Chapter 8

For a moment Ace was wordless. He stared at her unbelievably and later mentally concluded it was a sensitive subject and he had to handle tactfully with the juvenile.

For once at least she should have believed her friends and calculated Carl. Within a few months she should be a certified nutritionist. But now?

Scarlet hesitated to say her dangerous truth but Ace wouldn't stop enquiring.

The cops might come and arrest her on the murder charges at any time. However, seeing the reputed man in front of her, there was a small spark of hope gradually rising in her. Probably Mr. Taylor might help her to sweep away her criminal record.

But she knew she was walking on thin ice. She least believed the man that he was not interested in sleeping with her. Thanks to her interest in reading books. The knowledge helped her now. She has read in many magazines, he is the world famous playboy. Impressing girls with his smart talk, his virile looks and bringing them to his bed is an easy play to him. Ace was a reputed man and he could at the same time be dangerous. Before he takes her to his bed and starts playing his carnal games on her she should use his reputation and get out of the mud hole she misfortunately fell into.

Her fingers played with each other in anxiety and eyes reduced to her lap. She is a murderer just at the age of twenty-one. Was Ace going to hand her to the cops by himself? How was she going to convince him, take his help financially and escape to the convent? And even if he does, will sister Mary understand and forgive her? Will she accept a sinner in God's own land? 

"You killed?" Ace asked Scarlet unbelievably again. 

Scarlett bit her lip in pensiveness.

The man and his daunting tone….He must be the son of Lucifer to kill people with his intimidating aura.

 "I was running away from my fiancée. Last night he drank too much and started abusing me. I couldn't take up to his torture anymore. So I broke a soda bottle and hit him with it on the head. He tried to paralyze my movement trying to attack me. To make sure he doesn't come back behind me, I pummeled the broken bottle into his belly. He had no movement after that." She took a heavy breath playing with the hem of her shirt and sniffed with welling tears in her eyes. 

"And most probably dead." Her last sentence was almost unheard as she shook her head in dismay.

Ace was wordless. He listened to everything Scarlett had to say in her defense. Finally much to her relief at the end he nodded and made a series of phone calls asking her to wait outside at the reception.

An hour later he called her again in his room. Taking a deep sigh he looked at her with a Tsunami of emotions Scarlet couldn't fathom. "I do not know if this is good news or bad news to you. Your fiancée isn't dead. He is very much alive and has been admitted to the hospital. The warden of your hostel was the first one to react and reach his aid. He called her through his phone and was smart to fill her ears with a story that goes against you."

Running a hand through his neatly gelled hair he sighed looking towards the ceiling. "Pursuing your education in the same college is a lost option. Even if your glimpse is found by the people there, they will immediately hand you over to the police." He circled the table and stood right in front of her leaning to his work desk and legs crossed at that ankle.

Damn it! He was a good distraction even in her most shitty state. She doesn't know whether she had to admire or curse herself for her fidgety mind.

Coming back to the present, bit by bit the information she was getting from Ace was shattering Scarlet to pieces from inside. All her thoughts were leading to a road that was meeting a dead end. Her head started to ache like someone was drilling holes into it. She rubbed the temples and asked Ace in a meek voice that could hardly be heard. 

"Can you please lend me your phone just to make a call?"

Ace didn't want to intrude and give her his phone without any questions. But now that he had accepted her as his responsibility he had to ask for her own welfare. "May I know who you want to speak to?" 

Why is this man always so introspective? But did she have any other way? She was dependent upon him to save her. Scarlet, use him like a smart girl that you are and escape from him never to return. - Her sanity advised.

Scarlet nodded as a reply to his question. Suddenly the sight of the floor felt more attractive to her than any place in the room as she stared at it unblinkingly. "I want to speak to sister Mary." 

But will sister Mary accept Scarlet back into the convent understanding her action as a part of self-defense?

Ace was still looking at her for more information. Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek, her fury was almost crossing the border line.

"Sister Mary is like a mother to me who brought me up since the age of six when I lost my parents. I want to go back to my convent. That's the place I have grown. I am sure I could get a job there easily to earn a living."

She looked back at Ace with expectancy. "Can you arrange for me a journey back to my convent? As soon as I reach there, I will send you back the money you spent on me." 

"Sure" Ace nodded to her and in response her eyes shone bright like a sun that he hadn't seen so far. 

It wasn't about the peanuts he would willingly spend on her but for something else.