chapter twenty

Bella sat on the cold floor, cursing everything about her existence , silently cursing the day her mother gave birth to her. Her life, her world, her breath ,everything about her existence she hated right now.

She was a young, naive soul whose hopes had shattered right before her eyes. The pain in her chest felt like a thousand knives piercing through, sharp and relentless, drilling the blood out of her already shattered heart.

She clutched her chest, struggling to breathe.

Bella never told anyone that she carried a fatal disease that threatened her life — a heart disorder shadowed by anxiety and depression ever since she lost her mother.

She would sometimes get bullied for her speech defect, mocked for something she couldn’t control.

What if… she thought to herself, her heart splintering even more. What if all those people who used to laugh at her , the ones she, in her innocence, reported to her father , what if they disappeared because of him? Every time she told her dad someone bullied her… they vanished the next day.

Her eyes widened. What if it was him?

Her chest tightened as horror filled her. “How could I be so stupid?” she whispered, hitting herself harshly.

“I’m so stupid,” she cried, her voice breaking as she collapsed slowly beside the bed, eyes fixed on the open balcony window.

“I… I’m… I’m a monster,” she thought, her words trembling with guilt.

At the door, Ace stood, watching. His heart clenched with a pang of sympathy for Bella. Half of him raged with the memory that her father was behind the death of almost his entire family that he himself had barely survived. But another part of him, buried deep, still reminded him that he was human.

He stood there, torn between revenge and compassion. How far would he go? Was it all worth it?

Harming innocent souls… destroying lives for the mistakes of others what good was revenge if it only repaid pain with more pain?

His fists tightened. One hand rested on the door handle. Should I open it? he wrestled silently with himself.

No.

No, I’m not soft. I can’t be soft. I’m Ace a bad boy, a top leader of one of the mafia gangs. I can’t be this weak.

“Sorry… Bella,” he whispered under his breath, letting go of the handle.

He turned away, heading to Riven’s office but found it empty.

Then he saw him outside, on the back porch, smoking tobacco.

Though Riven would go to extreme lengths to get his revenge, guilt always clawed at him. The memory of being human never quite let go.

“Is the job done?” Ace asked, breaking the heavy silence.

Riven took the tobacco from his mouth, exhaling a slow stream of smoke through his lips and nose before throwing it away.

“I thought you said you quit smoking,” Ace said, kneeling on the white-tiled porch, his eyes drifting over the enormous green field stretched before them.

“Maybe there are some bad habits we can never turn back from,” Riven muttered. His eyes were bloodshot — not from being high, but from how harshly the smoke burned him.

“Unless those habits kill you,” Ace replied, his voice laced with concern.

“Death…” Riven smirked faintly at the word. “That’s one thing I don’t fear.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, his tone flat but cold.

A small, weak smile tugged at Ace’s lips.

“You’re not afraid to die until you have a reason to live for,” he said quietly.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a reason to live… do I?” Riven replied, his throat tightening around the words words that hurt even him to say.

“I believe you’ve got a reason,” Ace said softly. “You just haven’t realized it yet.”

His eyes flicked toward the house toward her.

Riven followed his gaze and let out a low, bitter smirk.

“Her?” he said. “She’s not my type. What would I even do with a mute girl? She’s nothing but a cheap rag I’ll make suffer for the rest of her life. Oh look—” he added coldly, “I found a reason to live: to make others suffer.”

Ace fell silent, his thoughts tangled. He didn’t recognize this version of Riven not anymore. This wasn’t supposed to be what revenge looked like. It was supposed to end once Mr. White paid his debts. But now… it had become something darker. Something that was consuming him.

“I see,” Ace said quietly. “So you’re just going to make her life miserable. Then what? Won’t you get bored eventually? You always do especially when it comes to women.”

“I didn’t marry her to love her,” Riven replied sharply. “Nor do I ever intend to. She means nothing to me. She’ll have no say over which woman I’m with. She’s just another girl. Nothing more.”

The words pierced Riven’s own heart, though he wouldn’t admit it. Deep down, he knew no woman deserved to be treated that way.

“What about Sofia?” Ace asked.

Riven froze. His heart skipped — not from love, but from hate. The name alone sent chills through him.

“She was nothing,” he said coldly. “Just another cheap rag. I don’t want to hear her name ever again.” His voice trembled with a buried pain he could never face.

Ace knew better than to press further. His phone rang, his wife, Hailey, calling.

Riven saw the name flash on the screen and rolled his eyes. He never liked Hailey; he blamed her for making Ace soft.

“I better go before my wife loses it,” Ace said, already heading toward his car.

“Soon enough you’ll be playing her guitar,” Riven muttered under his breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Maybe I can start changing your tune,” Ace shot back jokingly as he got in the car.

Riven rolled his eyes, a small smile cracking on his lips. He turned back toward the sunset — the sky bleeding with orange and red.

Wine, he thought, heading into the kitchen.