The Trap Of Ace

Read The Trap Of Ace [by Eva Zahan] Chapter 42 – Pressing the bell, I waited.

The elevator opened and a lanky middle aged man came out in a floral shirt. Stopping at his track, he eyed me up and down with his slightly red eyes. I faced away from him and tapped the bell again.

What’s taking her so much time to open the door?

Once the creepy man unlocked his apartment next to the one I was standing before and got inside casting me one last lingering glance before closing the door, I sighed in relief.

G*d knows how she stayed here with this creep at the other side of the wall.

With a click, the door opened and her blonde head peeked through it. Surprise was etched into her brown eyes.

“Emerald? What’re you doing here?”

“Hi, Sierra!” I smiled. “Sorry, I tried to call you but it went unreachable every time. I heard from Matt that you weren’t well, so thought to give you a visit.”

“Uh, thank you for your concern. I’m much better now.” Her wary gaze flickered around. She still was talking to me through the small gap.

I cleared my throat. “You won’t invite me in?”

She seemed hesitant, but then nodded her head and held the door wide for me.

Flashing another smile, I walked into the hall of her small apartment. With an adjoined kitchen, there were two more doors attached to the hall. An old couch, two chairs and a small bookshelf were placed at the small area. Not anything fancy, but it was cozy.

“Would you like to have anything? Coffee?” she asked, stance awkward.

What’s with the weird behavior?

I shook my head. “No, thanks. I just came to see if everything is okay. Umm, why did you resign all of a sudden? I mean, if you needed more time to recover completely, then you could just ask Matt. I think he’d help you out with this.” I came to the point without beating around the bush. Her meetings with Arthur, taking leave all of a sudden and then resigning. I had a hunch it could be somehow related to him.

She shrugged, wringing her knuckles. “Uh, as you know I wasn’t well. I needed some time to get better completely. I couldn’t just expand my leave like that. And I decided to give myself a break, to spend some time with my family, you know? So…”

“So you decided to quit the job?”

“Yeah,” she answered, licking her dry lips. The swell around her eyes and dark circles under them caught my attention.

“With your stack of bills pending?” I pointed at the papers on her small table beside the door. Clearly, she hasn’t been able to pay them on time.

She averted her eyes. “I-i was just about to pay the bills. I was just a bit late and they sent notices.”

“You don’t need to explain anything, Sierra. I just want to know why you quit the job all of a sudden if you were facing some financial problem?” I asked. “Is it- is it because of Arthur?”

Her eyes snapped to mine, they widened to a friction. So I was right. He had something to do with it.

“W-what are you talking about? Why would he be the reason behind my quitting?”

“Because I saw you with him twice, Sierra. And at both times, you were pretty shaken.”

All colors drained from her already pale face. Fear flashed across her eyes.

“H-how? W-where? Listen, it’s nothing as you think it is…”

“What’s going on, Sierra? You’re definitely hiding something.” I cut her off. “Is Arthur threatening you about something? Or is there something else that you had to leave your job? Tell me, Sierra. Trust me, if there’s anything like that, I can help you. I’ll talk to Ace myself.” Placing a hand on her shoulder, I tried to assure her.

do anything. I left the job because of my personal reasons which

He’s done something that you had to take this step, didn’t you? I saw you with him, you were crying. Please tell me the truth, I can help

Which was a complete lie. And at our first meeting, the words he said, no sane person would say those things to a stranger just

always given me a negative vibe. And now that I was close to discovering the real face behind his polite mask, I

“You can’t help me, Emerald. No one can. And don’t think too much of what you saw. It was nothing. Just forget

talk to Ace, he’ll definitely hear me out and believe me.” I knew he’ll. But… against his own uncle? Would

she took a glance at the door. “You shouldn’t have come here, Emerald. I think you should

“But…”

beg you. I can’t tell you anything! Don’t drag both you and me in danger by digging something that

Something churned in my

“What danger?”

please. Just leave. I’m telling this for

tell me why did you

silent for a moment, and then said, “I had to. I didn’t want to do something that’s against my

***

sip on my tea, I watched

by that? She didn’t want to do anything that was against her

definitely not a man to trust. He was up to something. But what? I wish Sierra would’ve told me everything. But clearly, she was scared. How dangerous Arthur could

ran

listening?” A hand waved before my face, pulling me out of my thoughts.

did you

mean, when

if I wanted to grab some drinks together. So here we were,

the Arthur mess, I couldn’t help but remember Ace’s confession at the back of my mind again and again. A blush rose up my neck as I twirled the bracelet. The bracelet he

He… loved me.

to close my eyes and relive the moment when he said those

my chest. Though it still hurt thinking of everything, I felt somehow lighter

we all

after what he did you wouldn’t even see

“It was the original plan. But then, I was bound by a contract, remember? I had to

the contract if you wanted. But clearly, you already forgave him, didn’t you? You

“I didn’t forgive him yet. And he didn’t use my sister to break my heart. Tess volunteered. And… he had a reason to do that. Not that I support his way, but he only

for his reasons. Because bitter, yes, but he had valid reasons. He

to forgive him? You’re so lost into him to see that he isn’t the right guy for you. Don’t you see how he behaves

should do or what I shouldn’t. And about him being controlling, yes, he’s a control freak. But

many times. If I needed time, he’d given me without letting his dominating self in

let him cross the line?” His jaw

think I need to answer you everything about

sorry, Em. I was just looking out for you, you know? I just don’t want you to make wrong decisions in your life in

shook my head, leaning back into the chair. “I’m

forget about

I tell him? I knew I could trust him. He was my best friend after all. Maybe

everything, my suspicion on Arthur and the matter of Sierra, he pondered for a moment, taking

think he’s doing something

threatened Sierra to do something that she wasn’t comfortable with, so she left the job.

don’t you tell this

through my lips. “I can’t. I don’t have any solid proof against him. Nor did I witness him doing anything wrong before my own eyes. And Ace and Caleb trust him blindly. They won’t believe me if I

he seems like