ACE “It's a beautiful day for some murder. It's a beautiful day to slaughter. It's a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day...” I gradually started whistling my made-up song as I picked up a switchblade, pressing my leather-clad index finger to the sharp point. A menacing grin split my lips at the muffled bitch-like screams that left the useless cunt tied to the chair beside me. I had gagged him with his sock — a fucking stinky one at that — and then used duct tape to seal his mouth shut. I never much liked a man that couldn't handle the punishment being served to them. My brother and I took shit like the men we were but not everyone had the arrogance of us two Astor brothers. And it was arrogance but we knew how to use that arrogance wisely. I shouldn't have been here, though. If I knew what was best for me or even my brother then I wouldn't have ever come here but I had a shit load of anger and the perfe

MIRANDAI may have had too much to drink. Was it four martinis or six? I couldn't remember and either way, it didn't matter because we had done tequila shots in between.After dinner, we had retired to the living room. Gunnar wasn't that bad. He actually had a fun side to him that apparently, Quinn brought out. Ace continued with his advances but in a teasing manner. He got a kick out of riling me up.Stupid asshole.The room began to spin and everyone's voices meshed. Gunnar was busy telling us a story about — actually I couldn't remember what it was about but it had Ace and Quinn laughing. Their laughs bounced off the walls that made up my skull. The alcohol wasn't close to leaving my system and I could already feel a headache coming on.I brought my hand up to my temple and silently groaned to myself. My head felt heavy, as if someone unscrewed the top, took out m

MIRANDA "You seem distracted," Agent Chambers waved a hand in front of my eyes that were glued on a family photo on his desk. This was the first time I found myself in his office and the first time it felt disgustingly wrong for me to be here. After what had happened over the weekend, after hearing what Ace had done for me, I knew I couldn't sell him out like this. But I didn't know how to back out of this. What excuse could I possibly give them? I gulped down my resignations and focused on Agent Chambers' mossy green eyes. He had the standard corner office for an FBI agent in his league and I was sure that he was pretty proud of it. He probably wanted to keep this office with his beautiful view and to do that, he needed my help. However, I no longer saw Ace in the same light as him. "What if Ace isn't as bad as you think he is," I sat back and crossed my right leg ov

MIRANDADaniel shoved past Ace, shoulder checking him with a grunt before making his way down the hall to the elevator. I knew I couldn't keep Ace from entering the apartment but the rage in his eyes, the redness of his face, it all sent fear racing down my spine. He waited, though, waited for me to let him in. It surprised me he hadn't just broken into my apartment in the first place.I stepped to the side and gestured for him to enter while wiping away the tears that stained my cheeks. Daniel had sat with me while we watched the whole video — the content instantly got to me. That could have been me. I could have been stuck beneath those boys. I could have been silently praying for it to stop because my body was too numb to do anything. Or maybe my mind would have gone numb too, barely registering what was happening. Maybe I wouldn't feel their icky hands on my flesh or the throbbing pain between my legs. Maybe I'd

ACEI surveyed Miranda from the corner of my eye as I drove to her apartment. She was nervous and she could deny it all she wanted but I saw it in the way her pulse hammered against her skin at the crook of her neck, in the way minuscule beads of sweat clung to her temple, and in the way she kept fidgeting or biting at her lower lip that now sported red cracks because she wouldn't stop chewing at it.Miranda could lie to my face and tell me it was what I had planned for tomorrow that was bringing on these nervous ticks of hers but she would be fucking lying. She was nervous from the moment I entered her apartment after Daniel had left. If she thought for one God damned moment I believed her pathetic excuse of having rat problems, then she probably thought I was stupid — beyond it really.And maybe I would have brushed off her behavior if it hadn't been for the way she lunged at me, pressing her lips