"To understand him, she had to swim the same waters that once drowned him."
Ace stood before her, his disheveled appearance immediately catching her attention. His black hair was tousled, strands falling haphazardly over his forehead, and dark circles underscored his tired eyes.
Yet, what struck her the most was the sight of his right hand, wrapped in a white bandage. Her eyes widened in concern as she took in his condition.
"What happened?" she blurted out, her worry evident in her voice. "How did you get hurt?"
His expression remained tense, impatient, and a hint of frustration flickered across his features. He didn't offer an immediate explanation but instead urged her urgently, "We need to go. I can't wait until 5 in the evening."
Caught off guard by his urgency, she hesitated, her mind swirling with questions.
But the urgency in his demeanor was palpable, and she sensed that pressing for answers could wait. With a silent nod, she shut her mouth, grabbed her keys to lock the door behind her, and followed him out of the apartment.
"Let's go," she said softly, her tone reflecting both concern and curiosity as she fell into step beside him.
She trailed behind him as he strolled down the sidewalk, her steps quickening to keep up with his brisk pace. The crowded path was filled with oblivious pedestrians, and they maneuvered through without exchanging a word.
She felt a lump form in her throat, wanting to break the oppressive silence hanging between them, but her nerves held her tongue captive.
With each passing moment, doubt gnawed at her insides, urging her to speak up and demand answers, about asking him where they were going, but she figured he probably would just yell at her if she did.
Ugh, she needed to work on her confidence if she had to survive in this cruel world.
She stole a glance at his profile, noting the hard set of his jaw and the tense line of his shoulders. His lips were pressed into a thin line, betraying no hint of the turmoil brewing within him. She wondered what thoughts occupied his mind, what secrets he harbored behind his stoic facade.
It became evident where they were going when they meandered their way across the street and came up short of the entrance to a place she had not been to in quite a while.
"Central Park?" She said half-excitedly, turning to Ace. "This is where we were going?"
He shrugged, "The more the people, the more chance to stay alive in your case. Also, the place helps me think."
She tried not to stop right then and stare up at him with a duped look on his face, this had certainly been turning out an interesting day, no questions asked.
How many times had she heard him say anything about his likes or dislikes or anything about himself?
Like, zero times, that was how many, and besides this was the third time they were meeting, and it felt like they had known each other for many years, well technically, yes, he knew her.
"Why are we here again not for the Zoo, right?" Asked Chloe conversationally as they walked.
"Of course not."
That's it? That was his answer! It would not do her any good if she kept stumbling over her feet and getting tongue-tied around him.
"Uh…."
As Chloe watched him reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, her words got stuck in her throat. With a flick of the lighter, he lit up a cigarette, the smoke curling lazily into the air.
"You're smoking here?" Chloe blurted out, her face contorting in disgust.
He arched an eyebrow, giving her a nonchalant glance as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Yep," he said simply.
"Why?" Chloe wrinkled her nose, a shiver running down her spine. "This place is so nice and fresh, but that..." She gestured at the cigarette with distaste. "That's just gross."
"I don't really care," he responded with a shrug, rolling his eyes.
They continued walking along the trail, Chloe fuming silently while he smoked. She half-expected him to suddenly dash off in the opposite direction, but instead, he casually tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it beneath his sneaker.
Okay, that's weird!"
"There," he said in a falsely cheerful voice. "I put out the cigarette for you. Happy now?"
Wait, what?
He did that for her!
FOR HER!
Whatever was happening today was confusing the hell out of Chloe and there was something about his nonchalant comment that rubbed her the wrong way, that made her angry, very angry. She was not exactly a person who got mad all the time, so this was sort of a momentous occasion for her.
Not now that she had so much anger boiling under the surface, she had no idea what to do with it.
"What the hell is your problem, Ace?" She barked, lengthening her strides to keep up with him.
He glanced down at her, still walking at a fast pace, and scowled. "Everything. I thought by now you knew that."
"Stop! Just stop, okay?"
A few people around them who were walking the trail through the park around them stopped walking to stare over at them.
They had both stopped in their tracks and were staring at each other with furious looks on their faces. It would not have surprised her if they started yelling and shouting at each other in the next few seconds.
"Choose your words wisely, I'm not in the mood for any quarrel with you." He said pleasantly.
