Chapter 27 - An Offer? Rejected.

Ace

"We are here! Can you believe it, Ace? I am finally in Paris. I thought I would never make it here alive. I was even low-key scared that the plane would crash before I got here."

I watched Ava jump in excitement. It was always amusing to watch her. She was a woman who would never hesitate to express what she felt, at least in front of me. Whether she was happy, sad, or angry—she was like an open book to me. For others, though, she was a complete mystery.

"Well, if it did, we would have gone to hell together," I retorted.

She pouted and rebuked, "How many times did I tell you to say we will go to heaven, not hell?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "We will see about that when we actually die."

She sighed and pulled up a bright smile before handing me her phone and running to one of the big pillars. "Ace, click my picture," she said, striking a pose.

I glanced at the airport and asked her to be sure, "Here? In the airport?"

"Yes," she said in an obvious tone. "I want to capture every moment here."

"Ava, you do know we can come here anytime you want, right?"

After all, it would take me just one text to book an entire vacation in a short time—perks of being rich as Croesus.

"I know, but I still want to capture every moment." Before I could say something, she said, "Shush. Now click my picture quietly."

"As you say, Ma'am," I grumbled and clicked plenty of her photos. She was very picky when it came to her pictures. Earlier, I wasn't much of a good photographer, but thanks to her, I turned out to be one of the most reliable photographers she could trust blindly.

"Are you done?" I asked her once she got up from the bench she was sitting on and checked the pictures I clicked.

"Yes, these would do for now. You can click more when we return to this airport to go home," she mumbled and started walking away. To be honest, I wasn't surprised. I had experience from our time at the hotel after our reception.

I knew I should have hired a professional photographer for this vacation. But I didn't want that person to third-wheel us all the time. I would rather click the pictures myself, and it wasn't like looking at Ava through the camera lenses wasn't a treat.

We got into the car that I had personally booked for this tour.

I glanced at Ava, who was gazing at the view from the windshield of the car, with a child-like grin on her beaming face. I would do anything to keep that expression of pure happiness on her face forever.

The last time when her tour got canceled, she had been so sad and it had broken my heart to see her withered like that. I had promised myself for a long time that I would go to any extent to fulfill the dream of the woman who was there for me when I couldn't rely on anyone else, and to this day, I think I was doing a great job at keeping that promise.

However, my worst fear was one day when Ava will learn the truth that I wasn't the perfect man she made me out to be and that I had thorns that were too dangerous for a normal person. Would Ava ever accept me if she learned that I made assassins kill people—just the people who were related to my dad and sister's death?

Ava didn't know that I had an elder sister. After all, no one wanted to remember her. Any of her reminders pained my family's hearts.

Her name was Ella, and she died a year before I met Ava. She was a gang-rape victim who committed suicide, or so everyone thought. She was murdered by her rapists, and those rapists were the sons of a few affluent business friends Dad had. Dad had tried to fight for his daughter's justice, but those so-called friends of his made him and Ella liars in the court. Later on, they killed her and made it seem like a suicide.

I was suffering from depression after Ella's death, so Dad sent me to the summer camp where I met Ava. Back then, his words had been strange, as if he knew that we would never see each other again. And true, I didn't see him ever again. When I returned from the camp, he was no more. His murderers framed it like an accident, but I found out the truth after I did a lot of research because I couldn't just accept the accidental death.

That period of my life was the hardest. While I was falling apart internally, I had to be strong for my family, especially for my mother who lost her daughter and husband within a year. Thankfully, Ava was there for me at that time. Even though, she was a mere stranger back then. She didn't know how much she helped me, and how thankful I was to her.

That's why I didn't want to lose her, no matter what.

The novel's plot that she told me, I really wanted to know what she would've done in the female protagonist's shoes, and her reply scared the shit outta me.

Her words made it clear that I was in the wrong, that it wasn't up to me to take the laws into my own hands, but our law system was so flawed that it was a fucking clownery. I couldn't tolerate those people roaming around freely. While Liliana became a lawyer to try and make the system a little bit right, I was making sure every single person responsible for my sister and dad's death paid for it with their lives.

I was a horrible person, and I was well aware of that. Yet...

I was too selfish to let her leave me. Maybe I didn't love her enough to let go, but I wouldn't be able to bear it if she tried to harm herself a little because of me, so even if I didn't want to, I would have to let her go when that time came. It made my heart squeeze in fear—the fear of losing her. But I had to tell her the truth if I really wanted to have a future with her. I would tell her the truth once we returned home from this tour. This might even be our last vacation if she decided to leave me after learning my truth.

Soon enough, we reached the hotel.

Once we were in the room, Ava gasped, "Oh my God, Ace. You booked a suite for us from where we can see the Eiffel Tower..."

