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Tears I didn’t realize I was crying fall against my cheeks as I stumble down the steps, holding on to the railing for dear life as I trip over the sheet over and over again.
I have no fucking idea where I’m going, all I know is I can’t be here anymore. I can’t see him look at me like that again.
The boy I knew, the boy who loved me when no one else ever had, the boy who gave me my first kiss and was my first love, has turned into a man who is disgusted by what I’ve been through. And I can’t handle it.
A ragged sob escapes from my throat, and I stop to drag in a breath. The toxic cocktail of sadness and fear overwhelms me, and I can’t think through my next steps. And yet, I keep moving.
I stumble to the elevator and come face-to-face with one of the security guards who’s been here most days. His gray eyes go wide when he sees the state of me, but before he can say anything, strong arms wrap around me and pull me back against a hard chest.
“Is everything okay?” the guard asks. I should know his name, but I think part of me has tried not to get too attached to anyone here, even if I have done a terrible job.
“Turn the fuck around,” Ace snaps.
My brows pull together in confusion. Is he talking to me?
The guard opens his mouth to respond, but the sound that rumbles from Ace’s chest is barely human. “If you like your eyes in their sockets, I suggest you get them off my woman.”
His arms are banded around my middle, stopping me from escaping his hold, but I try anyway. I shove my elbow into his hard stomach with every bit of strength I can muster, but he doesn’t even flinch.
Instead, he chuckles against the shell of my ear. “You’re already in so much trouble, sugar. But please keep going. Let’s see how much deeper you can dig the hole you’re in.”
I watch as the guard turns his back on us, and Ace’s hold on me loosens ever so slightly. What the hell was that about?
He pulls me backward, holding me upright when I stumble on the sheet, until the door slides shut behind us and it’s just the two of us standing in the middle of the apartment.
“What the fuck was that about?” I snap, the tears falling against my cheeks now equally about the look on his face when he saw my scars and how much of an asshole he was to one of the men keeping us safe.
“He was looking at what belongs to me,” he says simply as if that alone answers my question.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I whisper. “Not anymore.” The admission deepens the pain in my chest because it’s only true for a little while longer.
“Wrong.” He turns me so quickly I almost lose my footing before pressing me against the wall. “You’ve always been mine, sugar, and you always will be.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying desperately to settle the tears that just don’t seem to stop, but my emotions are all over the place.
“Open those pretty eyes for me, Mia,” he demands, and I rush to follow his order. “Good girl.”
“Just let me go, Ace,” I whisper. “Please let me go.”
His eyes turn dark, and his hold on me tightens, but not to the point of pain. He seems to know where that line is, and he’s dancing on the right side of it. “Never again, Mia,” he murmurs, his breath whispering across my cheeks.
I choke on the sobs forcing their way from my throat, desperate to get away but powerless to the man who has always held my heart.
“Every time I let my guard down, you try to run from me.”
“The way you looked at my scars—” I choke on the words and squeeze my eyes shut to try to get a handle on my emotions. But it’s useless. I’m too far gone. Today has been too much for me, and I should have known as soon as I let myself feel again that years of pent-up emotion would constantly be beating down on me. “I told you I can’t see you looking at me like that. I can’t.”
“You should have told me.”
“Why?” I challenge. “So you could save yourself the sight?”
His eyes flare with anger, and he crowds me against the wall, sucking any air that was left right from my lungs. “You know that’s not what I meant, Mia,” he growls. “I know your automatic reaction to everything is to push me away, but never assume that any part of you could disgust me.” His body is pressed so tightly to mine that I can barely breathe, and for the first time in my life, I think I’m a little afraid of him.
Ace has always been my safe place, my home, but the way he’s staring down at me with so much anger…it takes everything in me not to flinch away from him.
I shake my head, but before I can speak, he continues. “If the roles were reversed and I was the one that was missing for eight years, if I was the one who was tortured and hurt repeatedly, beaten, and sold to the highest bidder, and I finally came home to you, and you found me covered in scars and cigarette burns, would you be surprised?”
I squeeze my eyes shut to warn off the tears that threaten to fall. He’s right. Of course he is.
