AELLA I force a smile to my lips when an elderly woman walks towards us. She should be in her late seventies and I don't need a seer to tell me she is Ace's grandmother. Now I know where Ace got his looks, she is beautiful, she looks like a model out of a magazine or straight out of a fashion show. I don't know why, but I push my hand to my back in an attempt to hide the giant ring on my finger. This is my first time meeting Ace's family, and I honestly don't know how to act. She suddenly stops in front of Ace, I turn to look at him, and it is only then I realize how awkward they both are. "Madam Gigi" Okay, this is getting awkward, and I honestly would fancy a big glass of wine. She moves closer to Ace and touches his face. I grab his hand protectively when he flinches. "Thank you for coming Ace," she says, her voice breaking. She sniffs, turning to me. "You must be Aella; I have heard so much about you." I gasped shocked, when she hugged me. She smells like home, and fo
ACE I was furious, my heart was beating so fast it was a miracle that it couldn't be heard from the gate. No one speaks to Aella that way, no one is allowed to talk about her. They don't know what it took me to bring her here, they don't know how much I hated sharing her with humans. She is mine, she belongs to me. She is my person, and no one is allowed to hurt the only thing that makes me happy. I have been on edge since the day began, it got worse when Aella didn't even blink when I woke her up. I almost asked my men to drive us back home. She won't admit it, but she has been looking tired and sick these past few weeks. I have had the ring in my pocket for weeks, I had been thinking about how to propose to Aella. I want to own her, I want her to bear my name, I want her to call me husband, I want her to carry my children, and I will go crazy if that doesn't happen soon. I knew Aella would say no, she would never let me have things so easily, so I just slipped the ri
ACE Aella stares at me confused. "Oh, I didn't know you had a brother." Christain laughed, making my skin crawl in disgust. "Not by blood, unfortunately, Ace's mother could only have one child." "You piece of shit, don't you ever mention her name here." "Boys! Calm down, can we just try to be nice?" Madam Gigi comments, smoothening her forehead. She looks older and sick, I hate myself for noticing, I hate myself for being worried about her."Nice to meet you...?" "Christain. I am not surprised my brother didn't tell you about me. We have our moments.""Christ Christain, can you not start? you just met the lady." Rebecca speaks, eyeing her brother in disgust. Rebecca is the nicest out of everyone on this table, she was not even born when my mother died, and I was abandoned. We don't have a relationship, we see each other once a year during this charity event, she is a talker and when she manages to get me alone, she makes sure to fill me up on everything going on in her life
AELLA I leave Ace to dance with Gigi. I hope they settle their differences, Gigi looks like a cool person to me, it is so sad that a gorgeous woman like that has a hardened heart, how could she abandon her son's child, leaving him to fend for himself? I hastily make my way to the restroom, all the wine I had consumed has made my bladder full. I walk faster when I see Lysandra waving at me, I don't want to talk to her. "Chill Aella, I could swear you saw me earlier." "I didn't" I lie through my teeth. God help me so we can have a civilized conversation so I can use the restroom sooner rather than later. "Leave Ace alone, he deserves so much better." "I know, he deserves so much more. But if this conversation is about me leaving him for you, then you are laughable and downright pitiful." I say, tapping my feet to avoid peeing on myself. "I don't like you Aella." "I am glad we are both on the same page. I don't like you either." "I don't think you know him" Lysandra laug
AELLA After hours of sitting down on the tiny bathroom floor, I was more than happy to go home. Our men surround us the minute we come out, I let Ace carry me, I don't care about the nosy cameras around, I am so exhausted, my head is banging so bad, and my throat is dry from puking for too long.We leave the building undisturbed. I don't know if it is because we are surrounded by ten men, but I am glad nobody stops us, I am equally not in the mood to have a civil conversation with any human. Ace gently places me on my side and sits down facing me. I sigh relieved, when the car immediately starts moving. "Do you want me to hold you?" I would prefer to just stay on my own and think, but I know he isn't asking for me, he wants to hold me. Ace doesn't know how to ask, he thinks it makes him look weak, I move towards him, putting my legs on either side of his, so we can both pretend I am the one that desperately needs to be held. He immediately buries his face in my neck. "I don't
AELLA He leans down, capturing my lips. There is no closed-mouth peck. No sweet kisses to start, none of that. Ace's tongue sweeps into my mouth, tasting me. My tongue lashes against his, and his grip tightens on my hair, pulling me closer. "I have loved you since the first day I saw your picture Aella, years before you were even of age. I have loved you from afar, dreamt about you every night I managed to sleep, and planned a future with you even thou you had no idea that I existed. I fell harder for you again when I saw you for the first time at the club." Be still my heart. He loosens his grip on my hair but doesn't let go completely. "Before Mike went into hiding, pictures of you started going around, I saw your picture for the first time at a club in L.A. I couldn't stop looking at the beautiful lady with the red hair. Ryker saw me looking for too long, then told me you were Mike's daughter. Mike went into hiding a year later." I touch his mouth, running my thumb li
