THE BILLIONAIRE'S CRYBABY
Chapter 80: A TRIP TO HIS DARK HEART

Chapter 80: A TRIP TO HIS DARK HEART

"Wait," Fay said, holding on to his hand. She didn’t want to let him go for fear of what he would do to his uncle, if he laid a second sight on him.

"I have to go Fay. If I don’t leave now, he’d cook up a story that would be much more difficult to get out of."

"I don’t care," she said, much to his surprise. "I don’t care about what he has to say in his defense. I just don’t want you to do something you’d regret."

He scrunched his nose. "Why do you think I’ll regret anything? I’ve been wanting to teach that bastard a lesson for the longest time. It’s now or never." He pushed himself forward, and her hand slipped out of his.

"I get it. Truly, I do. But he’s your uncle. He’s family. How would you justify hurting him? To defend me? No one is ever going to believe that he tried to take advantage of me. I’d be looked at like a liar, and I don’t ever want to go through that again."

He stopped, and turned, walking back to her.

"What did your uncle do to you?" He asked, his fist tightening.

"What makes you—"

"Don’t lie to me, Fay. This is familiar ground for you, isn’t it? Perverse men that can’t control their lust for something so," he paused, and reached for her. He was going for her shoulders, but diverted to her hair when he realized she may not want to be touched. Fondling the tips of the hair that looked like flames, he kept his gaze on her face contorted with confusion.

"Something so pure. They lust after you because they think you’re untouched. You’re also breathtakingly beautiful. Not the kind of beauty you find in this enhanced world. The type that makes men stop to stare, twice. You pull out the most animalistic instinct in these men. Just because they can’t control themselves, they decide to control you." He blinked, realizing he had been speaking for too long, and withdrew his hand.

"Anyway, as long as you’re with me, I’m not going to let anyone touch you. It’s not a sin to be beautiful, Fay," he said, leaning close to her face.

She couldn’t speak, nor move. She could barely even breathe. He called her beautiful.

Her hand, of its own accord, touched his cheeks, as she stared into his deep blue eyes.

"Beautiful?" She muttered the words like they were a strange concept to her.

"Yes Fay," he said in a hoarse voice. "You’re beautiful. Breathtaking even. That’s why they want you. But they can’t have you. Do you understand that?"

He was stepping into the valley of perdition. The still waters were trailing towards him. Alarm bells, like church bells, rang in his head. It warned him to take shield, but he just couldn’t.

She didn’t know she was beautiful. Maybe if she was aware, she wouldn’t question why every man wanted a piece of her. Instead, she would be more confident in herself, and it would reflect outwardly.

They would see a woman who was capable of standing up for herself, as opposed to a girl who could easily be bullied.

And the men who refused to take heed even after she had gained this confidence, he would personally squash like a fly.

No one was worthy enough for her. Not even him. But as long as she was beside him, and even beyond, he would protect her.

Yeah, he had added that to his priority list. He didn’t know when the tides turned. When something in him snapped and shifted. But he knew now what he needed to do. And it was strictly to protect her.

"I’m not—"

"Shhhh," he covered her mouth with one of his fingers before she could berate herself. "You’re beautiful Fay. It’s not your fault these men are cowards, and can’t appreciate beauty without trying to taint it. Rest assured, it’s not going to happen again. I’d put my uncle six feet below, before he ever has the opportunity to touch you again."

"Such strong promises," she whispered, a flicker of confusion dashing across her eyes. "Why? Why do you feel the need to protect me? I don’t understand."

"Because I have to. If I don’t, your goodness will consume you. You’re not in your world anymore. In this world Fay, it’s eat or be eaten. You’re either the ant, or the tiger. Which would you rather be?"

"I—"

"Don’t answer that," he picked up her hand and placed a kiss on each knuckle. "All I want you to know is that you’re beautiful, and I will protect you. From the vultures, yourself, and even myself if I can help it."

"Yourself?"

"You’ll understand soon." He placed a kiss on her dimple, and like a breeze in the middle of the night, he was gone.

Fay blinked in disbelief. She had known Ace for more than a month now. That was the softest he had ever been with her.

Not only did he call her beautiful, he looked like he had meant it too.

She touched her cheeks, the spot he had kissed. It already had a dent, but it had sunk even deeper after that kiss.

What was the deal about protecting her? From the vultures, she understood. It was a reference to his family, his friends, both past and present. Even his status.

From herself, she also could understand. If there was one thing she had to work on, it was her nonexistent self esteem that made her believe she was the very architect of every misfortune that befell her.

In that regard, he was exactly like his grandmother.

Her finger fell to her other hand, as she gently began to stroke the knuckles he had kissed.

Feeling him, his essence, everything that made him the man he was.

Yet, she was bothered by the third. Why would he want to protect her against him?

Was it some sort of warning that she needed to adhere to?

Being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, was not how she wanted this dinner to go.

The former was his grandmother. Her wish, to get him to fall madly in love with her. An impossibility in every ramification.

The latter was Ace himself. He confused her. Both in her head and her heart. She couldn’t understand what he wanted from her, or what he wanted to give her.

She had strained her head with all these thoughts, causing a different, and more painful ache.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, she took off her shoes.

Her legs felt sore to touch, but the freedom was a welcome blessing.

Rising to her feet, she decided to evacuate her head for a few minutes, and look around.

Her first stop were the paintings on his wall. Even in his room back home, he had these kinds of disturbing paintings.

There was one with a big bird bleeding on the ground.

Another was a lion tearing apart its own young.

So dark, yet so alluring. She drew closer to them, touching, and feeling their realism.

Whoever was the painter did a terrific job in catching the expressions of inanimate objects. Making them look so alive.

She felt herself sinking into the world of pain the paintings represented. A world she was trying her hardest to escape.

Taking a step back, she moved to his closet.

A smile formed on her face as she opened it, and found his clothes.

She ran her fingers across younger Ace. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture what he would have looked like as a teen.

Rich hot guy, who she was pretty certain had the girls wrapped around his fingers.

A picture of her as a teen floated in her head. Chuckling, she shook her head. She would never have been in his rooster. They never would have even breathed the same air.

Her eyes flickered open, and her gaze lowered. She frowned when she saw a book.

Curiosity arose in her, as she grabbed it.

"He kept a diary?" She laughed in amusement.

Ace didn’t just look like the type to write his feelings down.

For that sole reason, she allowed her curiosity to consume her.

Opening the first page, she began to read through.

Subconsciously, she closed the closet and began pacing around as she read.

The first pages were talking about his father. He obviously had missed him terribly when he died.

She felt a sting of tears form in her eyes as she read a particular phrase. "But when love in the heart of a kid is snatched away, how do you not fill the void with hate?"

It led to the next page. Her fingers trembled as she flipped the pages.

The first thing she saw was an image of a body contorted on the ground. It had no head.

She gasped, as one hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes widened as vivid descriptions beneath the gruesome image hit her eyes.

"Every morning, I fantasize about putting off the switch in her eyes. Twisting her neck while she isn’t looking. Poisoning her. I creep into her room in the dark, and hover around her bed, just thinking of the ways I could end her. Suffocating her with a pillow? Perhaps an arranged accident would suffice. Who would know? It would just be a karmic circle right?"

"Oh my God!" Fay screamed as she turned the next page.

It was a picture of the missing head in the previous page. A picture of Celine Atticus.

The book slipped out of her hand, and landed with a thud to the ground.