“You’re not my Ace. My Ace would never speak to me in that manner. He would never hurt me like that. You’re not the Ace who promised not to hurt me on purpose.” I removed his hands from my cheeks. “And you’re hurting me purposely.”

I could see how my tears affected him.

“No, baby. I-I’d never hurt you on purpose. You’re my whole world. I’m so sorry I said those things. I was mad. I didn’t have any control. I just wanted to make your questions stop. I didn’t mean it at all. I’m sorry, Rosebud. Please forgive me.”

“You’re not sorry. If you were, you’d explain to me why you’re doing all these things. Why you’re behaving like that. You’d let me in. If I was really that important to you, you’d trust me and open up to me. You’d let me be there for you, help you with your past. But you clearly don’t want that. Because I’m not that important for you to tell me the most important truth of your life.” Warner’s words echoed throughout my head. “I must be just an obsession for you that you don’t want to lose. That’s all I am to you, aren’t I?”

A muscle of his jaw ticked as he pulled me against him. “Yes, you’re my obsession! You’re my obsession because I love you. I’m obsessed with you because I can’t live without you! And I don’t want to lose you because my heart fucking refuses to beat without you!” Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment before they met mine again. “But… I can’t tell you this, Rosebud. Please don’t force me. I can’t tell you this one thing. I just can’t.”

“Why?” I whispered.

“Because you’ll hate me once you know how tainted my past is. You won’t want to stay with a damaged man like me.”

I held his gaze. “Do you think a bitter truth that happened in your past will make me leave you? Do you think my love for you is that shallow?”

“Rosebud…”

“Don’t you trust me, Ace? Don’t you trust my love? Don’t you trust me enough to let me know every dark secret of yours?”

Silence. Nothing came out of his mouth. He just stared at me.

“Ace?”

Nothing. Not even a word.

I stepped away from him.

My heart was breaking into pieces.

“You don’t trust me,” a whisper slipped through my lips.

Another step back. He tried to pull me in again, but stopped when I shook my head. Tears fell down my cheeks. My throat tightened.