ACE
Protects

We all sat around the table. My mother introduced herself and we all continued talking.

"I didn't think you'd be back so soon." My father spoke to me from across the table.

His words caught Ace's attention as well as mine.

"Oh yeah, I decided to come visit." I shrugged my shoulders and watched my mother.

"It feels like nothing has changed." My father grinned wickedly knowing that what he said would hurt me.

I glanced down the table.

"He made a big difference in my life so I'm surprised there's no difference here." Ace announced while lighting his cigarette.

My father's expression instantly changed, from an evil grin to an empty expression.

"Everybody wants my future wife." Say Ace while sucking that nicotine, really enjoy it.

"But no one can have it except me, he's mine." It seems Ace is subtly threatening my father, even though everything Ace says is not true.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom." I smiled politely as I stood up.

I walked down the hallway to the bathroom. I shook my head while looking in the mirror.

I checked the seams on my lips, making sure none of the seams were open.

I saw the bathroom doorknob move very quickly.

I opened it, because I thought it was Ace, but it was my father.

"What did you tell him?" My father pushed me against the wall with his hands that strangled my neck.

He closed the bathroom door with his feet.

I gasped as his hands tightened around my neck.

"Ti-nobody." I squeaked as I struggled to speak due to his tightening grip.

"He behaved like that to me too." I gasped for breath, I clawed at his wrist trying to untie this grip.

The only way to get out of this situation is to lie. If my father thought Ace was putting me down too, he wouldn't be that separanoid.

"Ace hates everyone." I begged him to trust me.

Ace

Pl-please...

Anyone help me

I felt like fainting, my breath was already stammering.

Suddenly my father let go of his grip.

"I believe you, just because I know how much you don't like him." Grumpily my father and closed the door as he walked out.

I'm rumbling on the floor. My breath was heavy and my hands were shaking uncontrollably.

I close my eyes, I want to go. I want to be anywhere, except in this house.

I glanced into the mirror and saw the shape of my father's hand imprinted on my neck.

Tok..

"Sophy." I heard Raul's voice from behind the door.

I opened the door as I greeted her with a fake smile.

"Hey." I smiled a little, hoping that he would not notice my discomfort.

"I'm just checking on you plus Ace is just glaring at everyone." Raul smiled at me.

"Yes, he does that a lot." I admit.

***

My family and I talked for a while before I decided to leave.

I smell the stinging alcohol in this room. And it was definitely my father.

We all sat in the living room watching tv and the only people who actually spoke were my sisters.

Stefano and Marco are not back yet.

Ace sat on the couch with me.

"Can we go." Whisper me to Ace.

He looked a little surprised.

"You're so excited to come here and already want to go?" Ask a little worried.

"I don't feel well." Mumbled lying.

"Okay, let's go now." Ace stands.

"Huft, thank goodness Ace didn't ask you anything." My inner.

"I have important business. So Sofia and I are leaving now." Ace announced to my family.

I said goodbye to my family because I felt guilty about leaving again.

I mean it wasn't my choice, but I felt guilty because I was happy to be at Ace's house.

Yeah, she doesn't show much emotion but at least she doesn't punish me for the things I do.

Ace said he would wait for me in the car when I said goodbye to my family.

"Bye bye my princess." My father grinned happily with a naughty tone.

She froze when she realized I had told her something.

Nope, no..

No more

"What are you saying?!" Dad asked in a cold tone .

"T-nothing ...... I didn't say anything." I almost begged him to forget about it and let me go.

Scared, cold sweat began to pour out at the temples of my eyes.

"Have you just commented about me?!" My dad gritted his teeth.

"N-no." I answered, trying to pull away from the embrace. My eyes were watering for fear of what he would do to me.

"You have exceeded your limits!" Shouted my father, attracting the attention of all my family.

"You must be punished." He clutched my wrist very tightly while pulling me into the house.

"Don't dad please." Shouted him.

I screamed as we approached the door. I closed my eyes. All my family threw their faces away, ashamed that they couldn't do anything.

Ace help me

"Fernando!" Shouted Ace very angry.

I felt my father's body freeze. He forgot who his son was.

My father took his grip off my wrist. Not wasting a chance, I immediately ran into the arms of Aces.

Ace wrapped his arms around me protectively as I buried my face into the chest of his field.

"You said he was putting you down." My father was shocked by the fact that I had lied to him.

I don't know what made him more disgusted; the lies or the fact that I had the courage to lie to him for the first time in my life.

"I'll take my fiancee home and if you touch her again, you'll never see the sun again, only the light of fire will burn your skin." Ace added a malicious grin at the end of his sentence.

My brothers looked shocked and confused but they also looked relieved.

"You can't do this. He should be punished." Raung my father, lost his mind as he pulled the rest of his hair .

Ace continued to hug me as we walked towards Limousin. He opened the door and helped me in before we left.

Ace's POV

I sat in the living room, looking at him. She did not seem as happy as before; ever since she left the table.

I know his father was as much of a jerk as I was. I have a suspicion that she is often denigrated by her own father.

She's gorgeous.

I never dated any women, I just used them for fun and then I kicked them out.

Marriage is a very different lifestyle for me. I haven't decided if I want to try with him or not.

I could have been unfaithful. I don't like how my dad treats him. He looked at her like she was a punching bag waiting to be hit.

If he hurts her I swear ..... I saw my hands clenched imagining he was hurt.

Is she still a virgin?

The thought confused me. I shouldn't think of him that way. I tried desperately to get that thought out of my head.

Today I saw him laughing a lot and enjoying at least part of his time with his family.

I glanced around the room. Raul looks like a coward who protects no one but himself. They were all cowards for letting their little sister be humbled when they numbered 5 but they could not see it.

He doesn't blame anyone but himself for what happened to him and it drives me crazy.

Several hours had passed and he surprisingly asked to go home. I saw that there was an attitude from him, so I agreed to his request.

I waited in the car as he said goodbye to his family. I checked my work briefly, made sure everything was under surveillance. The stock is good, we have too much money.

I was disturbed by cries for help. I grimaced at that heartbreaking pleading voice.

****

That was Sofia.

A stream of adrenaline flowed within me when I heard her cry in fear. I'll get off the car immediately.

I saw his father clutching his wrist very tightly, making it impossible to escape and I felt like killing his father right then and there.

He knew he would get hurt if he stepped through that door but he did it anyway. His sister and mother just stood there, doing nothing.

"Fernando" My voice was furious, attracting everyone's attention.

He released his clutches from Sofia.

And I saw Sofia running straight towards me with tears streaming down her cheeks.

I feel. I wrapped my hands around him instinctively. I felt relieved as soon as he was in my arms. She buried her face into my chest and I felt her trembling in fear.

I wouldn't call this a hug. More like I'm giving her protection.

I have a natural instinct to protect it, I don't know where it came from or when I had it, it just popped out.

"I'll take my fiancee home, and if you touch her again, you'll never see the sun again, only the light of fire will burn your skin!" I grinned at the last sentence.

"Why didn't he tell me what happened to him?"

I wanted to hear Sofia yell but not for that reason. I brushed the thought off my head and took it to the car.