ROMAN’S POV
2200
Ace had gone cold. He had been fighting an unseen demon for days, fighting to stay sane, trying not to go back to his old self. That part of him only started to fade when Charlotte came back into his life, and now it was pushing to return. Four years ago, when Ace found out from the chef that Charlotte never poisoned Moon or tried to harm her unborn pup, he almost self–destructed. Everything started the night he banished her. He never admitted it, but ruining his fated mate like that did something to him he refused to accept until two years later.
It was almost as though he never truly loved Moon. She had been thrown into his life since he was young. it was understandable that he developed feelings for her. To crown it all, their parents pushed them together.
I was sitting in his office, watching him drink his fifth glass of alcohol. No matter how much he drank, he never got drunk. He stood by the glass wall, staring outside, growling under his breath. His eyes only returned to their normal color two days after the fight. Even then, no one felt safe around him. Ace was barely holding himself together.
There had been several terrible situations in his life, but none broke him the way Charlotte did. Not even when his mother died. But when it came to the mate he rejected and was still madly in love with, he hurt easily. Gavin must have known about Charlotte and how Ace felt about her to have used her like that against
him.
Whatever Charlotte said to him that night in the woods must have cut deep. He hadn’t seen her for days and was almost losing his mind. I couldn’t count how many times he grabbed his phone to dial her number, only to sigh and drop it back on the table.
“Alpha, instead of tearing yourself apart this way, why don’t you just go and see her?” I suggested.
He shook his head. “She doesn’t want to see me anymore. She made that clear. You didn’t see the hate, the distrust, the hurt in her eyes when she spoke to me.” His voice had gone hoarse, the pain he was trying to hide slipping through anyway.
“This isn’t the first time she has said she doesn’t want to speak to you, and you’ve never listened before. What is different this time?”
“The person she saw that night was the part of me I’ve been struggling to keep away from her,” he said quietly. “I had succeeded after I saw her again. I truly thought I had won. But it took Gavin playing with me to realize I hadn’t won yet. And to make it worse, she was there to see everything.” He spoke slowly, like that was the only way he could stay calm. “I’m afraid of what will happen if I go to see her. I might not be able to control the beast inside me that is always forcing its way out. I don’t want her to see that part of me again. I don’t want to be the reason she’s scared.”
There was a knock on the door and Damien walked in. “Alpha,” he called, hesitating like he wasn’t sure if he should speak or not. Everyone had been walking on thin ice around Ace, scared of setting him off again. “Gavin sent a message.”
Ace growled loudly, turning to stare at Damien. “If you weren’t my gamma, I would have snapped your head off this minute,” he hissed. “How dare you come here to talk to me about Gavin.” His voice thundered and Damien shook slightly. Ace had almost snapped one of the guards‘ neck a few days ago just for mentioning
9:01 Wed, Feb 11
Chapter 58
Gavin.
:
A
100
55 vouchers
Even though Stephen and his men were staying with Charlotte, Ace still sent Damien or Kathryn to her hospital to keep an eye on her. They reported back every day.
“You know I would never disturb you with Gavin if it wasn’t important,” Damien insisted. He straightened up and stared at Ace head–on. Ace said he didn’t snap Damien’s neck because he was his gamma, but that wasn’t the real reason. It was because they were best friends. They grew up together, same age, same madness, they’ve got too many things in common. I loved watching those two banter almost every day before Ace became Alpha. Even after he became Alpha, nothing really changed between them. They still argued, still pushed each other, and it was always a sight to behold. I was Ace’s friend too, but Damien had always been closer to him.
Ace shut his eyes, trying to calm down. We could hear his hard breathing in the quiet room. His eyes snapped open just as Damien pulled out his phone and placed it on the table.
“Gavin said he’s going to play this voice recording for Charlotte today. He might have already done it. I saw him walk into her office this afternoon.”
“He went to see her?” Ace snapped.
“Yes, but I’m more worried about this.” Damien pressed play and an unfamiliar voice filled the room.
“You really like that girl, Charlotte, don’t you?”
The voice carried clear, deliberate mockery that could easily be heard.
“Such a shame I got to have her first. She gave herself to me freely, like the cheap prostitute she is, just like her mother.”
The voice broke into loud laughter.
“I rejected her, man. She’s not worth it and never will be.”
I was confused. Why would Gavin send this to Damien as a message for Ace? I got my answer the moment my eyes lifted to Ace. He had gone pale, his face filled with horror and an indescribable kind of pain I had never seen on him before.
“It seems he doctored the voice. Charlotte won’t be able to tell that you were the one who said that,” Damien explained. His voice was filled with disappointment.
We all knew Ace loved Moon, but I never imagined he would ever speak about Charlotte in that manner. Or maybe he said it only to spite Gavin. Either way, it didn’t change how bad it sounded. It was obvious now that Ace was head over heels in love with Charlotte, but in the beginning, he didn’t give a damn about her. He watched as his girlfriend and his family abused her and he did nothing to stop it.
Whatever the truth was, this was bad. If Charlotte ever figured this out, there would be no coming back from it. She would never forgive Ace.
I left the office after receiving a text from Moon. I drove straight to her fashion house to see her. The moment she saw me, she dragged me into her office without saying a word.
