Chapter 132

Chapter 132
Jace’s eyelids fluttered, heavy and grainy, as if someone had stuffed sand beneath them while he was unconscious. A dull ringing pressed against the inside of his skull, and for a moment he could not remember where he was, or why he felt as though his blood had turned thick and sluggish. He inhaled, expecting to smell his sofa, or the citrusy scent of the water he had been handed earlier.

But the air was wrong.

It was cold, damp, and smelled metallic.

He opened his eyes fully, and his chest tightened.

This was not his living room.

He was not on any surface he recognised.

The world around him came into focus slowly, cracked concrete floors, towering rust-eaten metal beams, and broken windows where the moonlight sliced in faint streaks. The place looked abandoned… an old warehouse long forgotten by everyone except ghosts and criminals. The faint drip of water echoed from somewhere distant, creating a hollow rhythm that made the silence even worse.

His wrists burned.

When he moved, something scraped.

He looked down— He was tied to a metal chair. Thick rope bound his wrists behind him and wrapped around his torso so tightly he could barely lean forward.

Panic rose sharp in his throat.

What… what happened?

The last thing he remembered was drinking the water Mo… Mo had given him. His head had felt strange and heavy. Then everything had gone dark.

His heart hammered.

His mind ran.

Noah… Mila…

Where were they? Were they okay? Had they been taken too? Had someone hurt them? He swallowed hard, but his throat felt dry, almost bruised.

A sound.

Soft at first.

Footsteps, moving toward him from somewhere behind a tall stack of crates.

Jace’s breath trembled as he forced himself to look toward the sound.

A figure stepped into the dim light. Familiar. Shorter, slender, with the same soft features he had spent weeks trying to understand.

Mo.

“Mo…?” Jace whispered, completely thrown.

Mo stopped in front of him, head tilted slightly. The dim glow from the broken window illuminated Mo’s face, yet somehow, everything about her looked wrong now.....Off. Her expression was not the shy, nervous calm Jace had grown used to. Her eyes were not gentle.

They were cold and dark. Like something dead behind them.

A slow smile curved Mo’s lips.

“You are awake,” she said.

Jace stiffened. “Why… why are you here? Why am I tied up? Mo, what is going on?”

Mo chuckled softly.

“Oh, Jace,” the voice softened, becoming smooth, layered with something dangerous. “You still don’t get it?”

She leaned forward, lowering herself until her face was inches from Jace’s.

Then she whispered....

“It’s me, Jace. It’s Aiden.”

Jace’s breath lodged in his throat so violently he thought he might choke.

Aiden.....Aiden.

His pulse jumped so hard he felt dizzy. His brain refused to understand it. Wouldn’t accept it. Couldn’t.

“No…” Jace breathed. “No....Aiden is....Aiden was arrested. The police....who did they even arrest then?”

Aiden straightened slowly, laughing, soft at first, then louder and deeper. He pushed his fingers through his hair, shaking it loose in a way that made his features shift into something much more familiar, horribly familiar.

“That?” he said mockingly. “That was Victor Crane.”

Jace stared at him, horror spreading like ice water through his veins.

Victor Crane had been living in his house. Pretending to be Ben, walking past him, taking his daughter to school...taking him to work. He could have been dead at anytime.

His stomach rolled.

“And Morgan?” Jace rasped, voice trembling. “Who was he? Justin? Someone you hired? Was he part of this?”

Aiden stilled.

The coldness in his expression dimmed for a second.

“Morgan…” Aiden exhaled through his nose, as if irritated by the weight of the name. “Morgan was… nobody. He wasn’t working for us.”

Jace blinked.

“What…?”

“He came back into the house at the worst possible time,” Aiden said with a shrug. “He saw us trying to get you and the kids out. He tried to stop us. To protect you.”

Jace’s pulse stopped for a moment.

Aiden’s voice turned colder.

“He was shot. And he died.”

Something inside Jace cracked.

He could almost feel it splinter, like bone under intense pressure. Morgan, tried to stop whoever these masked men were… Morgan, who had always smiled at him gently, always tried to understand him…

Dead.

Jace squeezed his eyes shut as emotion punched him so brutally he thought he would fall out of the chair. A single breath escaped him, sharp and painful.

Aiden… why? Why any of this?

He opened his eyes again. “How long?” he whispered. “How long have you been planning this? Doing this to me?”

Aiden shrugged lightly, almost playful.

“Not that long. I actually thought I could win you back. Thought maybe you would forgive me for my… mistake.” His lips twisted. “But Justin opened my eyes.”

Jace froze.

Justin.

As if summoned by the name, the warehouse door to the right creaked open.

Footsteps echoed.

He walked in.

Justin.

