Chapter 18

- Ace King -

After knowing that Louis and Zoey were here, I made sure that Mia returned home safely. The fact that Louis knew where she lived made me feel anxious.

I wished I could stay with her, protecting her from any harm that might come her way, but I couldn't. Although Mia knew my reasons to stay with her, I knew that she'd feel a bit uncomfortable.

Once I left her house, I drove back home. I tried to call my mom, but she wouldn't answer. Hopefully, she was home. I needed to tell her about Louis. It wasn't because he was a threat to her, but his father was.

Fredric was just as cruel and inhuman as his pathetic excuse of a son. It was no wonder why they got along so well.

A part of me didn't want me to tell her the possibility of Fredric being back. She'd lock herself in the house again. But I knew I had to.

She needed to know, and it was better than having her be clueless.

After parking the car, I rushed to the front door and unlocked it. Mom's car was in the driveway, so I knew she was home. Unless she took a walk of course.

"Mom!" I called out, but I was greeted by silence.

Searching around the house, I checked the bathroom, her room, dad's office. Anywhere I think she could be. When I didn't find her, I took out my phone and dialled her number.

After calling the five times and hearing nothing but her voicemail, I assumed her phone was dead. Before I could go out to find her, the door swung open, and I was surprised to see the state my mom was on.

Now I gotta deal with a drunk mom.

"Ace! You're here!" She exclaimed happily. "How was your day?"

"It was alright," I answered. "What happened to you?"

"I just went out with a few friends. They dropped me off just now."

I just stared at mom as she waltzed into the kitchen. I've never seen mom drunk before. She wasn't lightweight, so this is a surprise. I sighed before following mom.

"Ace! Did you eat the last bit of apple pie I baked this morning! I swear if you did—"

"No mom, I didn't," I interrupted. She closed the fridge before narrowing her eyes at me.

"Come on mom, you have to get to bed."

"I'm not tired."

I groaned. "Mom."

"Now you know how I feel when you get all stubborn with me," she replied before turning around.

Following behind her to make sure she didn't mess anything up, mom walked into her room before she let herself fall into the bed.

"Ace, can you get my blue notebook, please? It's inside that drawer. Third one from the top."

Doing as she instructed, I walked towards her drawers and opened the third one, but I didn't see a blue notebook.

But, there was a single file with my mom's name printed in red on it. I know I wasn't supposed to look at mom's stuff, but my curiosity got the best of me.

Picking up the file, I opened it, almost cursing out loud when I read what was in it.

"Ace, what's taking you so—" mom started before her eyes widened, stopping mid-sentence. "Huh. I completely forgot that was there."

"Care to explain?"

Nodding, mom moved so she was lying with her back on the bed. Grabbing a chair, I sat beside her before handing her the file.

Taking it from my hands, she takes out a photo and hands it to me. It was a picture of her classmates in senior year. One particular person stood out the most.

"He was one of those people who didn't have very many friends," mom spoke, and I knew exactly who she was refuting to. "People would often stare at him, but he never cared. About anything really."

Passing me a few more photos, she continued. "I fell in love with him. I don't really know how or what made me like him so much. He hated the attention at first, but eventually, he gave in when I wouldn't leave him alone," she chuckled sadly.

"Fredric was my first love, and I never wanted to let him go. No matter how much he hurt me. I hated myself for not leaving, but I just couldn't back then."

Each photo was of mom and Fredric. She looked happy. Very happy. Fredric did as well. It was hard to believe he used to be good after all the bad things I've heard about him.

"He used to be such a nice guy before he changed. He started treating me like I was worth nothing more than a penny.

I let him use me because I was too afraid to let him go. Fredric changed in a very bad way after his father passed down the company to him.

He cared less about others and more about himself. He would do anything to gain more wealth, and I mean anything. He threw me out after I gave birth to our son. Years later, I met your father.

The story he told you about Fredric was what happened to me."

"What about when you met dad? I remember something happened."

"After you had just turned seven, Fredric came back. Your dad wasn't home yet, and you were still asleep. He managed to break into our home and he..."

She didn't have to finish. I can already guess what happened.

"Ace, you know that means you and Louis are half-brothers, right?"

"Yeah, I know." The fact makes me sick.

Mom hummed, turned her head towards me before giving me the file. "You can keep this if you want."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

Taking it from her hands, I slipped the photos back into the file. "I'm sorry for what happened to you mom."

She smiled. "You have nothing to apologize for, Ace."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. Besides, I've been through the pain already. It doesn't hurt me as much as it used it."

"Before you go to sleep mom, there's something you should know."

"What's that."

