My Ex-husband's Most Dangerous Rival

Chapter 3: Start Packing

Sienna unlocked the front door and stepped inside quietly. The house felt different now heavier, like the walls themselves knew what had happened.

Harper was still awake, sitting on the living room couch with a blanket around her shoulders. She stood up the moment she saw Sienna’s face.

“What happened?” Harper asked.

Sienna dropped her keys on the table. “We’re leaving. Tonight.”

Harper blinked. “What?”

“I can’t stay here.” Sienna’s voice was steady, but her hands were not. “My mother signed papers. Julian is going to try to take Maisie. I won’t give him the chance.”

She walked straight to Maisie’s room. Maisie was still asleep, one arm around her stuffed rabbit.

“Maisie,” she said softly, brushing her daughter’s hair. “Baby, wake up.”

Maisie stirred, eyes blinking open. “Mommy?”

“We’re going on a little trip, okay? Just you and me and Aunt Harper. I need you to help me pack some of your clothes and your rabbit. Can you do that?”

Maisie sat up slowly, still half-asleep. “Is Daddy coming?”

Sienna’s throat tightened. “Not this time, sweetheart. It’s just us tonight.”

Maisie nodded and slid off the bed. Sienna pulled out a small suitcase and started folding clothes while Maisie carefully placed her rabbit and a few toys inside.

“I called my cousin,” Harper said quietly. “We can stay at her place for a few days until we figure things out.”

Sienna nodded. “Thank you.”

They moved fast. Within twenty minutes the small suitcase was packed, Maisie was in her jacket, and the anniversary cake still sat untouched on the kitchen counter.

Just as Sienna reached for the front door, her phone rang. Julian’s name lit up the screen.

She answered.

“Where are you?” Julian’s voice was cold. “I went by the house.”

“I’m leaving,” Sienna said.

There was a short silence. “Don’t be dramatic. Put Maisie on the phone.”

“No.”

“Sienna.” His tone sharpened. “I will collect my daughter. You don’t get to disappear with her because you’re angry. The papers are being filed in the morning. If you make this difficult, I will make it worse.”

Sienna looked at Maisie, who was holding her rabbit and watching her with wide eyes. She turned slightly away.

“You can try,” she said quietly. “But you’re not taking her tonight.”

She ended the call, hands shaking, and opened the door. They left the house in Harper’s car. Maisie fell back asleep in the back seat within minutes. Sienna stared out the window, Julian’s threat still ringing in her ears.

After they settled Maisie at Harper’s cousin’s place, Sienna couldn’t sit still. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the private room at La Mer, Brielle’s hand on Julian’s chest, and her mother’s cold voice saying she was “the past.”

She needed the noise to stop. Even if it was only for a little while. She told Harper she was going out for air. Harper looked worried but didn’t stop her.

Sienna drove with no real destination. She passed the same streets twice before she finally turned toward the industrial side of town. She had driven past the club many times before and never stopped.

She parked across the street and sat in the car for several minutes with the engine off. Part of her wanted to turn around and go back. The bigger part of her opened the door and got out.

The night air smelled of oil, rain, and cigarette smoke. Inside, the heat hit her first warm bodies and the heavy scent of leather and cologne.

Sienna ordered a drink and found a spot at the far end of the bar where the crowd was thinner. The glass was cold against her palms. She stared at the dark liquid and tried to make her mind go blank.

She felt him before she fully saw him.

Ace was leaning against the wall near the back hallway, one boot hooked behind the other. The red lights cut across the dark ink on his forearm. When their eyes met, something in Sienna’s stomach pulled tight. He pushed off the wall and walked toward her slowly.

Up close the scent of leather and clean soap mixed with the heat of his skin. His voice was low and rough when he spoke.

“You look like you’re trying to disappear.”

Sienna let out a short, tired breath. “Maybe I am.”

He studied her face for a moment “Bad night?”

“The worst one yet.”

He nodded once, as if that was enough. He didn’t ask for details. He simply ordered another drink for her. The music wrapped around them. Every time his arm brushed hers, heat sparked up her skin. The low vibration of the bass seemed to settle between them.

After a while he turned his head and looked at her properly.

“You want to get out of here?” he asked quietly.

Sienna should have said no. She should have gone back to the apartment where her daughter was sleeping. Instead she heard herself say, “Yes.”

He led her through a side door and up a narrow set of stairs. A low lamp threw warm gold light across a couch and a bed against the far wall. The music still thudded faintly through the floor like a second heartbeat.

Ace closed the door. For a moment they just stood there looking at each other.

She stepped into him and kissed him like she was drowning. Ace met her with equal force, one hand sliding into her hair, the other gripping her waist hard enough to ground her. He tasted like mint and something darker. His stubble scraped lightly against her cheek as his mouth moved to her jaw, then her neck. The heat of his breath made her shiver.

They moved backward until the backs of her legs hit the bed. She sat down hard. Ace followed, bracing one knee beside her. Clothes came off in urgent pieces. When his bare chest pressed against hers, the warmth of his skin made her breath catch. She could feel the steady beat of his heart against her own racing one.

Ace’s mouth traveled lower, leaving a trail of heat across her collarbone and the soft skin of her breast while Sienna’s fingers dug into his shoulders feeling him hard already. When he finally pushed into her, the sharp, full stretch pulled a broken sound from her throat. She clung to him, legs wrapping around his waist, meeting every deep thrust like she could outrun the morning if she just held on tight enough making the bed creaked softly beneath them. The distant bass from the club mixed with the sound of their breathing. For a short while there was no Julian, no custody papers, only heat, breath, and the solid weight of him above her.

When the release hit her it tore through the numbness she had been carrying all night. Her back arched, as a shaky cry escaping her lips while her body clenched around him. Ace followed soon after, forehead pressed against hers, breath harsh and uneven against her mouth.

They stayed like that for a long moment, neither of them speaking. The only sounds were their slowing breaths and the faint thump of music from below.

Ace brushed a strand of hair from her face with surprising gentleness. He watched her with those dark eyes as she slowly sat up and began to dress. The cool air raising goosebumps along her arms.

“Take care of yourself,” he said when she reached the door.

Sienna paused with her hand on the handle “You too.”

She walked out into the night. The cold air hit her flushed skin like a slap. She could still feel the ghost of his hands on her waist and the faint burn of his stubble on her neck. She drove back to the apartment with only one clear thought in her head.

Morning was coming. And she still had no idea how she was going to keep her daughter.