AELLA He cocks an eyebrow, running his thumb around his lips. I put my head down shyly when he continued to stare at me."Aella" He whispers, cupping my left breast and pinching my nipple till I moan. "I have come in you more than I have ever done with the other women I have fucked. Why would you think you don't please me?" I nod my head, earning another pinch on my nipple. "You know how much your voice turns me on. Talk to me.""I...I want you to show me...please""Show you what?" He wants me to say it, knowing Ace, he would spank me again if I refused to explain to him. "I want you to..." My face immediately becomes red. "Go on Angel, tell me." I close my eyes, "I want you to tie me up and fuck me, just like you did with them." "Why?" Fuck, why do I still need to explain? "I don't know," I whisper back in reply."Tell me, don't make me force it out of." My eyes immediately fly open. "I didn't like hearing it. I hate the fact that you slept with them, I am madder abou
AELLA "I am not going to tie your eyes because I like you looking at me. But don't touch me, I would tie your hands if you did." "Yes," I say, still breathless from my mind-blowing orgasm. "You are so fucking wet Aella, is this all for me?" "Yes," I am too exhausted to have any conversation with him."Let me taste you again." I shriek when I see the knife he is holding. "Nothing too much to hurt you, Aella." He has done this before, it was bearable. I scream when the knife presses into my skin, then he is lapping at my blood, sucking my cut shoulder as a man starved for it. "I always find myself in a rush for you. I don't know how to take it slow. Do you know why I have never used any of those toys?" "No...""I am always in a hurry to fuck you; I never want to stop when I start. I also find myself jealous of these toys, all your pleasure would come from me Aella. Don't touch me." He repeats, his eyes warning me. I am not prepared for his slaps. So, I scream my lungs out
ACE EPILOGUE I frown, holding my tongue when Aella carries a chair outside, Ryker is whispering to North beside me, he must be saying something funny because it has her giggling. I lose it when Aella comes back inside to carry the second chair "Baby, let me do that" "Christ Ace, I am four months pregnant not handicapped!" North laughs beside me, and I give her the side eye. "You might shake the baby up with all those lifting" Why can't my wife see that I am making a lot of sense here? I have more than enough men around to help arrange, but Aella is hell-bent on doing things her way. When I confronted her yesterday, demanding that she let an event planner do it, she cried her eyes out and told me she wanted to plan her daughter's third birthday party herself, like she didn't plan the last two. "Dada, dada!" The smile on my face widens when Mia runs towards me. I bend to carry her, and she yawns. Aella immediately abandons everything, giving her attention to our daughter. "D
AELLA I push her hard when she tries to punch my stomach. I have blood all over me, but I take consolation in the fact that they are hers. She screams furiously when she lands on her butt. I am getting dizzy from all the hair-pulling. I yelp when she grabs my hair. "You should never have left your cage whore. You caused all of this, you drove me to this point child" She shouts, pushing, me to the floor and kicking me accurately. Pain slices through me and my eyes tear up, flowing freely. If I could get my mind past the pain and shock, I would fight back, she is trying to kill our baby. She draws her leg back and kicks me, I scream, my body folding over protectively, my arms wrapping around my tummy to protect my baby. Her first connects with my thighs in an angered, frenzied scream. "You will die with this bitch inside you, I will save the world from another whore like you." She sounds breathless. I don't know where I found the courage, but I suddenly got on my feet, punching
ACE My hands were shaking when Jake turned on his laptop. "Thankfully, she was taken here, I don't think she knew you had cameras in here." He clicks on the video, and I suddenly forget how to breathe "Aella mo... you know her?" I was suddenly sweating, "Not as Aella's mother." We would have found her sooner if I ever took the initiative to request pictures of my woman's mother. I slightly open my mouth to assist myself with breathing. "She was there that night Jake." Jake pauses, staring at me like I might have lost my mind. "We have never seen any woman in any of the videos sent to us all these years. You confirmed that they were all men." I sit, I fear I might fall if I don't. "I think my memory has been messed up all this while, I might have gotten it all wrong. But I swear to you, I know her," I look back at the video playing on the laptop. "Her hair, voice, that smile, how could I ever forget it? She had the same smile on her face when she killed my mother." "You said
