Crossing the Lines

THIRTY TWO

Hannah's POV

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"Ace?" I mumble, slowly starting to wake up.

I looked around the dark room, feeling around for Ace in the bed, but he wasn't there. It was still dark outside so he must still be on the phone or in the bathroom. I heard people whispering down the hall, though, signaling people were awake. It didn't make sense, everyone was going to bed when I came back here.

I get up and grab Ace's shirt from the floor and button it up. The end of the hall leads into the living room and I see Oliver and Antony sitting on the couch. Antony had his shirt off and a white bandage over his shoulder from where Vinnie removed the bullet. Luckily, the Bullet went all the way through, so it didn't do any serious damage.

"What's going on?" I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. 

I look around the room to also see Vinnie and Leo sitting in the two arm chairs. All of them look to me and then each other. I give them a confused look and walk further into the living room so I can see the kitchen and dining room. They were both empty.

"Where's Ace?" Silence.

"He's gone." Leo finally spoke.

"What do you mean gone?" I ask slowly. I looked at the clock on the wall. "It's 3:00 in the morning, where the hell could he be going right now?"

"We don't know." Oliver spoke.

"He didn't even tell you guys?" I ask, looking to the two Capos.

"Hannah." Leo got my attention. He looked at all of the other boys who nodded for him to go on. "Ace got a call from Ben. When he went to answer it, though, it was Jack." My heart stopped. "Annika tortured Ben for information and he died from it." I immediately shook my head and tried to blink back tears.

No. This can't be true. I trusted her, she wouldn't kill Ben. Ben isn't dead, kidnapped maybe, but he's not dead. Ace wasn't gone. He's probably just outside, taking a phone call. Everyones okay, everyones fine. 

I quickly use the sleeves of Ace's shirt to wipe my eyes and I walk towards the door. I go outside and step on the porch, looking around the yard for Ace. He's gotta be out here somewhere, this isn't real, it's just some fucked up nightmare.

"He's not here, Hannah." I turn around to see that Vinnie had followed me out here.

He looked miserable. Vinnie normally reminded me of Oliver, always wearing a smile, but now he looked as though he may never smile again. I'm not that close with Vinnie, but I could tell he was hurting. I walked over to him and hugged him, he wrapped his arms around me and let out a shaky breath.

"I'm so sorry." I tell him, the realness slowly started to let in.

"Thanks." He sniffled and pulled away, trying not to cry. "I'm sorry about Ace. For a second there, we all thought you might be the one to break through to him."

"Why can't I now? He's coming back right?" Vinnie looks out over the field, letting out a deep breath.

"Ace has always seen himself as a machine, made for nothing but killing and ruling the mafia. He's afraid of love because he thinks it makes you weak, but he's also afraid to lose love. We're all like brothers, but Ben was Ace's closest friend. He just lost one of the few people he loves and he thinks it's his fault. You may have started to break through those walls that he puts up, but now he's building a whole new one. 

"As for the coming back part? I don't know. Whenever Ace runs off, distancing himself, he doesn't come back for months. He'll fall off the face of the earth, much like his father, and he'll be a completely different person when he comes back."