Copyright
Ace Of Spades by Natalie Bennett
© 2018 by Natalie Bennett. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Design: Covers By Combs
Editing by: Pinpoint Editing
Table of Contents
Copyright
Author’s Note
Playlist
Blurb
Recap
Ace Of Spades
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue-One
Epilogue-Two
What’s Next?
Acknowledgements
About Natalie
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Upcoming Releases 2018
F-Toy Pre-order
Devils With Halos8.18
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Love Depraved10.31.18
Other books by Natalie Bennett
UltraViolence Duet
UltraViolence
Blue Velvet
Obscene Trilogy
Love Obscene
Love Corrupted
Love Depraved–10/31
Badlands Series
Savages
Deviants
Outcasts
Heathens
Standalones
Mercy: A Dark Erotica
Rose De Muerte
Pernicious Red
Author’s Note
Reading Order:
Queen Of Diamonds
King Of Hearts
Ace Of Spades is the third & final book in the Old Money trilogy. This book contains various themes some readers may find offensive and objective. This is not a contemporary romance.
Note: I am not romanticizing or condoning the acts within this work of fiction.
-Thank you for reading!
Playlist
(Spotify)
Camila Cabello-Questions
Post-Malone-Blame It On Me
Adele- Love In The Dark
Zella Day-Ace Of Hearts
Khalid, Normani-Love Lies
Meg Myers-Numb
Rain Paris-Memory
Moncrieff-Serial Killer
Cardi B-Money Bag
The Weeknd-I Was Never There
Maroon 5-Cold
Hinder-Better Than Me
Ally Hills-Space
Rihanna-Fool In Love
Bruno Mars, Cardi B-Finesse
The Devil Wears Prada-Sour Breath
NF-Wait
NF-Let You Down
Blurb
Wealth. Power. Privilege.
His empire. Her dynasty.
What happens when the role you pretended to play becomes your reality?
Mateo Remmington is the elite king of a clandestine world brimming with sex, violence, and drugs.
He’s cunning, corrupt, and possessive to the point of insanity.
I’ve just become his wife, his sole obsession.
He’s my addiction, my one and only vice.
Together, we play a game of ruin, murder, and betrayal, doing whatever it takes to win.
Recap
King Of Hearts
I looked up at the large home and willed myself to be brave.
Mateo thought I’d gone on a run, but surveying my surroundings made me think he knew exactly where I was going.
Her home didn’t have gates like many of the others did, so that part was easy. Three cars sat in the drive, mine excluded, so I knew someone was home, but no one was answering the door.
Peering through the windows wasn’t an option; the curtains obscured my view. I tried the front door, but it was locked.
I circled around to the back, hitting the jackpot when I saw the French door was slid open and only a screen separated me from the inside.
My excitement rapidly diminished when I detected the sound of a central air unit engaging.
Why would that be running if the door was open?
Creeping up the back stairs, I walked across a deck and peeked in.
“Dammit,” I cursed, unable to see beyond the kitchen.
I already knew whatever I would find was not going to be pleasant, but I felt the compelling need to go inside anyway.
My tennis shoes squeaked across the immaculate linoleum. The dining room was untouched, as was the living room.
Upstairs was where I found her parents, her father on the floor half under his bed, and her mother still naked in the shower. Each had a single bullet hole in the center of their foreheads. They never saw their deaths coming.
I made it to the bathroom sink before losing the contents of my stomach.
My reflection peered back at me, looking as miserable as I felt, knowing this was my fault.
Turning the sink on, I closed my eyes and scooped water into my mouth, spitting it into the toilet. I wasn’t sure if it was worse that the bodies didn’t truly bother me or that it was the overwhelming feeling of helplessness that had made me throw up my guts.
With robotic movements, I approached the only room with an open door. Without having to go all the way inside, I saw Raine’s lifeless body inside her closet, a gaping slit in her throat and a pool of blood around her open mouth.
Two white boxes sat on her bed, one large and one small.
I didn’t want to open them, but I had to.
I entered the room, doing my best not to look at the closet.
The smaller box held another framed card. This one was deep red with a crown behind the letter K, and cracks in the heart.
King of hearts.
The larger box was a bit heavier.
My hands shook as I undid the ribbon, ignoring my ringing cell-phone.
There was a pile of ashes. Resting on top was the missing half of my jagged heart pendant.
My sister was dead.
