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.

took a visible gulp. “You’ve mistaken. He didn’t do anything. I

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

the start, from the party when he denied before everyone that he hadn’t met me before. Which was a complete lie. And at our first meeting, the words he said, no sane person would

now that I was close to discovering the real

me, she wrapped her arms around her. “You can’t help me, Emerald. No one can. And don’t think too much of what you saw. It was

course, I can. If I talk to Ace, he’ll definitely hear me out and believe me.” I knew he’ll. But… against his own

door. “You shouldn’t have come here, Emerald.

“But…”

can’t tell you anything! Don’t drag both you and me in danger by digging something that isn’t related to you.” Though

Something churned

“What danger?”

I’m telling

least tell me why did

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

***

I watched the steam

did she mean by that? She didn’t want to do anything that was

was 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

shudder ran through my

out of my thoughts. Warner had a tiny frown between his brows as he

did you

well now. I mean, when

from him asking if I wanted to grab some drinks together. So here we

Even went to the office today.” Even after the Arthur mess, I couldn’t help but remember Ace’s confession at the back of

He… loved me.

through my chest along the flutters in my tummy. I wanted to close my eyes and relive the moment when he said those

off of my chest.

all, we all

thought after what he did

plan. But then, I was bound by a contract, remember? I had to join office

forgave him, didn’t you?

Tess volunteered. And… he had a reason to do that. Not that I support his way, but he only

flared inside me again recalling everything that happened since the last seven years. Even if I couldn’t call him totally wrong for his reasons. Because bitter,

isn’t the right guy for you. Don’t you see how he behaves with

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

I needed time, he’d given me without letting his dominating self in the way. Though his patience lived

let him cross the

And I really don’t think I need

was just looking out for you, you know?

shook my head, leaning back into the chair. “I’m sorry too. I got a little

I pushed you too much. Anyways, forget about it. You were looking tense a while ago.

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

and the matter of Sierra, he pondered for a moment, taking

doing something at

threatened Sierra to do something that she wasn’t comfortable with, so she left the job. I’m sure she didn’t want to

don’t you

against him. Nor did I witness him doing anything wrong before my own eyes.

think you should wait and see if you find anything against him. But honestly, after hearing what Sierra said, he seems like a dangerous man. So I’d