ACE

I’ve lived my entire life in the shadows. Wearing faces that were never mine, hiding from a world I never belonged to.
I didn’t come here to stay.
I came to find my sister.
But somewhere along the way, I lost myself.
New name.
New face.
A stranger staring back at me.
I was trained to work alone. To trust no one. To feel nothing.
And then he came.
Dryston Ryder.
Arrogant. Dangerous. Unbearably persistent.
He didn’t just force me to work with him...
he stripped me bare. Peeled away every mask I ever wore… until there was nothing left to hide behind.
Now he’s trying to turn me into something I don’t recognize.
Something softer.
Something… human.
And that’s exactly why he’s dangerous.
Because if I don’t kill him soon—I might fall for him instead.

DRYSTON RYDER

I knew something was off the moment I met her.

Not weak. Not careless.
Just… wrong in a way that didn’t fit the mask she was wearing.
She played the part well—too well.
A boy with sharp instincts. A fighter who didn’t hesitate. A ghost that didn’t belong anywhere.
But I’ve spent my life reading people.
And she?
She was hiding in plain sight.
Ace.
That’s not the name she was born with.
Not the face either.
But the moment I saw through it—really saw her—everything else became irrelevant.
I didn’t expose her.
I didn’t question her.
I simply decided.
She stays.
She thinks I forced her into my world.
Truth is, I made space for her in it.
For the darkness she carries.
For the violence she doesn’t apologize for.
For the woman she buried so deep, even she forgot she existed.
I don’t want to fix her.
I want to see her.
Every version. Every fracture. Every edge she thinks makes her unworthy.
Because that’s the part of her that fits perfectly with me.
She’s still trying to run. Still hiding behind names and faces like they’ll save her.
But I don’t chase.
I wait.
And sooner or later…
she’ll realize she was never escaping me.
Not because I’m trapping her.
But because I’m the only place where she doesn’t have to pretend.