Ace Of Spades
Part 1
Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. –Confucius
Old Money Roulette: Book Three
Chapter One
Past- 23 years old
I was a self-made god.
If I wanted someone to die, they died.
If I wanted someone to suffer, they suffered.
I could guarantee a man would have all the wealth he desired, and when he got it, I could just as easily take every last penny of it away.
And when people like, Ricardo Rias, came to me asking for help?
I made them get down on both knees and beg until their voice turned hoarse and the skin on
their lips cracked and spread like a web.
After giving him my ultimatum, I motioned for him to get up off the floor where he’d been groveling for the past twenty minutes.
His knee popped as he rose.
Tilting my head to the side, I remained silent, not immediately giving him the attention he wanted.
What was left of his pride wrapped its fist around his throat, stopping him from being the first to speak. Instead, he began to pace, moving back and forth from one side of my oval-shaped office to the other, running his hands through his dark hair until it stood on end.
Unfortunately for him, patience just so happened to be one of my best traits. Leaning back in my leather chair, I sent off a few text messages, wondering how long it would take for him to open his goddamn mouth and say something.
I didn’t have to wait long.
“I don’t understand. You want me to sign off on everything with no guarantee?” His Spanish accent grew thicker with his mounting frustration.
Letting out a deep sigh, I slid my cell in my suit jacket and leaned forward, clasping my hands on my desk.
“You’re the one who came to me, which you still have yet to explain your reasons for. I suppose they don’t matter, though. Regardless of whatever they are, these are my terms.”
“You wouldn’t let me–––.”
Holding a hand up to silence him, I uncapped my favorite metal pen and placed it down on the documents using more force than necessary. Looking him straight in the eye I repeated my ultimatum. “You either agree , or you get the fuck out of my house. I have better things to do than continue to watch your pathetic mental breakdown.”
His adams’ apple bobbed up and down. He held my gaze for a full two minutes and forty-four seconds before picking up the pen.
I’m sure he had more than a few choice words he wanted to say, but unless his request included a bullet to the head or the removal of his tongue, he knew silence was best.
“What now?” he asked once finished, recapping the pen.
“Nothing on your end, I’ll get in touch with my lawyer to make this look legit. While we wait for that to go through, you’ll be going home and staying put until I say otherwise, and I’ll be going to eat a nice dinner.”
He attempted to fix his hair, trying to hide his glassy eyes.
If this filho da puta started to cry, I would be severely pissed. I wasn’t his therapist, and I didn’t feel sorry for him.
He put himself in this position by not having the balls to do what should have been done years ago.
This man was living proof of what happened when a relationship went sideways. Love was such a fickle, complicated thing.
I’d admired Ricardo once, for being exceptionally ruthless and never folding no matter how tough things got.
Now, he was up shits creek without a paddle or a life-vest and had come to drown right in front of me. He didn’t fight hard enough, in my opinion, thus losing all the respect I’d had for him.
“When will I hear from you?”
“Sometime tomorrow if I’m not too busy drowning in pussy, the unrelated kind, of course.”
With my final jab delivered, he turned away and shuffled from the room, looking as if I’d shoved a broom handle up his ass.
The door to my home office clicked shut with his departure. He’d knowingly just signed over his entire legacy to me, never obtaining my sworn word that I wouldn’t destroy it.
Which is exactly what I intended to do.
Another round of roulette won.
There were just a few more details to deal with. I flipped open the file folder Ricardo had brought with him and stared down at the information.
Skimming over all the details about his estate and bank account information, I stopped on a fairly recent photograph.
Two nearly identical faces stared back at me.
Elena and Eva Rias’.
I hadn’t thought about them too much, to be honest, and I was unsure how to handle this little hiccup. Thumbing my lower lip, I tried to think of a solution.
What the fuck was I going to do with two twelve-in-a half-year-old girls?
Chapter Two
Present
I stared at the box of ashes for what felt like hours. My left hand hung limply by my side, Eva’s jagged heart pendant clutched within its fist.
For a minute or two, I tried to convince myself this didn’t mean anything, that she could still be wherever it was she was supposed to be. I knew she was gone, though. On a subconscious level, I’d always known.
I continued to search for her because as her sister and only family member she had left that gave a shit about her, I’d felt obligated to do so.
My prolonged denial made the truth a bitter pill to choke on and swallow.
Two symmetrical tears ran down my face, dropping off and falling silently to the beige carpet.
My cell continued to vibrate in my back pocket, stopping me from settling into a full-blown state of melancholy.
