Athena
You know the sinking feeling we all have had at least a dozen times in our life?
You can watch with your eyes how everything you earned or built up crumbling down to your feet. You can watch, and be absolutely helpless. The feeling of your heart slowly draining its faith and hope is the infamous sinking feeling.
It was the most terrible feeling ever.
I smiled scornfully as I pressed the phone against my ear. I knew my heart was sinking, all the way down to hell. I knew this would happen, I knew I would break under my husband's cold attitude.
But I didn't know he would be so fed up to just give up on us.
Ace was anything but a quitter. Maybe he could never even think about a future of us together. Maybe he couldn't cope with his fears and me.
His family...that was just bad. I needed five full days to deal with people being killed who I saw in a 2-minute video.
Imagine Ace's pain, who grew up with them for 2 decades.
"Eva is here, with Alan." Shane's voice rung in through the other end.
It's been five days since that horrible letter reveal. I was at my house, away from my parents and away from Ace. I noticed a few changes in me, like loss of appetite or being sensitive to every small misfortune happening around me.
I knew I was unstable, and that, to me, was a good sign.
And thinking instability is a good sign meant I was crazy.
I sighed lowly. "Did he eat breakfast?" I asked, totally off-topic of what he was saying but Shane didn't seem to mind.
"I had to make him eat but he is good. After two glasses of chocolate shake." I smiled subconsciously.
Him and his chocolate shakes.
"I will be there in half an hour." I informed him, tiredly getting up from the bed. "See you at the court hall." He muttered the same back before I hung up.
I was shit.
Yep. Thanks a lot, Ace.
I rolled my eyes feeling the tears down my face. This was me now, I was vulnerable but at the same time, I hated that I was vulnerable.
I found myself multiple times crying, then scolding myself for crying and then crying again.
What I never understood was, why did Ace send me a divorce paper? He is going against Eva and Alan but he is going against me too? What, he wants to be alone?
Taking a deep breath I walked into the bathroom. After wearing the dress I picked up ages ago I was in front of the city court at the promised time.
I didn't know why I looked up at the bright, cloudless sky and uttered a small prayer. I wasn't that of a believer, but maybe this was what desperation does to you.
I can't hold his hand to comfort him anymore, at least the man above can try.
I walked forward, climbing the polished steps of the court. I saw Shane waiting for me at the end of the stairs.
The days could have been better to him too. He looked disheveled and even a bit tired, a little shaggy in his oversized jacket and not recently uncut hair.
Ace is making it hard for him, was the only thought that entered my mind.
"He is here." Shane uttered, leading me inside from the frosty cold after studying my face for a few moments.
"I am fine Shane." I chuckled as he hesitated to ask his brotherly concern for me. Now that was a total lie, but at this point what else was I supposed to do? Should I say I feel ripped from my own soul and body? That I wanna drown myself in a tub of my own blood?
Please. People would laugh and be on their way because no one in this world fucking cares.
"Athena...I am sorry if this hurts you, but you need to act like his wife here. Since the papers aren't submitted you are still a couple to everyone. Your defense would go weak if you two separated now." I took a deep breath with what he said.
I expected this, but I wasn't sure how Ace would react to seeing me again.
Will he give me that infamous scowl? Will he scoff in disgust, flick me off? Or will he think submitting the stupid papers is better than acting again?
"No problem." I smiled at Shane through a clenched jaw. I wasn't angry, I was afraid.
The five days knowing my chances of losing him was scary, I couldn't imagine the days I have to tackle down in the future without him.
It's just a glitch, he won't be able to move on with the legal transactions.
I suddenly smirked. When I meant only death would separate us at the altar, I meant it. I fucking meant it. I did something to the papers but that wasn't important now.
Shane looked at me worriedly before wrapping me in a short hug.
I chuckled at his gesture, giving into his warm embrace before pulling away. He led me further into the large historic architecture, right outside the hall in a short while.
My nails dug into my palm seeing my husband standing by the metal chairs along the walls. His chocolatey hair was ruffled and messed up, but his suit was ironed and neat as ever. He was handing off some papers to the lawyer, Peter, the one I found for this case.
Ace had no trust in him, but he didn't change that guy. Why?
"Athena." His deep voice gruntled out as my ears detected the familiarity of the tone and words.
I stood there transfixed, not knowing what to do. What should I do to greet a person that demanded me to sign a divorce paper?
I stared at Ace who turned around, walked forward, and pulled me into him. His arms went under mine, enveloping me in a warm, foreign hug.
We had sex and all, but a hug? Wasn't common.
Pretty rare actually.
My eyes moistened at his touch but then I saw a few officials and lawyers watching us discreetly.
Every single time it's for others. Why else should he hug me?
"Ace. You good?" I asked as he pulled away. As much as I hated him, I cared for him too. My presence at a court is one solid proof.
I wanted to be here with him, defend him in all possible ways and just....be there for him.
How am I so fucking stupid? There is barely left anything of myself but I still wanna give away even the little bit left to him. Is this what love is?
No wonder it's called blind and deadly then.
"Not until she is in prison. I found something else, come on." Huh?
He spoke so casually as if he did not shatter my heart and soul...oh forget it.
I put on a stoic face as he pulled me into a corner, standing so close I could smell his musky cologne.
I was hit by a sense of deja vu smelling his scent. I got a whiff of it every morning when I did his tie for him. My eyes unconsciously strayed down and sure enough, he wasn't wearing a tie. I clenched my jaw, before looking away and trying to concentrate on what he is saying.