9:01 Wed, Feb 11
Chapter 58
“What do you want?” I asked in a bored tone, not bothering to hide it.
(100
56 Vouchers
“I’m pissed and angry,” she snapped. “There’s so much I want to understand, but first, why is Ace behaving like that again? He almost snapped my head off when I went to see him.”
“You went to spend time with him or you went to ask for money?” I asked cockily, tilting my head to the side.
“Well… I…” she stammered, then sighed. “I needed some money to buy new designer bags. They were limited edition, only a few pieces were made and I needed to be one of the people who got it. I obviously couldn’t use my own money, they were too expensive. Besides, Ace has always been the one giving me money to buy whatever I wanted.”
“Why do you keep doing this to yourself?” I asked. “You know he doesn’t like you. Honestly, I’m starting to think he never did. His cousin challenged him to a fight, he’s almost slipping back to his old self, and all you care about is money?” My tone was judging, and she deserved every bit of it.
“He won, didn’t he?”
“He did. Did you ever think he was going to lose?” I scoffed. “Those stupid elders who challenged him are all shaking in fear right now, waiting for his judgment. You don’t dare an Alpha like that and expect mercy.”
She placed her hands on her waist, giving me a fierce look. “There’s another reason I called you.” She studied my face closely, her eyes slowly turning angry. “Why didn’t you tell me Charlotte returned?”
My body went still. How did she even find out about that? “Who told you?”
“It doesn’t matter who told me,” she snapped. “We are friends, Roman. You know how I feel about that girl. She tried to steal my mate…”
“Ace was never your mate,” I cut in quickly, not giving her room to finish.
“He may not be my goddess–given mate, but he was my chosen mate,” she stated. “I was chosen for him since I was little, and that girl thought she could take him from me. I believed she was gone for good, and now I hear she’s back, and with a son.” She stepped closer to me. With her long heels, she was almost my height now, staring straight into my eyes. “That bastard of a son of hers, he’s not Ace’s pup, is he?”
I had known Moon long enough to understand what that look meant. If she ever found out the truth about Liam, she wouldn’t let it rest. I was scared of what she might do if she knew.
“No, he’s not Ace’s son,” I lied.
Moon burst into loud laughter, throwing her head back like she’d lost her mind. “So Ace is chasing after his ex–mate who already has another man’s child,” she mocked. “I can’t believe he has fallen this low.” She shook her head slowly. “I always knew that girl was cheap. She pretended to be nice in the pack, acting like some saint, while we were made to look like the devil for treating her the way we did.”
“Is that all? I have to leave.” I didn’t want to stay longer. If I did, she’d ask questions I couldn’t answer.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go see my half sister after all this time, would it?” Her voice had a dark edge I didn’t like.
9:01 Wed, Feb 11
Chapter 58
“No! I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
(100)
JR 65
55 voucher
“Why not?” She stepped closer, probing.
“There’s something you don’t know. Even if you went to her, she wouldn’t recognize you. She has amnesia, she doesn’t remember anyone from her past, not even Ace. I think she wanted to forget what everyone did to her here, and that’s why she lost her memories.”
She paused and took slow, deliberate steps toward me. “So she doesn’t remember anyone?”
I nodded.
“Perfect. It’s time to play her games. Ace is mine and I won’t let a girl who doesn’t even remember her past come between us. I’ll pay her a visit. Charlotte won’t even know what hit her.”
I didn’t wait to hear anything else. I left her office and drove off. It was a two–day drive, far away from the pack, to see the only person that truly mattered to me. I hadn’t seen her in a long time. After about forty–eight hours on the road, I pulled up in front of a small old wooden cabin. It was dark outside, but a soft light was coming from the window.
I stepped inside. She must have heard my footsteps or caught my scent because she called my name before I got close. She looked older, smaller, more fragile. Her eyes were shut. She had been blind for many years
now.
“Welcome home, son,” she said softly. After what happened to my dad, my mother never really recovered. I hated seeing her like this. I made sure someone always came around to take care of her.
“Your Alpha finally let you come see me?” she asked gently. She only said that because I hardly ever had the time to visit.
“You know it’s not like that, ma.” I sat on the small chair beside her bed and held her weak hand in mine. I hated coming here. This place always reminded me that the Virel Alpha family were far more cruel than they let the world believe.
She laughed softly and it sounded sad. “You still defend him after everything they did to us, after what they did to our family. They took everything from us…” her voice cracked. “They took my eyes and left me with nothing. You can pretend long enough to forget, but I will never forget, son.”
“I haven’t forgotten, ma. It’s hard standing by his side after everything.” My eyes burned and I had to look away before the tears fell.
“Then act faster,” she said firmly. “You can’t stay stuck forever. You can’t let Ace always win. He should never win.”
I had lied when I said I hadn’t forgotten. I spend so much time with Ace that sometimes I start to see him as normal, almost a best friend. But I know the truth. He is worse than people think, and my family paid the price for it. Sometimes I grow soft, and I hate myself for that. Maybe coming here was good. It reminded me why I must never forget.
The Alpha family took everything from me, but Ace took the one thing that was meant to make me happy.
~ how it would doctroy ma
Chapter 59
Chapter 59
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
