Page 153 of The Fire We Make

“Did you tell your dad?” Ace asked.

His father and grandfather valued the legacy but they’d never make April marry a man who abused her, no matter how strong or capable she was.

Joy laughed. “Yeah, I told him. He told me that queens sacrifice for the good of the kingdom. That sometimes the price of greatness is a little discomfort.”

Ace couldn’t help but breathe out a disbelieving huff. He was holding Joy so tight now, he was surprised she could breathe. So many things were starting to make sense to Ace. He’d been given fragments but now, the pieces of her were starting to make a full picture.

“The night of our rehearsal dinner, we got into another fight but this time...” her breath hitched. “This time was different. He choked me. Like really choking the life out of me and I saw in his eyes that if I didn’t do anything, this nigga would kill me …And I blacked out again.”

Silence stretched longer this time. Ace didn’t move and Joy didn’t speak.

“I don’t even remember doing it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “When I came to, he was laying under me with the heel of my pump lodged in his chest.”

Ace’s eyes bulged but he didn’t voice his surprise. “Did you kill him?” he asked quietly.

“No…” she sighed. “But I wish I had.”

She said it with such sincerity, Ace caught a chill.

She sniffed as she sat up, extracting herself from his hold. She brushed her hands down her face, swiped away the dampness under her eyes, and pushed her hair out of her face.

Ace watched her transform right before him, steeling herself against the memories and the emotions she wasn’t allowed to have. She was silent for a few moments as she got herself together.

When she spoke again, her voice was hard. There was no tremble or whisper. The sadness was gone and in its place was the fire he knew and loved.

She cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she said. “They sent me to a psych facility for nine months… When I got out, my daddy had replaced me.”

“He called me a liability and demoted me to a hitter,” Joy scoffed bitterly. “I snapped again...” she paused.

“This time I’d cut off the hand of the nigga who took my spot,” she said with a casual shrug. All walls were lowered. All masks were gone. She didn’t try to shield her darkness from Ace anymore as she spoke with pure rage written all over her face.

“He kicked me out.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. Looked at me like an expendable pawn rather than his princess. His daughter.

“I spent my whole life being exactly who he asked me to be, doing exactly what he asked me to do, just for him to decide that the things he taught me are exactly what made me unworthy of loving or keeping anymore.”

Ace swallowed around the lump in his throat as she finally raised her eyes to make contact with his. “He told me…” she started, her voice cracking as a sob fought to break free. Ace reached for her, taking her hand in his. “He told me to go far away before I ruined his legacy or... he’d let them kill me.”

What the fuck, Ace thought.

Heavy silence hung between them as Ace processed everything he’d heard.

Joy stared down, unable to meet Ace’s eyes.

“You probably think I’m a psycho monster now, right?” she asked.

Ace’s hand came up, gripping her chin gently but firmly, lifting her face to his.

“Is that what you think I see when I look at you?”

Joy shrugged. “What else is there?”

“If you’re a monster, then I’m a monster too, because I think you’re fucking perfect, Joy.”

“You do?”

Ace swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as his gaze flicked over her face.

It was like he was seeing her for the first time. Not the palatable version she showed the world — all of her.