Top of Your Ambitions

“Rian, ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY?” Acacia wrapped both arms around her best friend.

Rian chuckled in the hug as she dropped the large box in her hand. After all the guests left the house, Rian got right to handing Ace his Christmas present to her. Ace and Breck didn’t want to drive all the way home so Rian allowed them to stay in the guest bedrooms upstairs. Breck was very happy about her sleeping arrangements for tonight.

“You deserve it!” Rian released her and his lips tugged upwards at her look of disbelief.

The blonde detective bent down to the fallen box and pulled out the tan colored Burberry trench coat, holding it up in awe. She continued to stare the expensive item down, treating it as if it would disappear if she blinked. Never in a million years can she ever afford this on her cop salary.

“You are crazy, do you know that?”

“I’m crazy for the best!” The drummer beamed.

He took the box away from his best friend and walked to the kitchen to recycle the item. Ace followed closely behind him with the coat resting on her arm.

“Now you make me feel shitty about what I got you.” Ace murmured more to herself.

Shortly before the party ended, Acacia handed Rian a collection of signed baseballs by some of his favorite players from Baltimore Orioles. She didn’t exactly spend money on it, using her connections to get it done. A few years ago, her team solved the murder of one of the teammates’ sister.

Nevertheless, Rian looked happy to receive the gift and for someone who is living on ordinary salary, it is the thought that counts.

“No, Ace, I do not expect you to spend money on me. The baseball collection is perfect! It has sentimental value to me and it shows me that you know more about me than I do.” He chuckled.

“Rian, you bought me a seven hundred dollar coat…”

“Because I saw you eyeing that thing when we went to that outlet,” He replied, “and besides, what kind of detective would reject a trench coat? Trench coats are the definition of detective attire!”

“Right, because when I wear it to a crime scene I wouldn’t fear getting blood all over it.” Ace chuckled sarcastically.

Rian smirked, dumping the flattened box inside the recycle bin. He sat himself on top of the kitchen counter and Ace followed his action.

“So what did you get Breck?” Ace asked.

“I got her that Michael Kors tote bag she wanted real badly. She gushed about using it as her book bag or something.”

The blonde stared at him and shook her head. This guy cares too much about the pair of them. He is such a wonderful best friend and Ace cannot ask for anyone better in her life, and Breck is probably thinking the same thing.

“What did you get her?” It was Rian’s turn to ask.

“Pfft… I got her a $25 Forever 21 gift card.” She scoffed.

Rian’s jaw dropped open as he blinked several times at the blonde.

“Ace…”

“I’m kidding… It was $100.”

“Acacia Janelle Kovacs, I got you a $700 trench coat.”

“And you shouldn’t have, Ri!”

The drummer stared at his best friend, his brown eyes boring into hers. Both lips curved upwards as they continued to share gaze. People often misunderstand their closeness, and sometimes people make assumptions about the pair. They brush the assumptions off and still come out of the accusations intact. Neither of them felt awkward when people implied that they are more than friends.

They always laugh them off and move on unfazed. And that is what real friendship is.

“Alright, I’m going to head off to bed, I’ll talk to you tomorrow!” Rian patted on her upper right arm several times and hopped off the kitchen counter.

Ace waited until Rian disappeared into his bedroom before she left the kitchen for the living room. She is about to turn the corner and climb up the stairs but the sight of Zack sitting alone on the couch stopped her. A small smile appeared on her face as she observed him without that redhead at his side.

Moments of intense contemplation later, Ace walked over to the pondering man on the couch and sat down next to him, her trench coat still intact with her arm. He looked up and acknowledged her, shooting a small smile.

“Hey.” She started.

“Hi.”

“Is everything okay?”

Zack sighed loudly, picking up the framed picture of Liezel and Tomas from the coffee table. The blonde rolled her eyes at her present from Alex, the secret Santa. This picture proved just how immature Alex is.

“This is my fault.” Zack pointed at the frame.

Ace shook her head, placing her hand over the framed picture. She shot him a meaningful look as she continued to hum in disagreement.

“It is not your fault, Zack. Beckett has had feelings for that Czech, and Alex’s idiotic actions is the extra push she needed to get there.”

It is true, Liezel mentioned to Ace about her connection with her tennis friend. They always have this sexual tension around them, as explained by Alex several years back. At the time, Liezel was madly in love with Alex and he wasn’t threatened by the said tension between the tennis players. Few months ago, Alex made the decision for her and she ran to Tomas because of Alex.

“When we were at the U.S. Open in September, I already sensed something going on between Beckett and Berdych. I warned her; I warned her to hold herself back knowing that her own boyfriend has been cheating on her behind her back. I knew this whole time and I still made her believe that she was the one who screwed up.”

“Zack…” She placed a hand on his upper biceps.

“No, Beckett will never forgive me for that.”

Beckett and Alex had a massive falling out right before she went off to play the grand slam tournament in New York City and because Liezel wanted to piss Alex off, she took Zack with her instead. While they were there, Zack witnessed the interactions between Liezel and Tomas, and he told her to restrain herself. He told her that she hadn’t tried hard enough to fight for Alex, and while he scolded her for it, he knew that Alex was the one screwing their relationship up with his infidelity.

Zack wanted Liezel’s trust but after the events of this past fall, she will never trust him again.

“I screwed my friends over.”

“You did no such thing, Zack. You kept Alex and Kaya’s affair from Beckett because you were loyal to Alex, your best friend.” Ace reasoned.

She has not had a proper conversation with Zack since they broke up a little over a year ago. After their breakup, their run-ins had been bitter and awkward. If they were not shooting hurtful one-liners at each other, they’d avoid each other. It is nice to have a decent conversation with him, even if it is about Liezel.

“Ace?” Zack hadn’t looked at her like this in such a long time.