Jace’s chest constricted instantly, visions of that day flashing....Justin tied to a chair… Lorenzo hitting him… the torture… the screaming… the blood…

The last time he had seen Justin had been through bruises and pain and fury.

But now Justin stood tall, lips curled into a satisfied grin.

“Well, well, well,” Justin said, voice dripping with amusement. “How ironic is this? I remember when I was the one on that seat.”

Jace clenched his jaw. “If you want me to beg you,” he spat, “that is never happening.”

Justin laughed, hard. “Beg? No, Jace. That would bore me.” He slipped on gloves as he walked closer, gaze sharp with malice. “Besides, when I begged you to let me go back then, you and Lorenzo did not listen. So why in the hell would I want to repeat that now?”

He turned to Aiden with a casual flick of his wrist.

“The gun.”

Aiden did not move at first.

Justin’s smile sharpened. “Are you a pussy now?” He scoffed. “Just because you look like one doesn’t mean you have to act like one.”

Jace’s stomach twisted at the cruelty.

Justin turned back to Jace, hand still stretched out. “Gun. Now.”

Aiden moved.

But instead of handing the gun... He pointed it at Justin.

And pulled the trigger.

The gunshot cracked violently in the hollow space.

Justin stumbled, gripping his stomach as blood seeped through his shirt. His face twisted in disbelief, pain and fury.

Aiden stepped forward, voice trembling with years of suppressed hatred.

“You know what I hate the most?” Aiden hissed. “I hate taking orders from you. I hate the way you think you are better than me. I hate that I had to degrade myself and change to a woman just because you said so. I hate you....I hate Victor.”

Justin coughed, blood staining his lips. “I knew… you were weak.”

Aiden smiled coldly.

“Say hi to Victor for me.”

He fired again.

The bullet pierced Justin’s forehead.

Justin’s body fell lifeless to the ground.

The silence afterward felt suffocating.

Aiden inhaled once, then turned slowly back to Jace.

“Now,” he said, tone shifting into something disturbingly calm, “back to the star of the show.”

“Aiden…” Jace whispered. “Why are you doing this? You’ve changed.”

“Changed?” Aiden repeated, voice rising. “I have changed. Jace, I loved you. I made one mistake and you ran off and married another man while I rotted in jail waiting for you to love me.”

He pointed the gun at Jace again, eyes bright with something unhinged.

“I worked for that buffoon Justin. Changed what I looked like. Changed my gender. Just to walk into your house and see you smiling with Elias....the son of the man who killed your parents. The man who made me do what I did to you.”

Aiden dropped the gun onto a nearby chair with a clatter.

“Did you think I wanted to kidnap Noah? Did you think I wanted to hurt you again? No. You gave me no choice.”

Jace’s chest tightened.

“Aiden… all this can still change,” he said slowly. “Please. Just stop this. Turn yourself in—”

Aiden let out a bitter, almost deranged laugh.

“Really, Jace? That’s how little you love me?” His voice shook. “If it were Elias doing this, would you tell him to turn himself in? To go to jail?”

Silence.

A painful, revealing silence.

Aiden’s expression hardened as the truth sank in.

“You really don’t love me,” he whispered. “Not the way you love him.”

“Aiden, pl—”

The word barely left Jace’s mouth before Aiden snatched the gun again, pointing it directly at his head.

“Don’t.... Say..... My..... Fucking Name!” Aiden screamed.

“Okay...okay, I won’t. Please don’t shoot…” Jace whispered, heart pounding so hard he felt faint.

“Shut up,” Aiden snapped. “Stop shouting or I swear I will blow your head of—”

Before he could finish, the warehouse door burst open—

“POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPON!”

Flashlights flooded the space.

Multiple officers rushed in, guns raised.

Aiden stumbled back, startled. He aimed the gun at one of them, but froze as he realized how outnumbered he was.

Slowly… reluctantly… he dropped the gun.

“Push the weapon forward with your foot!” an officer shouted.

Aiden did as told.

Two officers lunged, tackling him to the floor, handcuffing him with practiced force.

Jace could barely breathe.

Then... Elias walked in.

Jace’s heart stopped.

Aiden’s face contorted the moment he saw Elias, he felt rage, betrayal and heartbreak cutting through him all at once.

“No…” Aiden whispered.

But Elias did not look at Aiden.

He only looked at Jace.

The officers hurried to Jace, untying him, checking him for injuries. Another pair knelt beside Justin’s body, confirming the death before pulling out a black body bag.

Jace stood slowly, rubbing his raw, burning wrists.

Aiden glared at him, face twisted with desperation.

“How?” Aiden demanded. “How did they find you? How did they know where you were?”

Jace turned to him.

He breathed out shakily.

“Well,” he said softly, “it all started…”

He lifted his eyes—

Meeting Elias’s.​