"Neither am I and I don't know what you're playing at, but you seriously got to stop it," she finally snapped, letting her anger fuel her words.
"It is I who's oblivious to every damn enemy lurking around to kill me and you-" she put out a mocking hand in front of her pointing at him, saying, "-who knows everything and still can't reveal anything fuck out of your system. But, still, I'm coping with you. So, why can't you just be real with me for at least five minutes? Is that so much to ask?"
And, like always, he just kept looking at her as if he was reading something in her mind, in her eyes. Though it had been three long months, she hadn't changed a bit.
"Just because I haven't revealed anything doesn't mean I can't." He fired back in a normal pitch.
"Then do it, tell me everything! It's not good to bottle things up. People feel a lot better if they talk about things going on in their life, you know," she pointed out, as the thoughts of Gina crossed her mind.
She stared back up at him, trying to keep her nerves at bay, she did not exactly know where she was going with this, but at this point, she figured she could not do any more damage by just going with it.
"What are you pointing at, hmm?" He asked in a low voice.
"You know what I'm pointing at!" She hollered at him.
He looked just as shocked as she was when she leaned up and jabbed a finger into his chest, nearly knocking him back a step.
She quickly leaned away from him when she realized the proximity between them. And judging by the look he was sporting was not quite supporting.
Oh, damn. She was in for it now.
She did not have a lot of expectations about how he was going to answer her questions she had just more or less thrown at him.
Hell, anything could happen, right?
But the last thing she was expecting was for him to suddenly reach out, grip her forearm, and start dragging her along down the sidewalk toward a bench a little way away.
"Hey!" She yelped, yanking her arm away.
"Sit down." Ace snapped, giving her a none-too-gentle shove toward the bench.
Glaring at him, Chloe took a seat, still very embarrassed with himself.
Taking a few moments, Ace took deep and calm breaths before he took a seat beside her on the bench, an indescribable look on his face.
Her breath was caught in her throat, waiting for him to say something.
"You're a very loud girl, Chloe Sinclair." He finally said in a disgruntled voice. "I'm quite surprised after having everything under your nose, you still need answers. What have you been doing for the last few months?"
"Why does everyone keep saying that," She stared at him with her raised eyebrows and pursed lips, "I just have my dead mother's journal that I didn't read, I couldn't. Neil gave it to me the night we met for the first time, I had it all this time, but I couldn't read it." Saying so, she held her face in her palms.
Ace did not make some sort of sarcastic comment or snort out a laugh like she was expecting to confront her failures. There was a quiet, guarded look on his face as he stared at her that made her stomach drop.
"What?" Chloe asked anxiously.
He took a deep breath before blowing out a puff of air, asking, "You know his name?"
The question took her by surprise, "Yes, why?" She asked.
He shrugged, saying, "Nothing, I'm just hurt he never told me."
"Huh?" She chuckled bitterly, nodding with a tight smile, "Of course, so you know him! Since when?" she inquired.
"Since the night he almost killed me for you-"
Cutting him off, she demanded, "WHEN, Ace?"
"When I used that powder on your face to knock you out, I didn't realize he was there disguised as your guard."
"My guard?" Her voice trailed off as she remembered that night when the chief assigned a guard to accompany her. "So that was him. Wait, does that mean?" Anger surged through her as she recalled waking up in different clothes. "That jerk!" Her grip on the bench tightened as embarrassment and fury flooded her cheeks.
She'd give him the piece of her mind when she got back home.
Squinting his eyes, he spoke, "Whatever that is, I think he had been hiding the documents I gave him. You would have known everything until now if you had the access."
Recalling the stack of documents he handed her that morning, Chloe said, "He did give me a pile of documents this morning, but I haven't had a chance to read them."
Nodding, Ace said, "That's okay. He probably had a good reason. But time is running out. We only have a week to gather everything."
"What are the three things you hinted at?" She asked.
"We'll discuss that later," Ace replied, but before he could continue, Chloe cut in.
"Why later?"
Ace's glare intensified. "Because right now, you need to hear my side of the story." He turned away, staring at his shoes before speaking again.
"Argent Enterprises was owned by Kevin Jonathan, Jack Sinclair, and Michael King. Gina Jonathan is my mother. My father died when I was eleven."
The hell!
What the actual HELL!