His hazel eyes are vulnerable like the way they used to be when he adored her, and a look of confusion on his face that searched her eyes for an answer. He is trying to find comfort from her, which hadn’t happened in such a long time. Ace missed how much he needed her and it hurts her to know that he did not need her anymore.

“Yeah?” She breathed out, merely a whisper.

“If you were in my position, what would you have done?”

Ace sighed, thinking about the scenario. It is hard for her to be truthful if she imagined the said friend to be Alex. She hates him and his guts so much at this moment, so in order to give Zack a truthful answer, she imagined the scenario to be Rian and Carol. If she cares about Carol like Zack to Liezel, the situation would be easier to sort through.

“If whatever happened with Alex did with Rian, I would never betray him. I do not care who the girl is, I do not care who I would hurt—I just do not want to hurt him.” She replied honestly.

Zack gave her a solemn nod, an expression of gratitude apparent on his face. She smiled at him in return.

“Zack?”

“Yeah.”

“Never mind.” Ace shook her head, deciding against what she wanted to bring up.

She did not want to delve into the topic because it would hurt her to do so. The last thing she wanted to do is skip down memory lane, because it would remind her of what she lost. Her mind suddenly reverted to that last argument she had with Zack. He had proposed to her and she refused it, believing that her job will get in the way of their marriage.

Her idiot self broke up with Zack and took the night off to think everything through. She remembered walking into Rian and Zack’s shared loft the next morning to change her mind; but she was too late. To this day, that is her biggest regret. But she is not about to tell him that.

“Get some sleep, Ace. It’s nearly three.” Zack got up from the sofa.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for the talk, Ace.”

She smiled at him and watched as he retreated to his room.



“If you are innocent then why did you run? Why did you try to flee the country, Cummings?” Ace slammed her fist against the table of the interrogation room as she paced around the recently caught criminal.

The scruffy man with bloodshot eyes cringed at the sound of her voice, stumbling through his words in intimidation. The blonde detective rolled her eyes at his babbling and took a seat right across from him. She opened the file she has on Cummings, pulling out his rap sheet from the first page. After she took it out, she slammed it hard against the table, right in front of him.

He barely gave the rap sheet a glance because he is too busy shaking his head at her. He is definitely high, Ace thought to herself.

“Look at this. You were charged with aggravated assault, sentenced to four years for bond forgery, and charge of drug possession. How can you possibly expect me to believe that you did not kill Jenna Reese?”

“Look, detective, I didn’t do nothing! I didn’t kill her.”

“You were caught for forging bonds and you suffered in prison for four years for it. How did you get caught in the first place when you were doing so well conning your way into a rich man’s life? Because Jenna Reese tipped you off to the feds! Now, out of prison, you may only have one thing in mind…”

“No, detective!” Cummings bellowed in disagreement.

“You want to make the woman who ruined your life pay! If she is killed, she gets what she deserves!”

The criminal shook his head profusely but Ace is not going to buy it. She has been in this business long enough to tell a truthful man from a lying man. The way his eyes kept shifting from her to the rap sheet in front of him on the table. He is high, but he is also averting his gaze from her. He knows she is right, she understands him.

“It’s not easy letting something like this go. You thought that you could trust Reese when you brought her in on the secret handlings. She made you think that she is a reliable asset to your business, but she turned her back on you—your number two threw you under the bus just so she can get immunity from her crimes.”

Cummings nodded in agreement, and Ace can identify some kind of fire in his eyes. A look of anger flashed on his face before it disappeared.

“She traded my life for hers! She just handed me to the god damn feds like I was dispensable. Why should I lose four years of my life while she gets to live hers?”

“And you decided that she shouldn’t be living at all.”

Cummings’s eyes widened when he realized what the detective made him do. He shook his head profusely and shot up from his seat.

“SIT DOWN, MR. CUMMINGS.” Ace said with an undefeatable edge to her voice.

The criminal did as he was told.

“I didn’t kill her.”

Ace reached under the table and pulled out a bagged glock 19. Her eyes narrowed at him as she dumped it on the table, right next to the rap sheet. Cummings’s eyes widened like saucers, like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Ballistics tested the bullets…”

“OKAY I DID IT! THAT BITCH DESERVED TO DIE AND ROT IN HELL! Traitors do not get to live. She has committed the same crime as me and she gets to walk free?”

“Mr. Cummings, she did not possess drugs, she did not assault anyone, and she sure as hell did not kill anyone. So why don’t you turn around and put your hands behind your back?”

The criminal got up from his seat, shoulders slouched in defeat as the detective pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her belt and wrapped them around his wrists. After she was done, two officers appeared inside the interrogation room and escorted the criminal out.

She grinned in victory as she followed after them. Just as she stepped out, Jacobson and Iverson appeared from the observation room. They both smiled at her triumphantly.

“Did you just bluff your way into arresting a criminal?” Jacobson exclaimed in awe.

“Yeah, that glock did not belong to him, and the bullet did not match the shot wound. But we all know that he stashed a glock 19 somewhere, I just want his confession, not the murder weapon.” Ace said simply.

“I honestly did not think that you could pull it off. I can’t believe a man can’t tell the difference between his own gun and a police officer’s… dumbass.” Iverson shook his head as they returned to their desks.

When Detective Kovacs approach her desk, she is shocked to find that her desk is not empty. All she can see is a woman with red hair and a fancy fur coat around her body.

“Excuse me?” Ace cleared her throat.

When the woman turned, Ace nearly gasped in shock. Zack’s girlfriend.

“Wallace?”

Notes

Hope you guys like the detective elements in this story cuz its pretty damn cool! There will be some very cool cases that intertwines w/ this storyline, and u will learn a lot about Wallace.

Enjoy!

And thanks to emilypfletcher for commenting on the previous chapter!