“Em, please. Don’t torture him anymore. He’d already suffered enough.”

I cleared my throat. “Is he in his office now?”

His eyes lit up. “Yes, it was so difficult to keep him in his office away from you for some time so I can talk to you alone. Why? You’re gonna sort everything out with him?”

“Yes. I’m gonna sort out everything by asking him to free me from the three months contract. So I can go back to New York.” I turned around and walked out of my office.

He called out my name, but I didn’t stop.

Even though I accepted the good intentions of Ace’s reasons, it didn’t hurt any less. It wasn’t easy for me to forget everything.

Without knocking, I barged into his office. Halting his impatient pacing around the room, he turned to me. The disheveled hair of his indicated to the numerous times those long, lean fingers ran through them.

“Rosebud,” he uttered my name in a breathless whisper, casting my heartbeat go haywire.

Taking two steps ahead, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I need to talk to you about something.”

He straightened. A determined look flashed into his gray pools. The look of despair was gone. Nodding, he walked past me and went to the door. “Sure, I’ll listen to everything you have to say. But first, you’ll have to listen to me.” He locked the door with a click.

My eyes widened. “What’re you doing? You don’t have to lock the door to talk!”

“I need to make sure you don’t run away again, sweetheart.”

FORTY-ONE: ALWAYS THERE WITH ME

Fuming, I strode to the door and tried to open it. But his pair of strong arms snaked around my midriff and hauled me to the middle of the office.

A shriek left my mouth. “What the hell, Valencian! Put me down right now!”

“I will. Once you hear everything I have to say.”

His calm tone made me boil. I didn’t let him explain things, so he would keep me captive in his office, in his arms?

I can’t believe this man!

“No! I won’t hear anything! You’ll do what I want, and then let me go!” I said, putting on the scariest face I could manage on my face with a stern voice.

But he ignored me. He was too busy roaming his gray eyes across my every feature. As if he hadn’t seen me in years. Not tolerating being disregarded like that, I stomped on his feet with my five inches heel.

A hiss left his mouth. His orbs that were filled with adoration a moment ago, now watched me in shock and confusion. But I didn’t see any anger in there. Nor did his arms loosened around me.

“Do not ignore me when I’m talking!”