CHAPTER 3
ACE
LAUGHTER.
Who would have thought I still had the privilege to hear that rich sound from my own lips. No matter how bizarre that sounds, I just can’t stop. Not by a long shot. Not when the building in from of me looks like a joke. A ghost of something from my previous life.
Has it been that long?
I haven’t wonder how much things have changed the moment they let me go. Yet, as I look at the sign in front of me it might as well have.
Letting out a ragged breath, I touch the door before pushing it to enter the building. There’s no dancing bodies, no bar fights, no man with weapons. Though a woman is running toward me like I’ve done a crime by coming here.
Damn, maybe I really am in the wrong place.
“Señor! Do you have a reservation?”
I eye her pinched lip and the slight crack in her smiley face. She’s pissed that I’m here. Well, I’m, pissed more.
“Where is Ares?” Before she can come up with anything, I find the door of the storage room. “Never mind, found it.”
Shock covers her face as I take another step toward the room. I hear a pair of heels behind me as her screeching shout reaches my ears. “You can't enter the area!”
We will see about that.
Slamming open the door makes my head spin. Instead of the storage room, it's been remodeled into an office. The same one that used to be below me. The woman catches me fast gasping.
“This is trespassing! I'll call the police if you don't leave now.”
I take my sit on the chair enjoying the rant of the rambling woman. Not five minutes later, another footstep echoes through the marble floor. This one's heavier, a familiar stomp in them that makes me almost smile. Almost.
“Freya, what is all this-” He stops just as his gaze meets mine. He’s changed in the last few years, his eyes are harsher, there’s an edge in his gaze that puts shame to even Dante. When I stand up from the chair, his eyes narrow in recognition.
“Ace?” The first ramble of my name doesn’t take away his shock. He has to wrap his arms around me with a strangled laugh for him to believe that I’m back. “Hermano. Fuck! ¡Mierda! It’s you. It’s really fucking you.”
Shit! This sap is going to make me cry.
“I’m here, brother.” I hold him tight as I declare. “And, nothing’s sending me back there.”
Leaning back, he takes one swipe at my face as he curses. “Shit! Shower. You need a shower. Freya, get someone to clean a room for him, now!”
The woman still looks at us shocked but thankfully with a conflicted nod leaves us to be. The moment she is out of the door, my rage erupts over. “What the hell happened to this place! A restaurant? Really?”
He shakes his head as if he can’t believe it either. Taking refuge beside me, he lets out a sigh. “Your imprisonment changed a lot of things around here, hermano. Our allies fled out of fear of DEA. I tried to save at least Xeon but you know how little the legal business makes us earn. It's nowhere near to keep you alive and run all our clubs at the same time. Padre had a solution, I took it.”
I try to say something but my gaze zeroes on his phone which is blowing up with messages and suddenly I don't know what to say. I have to swallow twice to bring out my concern. “You’re quite popular today. Want to tell me who is blowing up your phone?"
He hides it immediately with a scowl in his face. "It's nothing."
"Nothing?" Fuck, if Padre already knows about me... "You fucking with me?"
"I'm not fucking-ok, it’s Vita. Happy?"
Happy?
Five years ago he was willing to do anything to escape Vita. Shit, how can I be happy not knowing if something changed?
"Vita was supposed to forget you exist by now." I don't want to be angry. But there's must be something in my tone as he finally gives up.
"Things change, Ace."
"You said-"
"No, you listen." He says over me. "I was the one who got on their knees in front of the familia, begging for forgiveness. Besides, the move got me some pretty good advantages. Dante let me see you once in a while. On top of that, some asshole threatened to expose my connection to La Eme in media. I had to keep his mouth shut. But mierda! How many men can I shut down alone? Vita may be a bitch at times but she has good connections.”
Fuck, he had to grow up, thicken his skin to protect the La Eme while I was gone. How much worse had he done for the name of the family? For me?
“I quickly realized it was easy being friends with her than being an enemy. Forget that.” He chuckles quietly, eager to change the subject. “Now tell me how are you out? They put you away for twenty-five years.”
“They did.” I nod. “But they were the one who contacted me for help. They suspect it was our men that’s been raising hell in this part of the town. And who knows the Kingdom better than the King? So they let me out in parole. They think I’ll do something reckless to return to prison, if only they knew how wrong they were.”
His lips curl up in distaste. “That fucking Dante has everyone in his pocket. I wouldn't be surprised if he did have a hand in everything.”
I know. And that makes my guilt worse. If the daddy’s favorite had been running around hopeless then I don’t even want to think what Spade-
“And Spade?” My voice thickens to a degree.
His sigh is a damn answer I can’t digest. “He has gotten worse. He came close to getting his ass kicked from the Den a few times. If he still has all of his bones intact, then it’ll be a motherfucking miracle.”
“I didn’t get a single call from him.” I shouldn't be hurt but maybe I am.
“Me neither. Vita is the only one who can get close enough to make him talk. He hates us, you know. For not turning our back from the family when he did. Is it weird that I think we deserve it?”
I can’t disagree. We always fought the last couple of years before he left. Every damn time it was either with me or Ares. Padre wasn’t even worth his hate. And Dante-Well now we all have a damn reason to cut his throat out.
“We might deserve it,” I say. “But we don’t fucking deserve to play by Dante’s rules anymore. Tell me what you know of La Eme. And more of all, what do you know about the Bratva?”
There’s a sick smile on his face. A smile I’m not far from sharing.
“Well, the Bratva’s are slowly taken care of. It’s Dante I’m worried of. If he’s out, we have half the Kingdom.”
I know he thinks Dante is the bigger shark but he’s new to this game of Russian Roulette where I was born with the game planted in my head. Taking down Dante will be a child’s play but the Bratva? Oh, they have so much to pay for. And I will enjoy every excruciating moment of it.
“I will take care of Dante. But Bratva-”
He cuts me off with a clenched jaw. “Taken care of. You think I don’t know why you asked?” He scoffs. “Your Queen is still scooped up in her tower. And sooner, she’s going to be sent in another. Which is what I am counting for.”
My voice catches into a dangerous mixture of fury and confusion when I grit out. “Explain just what the fuck you meant, hermano.”