The glow of the screen illuminated his face, casting sharp shadows as he scrolled to the photos he had taken earlier.Iris’s original birth certificate.His jaw tightened.He extended his phone to Liam, who immediately snatched it and began scrutinizing the documents.Liam’s face was a mask of focus
A heavy silence fell over the room.Ace’s jaw tightened. A slow, creeping sense of unease settled in his gut.Hudson frowned, crossing his arms. “So… she was born somewhere else?”“No,” Liam said, his voice clipped with certainty. “There’s no record of her birth. At all.”Ace’s jaw tightened, the pr
Ace POV:The cold water ran down my naked body, sharp as needles against my skin, carving rivulets down my chest, over my scars, washing away the sweat and frustration clinging to me like a second layer of flesh. My muscles tensed, then loosened, but the dull ache in my head remained—a steady, puls
Liam and Ares stepped away, giving us space, but I could feel the others watching from the hall.They couldn’t hear us. That was enough for now."I—I’m sorry," she murmured, her voice a whisper, her eyes downcast. "I—I… am sorry for behaving like—""Don’t." The word left me sharper than I intended.
I shrugged, feigning indifference, but my pulse thundered when I caught the tiniest twitch of her lips.A smile.Barely there, but real. And mine.I tilted my head lower, pulling her even closer, until our noses brushed, our breaths mingling.“My sweet Mini,” I murmured, pressing a soft, fleeting ki
"If I shoot Isaac accidentally, I’ll need someone to bury his body. That’s why I brought you along," I replied, chuckling darkly.Liam laughed, the sound echoing in the cramped elevator. "Fair enough."The ding of the elevator doors opening sounded almost too soft for the tension thrumming in my vei
Iris was still in her shell, still fighting the ghosts that clung to her, but she was trying. For me.Adorable.Maybe, just maybe, the thought of slaughtering Isaac had softened into merely disfiguring him.A relief.As always, she calmed me down.The moment was short-lived.Because then, the door c
Not at them.At her."Iris’s mother couldn’t conceive after that, so they adopted me from some fucking orphanage."He paused.I saw it.The slight narrowing of his eyes.The memory of something rotting inside him."After that, everything went smoothly."Liar."We were a happy family," Isaac started,
Why did I only notice it now?Ace chuckled—low, knowing."Do your work like a good whore," he murmured, his tone silky but laced with steel. "And show me your devotion, brat."He leaned back, and the pressure of his hands, which had been a constricting comfort around my body, vanished. Like a snake
I blinked, my breath hitching, frustration curling inside my chest."Please…" The whisper left me before I could stop it, before I could hold onto my pride. My head dipped down, shame curling my shoulders inward as I bit down on my lower lip. "Just one kiss. Even a peck."Ace clicked his tongue, th
“Don’t expect me to treat you like a good girl till I believe you’re sorry, Iris,” he murmured, his tone dark and taunting.Before I could process it, his thumb shoved past my lips, forcing them apart. My eyes flew wide, a muffled “Hmph” escaping as my hands shot up, fingers digging into his knees
“Sit on your knees.”…What?I froze.My smile slipped, and a soft “Huh?” escaped me before I could stop it.The warmth I’d felt a second ago twisted into something heavier, sharper, and I blinked at him, caught off guard.“You heard me, my sweet whore,” he said, leaning back with a smirk that stretc
I clenched my fists, inhaling sharply before narrowing my eyes at him.This man.This man would kill me.My fingers tugged at my top, pulling it back down as I tried to piece together what just happened.Why did he stop?I gulped, my throat dry, my body still traitorously warm. Ace smirked, draping
I sputtered, fisting my hands.“Boss,” Joy’s voice cut through my humiliation.“Wouldn’t Hudson sir be angry about what you just did to his sister? Should we, uh, step outside?”Ace didn’t even spare her a glance.“No. Stay here and do your work. I’ll do mine,” he said smoothly, like he hadn’t just
And he had the audacity to ignore me?He didn’t even say thank you!I glared at his back.“Boss,” I said, layering my voice with a little too much sweetness. “It’s past your lunch time. You should eat.”Nothing.Not even a glance.Ace continued flipping through his damn papers like I was invisible.
But it was probably not the sparkly, glittering fairy kind. More like the I-make-people-disappear kind.Joy. That’s her name.Wooow.A woman named Joy working at a place where she literally brings pain. “Oh yeah!! I remember now,” Joy exclaimed, her face lighting up like I was her long-lost best f
Damn it, Iris. Play it cool!His gaze didn’t waver. “May I know what you are doing here?”I cleared my throat. “Uh… just… passing by?”He arched a brow.I let out a nervous laugh and gestured to the air. “You know, just… admiring the architecture?”Then, he tilted his head toward the slightly open d