"This should be a sour topic, but remember Leo Devon? The success party dinner?" Ace added when he noticed the crunch between my brows.
The name suddenly clicked. A deep shudder went up my spine in disgust as I remembered. Very, very clearly. It was sour would be an understatement.
"What about him?" I snapped coldly, taking myself aback by the tone I used.
Ace didn't seem to mind, he filled me up about how Leo's son Liam was paying Eva to do all this.
This shit was....just shitty.
"I...I don't know what to do about Alan." Ace confessed lowly. My heart warmed at his humble tone but didn't show it.
I had a perfectly good answer for that.
"She cheated on you with a guy and you found out, right? I traced down the guy, he was shocked to know he had a son since Eva never tried to contact him but is happy to take in Alan. I spoke to him, he is a person with a good job and fatherly characteristics."
Ace's brows shot up with what I said. He looked as if he didn't believe I went through all that for him.
How is he so blind to not see my love? Dumbass.
"That's...good." Ace finally mumbled, thinking deeply.
Everything was sorted out, except us. We were never meant to be.
Ace shook his head, grabbed my hand again, and pulled me towards the court hall when Shane signaled him.
God have mercy.
******
"Eva Rivers has been found guilty of blackmailing Mr. Williams for the share of his wealth, robbery, child abuse charges, along with the violation of restraining order from Mr. Ace Williams. Eva, along with Liam Devon, the mastermind of this each shall be sentenced to 56 years in tough imprisonment. A fine of 6,000,000 should be paid by each prisoner and the complete custody of Alan Rivers would go to Mr. Jacob Hills. This court is adjourned and please, restrain that mouth of yours and accept your written fate."
The angry judge almost barked at the end, glaring at Liam. Eva looked like she wanted to yell at the judge, while Liam was struggling against two bulky cops. The man was right, he don't have his mind open enough to accept his fate.
We won the case with flying colors.
Eva and the bastard Liam won't see the daylight, Alan was with his sweet father, and Shane was ready to jump up and down. And Ace?
....he looks mad.
Wait, what?
He was glaring in Eva's direction, his fingers digging into his suit jacket.
My hand went to loosen the grip he had on himself, in an attempt to calm him down. Ace grabbed my hand, his large one almost breaking mine with the force. The sides of his lips were down in a frown, his jaw clenching as the grey eyes watched the criminal that ruined his life like a hawk.
I now knew why. Eva was glaring back at him.
Does she have a death wish?
"You lying bastard! You gave me your word!" Eva shouted, trying to pounce on Ace from the sidelines while Ace was glaring but stayed calm. I knew he was trying to control himself, his clenched fist around my hand was enough to know.
"Smart as always Ace, but don't you dare think you can keep your sweet wife secure all the time!"
...What?
I turned my head to look at Ace. His face was cold and stoic, looking at Eva with no emotion. What is going on? Ace, keeping me safe? Why do I need safety? Did Eva actually threaten him to kill me or something?
"You might need to leave." He said cooly, grabbing my hand again and turning us to the exit.
"This is not over here, Ace. I will be back to kill your stupid sunshine just like i did with your family." Eva shouted as she was dragged away by police officers.
My hand clenched around Ace's the second she shouted the word 'family'.
She is not human. Who won't regret killing that lovely innocent couple? What did Aveline, a high school kid ever do to her? What did any of them do to her?
"SHUT UP YOU BITCH!!!" Ace roared suddenly, my ears pounding with the monstrous sudden outburst.
"Everyone leave, this is a court." The judge shouted as he hit the wooden hammer, but no one paid attention. Everyone was staring and some were trying to leave through the small exit. The cops were trying to drag Eva away while I was trying to hold back Ace from pouncing on her.
"Ace, Ace, she is just trying to provoke you. Don't take that to your heart, she is crazy." I whispered urgently as tears swarmed into my vision.
He was slipping away, I can't hold him.
"Leave, Athena."
"Ace please! Don't fall for it, please come on, we can go home and drink some chocolate shake. Please." I cried out fully in despair.
The world was swirling, all the emotions I tried to keep at bay were released by the small poke of everyone here.
I felt his rough fingers lift my chin, caressing my cheek as he wiped away the tears running down my face. I looked up at him, my blurry gaze set on his now dark face. The confident, guarded and blank walls, his grey storms, were crumbling.
"Home?" Ace mimicked softly, making me realize what I said.
My eyes burned knowing that shit wasn't gonna happen anymore.
I don't know why he pulled me into a hug. Bangs and loud crashes with yells and screams surrounded us quickly, but I didn't care. What I cared about was how his heartbeat went steadily under my ear, his arms around me in a protective way as the chaos reigned around us.
Shane was quick to appear out of nowhere, leading us out of the court hall through all the panicked crowd and then into the safety of Ace's security guards. Ace had his arms around me all this while, but that didn't stop me from sneaking a final glance at the deserving bitch lying on the floor, unmoving and bleeding through the gunshot on her head.
I couldn't help the uplift of one corner of my lips no matter how hard I tried, this vivid and horrifying image of someone dead did nothing to my soul.
Thank you, Niccolo.
That was all I could think as Ace pulled me to him, leading me out of the historic building which was under absolute chaos, not to mention the huge crowd of paparazzi that formed outside.
We were pushed inside the safety of his car, and I had to smile seeing the strong grip of my husband's hand and mine connected all along with the destruction.
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