ログインHOPEI didn’t know what hurt more, the truth Ace dropped on me so casually… or the fact that a piece of me actually wanted to believe him.But I didn’t. Absolutely not.Ace could lie with a straight face better than anyone I’d ever met. He didn’t even blink. And now that Salvatore had cornered me, he suddenly had a long, conveniently polished explanation?I wasn’t stupid and I wasn’t gullible.And I most certainly wasn’t going to fall for whatever spin he crafted to save his own skin. The FBI, my handler Malik were the closest people I had to a family since I was twelve. That man raised me and made what I was.“You expect me to believe that?” I finally whispered, my voice cracking at the end.His jaw tightened like the words physically stabbed him.“Hope…”“No.” I held up a shaky hand. “Don’t ‘Hope’ me. You kept this from me. You let me walk around your life like an idiot. You let me…” My voice broke. I swallowed hard. “You let me trust you.”He stepped closer, but I backed away… fas
ACEShe wasn’t supposed to know… not yet. Salvatore sped up everything. Hope was being used by the FBI. She was never truly a part of them. Her parents were working for my family. They were agents, and they were our people… but they were caught. Hope was put in a foster home, and her handler raised her, trained her, and filled her head with lies before sending her straight to me.At first, I didn’t know she was the girl I searched for, not until the night at the Master’s house.SEVERAL MONTHS AGO“We’re bringing in new girls,” the master said, handing me a folder with pictures and bio-data of new arrivals.I didn’t want his girls. I didn’t need them. But something… someone… made me stop flipping the pages.Her picture.Her eyes.The exact same eyes I remembered from seven years ago.The Master noticed my stillness. “I don’t know why none of my girls ever catch your attention,” he said lightly, masking the fact he was dying to know the reason I rejected everyone he paraded in front of
ACESalvatore said something weird. How on earth does he think he knew her more than I did? She was my person… my woman. But still, I wanted to hear him out before I send him away. He knew I wasn’t letting him go just like that. I planned to torture him exactly the same way he hurt Hope.“What?” I asked, circling around to get closer to him, but before he could say anything else, we heard someone stumbling in.“Salvatore.” Exclaimed after getting smacked on the face by her.Hope…She wasn’t asleep the whole time. I thought she was sleeping while I was on the phone with Bob. She heard our conversation and she followed me. Salvatore was about to say something to me and she crashed in.She was hiding something… something that Salvatore was aware of, and he probably tried to make a deal with Hope with that information.“Hope, what are you doing here?” Bob asked before I could ask.“I heard that you found Salvatore and I wanted to punish him myself,” she explained. It sounded like a lie mo
HOPEAfter Ace left to see Salvatore, sleep vanished from my eyes like it had never existed. My body still hummed from everything that happened between us, but my mind… my mind was a battlefield.Salvatore.If Ace didn’t kill him immediately… and Ace rarely acted without calculating, then Salvatore would talk. He would talk to save his own skin, and if he opened his mouth about me…About who I really was… About what I came here to do… I didn’t want Ace to find out from Salvatore.I sat up abruptly, heart hammering. I couldn’t breathe.No. No. No. That couldn’t happen.I pressed my forehead against my palms. I’d heard the tail-end of Ace and Bob’s call before he left… an old shipping yard, somewhere near the port. That made sense. Hours ago, God, was it only hours? Salvatore held me in that same port. The smell of rust and salt still clung to my memory.It wouldn’t be far.I threw my legs off the bed and stood, ignoring the soreness that pulsed through me from Ace’s hands, Ace’s mouth,
HOPEI slowly opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. It smelled of sandalwood and a mix of something musky ...a subtle hint of Ace's smell. The room was different from anything I'd seen before, but it was comfortable.I groaned sitting up and my hands flew to my neck... Memories of Salvatore's hand around them flashing through my mind. I thought I died without a chance to fight back, but it seemed like the boss saved me again.I could have fought Salvatore, but I didn't know how many men he had outside.Panic rose to my throat as I recalled how he called me Agent Hope. Did Ace find out? I wonder what went down after I passed out.Where was I anyway?I hurriedly stood from the bed dashing for the door, before I could reach, I heard a clap and the chandelier came on shining brighter than a noon sun. Squinting with a hiss, I turned and saw Ace sitting by the far end of the room... A book in hand and something else I couldn't see properly.He was there all along and didn't say a word. We had
HOPEI slowly opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. It smelled of sandalwood and a mix of something musky ...a subtle hint of Ace's smell. The room was different from anything I'd seen before, but it was comfortable.I groaned sitting up and my hands flew to my neck... Memories of Salvatore's hand around them flashing through my mind. I thought I died without a chance to fight back, but it seemed like the boss saved me again.I could have fought Salvatore, but I didn't know how many men he had outside.Panic rose to my throat as I recalled how he called me Agent Hope. Did Ace find out? I wonder what went down after I passed out.Where was I anyway?I hurriedly stood from the bed dashing for the door, before I could reach, I heard a clap and the chandelier came on shining brighter than a noon sun. Squinting with a hiss, I turned and saw Ace sitting by the far end of the room... A book in hand and something else I couldn't see properly.He was there all along and didn't say a word. We had







