“Because he’s one of my best fri—”

“You love him?”

Words caught in my throat as soon as the question came out of his mouth.

Pressing his forehead against mine, his thumb gently brushed over my cheek. Vulnerability flashed across his eyes, along with the light of thunder that fell on us through the open window. “Do you still have feelings for him, Rosebud? Does he love you more than I do? Do you regret leaving him, leaving a good, sensible man for a crazy, obsessed man like me who has a tainted past?”

The crack in his voice hit my heart like a dagger.

“W-what?”

Achilles Valencian was showing me his fear, insecurities. So that’s why he was so vexed about Warner hanging around me that much? Not only his jealousy, but his insecurities made him do all these things. Because he thought he wasn’t good enough for me?

But why would he think like that?

“I wouldn’t be with you right now if I regretted even a bit. I wouldn’t be in your arms like this if I had loved him and not you.” I held his gaze as I said those words. “If I didn’t love you, and only you, I wouldn’t be waiting here for you, even after the way you left last night.”

“Then why do you still care for him so much? Why are you still letting him in your life?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Ace!” I jerked away from him. “Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I’ll throw him out of my life! I won’t because he’s my friend, and I’m telling you this for a thousand times! I don’t love him, I never did! I don’t understand why you’re so insecure about him being around me?”

“Because even after you broke up with him, he still wants you! He wants you back in his life, can’t you see it!” His shoulders rose and fell with every heavy breath he took. “You don’t know him, Rosebud. He wants to take you away from me. He—”

“I don’t care if I know him or not!” I cut him off. “Nor do I want to know him. I thought I knew you. But guess what? I don’t know anymore.”

A tear left my eye as I stared at him. His gaze followed it, his hands clenched.

“You lied to me,” I whispered. “I didn’t think my Ace would lie to me like that.”

His lips pressed tight. “I don’t remember you asking me about Warner suddenly getting hired and anything regarding his job.”

“That’s one of the things you hid from me. But I’m not talking about it right now,” I said. “I’m talking about your father’s death. You told me he committed suicide. But it’s not the truth. He didn’t commit suicide, he was murdered.”