Page 88 of Ruin Me, Daddy

“We were going to tell you,” she whispered. “I swear, Ace, we weren’t trying to sneak around behind your back.”

“Except you did!” His scream was punctuated by the back of his hand connecting hard with her cheek. “You’ve been sneaking around with my best friend for months. I bet he didn’t even go on sabbatical. You two have probably been holed up at his house, fucking like rabbits, laughing at me. Laughing at how stupid and gullible you thought I was. But I knew. I knew the whole fucking time.”

Pain radiated through her skull as she dragged in a deep breath, silently praying she wouldn’t be sick. “You knew? This whole time, you knew?”

“Of course I knew, you dumb bitch. You really think those assholes at that club you two love so much can keep a secret? I went to Black Light after our… misunderstanding on the tour to blow off some steam, and everyone was talking about Roulette.”

“Misunderstanding?” Rage rose up inside her, so hot it burned away everything else, even the throbbing pain in her cheek. “You call fucking someone else in our bed, with me in it, a misunderstanding?”

“I was teaching you a lesson! But you’re too stubborn, too full of your own pride to see that.”

“A lesson?” For a moment, she could only stare at him as the sheer absurdity of his words sank in. And then the laughter started. Just a little snort of it, at first, but after a moment she was practically howling with it. “You really believe that, don’t you? You really believe you’re some big, bad Dom, and I’m just some wayward subbie who needs to be put in her place. Jesus, you really are fucking insane.”

Eyes wild, Ace raised his hand as if to strike her again. But he paused, staring down at her, and her stomach jumped at what she saw in his eyes as he lowered his arm.

“Perhaps I’m going about this the wrong way,” he said, his voice so calm it sent a shiver of terror down her spine. “When I was at Black Light, I heard lots of people talking about that one scene you did with Ice. You know what scene I’m talking about, don’t you, Silver?”

“I-I don’t remember.” Of course she remembered. Every second of that night was burned into her memory with crystal-clear clarity. But she needed to stall, just needed enough time for Ice to come, for her Daddy to rescue her.

“Oh, I think you do, my traitorous little whore. So let’s see how you stand up to some real interrogation techniques.”

This time when the pain came, she could only scream.

CHAPTER 31

ICE

The car dropped him off a block from his destination, per Holden’s instructions. They’d been texting back and forth during the tortuously long drive, and the more information Holden dug up, the heavier the rock in Ice’s stomach grew.

Starting with the fact that Ace hadn’t left California after the article showed up. No, he’d left on a commercial flight the same day Silver had called Simon to let him know she’d tracked Ice down in South Carolina. And while he had, indeed, rented an apartment in the building he’d brought her to, it wasn’t the one he’d mentioned in his text.

Little details that added up to something far more sinister than a jilted ex-lover wanting a few private words.

A large shape stepped out of the shadows of an alley to Ice’s right as he strode down the sidewalk, looming over him. It took him a heart-stopping moment to recognize the giant figure as Holden.

“Jesus Christ, man, I nearly shit myself. What the hell are you doing, lurking in the shadows like that?”

Holden raised a brow. “Surveillance. Like you asked me to.”

“Right.” Two more familiar forms crossing the street caught his eye. “I see you brought the cavalry.”

“I was on my way the second you asked for a car,” Beckett said as he and Braden stepped up onto the sidewalk. “And I called Braden on my way. Whatever’s going on, you’re not dealing with it alone.”

Gratitude welled up inside him. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Hopefully I’m just overreacting but…”

“Go with your gut,” Holden said, repeating his earlier words.

“Right. So, what do we do now?”

“They’re in the apartment he rented, same floor but different unit. I’ve got a man on the roof of the building across the street. Blinds are closed so he can’t actually see what’s going on inside, but he can see shadows moving around.”

“I’m going up there.”

Placing a hand on Ice’s shoulder, Holden forced him to pause. “Not sure that’s the best plan. We have no way of knowing if he’s armed.”

Or if he’ll hurt her. That last part seemed to go without saying.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a scream pierced the air, freezing the blood in Ice’s veins.

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