I knew who it was without having to check. I told him I was leaving, mot where I was going. I simply hopped in the car and left. Just as I thought, he knew exactly where I’d intended to go.
The idea of going back to him wasn’t feasible for me. I felt the weight of his world in every inch of my spine. His presence would only make me go completely out of my head. I couldn’t put up any semblance of defense against him in my current emotional limbo.
Shutting my eyes, I took a few deep breaths, pushing all the hurt, anger, and chaos to a dark corner of my mind.
I needed to remain cognizant of every move I made. I needed to get away from all of this and take time for myself, to regroup and sort out my shit.
I could bet my life that the car Mateo bought me was equipped with a tracker, though, so taking off in it wasn’t an option. Running wasn’t supposed to be an option, but at this point, Mateo could go straight to hell. Then again, he probably loved it there. I was positive that’s where he’d spawned from.
I slipped Eva’s necklace in the front pocket of my shorts, and then I gently placed the lid back on the box of ashes, ignoring the framed king of hearts card altogether.
There was a high possibility this wasn’t Eva, but nothing more of a statement confirming she was gone.
The whole cremation thing wasn’t Mateo’s style. The man just wasn’t that considerate.
That nugget of realization had me even more desperate to sit and evaluate this entire situation as a whole, but I was on borrowed time.
Quickly coming up with a wild, may get me killed plan, I whipped my phone out and read the last text he’d sent.
It was a simple three-worded message.
Mateo: I’ll find you.
I swallowed around the sudden obstruction lodged in my throat. How was he always so in sync with me? Knowing my every move?
Hitting reply, I typed out one lie and one truth.
Me: I’m not running. I just need to get away. I’ll come back to you. Promise.
Not waiting for a response, I jammed the phone back in my rear pocket and then rushed over to Raine’s closet.
Looking inside, it was damn near impossible to ignore the deep suture in her throat that had caused the life to drain from her body in a mess of reddish-brown liquid.
Her fixed, glassy eyes blankly judged me as I reached in and yanked a bright PINK hoodie off a hanger.
I slipped it on and grabbed my box of ashes before dashing out into the hall. My phone vibrated with another call followed by a text I continued to ignore.
I was hoping on a silent prayer that Mateo didn’t dispense any suit-clad henchman to drag me back to him.
Moving into Raine’s parents’ room, I took a second to carefully study the interior, spotting what I wanted on a nightstand.
I stepped over her father’s body whilst managing not to look down, and lifted his wallet.
I’d just touched back down on the first floor when I heard a car door slam.
“Shit,” I mu
mbled, creeping towards the front window. Shifting the wallet and my box of ashes into one hand, I wet my lips and cautiously lifted one corner of the thick curtain obscuring my view.
I caught a brief glimpse of two men and what I believed was a Porsche, immediately causing my pulse to spike. I darted away after double checking the front door was locked.
From what I’d seen thus far, Mateo’s men drove the same brand of SUV, which meant these visitors more than likely wouldn’t be pleased finding me here with three dead bodies upstairs and one of the deceased’s wallets in my hand.
“They said she’s inside,” a heavily accented voice reached my ears as I crossed the threshold into the kitchen.
Were they talking about me?
Hearing footsteps on the back deck, I snagged a purse off the breakfast bar and headed in the direction I hoped the garage door was.
I made my way around a coffee table, a massive sectional, and a plant of bamboo as quickly and as quietly as my legs would carry me.
Finding what I prayed was the correct exit; I cautiously reached for the doorknob. Relief flooded through me when vapid heat rushed at my face, and two cars appeared in my line of vision.
Slipping through the small gap in the door, I gently pulled it closed and then crept towards the cherry red sport’s vehicle on the far side of the garage, acutely aware of the men now inside the house.
Luck was apparently on my side because the door popped right open and a key fob with a BMW symbol embellished on the back was resting right in the center cup-holder.
It was pretty damn bold to leave the key to something so expensive readily available for anyone itching to take a spin in a strangers’ sports car. Then again, it probably would have been no big deal for these people to call up their insurance company, file a claim, and have the car replaced all within the same day.
Placing my box on the passenger side floor and the purse and wallet on the seat, I shut myself inside and began searching for a garage door opener.
I found it in the middle console and placed it on my lap. After adjusting the seat so I could actually reach the pedals, I took a deep breath and hit the start engine button simultaneously with the opener.
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