Chapter 9

What Ace did to Mr. Del Liam reached his father's fucking ears. He was no longer surprised when his father visited his office the next day. His face could not be painted, and he did not care.

His father could grimace for all he fucking cared.

"What did I learn from Mr. Del Liam?" his father started immediately, not even sitting down to relax. "You froze his account and you cut off his investments here—"

"I don't like him and I don't fucking need him in my company," he said with an emotionless face and voice. "And when you don't need someone anymore, he should be discarded. Besides, was it my fault he went along with my irritation yesterday? Not my fucking fault."

His father's face darkened. "Watch your mouth, Ace. That's not the right way to talk to your father. You should respect me—"

"The respect I had for you perished after you accepted that money." His mouth hardened as he remembered what had happened ten years earlier. "I've lost my respect for you, Dad."

"What do you want me to do?!" The vein in his neck was already leaking in anger. "I shouldn't fight them—"

"You could have faced them with a Steele's dignity that you have taught me while growing up." Ace stood up and sharply met his father's gaze. "Damn, Dad, eh. Yes, and it's all my fault but you did worse." He pointed to the door. "Leave. And don't think that I will return it to Mr. Del Liam. The one I hate most of all is you who are inquisitive and reigning in my kingdom."

"You'll fall too." His father's jaw twitched in rage before leaving his office.

He wanted to twist his neck in anger, but he restrained himself. His anger had been running through his body for almost a decade. Even a trillion 'I'm sorry couldn't make it disappear.

His anger would always hang in his soul like a parasite eating his insides and damaging him through nightmares.

Ace took a deep breath then left his office. He didn't know where to go until he found himself outside Lena's clinic.

He could see Lena through the glass door. She sits in the swivel chair and eats moon cake while reading.

A small smile made its way to his lips. He fucking didn't know why this woman could make him calm just by looking at her. Maybe it was because of her innocence and purity.

He really didn't fucking know.

But seeing Lena's face made his anger disappear. For now. Later when she disappears from his sight again, his rage will return to the world. There was something about Lena that made everything okay in his fucking fucked-up life.

And to think she had Russian and Spanish blood. He must be a few million kilometers away from the woman, but it looks like someone was pulling him to come back again and again to see her.

Fuck her Russian and Spanish blood. I'm going to fucking talk to her.

Ace pushed open the door and entered. When Lena looked up from what she was reading, their eyes met.

"Hey," he said and tiredly sat down in the visitor's chair.

Lena felt his tiredness because she stood up, walked to him and leaned in. "Are you okay, Mr. Steele?"

He looked up at her. "Would you kiss me if I ask to?" God. Why's my shaft coming to fucking life? He was just asking for fucking sake!

Her forehead furrowed, and her eyes were confused. "Why do you want to kiss me?"

"Because your lips can erase my tiredness."

Her forehead furrowed even more. "What? There's no medicine on my lips, ah? And I only heal animals. You're not included in what I'm treating. And wait a minute, could you please elaborate on how my lips can heal you in that way and it should have basis and not presumptions…."

Ace snaked his arms around her neck and pulled her close, then locked their lips.

As usual, Lena just froze. He put distance between their lips, and he stared at her.

"Move your lips," he whispered to her lips. "It's more enjoyable that way."

She blinked, and he kissed her lips again. This time, her lips moved awkwardly, but she still felt good against his experienced lips. He wrapped one arm around her waist, then pulled her closer to him, sitting on his thighs.

Ace groaned inwardly. Good. This is heaven. So good. His hand on the woman's neck sank into her loose hair. He deepened the kiss even more.

Lena definitely didn't know how to kiss, but it didn't matter to her. What mattered was she was kissing him back and trying to please him.

His heart seemed to be choked with the emotion he didn't want to feel since the loss of two of his loved ones. But as he kissed Lena, it gradually grew. He suppressed that emotion for fear of feeling the deadly pain that almost killed all the emotions in his body.

And now, he was feeling it again. After a decade. That emotion was trying to resurface again.

If he let it surface, would it kill him for good this time?

Lena gasped for breath as Ace parted his lips from her lips. She felt embarrassed when she saw the position of the two of them.

She sat on his thighs sideways and wrapped his arms around her neck. Her cheeks turned red from feeling so embarrassed.

When she moved to stand up, Ace stopped her.

"Stay," he whispered. "—Even just for a minute."

He hugged her waist, then leaned on her shoulder. He was kissing her neck, and she was enjoying it. Very much. That's why she didn't do anything to stop the man because it was nice to tickle what she felt, and something strange was happening to her body.

This feeling was new to her, but she still welcomed it wholeheartedly. No fear of new and the unknown like she should.

"Aren't you tired?" she asked.

He had already kissed her. Maybe not anymore. That's what he said to her before, isn't it?

Ace laughed softly and looked at her intently. There was a soft and warm expression on his handsome face. Not ever, she didn't see such an expression on Ace's face, just now.

"Tired? Quite." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

She stared at him. "Say no medicine stuck to my lip, eh," she said, frowning, then left sitting on his thighs.

She felt something swelling in the middle of his thighs, and she was confused because it was rubbing against her seat.

The corner of Ace's lips rose, then opened his eyes and looked at her. "So, how's the moon cake?"

Lena returned to sitting in the swivel chair, then smiled broadly. "I just owe you a kiss."

He laughed softly. "Hmm. I should make the last kiss worth your fucking while."

Her face turned sour. "Say don't swear, eh." She shot him an evil look. "I don't like swearing and hurting animals. So, if you want us to have good vibes and I'm not beast mode with you, avoid those two."

"I cursed a lot," he said.

"Then make yourself stop."

"I can't." He smirked. "Help me."

Lena's eyes widened. "How?"

"When I swear, kiss me so I can remember and my mouth stops."

She blinked, and her eyebrows met. "If I do that, you'll stop cursing?"

Could her kiss really stop Ace from cussing so much? She doesn't like people swearing. She has bad vibes with those people.

Ace nodded with a suppressed smile. "Of course. A simple kiss can heal any wounds." It startled her. "Especially if it's your lips. So, I'm sure it can also stop my fucking mouth."