Chapter 157: MANIPULATIVE
Ace couldn’t sleep. He thought it was what he needed to get over the shitty day, but as he laid on bed, drawing shapes on the ceiling in his head, he knew it was going to be a long night.
What he didn’t expect was rolling out of bed, and discovering it was almost dawn.
Wearing nothing but a pair of loose pants, he walked out of his room.
As he stepped on the long hallway, his eyes couldn’t help but find Fay’s room.
Even when they weren’t on talking terms, his heart was always settled knowing she was just a little down the hall.
Things were going to be different henceforth. He wasn’t sure how different. Heck, he didn’t know just how drastic things were about to change. But they would change.
Whether she would return, or they’ll ever get to talk about all of the bullshit remained a mystery.
He sighed, and continued downstairs. At the intersection between the other side of the hallway and the staircase, he had contemplated going to his painting room, and continuing with his painting.
But even the thought of the haunted eyes of the stranger he could never forget was enough for him to shun that idea.
The sa sinking feeling he got thinking about Fay, was surprisingly the sa feeling he got thinking about the haunting painting.
He continued outside of the house, and just kept on walking.
It was only after he heard whooshing sounds he discovered in his state of absentmindedness, he had made it into the garden.
His thoughts suddenly travelled back to soti ago.
She was there. She being Fay. It was the first ti he had actually gotten real insight on her. The first ti they had really talked.
In the true light of their relationship, they had argued. It was a given, after all.
He couldn’t fathom why she was so bent on defending the atrocities of the family she was better off without.
He did understand it now. It was all a defensive chanism. If she neutralised the pain, she wouldn’t have to feel it.
She had suffered a lot, and thinking about it now broke his heart.
He moved to the edge of the fountain, and just watched the water trickle down.
His grandfather had been a master when it ca to designs. Be it interior or exterior. He was just a mastermind when it ca to putting things in order.
If he wasn’t handed over centuries of a well preserved financial institution, which everyone knew as Spades, he would have ventured into architecture.
It didn’t stop him from pursuing his passion though. He designed the house Ace occupied, and even renovated the Atticus mansion.
There were rumours that the matriarch had actually run Spades, while he followed his passion.
Ace scoffed loudly at that thought. The thing about being an Atticus, there was always so bullshit rumour about you.
Sure the matriarch had played a big role in managing Spades, but it didn’t change that his grandfather had run everything.
But he realised he was digressing from the main point, and returned his attention to the waters.
His father had made sure to add the fountain touch to the garden.
He could tell Fay loved it. The staff whispered how she was always in the garden sniffing the flowers, or singing whilst sitting at the edge of the fountain.
Those were the whispers he heard about. Not the one about sneaking around with his grandmother.
Sooner or later, he would have to speak to her to find out the real truth.
It didn’t make a lick of sense why she would send Fay his way. It would only an she had sohow been in cahoots with Grant who claid to have found Fay.
And even if it was all a plot, to what end? If she wanted him to marry so badly, she could have picked any high-class girl to do her dirty job. Why Fay?
The more he thought about it, the more his head throbbed.
He was getting dizzy from staring at the water for too long. Taking a step back, he was about to readjust his stance when from the corner of his eyes, he saw an outline.
Whipping his body around, he found Reign clad in a sheer night dress.
She smiled when he blinked in disbelief. Sowhere between laying in bed, and not being able to sleep, he had totally forgotten Reign had moved into the house.
"Did you follow ?" He asked in an irritated voice when he snapped out of his thoughts.
"I knew you wouldn’t get any sleep, so I waited," she said, coming forward.
"That was your plan all along. It’s always your thing to cause chaos, then feign innocence."
"What are you talking about, baby?"
"That’s exactly what I’m talking about. And stop with the endearing words. We both know you’re too bitter for such sweet words."
She stopped in front of him, and scowled. "You used to love bitter ."
"Love?" He scoffed. "I’m afraid that word isn’t in my dictionary when it cos to you. Sure, your body was good for a good ti, but that’s all it ever was."
Every trace of a smile was gone from her face in an instant. "Really mature, Ace. You get uncomfortable, and start to slut sha. Very mature."
"It’s not slut shaming if you’re a slut. A really pathetic slut."
She raised her hand to slap him, and he caught her wrist before she could. "Don’t you dare, Reign," he said between his teeth.
"It doesn’t matter if you like what has happened or not," she said without flinching. "I don’t give a damn if you can’t understand that whatever this is, is a consequence of your actions. None of that matters because I’m carrying your child, Ace!"
"I don’t believe you!" He scread in her face, his muscles throbbing from the anger that rushed through his body.
She shuddered at the darkness his eyes had taken. "What do you an, you don’t believe ? We slept together."
He pushed her hand away, and grappled the sides of her shoulders tightly.
"You lie about everything, Reign. You’ve always been a notorious liar. This was all your plan from the start. You’ve not been yourself since I married Fay, and you know it!"
"I know what?! Oh I know a lot of things," she nodded her head vigorously. His hand on her was strong, but she didn’t care. In her head, he was touching her, and that was what mattered. "I know that the woman you married is not who you think she is."
"Liar! Fay is good. She’s damn sure a better woman than you could ever dream of being."
"That’s not true! Your grandmother brought her into your life to deceive you. Your marriage to her was all planned!"
"True," he bobbed his head. "All planned by ."
Her eyes widened, but in a flash of seconds, returned to normal.
"That’s right, Reign. I picked Fay myself for a contract marriage that was supposed to last a year. So what the fuck are you talking about?!"
"Maybe if you listen to , you’ll understand," she said, after swiftly recovering from the shock of his announcent.
She had to think quickly. To co up with sothing that would justify the seeds she was trying to plant.
"Then make
understand. Co-on."
"You’re hurting ," she replied, buying as much ti as she could.
He didn’t let go imdiately. He held even harder until he felt her shudder. Only then did he let go.
"Explain, Reign."
"Fine. This is what I found out. Because you needed to be married for a year to get your inheritance," she began carefully. She had no idea what she was talking about, but she hoped it all made sense at the end. "She needed to control who you’d be getting married to. Mostly because she doesn’t want that inheritance for you. She planned to expose you just before the one year runs out. Do you really think the matriarch has been rooting for you all this while she has her daughter, Celine?"
"Bullshit Reign! You’re lying!"
"I’m not! She’s the reason you married Fay. She found and paid for her to stay with you."
"But Grant found Fay, not the matriarch." His face was contorted with confusion, hating that Reign was starting to make sense.
"Use your head, Ace. Do you think the matriarch doesn’t have the power to get Grant to do her bidding? You’re surrounded by snakes, Ace. Everyone is pursuing their own selfish agenda. Fay especially is not who you think she is. Did you know she isn’t really an orphan? And her Aunt is not her aunt but her mother?"
"What?! Stop it, Reign."
"You deserve the truth Ace," she took a step back, adorning an innocent look. "Go hear from her aunt, and learn the truth about the woman you think is a saint. This is not about . It’s about the truth."
She turned around, and began to walk away. As her words began to grow and branch into different thoughts in his head, he didn’t see the sinister smile that covered her face.
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