had to be careful—or, at least, Gunnar had to be careful. Even with him being well ahead of the gun trade compared to his competitors, he was still losing business because of this inconvenience. And, knowing my brother, it wasn't sitting well with him. So, what he had done shouldn't have surprised me, and yet, it did.It did because my brother was the cold, calculated one between us two even if his temper went off like a grenade, destroying everything in its wake."It was one of those times where he was doing the following," Gunnar grunted and I fisted the steering wheel, feeling Miranda's curious gaze burning every inch of f