AELLA I remember Ace telling me his father came home angry, and for the first time, raised his voice, he died that same day. Oh God, my eyes widen in shock, and I stare at Mama, hoping she tells me I am wrong "Please, tell me you didn't kill him." "Well technically no..." She smirks. "I only told Joe that he tried to rape me when I found out he was planning on snitching on us. Joe and Luciano were furious, so they made his death look like a car accident." I want to throw up, so I do. Ace would hate me when he found out that Mama had a hand in his father's death. "You would need a bowl by the time I finished my story." "It doesn't end there?" "Is that question number three?" God help me "Yes." "Tighten your seat belt, honey, it is about to get messy." She said, "I didn't like the fact that he chose his family over me, I wanted to destroy everything he worked for." "God, please no" "We went to their house, it was easy, Luciano had made a name for himself, he had m
AELLAI just want Ace, I know I would feel better when I saw his face. I make quick work of locking the front door, before running upstairs to the bedroom. I burst through the door, frenzied and out of breath, only to be met by a woman, standing in the middle of the room, staring at the window. She turns to face me almost immediately, and the knife in my hand falls to the ground dramatically. "Mama?" I feel dizzy and confused all of a sudden. I must have died at some point and ended up in hell with Mama, how else do I explain my sudden ability to see the dead? "You haven't changed Aella." She looks at my bump with disgust "I always knew you would end up a whore, prophesies never lie child." I don't know if I need to run, or defend myself. "You are dead." Someone, please wake me up from this dream. She laughs and my eyes widen in shock when I see the syringe. why is everyone so obsessed with drugging me? "You haven't changed Aella, still the same old child, looking for val
AELLA My heart immediately breaks, but I sniff to avoid crying. "Oh God, you were... you were like that till morning?" "Yes, I was at the hospital for weeks. My father's family took me in but later sent me away, Mike came to the rescue when I had no one else to turn to." "All of these don't define you, Ace, it only proves that you are a strong-willed man." "Thank you""I love you now, more than ever." "I have not been able to properly sleep since then. I keep having nightmares Aella, crazy ones. I end up physically hurting anyone around me when I am unconscious." "You are scared of hurting me? We wouldn't know if we didn't try Ace." "Remember I told you my uncle sent me out after a month because Lysandra told them about my trauma?" "Yes, how could I forget that." "We happened to spend the night together once." I raise my brow "Just sleeping Aella, we were kids." "Don't blame me for going there, I don't like her, you know that." "I hurt her, it could have been so mu
ACE I watch Aella sleep. There is something peaceful and calm about it, her red hair spread around her like a blanket, her small mouth slightly opened, and her eyes tightly shut. She looks like an angel straight out of a museum. I gently touch her hair, then her brow and she sighs. I never imagined I could ever have someone who genuinely loved me like my parents, someone ready to protect me like Mike and my mother. I fucking love Aella with all of me, and she doesn't even know she is giving me the most perfect gift which is our child. I never truly wanted to be a father until I laid my eyes on her. I suddenly had this animalistic urge to own her, to get her pregnant and when all this was over, she would be completely mine, she would be legally tied to me forever. I want to call her wife so badly, this time around, I don't want to just slip a ring on her finger like I did the first time she met my family, I want to properly ask her to marry me, and I know she would say ye
AELLA Ace looked older and tired, I didn't notice how much his hair and beard had grown, or the dark circles around his eyes, he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. I wish I could say he looked like he hadn't slept in two days because I was away. I sigh, and he stares at me. We have been silent since I came back home, I guess he feels guilty after all. "When last did you sleep?" "Uhh?" My question threw him off guard. "I want to tell you the truth." "Then, tell me." "I hardly ever sleep Aella, and no, it didn't start because of you, It started way before I met you." "When you were molested?" I haven't seen the video, but with the little North told me, I guess molested is the best word to use. "You have seen it?" I am immediately mad when he buries his head in his hands in shame. I hear him sniff, and I force my butt to remain on my seat, if I move to console him now, he would think I perceive him as weak. "I am sorry you had to watch that, I would not stop you from leaving
AELLA "How could a beautiful woman like you, love a man like Ryker," I say, copying her. She laughs, smoothing her baby hair. "I know right." She frowns "I have been a terrible host. Do you want anything Aella?" "Water please." My throat is so dry. "Of course. Elena, a minute please" A beautiful young lady in her twenties comes in, holding a glass of water. I accept it with a smile, drinking greedily from the cup. "Here, do take her with you." She pouts, and Elena smiles, holding a laugh "I hope she sleeps longer; I might cry with her if she starts again." Elena loses the battle, laughing her ass out, with her hands on her belly. "I now understand why Mama sent me here, what would you do without me North? Give her to me, I will leave you two to talk, don't worry about this sleeping beauty." She waves at me, before leaving the room with the baby. "Your sister?" "Yes. bless her, she agreed to go to school from here, she is obsessed with Celeste." That explains Elena's bea