Author's POV
The drive back to the suite felt heavier than the traffic itself. Outside, the city zipped by, but inside the idling town car only their shaky breaths broke the stillness.
Scarlett hunched in the rear seat, staring at streaks of neon that blurred behind the dark glass. The warm gold of the Spanish sunset had melted away, swallowed by creeping dusk. The gentle morning she had woken to was now a ghost, snuffed out moments after she spotted Alexandra's red smile.
Every picture the model posed for had hovered against Ace like candlelight, and anger knotted Scarletts fingers until her palms hurt in her lap. A dull thud behind her eyes matched the rhythm.
Ace sat beside her, an arm crooked over the seat with an ease that barely masked the tight clench in his jaw. He had not spoken since they left the shoot. Not a word about Scarlett pulling away, not a word about the moth fluttering around him. Just thick silence spilling between them.