I didn't even feel the need to answer her because I knew she was too lost in her own fantasy.

The room had a queen-sized bed in the middle with the balcony having French doors across it. The view from the balcony was the Eiffel Tower. Further into the side of the bed was a pair of single couches with the bathroom, and on the other side, there was a dressing table with a walk-in closet beside it.

"I love this. Ace. Click my picture here quickly."

I shook my head with a smile and took out my phone, instead of taking hers. When I could feel her stare at me, I said, "I will send them to you as soon as I finish clicking. Don't worry."

She smiled and started posing for pictures. If she was the model, I could be her personal photographer forever.

###

"Ava, are you read—wow," I couldn't help but breathe out, gazing at Ava.

To say Ava looked stunning was an understatement. She was wearing a sleeveless, red long gown with a V-neck. The dress hugged her figure so perfectly, highlighting her curves, that I couldn't help but stare shamelessly. She was just mind-blowingly hot.

"If you are done checking me out, shall we leave for the party?" her sweet voice brought me out of my trance.

I cleared my throat and said, "Yeah, let's go."

She draped her arm around my elbow as we walked out.

Soon enough, we reached the venue.

"Don't leave my side, okay?" I whispered to Ava while walking inside.

She rolled her eyes. "This isn't the first time I am attending a party, Ace. Don't worry. You just enjoy your friend's birthday."

"I know you have attended a huge number of parties, but the location is different this time. I don't want you out of my sight, Ava," I warned her.

"Geez, okay," she groaned, but agreed at last.

The party was in full swing by the time we had arrived. Many renowned people were idly chit-chatting with each other with drinks in hand. Some spoiled rich teenagers and couples were dancing in the middle of the room to the jazz music, and some were obviously getting drunk at the bar counter. There was a huge birthday cake on the table side of the room, near which gifts were kept.

It was a sophisticated high-class party, so everything was mellowed down by the purple lighting. It wasn't actually so bad.

"Hey, Ace!" Lora said and walked towards us. She glanced at Ava before hugging me. "I am so glad you could make it."

"Happy birthday, Lora," I wished her and freed myself from the uncomfortable hug. Then, I pulled Ava more towards me by grabbing her waist and introducing her, "Lora, meet my wife, Ava. Ava, this is the birthday girl, Lora."

"Hello, Lora. Happy birthday!" Ava chirped.

Lora put on a smile that seemed totally fake. "Thank you, Ava. I must say, you are quite lucky to get married to Ace. I thought he would never marry anyone."

"Well, to be honest, I am the lucky one who got married to this beautiful woman here," I said proudly, looking at Ava affectionately. "Even I never thought that I would get married, but destiny had other plans—good plans for me."

"Okay, good to hear. The two of you enjoy the party while I attend to the other guests," she said and walked away.

"Wow... she's very weird, Ace," Ava murmured.

"Now you know why I feel weird to address her as a friend."

"I mean, she likes you and is jealous of me. What's new? After all, who doesn't like the Ace Valentino?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Are you jealous?"

Immediately, she shook her head in denial. "I have no reason to be. I know you are already mine, so the most other women could do was admire you from afar."

"You do have a point." I took two drinks from the waiter and handed one to Ava.

"Ace, can you please come here for a moment?" Lora called out.

"I will be back in a jiffy," I informed Ava and went to Lora.

As I got near her, she latched onto my arm, startling me a little. "Lora, what are you doing?"

In response to my question, she pushed herself onto me, her chest pressed against my bicep, as she looked up at me with half-lidded eyes and a seductive smile on her lips. "Ace, isn't married life boring? Don't you want to do something fun tonight? You know, if we sneak out of this party for a while, we can have our own party. Or tomorrow is fine as well. Whenever you can find some time away from your wife—"

"I'm afraid that's not possible," a familiar voice spoke up from behind us, and Lora jumped away from me, turning to look at Ava. I also turned around and found Ava smiling in that devilish, polite way she always did when she was out to teach someone a lesson. "You see, my husband and I need to leave soon. Our itinerary is so packed for this tour. He didn't even want to come to this party for my sake. But I insisted because he considers you like a friend, no, sorry, more like a sister. That's why I forced him to come here. Isn't that right, baby?"

Ava glanced at me with that fake sweet smile, and I returned it, holding out a hand for her to take. "Yes, that's right." I turned to Lora and said, "It was nice coming here, Lora, even if it was brief. I think we both will excuse ourselves right now."

"Ace—" Lora tried to speak, but she was smoothly cut off by Ava.

"Let's go, baby." Without turning back to Lora anymore, we were walking out of the party, hand in hand.

I couldn't help but be amazed by Ava. She always manages to surprise me. Right now, she was so calm and handled it so professionally. Even now, she wasn't asking me questions because she had faith in me.

This woman really never fails to amaze me.