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CHAPTER THREE; to be queen
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T.W.: implied sexual assault. it won't happen, but it will look like it could happen, only to be stopped, so, please, if that's triggering, skip the chapter until the end. but FYI, the man gets slaughtered by Ace, so that's good. (so, there will also be gore)(this is kind of a spoiler for the whole chapter, but i felt like i should include this)
BELA MISERIA REMEMBERED THE DAY her father stopped tolerating imperfections. It was also the day she vowed not to show them anymore—with each mistake her father seemed more distant, and she wanted him close, hugging her like when she was younger. He wanted the perfect daughter like he had the perfect wife; only he didn't want her to be like her mother, a Saint-given woman who gave everything she had to help everyone—he wanted a perfect thief. After his death, Bela wanted to become the best thing she could be, her father's little Ace, a girl who made no mistakes, who trusted no one, a girl that in trying to be perfect lost herself in her loneliness.
She knew her father's expectations were impossible and still, she strived to go beyond them. Ace was the perfect thief. Everyone wanted her and yet no one ever caught her. She had treasures pilling up in her house as if souvenirs to remind her of the times her father would've looked at her—beaming with pride. Ace was the most powerful card in the deck—but she could also be the least powerful one. It all depended on the game she was playing. And, in the game of life, Ace was losing.
Bela Miseria was tired of losing. She wasn't just Ace. She didn't want to be alone—she wanted to trust people that deserved her trust, no questions asked. She wanted to show the world that she could be a queen—that she could live outside of the shadows and the false sense of security they brought. She wanted to show the world that she could be whatever the fuck she wanted and leave her father six feet under, in his grave, where he couldn't mock her for not being what he wanted her to be. She wanted to show the world she was Lavern's daughter and that she was worse than he ever was—and a better criminal than he ever could be. Bela wanted to stop pretending she was better off alone. Bela wanted to be a queen in Ketterdam, she wanted to matter in the city and leave her mark so everyone knew her face and everyone feared her taunting smile.
Ace was just a thief. She had no power, no hold on anyone. Bela could be Ace—and so much more. Bela Miseria could rule the Barrel—an Outlaw in every sense of the word, someone who could bend the world to her will, and smile while doing it.
