Bodyguard: Ace Cain

|37| Sweet Revenge

|Sweet Revenge|

Noel woke me up again, but this time he did it by chaining my hands together, which I thought was just rude. What did he expect? I wasn't going to overpower him, and I had no idea where I was in the building. Chaining me up seemed pretty pointless, yet Noel still felt the need to take extra precautions.

I had no clue why he woke me up, but it set me off, especially when he yanked my arm to get me off the couch. His grip was rough, and that frown on his face was hard to miss. He seemed genuinely annoyed, and I couldn't help but wonder what had him so worked up.

We walked for what felt like forever before finally reaching an old metal door that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. When he opened it, I found myself face to face with my dad, who was tied to a chair again. This time, he didn't have tape over his mouth, and he looked genuinely relieved to see that I was still alive as Noel pushed me inside.

"I'll be right back," Noel said before leaving us alone.

There wasn't the kind of tension I thought there'd be; it felt more confusing than anything else. My dad had been holding onto some info about my mom for who knows how long and never bothered to spill it. I'd been dying to find out if she was alright and if she'd ever come back. At first, I figured she might've just left my dad, but if that was the case, wouldn't she have taken me with her?

Neither of us knew how to kick things off, so my dad just went for it. "I'm sorry, Reign," he started.

I stared at the ground. "Why didn't you just tell me?" I shot out.

"Honestly, I thought I was doing you a favor," he replied. "But looking back, I see it would've been better if you'd known. Maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess right now."

I shook my head, feeling unreal. "You think hiding this from me was protecting me? We're talking about my mom, who's been missing forever." My emotions were all over the place. "How long have you known about this?"

He went quiet, not sure if he should say anything at all. I was already furious, and honestly, anything he said wouldn't change the anger simmering inside me. It broke my heart knowing I'd never get to say goodbye to her or see her smiling face when I got home from school. She wouldn't be there for my graduation or if I decided to go to college. Prom? Who was going to help me find a dress or style my hair? All those milestones a kid should experience—my mom would be missing them. Did he seriously not get that?

He sighed and shook his head in disappointment, feeling stuck. "Just know your mom loved you, and I'm sorry I didn't do a better job of protecting her."

His words didn't mean much to me, but I would never forget my mom's love. She always went out of her way to show it. She was the parent who was there. That made it pretty clear which one of them valued me more. My dad had a lot to make up for, and it seemed like he was starting to realize that after being stuck with Noel for the last four days.

We both fell silent again because I didn't have anything else to say. Instead, Noel was seething when the door creaked open again. Tyler walked in beside him, the guy I'd already talked to about working for him. Hailey came in too, but she didn't even glance in my direction. They all looked worried as they crowded around Noel. It was hard to tell what was going on, but being around Noel always seemed to lead to some kind of trouble.

Noel's hand slapped me across the face, causing a terrible stinging sensation. My father yelled at him to get his hands off me, but he did not listen. Instead, his hands encircled my throat as he lifted me to stand. The fire in his eyes was difficult to miss. He was angry and didn't care if he choked me or not.

"What the hell were you telling him?" He questioned me furiously.

All I could do was gasp for air, unable to respond to him. I'm not sure who he was talking about because I haven't seen anyone except Tyler and Ace in the last few days. His rage was misdirected, and I had to pay the price for it.