She grabbed my hands with her cold ones, her face pale with panic. “Em! Where’s Achilles? I’ve called him so many times, but he’s not picking up his phone! Where is he?”

“Hey, hey, relax. What happened? Why are you so riled up?” I grabbed her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

She shook her head. Her blue eyes were moist with unshed tears. “Caleb…”

“What? What happened to him?”

Her lips quivered as tears fell down her face. “He’s in jail.”

TWENTY-THREE: ANTONIO RAYMOND?

“What?” I gasped. “How? How did this happen?”

She shook her head, wiping her tears. “I don’t know. I just got a call from the police station half an hour ago. And since then, I was calling Achilles non-stop, but he wasn’t picking up his phone! Even our lawyer called him. Where is he?”

A while ago, means we were in his bedroom then…

Blinking away those thoughts from my mind, I said, “Don’t worry, Tess. Everything will be fine. He’s in his penthouse right now.”

“All right. Let’s—” The blare of her phone cut her off. Receiving it, she listened to whatever the other person said and then cut the call. “It was him. He’s waiting for me outside in the car. I gotta go!”

“Wait! I’ll come with you,” I insisted. I didn’t want to leave her alone in that state.

She nodded, sniffling. “All right, let’s go.”

Once we were outside, we found Ace in the driver’s seat with a rigid form. Though his grip on the steering wheel was tight, his expression gave nothing away. Ignoring the memories of what happened in his penthouse and the flutters in my stomach, we got into his car and then drove away.

When the car came to a stop outside the police station, flashing lights blinded my vision. A small crowd of people with cameras in their hands huddled outside of the car, throwing a bunch of questions at once.

“W-what the hell? Who called them here?” Tess exclaimed.

After a moment of silence, he spoke with his jaw tight. “Let’s go.”

“But Achilles—”

He turned to Tess, who sat beside him. His features softened. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

At his assurance, she nodded and got out after him as four bodyguards, who came along with us, protected them from the crazy paparazzi. As soon as I got out behind them, an arm immediately wrapped around me, pushing my face into a warm chest.

“What’re you doing?”

I was ready to pull away as he guided me through the chaos with his protective arm around me, but then I decided against it. His hold and the way he hid my face from those hungry cameras told me the reason behind his act. And I didn’t want my face to be printed in tomorrow’s newspaper.