Ace

The city felt colder at night. Streetlights flickered above the empty sidewalks, painting the wet pavement in shades of gold and silver while the distant sound of traffic faded into the background.
Sophia pulled her coat tighter around her body as she walked home from work, exhaustion heavy on her shoulders after another long day at the law firm. Her heels clicked softly against the path leading through the park — the shortcut she always took, even if most people avoided it after dark.
Ten years.
Ten years since she had left this city behind.
Back then, she had been just a teenager with messy brown hair, oversized hoodies, and dreams too big for a town that never believed in her. But now she was different. Older. Sharper. Stronger. A successful young lawyer with cold confidence in her voice, blonde hair falling over her shoulders, and a beauty that turned heads without her even trying.
The park was almost empty except for the glow of cigarettes near one of the benches ahead. Four men sat there laughing loudly, smoke curling into the chilly air. Sophia barely looked at them at first — until one of them leaned forward beneath the streetlamp.
Her steps slowed instantly.
No way.
Her heart skipped painfully against her ribs as she stared at the familiar shape of his face. The dark hair. The sharp jawline. The same tired eyes she used to know better than her own.
Ace.
The boy she had once spent entire summers with. The boy who used to walk her home every evening like it was his personal mission to protect her from the world. The boy she left behind without a goodbye when her mother moved them away.
But he wasn’t a boy anymore.
Now he sat slouched against the bench in a worn black hoodie, cigarette between his fingers, surrounded by people who looked like trouble wrapped in human skin. The expensive dreams he once talked about seemed long gone, buried somewhere beneath bad choices and sleepless nights.
Sophia felt frozen.
And then Ace looked directly at her.
His eyes slid