Eighty Three

CHAPTER 83

Alicia's flat, New York.

Alicia was in her room pensively. She stares at the large window in front of her with annoyance. Her blue eyes were indeed watching the trees through the glass, but her soul wasn't really there.

Alicia couldn't stop thinking about Ace's condition since he left the police station yesterday. After he left, Alicia had received no information about his current whereabouts.

Despite trying to contact him several times, his cell phone was still inactive. Even Ace's social media accounts didn't show any signs of him being online.

Where is Ace? What is he doing now?

Worry, sadness and guilt were all feelings that were now raging inside Alicia's chest. At least if she could speak up to apologize, maybe her heart wouldn't be this tight.

But how? Ace didn't even show any activity online.

Ace seemed to be drowning; hiding deep in the earth.

Suddenly, the cell phone that Alicia had been holding - because she was waiting for Ace's call - finally rang.

Although it wasn't Ace's name that appeared on the screen.

"Yes. Britt?" greeted Alicia lazily, masking her disappointment.

"Did you see the news?" Brittany sounded worried on the other end. "I was a bit worried so I called you right away."

Alicia gave a short mumble. "Well, I saw Nicholas yesterday," she said briefly. "But I don't feel well right now."

"Maybe you should take my advice, Alicia. Go to Ace and tell him you're sorry," Brittany suggested. "I'm sure he'll forgive you in the end."

"Is that true?"

"Trust me, Alicia. Everything will be fine." That made Alicia's chest warm up. She smiled a little and felt better after hearing it. "Let me know when you've met Ace, yeah."

"Uh, hm, alright," Alicia replied. "Thanks for making me feel better, Britt."

"Sure. Bye."

After Brittany disconnected the call with her, Alicia hurried out of the room. She grabbed her ashen sweater that she had draped over the sofa and walked out of her flat.

Since the horrific events had continued to happen to Alicia, her adoptive parents (whose identities were still being concealed) had been living in a simple flat alone. Facilities such as money, food and clothing have been provided. However, Alicia's current adoptive parents cannot live with her and they only communicate via phone or email.

Alicia traveled to Ace's house by taxi. She didn't have a private car to keep her out of harm's way. But that didn't matter to Alicia. It was a rule made by Alicia's foster parents and Alicia agreed with it.

Fall was over, and winter was almost here. Alicia could see people wearing warm clothes while sitting in the taxi. They combined scarves, coats, raincoats, thick sweaters and cardigans with their basic clothes to keep themselves warm despite the cold weather.

And the taxi Alicia was in took about twenty minutes to get to Ace's address. The streets weren't too crowded, and the taxi was traveling fast.

Once there, Alicia saw no signs of life.

She got off and checked around before being absolutely certain that there was no one in the house.

The large and spacious mansion that stood before her was not as busy as usual. She didn't even see the old guard who always greeted every guest at the gate.

Where was everyone?

"There's no one here. Is everyone waiting for Mr. Wilson at the hospital?" Alicia asked herself, before finally deciding to open the gate and go inside alone.

Deserted;is the right sentence to describe the situation of Ace's house right now.

Ace's house was not usually this quiet.

"Should I just go home?" But her intuition clearly refused. "But I feel the need to go in and check."

Instead of going back home, Alicia chose to follow her intuition to continue walking inside.

"Alright, I'll go in and check if Ace is inside."

And the same thing happened inside. There was no blonde woman smiling at her every time she came in. The door was also unlocked.

Where were they all?

Then Alicia ventured inside. Although it might be considered presumptuous, she was sure Ace would forgive her later. After all, her purpose in coming to that place was because she was worried about her boyfriend.

Alicia never meant any harm.

"Ace?" called Alicia, which only ended up being in vain.

Her high voice - half shouting - was heard echoing in the house. The house was completely empty.

"Ace? Hello?" She tried again.

But there was still no answer.

The lanky girl considered for a moment before finally moving back and entering her boyfriend's room. "Ace? Are you in there?" she said as she pushed the door of Ace's room.

"Where is everyone?" The blue irises glinted around.

The pillows and blankets arranged neatly on the bed indicated to Alicia that Ace hadn't used them last night. But if she hadn't slept there, where had she been all day?

Alicia took a slow step. She walked to the other side of the bed and looked at the photos Ace had displayed on top of the brown drawer.

There was nothing unusual about the pictures of Ace and herself over the past two years. Although Alicia began to wonder why there were no pictures of Ace's parents among the many photo collages.

Then the dark-haired girl turned to the nightstand that was right on the side of the bed.

There was something there.

A piece of paper that... looked familiar.

Alicia immediately approached and grabbed the paper warily. She scrutinized it and read it slowly to the end. Word by word, sentence by sentence. Alicia did not stop reading.

Until she finished, she stared at the writing on the paper in disbelief.

Her eyes clearly showed everything. The doubts, fears, anxieties and hatred that had been gnawing at her mind.

"Why?" Her tone sounded shaky now. She turned away and looked at Ace's empty bed next to her intently. "How could you keep Mrs. Portman's DNA test results, Ace?" []