Page 83 of Psycho Alphas: Part Two
She didwantto give me that, right?
“You planned on pulling up at the front and asking to go in?” Rogue asked.
Ace shrugged, striding over to the huge iron gates which were, presumably, locked. He pressed the buzzer, leaning his shoulder lazily on the wall and crossing his ankles as we caught up to him.
Ihadbegrudgingly removed the muzzle before we’d left, but the shock collar, an inconspicuous black band, remained.
“State your name and order of business,” a crackling voice said over the comms.
Ace didn’t reply, and I watched as his blue eyes, twice as piercing in the sunlight, darted up to the camera.
Thiswas his plan?
Dumbass.
“Sir, state your—” This time the voice cut off. “Oh…”
I glanced at Rogue, who was side-eyeing me back. If there was one thing I hated Ace for most, it was that he forced me to share anything with Rogue. Even surprise.
“Strouse?” Ace asked. “You stayed.”
There was a long, long pause, then the buzz of static. “Just a paycheck, Boss. I knew the s-system. That’s all.” He sounded nervous.
“That’s all?” Ace pressed.
There was no way it was that easy—no fucking way.
But I could hear the heightened fear in the voice now. “Swear it, Sir. But I’m still loyal to you—whatever you need…”
Ace’s eyes darkened as he looked back at the camera. “I want all the security shut off and every lock open.”
“Y-yes, Sir. Doing it now.”
“And don’t tell him I’m here.”
“Of course, Sir,” he said before the static died.
“Him?”Rogue grunted, shooting Ace a look as he pushed on the gates, and found they were now unlocked.
“Playing the odds,” Ace murmured.
“You don’t know who’s inside?” I scoffed. “You could have had him tell you.”
Ace paused, halfway through, giving me an incredulous look. “Andwherewould be the fun in that?”
And so, with that, the gates swung open and we did, in fact, just walk up the driveway.
Like he still owned the place.
It was a typical rich prick’s mansion, if much more well-kept than Rogue’s when I’d inherited it—not that I’d made an effort to fix that.
The lawns around us were freshly cut, looking almost perfectly uniform. They featured immaculate, colourful flowerbeds, bushes shaped like woodland animals, and a fountain in the middle of the circular drive—two spouts streaming from twin koi fish statues.
Ace hopped up the steps and shoved open one of the massive unlocked doors.
Inside was equally pretentious, another mirror of the Manzo home we lived in, only better kept. Clean rugs lined the hallways, and the art along the walls was well dusted.
We stepped into the grand foyer which offered a view down several hallways and up the sweeping stairs ahead, but Ace stopped. He seemed more relaxed now, a faint smile playing on his lips. His scent of redwood and roses matched his composure and there were still echoes of it deep in the bones of this place. I shook away a shiver as my instincts whispered to me that we had just stepped into territory that belonged to him.
