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He ends the call as quickly as he answered it before looking over his shoulder at me with his brows pulled together.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He hesitates for a few seconds, weighing up whether to tell me whatever it is, but he stands from his seat and closes the distance between us. He sits on the chaise across from me, resting his elbows on his knees to bring his eyes down to meet mine. “That was Everett Masters. He’s done some digging, and he’s figured out who hired those contractors to come for you.”
My breath hitches in my throat. I’m no one. Just some girl they stole and who was sold from one man to the next when they grew bored. I’m not worth this kind of hassle.
“Do you remember much from your time at The Factory?”
I shake my head. It all feels like a blur. There are bits and pieces I remember so vividly I swear they happened yesterday, but mostly it seems like a life someone else lived. Not that I would wish that on my worst enemy.
He nods and scrubs his hand over his face. “Can you think of any reason Kyle Clark would go to such extremes to get you back?”
The mere sound of his name has bile climbing the back of my throat. The Factory has many faces, many men who parade the patriarchy in front of the women they hold captive and sell. But he’s the one my nightmares will never be free of.
Ace’s eyes widen, and I realize I’ve stopped breathing. I quickly draw in a ragged breath and hold the cushion in my lap tighter.
“I…I…I don’t know,” I whisper.
He takes a deep, steadying breath, but the way his hands clench into fists proves how close to the edge he is. “That’s who put the ad up on the noticeboard. And it was an open call.”
“Which means there will probably be more coming?”
He nods, barely schooling his features from showing the rage that shines in his eyes. “I’m not going to let them take you, Mia. I lost you once, and I have no intention of ever losing you again.”
I let out a shaky breath, the words poised on the tip of my tongue, but I struggle to force them out. “You should hand me over.”
The anger he was trying to hide from me contorts his face, and a second later, his fingers curl around my chin, his face so close his breath whispers across my cheeks. His masculine scent is overwhelming, but I don’t try to escape his hold. I don’t want to. “Never.”
I open my mouth to respond, but the heavy set of his face leaves no room for argument. This isn’t a fight I can win, at least not yet.
Ace’s thumb gently brushes across my cheek as his eyes follow the path with reverence before flicking down to my lips. The move has my breath stuttering in my chest, but I still don’t pull away.
He only hesitates for another beat before his lips crash down on mine and steal the air right from my lungs. His lips are as soft as I remember them being when he took my first kiss the night he and Tommy ran away, but there’s more to it now. Years of pent-up sadness, longing, and fear pour into the gentle caress of his lips on mine, and when his tongue demands entrance, I’m powerless to deny him.
He consumes me, taking exactly what he wants, and I give it freely. Because this is the first time I’ve been kissed in the last eight years and the other person’s touch hasn’t made me want to tear my own skin from my body. It’s the first time I’ve craved touch in so long I almost forgot what it meant to be desperate for it.
He tears his lips from mine all too soon, pressing them to my forehead before pushing back to look me over. “Never again, Mia.”
I nod, even though I know ultimately it won’t be his decision to make. When Kyle Clark wants someone, there’s nothing he won’t do to get to them, and that includes going up against Frost Industries.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ACE
Iglance over my shoulder at Mia sleeping on the couch behind me. She hasn’t moved since I told her there’s an open bounty out for her, and I don’t blame her. As if she hasn’t been through enough. As if her life hasn’t been riddled with enough terror, she still has to look over her shoulder, looking for the next asshole who wants to hurt her.
But I won’t let them.
I meant it when I said I’d never hand her over. She’s mine. She was mine when we were kids, and I didn’t understand what it meant to need someone with every beat of your heart. She was mine when I built a life for us that she never got to lead, and she was mine every single day she was missing. Mia will always be mine, and I will always protect her.
I cast my eyes over the ad Everett sent me and sigh. We’ve been trying to get the thing down for hours, but almost as quickly as we manage to get it off a noticeboard, it appears on another one. Everett and I make up the two best hackers in the country, so I’m not sure how they’re outplaying us like this.
I look at my other screen as it refreshes, a new batch of contractors who have viewed the ad appearing. For fuck’s sake. Between the constant refreshes and the amount they’re willing to part with to get her back, it’s going to be open season around here.
Everett has been working on figuring out where she’s been all these years. Who bought her from The Factory, how many assholes dared to hurt my woman, but it’s slow going, and I’m so fucking snowed under, I’m not sure I’ll ever catch up. That’ll teach me for constantly taking enough clients that I’m too busy to wallow in my own self-pity.
Mia’s whimpers drag my attention back to her sleeping form, and I run my hand down my face. I’m so fucking tired, so tired that my bones ache with exhaustion, but I doubt I’ll be able to sleep. How could I possibly close my eyes and relax when she’s in danger?