"Fredric... he might be back in the neighbourhood."

Mom froze. She didn't say anything but instead told me to go to my room and get some ready. She wanted to be alone, so I did as she told once placing a glass of water on the nightstand for her when she wakes up tomorrow morning.

"Ace," she said before I left the room. "Is it alright if I make a few changes in the house?"

"Of course mom. It's your house, you don't have to ask me," I answered.

She smiled. "I just wanted to make sure."

x-X-x

"That's some deep shit," Ben said, looking at the photos.

"Don't be rude," Levi scoffed.

"I wasn't!"

Both of them already knew the story of Fredric my dad told me, so all I had to do was show them the pictures before they figured it out.

"So you and Louis are half-brothers?" Ben asked. "That's terrible! Louis is way too ugly to even be considered related to you!"

"I wonder if he knows," Levi asked, ignoring his brother.

"Most likely. I mean, his father tells him almost everything," I snapped. "The fucker probably knew from the very beginning."

"Man, you need to calm down," Ben laughed. "Where's Mia when you need her?"

"How is she?"

"Your girl is doing just fine. She'll be here in a few minutes."

Things were getting better between Mia and I. We've been taking more, and she's starting to warm up to me. It would be a long time until I've gained Mia's trust again, but I was up for the challenge. I wasn't going to lose her again. I'd do anything to get her back.

The doorbell rang, signalling that Mia had arrived. Although the walk to her place to mine wasn't that long, I wanted someone to walk her here. So I asked Sarah. For my request, her parents let her do so even though she was still grounded. I knew if somewhere were to happen, Sarah would be able to defend Mia and herself. She may not look like much, but that girl is not worth messing with.

"What going on?" Mia asked when she entered my room. "And why is Ben eating a box of pizza on your bed?"

"I'm a grown-ass man. I can do what I want," Ben defended.

"Says the one who pissed on his bed last night," Levi smirked.

"I had a nightmare!"

Ignoring the two, Mia sat down across from me. I showed her the pictures and like the rest of us, she more than surprised.

Although knowing the woman Fredric had used was my mom, it still didn't give us any clue as to what Louis is planning. Mia thought that Fredric wanted my mom again, but that's was all we could come up with. Besides that, Levi told me that Natasha, Zoey's identical twin sister, was also spotted here.

Apparently, the two arrived a few days after we did. They're staying together in a small apartment in the city. Luckily, they didn't live close to us. I don't know what I'd do if I suddenly saw Zoey standing right outside of my house.

Speaking of my house, mom wasn't kidding when she said she'd make some changes. She had fucking guards everywhere, her own personal one as well.

Fortunately, the people stationed to protect our house and mom were people who worked for Mr White, so I didn't have to worry about them.

Deciding that we shouldn't waste the day being all worried and depressed, we headed to the arcades. Luckily, the place was t as crowded as I thought It would be. We almost had the whole place to ourselves. Once getting the tokens, we all separated. However, I did make sure I was still close to Mia. She didn't mind though.

"Fucking hate this," I muttered as the plush duck fell from the claw.

"Having trouble?" Mia giggled.

"The thing falls every time I grab it with the claw!"

"Why do you want it so bad anyway?"

"It's for my mom," I answered. "She's not feeling good again. And her favourite animal is a duck so I thought I'd get her one."

Mia smiled. "That's so sweet of you."

"You were gonna say I was cute, weren't you?"

She chuckled, telling me to move before putting two tokens in the coin slot. Somehow, she was able to get the claw to grab the plush duck without it falling, and before I knew it, she had taken it from the prize box and had it in her hands.

"How!?"

"Magic," she laughed before giving it to me.

"I swear this machine hates me," I muttered. "Thanks for this, by the way."

"It's not a problem."

Nothing was said after that. Mia avoided eye contact by looking around, making me frown. But I understand. The tension between us may have subsided, but it was still there.

Mia started to walk, and not wanting her to be alone, I followed. I'm not sure she was going anywhere particularly because we literally just went in circles before walking close to the exit. Suddenly, she turned around a small smile on her face.

"Hey, Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Before I could answer, she walked passed me, and I could practically feel the smirk on her face when she left. I looked back at her to see she had joined Ben and Levi. Damn, this girl is driving me crazy.

And I fucking love it.

••• - ••• - •••

I hope this was worth the wait. I feel terrible for not updating 😭

How do you feel about this chapter? Your thoughts?

Thank you for those who were patient and not hating on me for not updating 😂 I love you guys! ❤️❤️ I really don't deserve you

Thank you for @saysyou6 for these covers!! ❤️❤️❤️