By the time Amos's car squeals to a stop, they are in front of a dimly lit hotel. The bleeding may have stopped, but the forceful way Ava yanked the bullet out of Ace left a lingering pain in his side. He hopes he doesn't catch an infection at the end of this ordeal.

Amos picks up a walkie-talkie from the floor of the car and mutters, "We're here, sir. Cruz poses a flight risk, as his friends have planted a tracking device on him that has not been located yet, and the radio matches his description to a T. And, well...Ava did a lousy job of taking out the bullet…"

A static filled voice answers in response. Ava scowls at the back of Amos's head. Ace moves his hand towards his pocket to take out his phone, then freezes. Taking the phone out now would only cause more trouble later.

"Do you really have to do this?" he finds himself asking. "If I'm gone, your classmates would never forgive you. Rose would never forgive you. You saw the look on her face when we left the warehouse. You heard her voice on the radio, practically hysterical and heartbroken."

"You think you're still the center or her universe," she snaps.

"And YOU clearly don't love her as much as you claim. How could you?" he retorts, getting in her face. "You started that website to take me down. Did you even realize or care you were hurting her in the process?"

"That was a mistake on my part," she admits, crossing her arms.

"Or how about when you and her started fighting at the party, not to mention letting her eat that stupid cupcake when you of all people knew she was gluten intolerant?" he accuses.

"First of all, she swung at me first. If she wasn't so blinded by your fake charm, she'd have washed her hands if you when she had the chance,"

"Yo! Both of you shut up!" Amos interrupts, slamming his hand on the dashboard. "Anything goes south and I'm holding BOTH of you responsible. Now get in the darn motel."

"Behave normally like your life depends on it, Cruz. 'Cause it does," Ava orders, clutching his wrist tightly. Her sharp nails are sure to leave angry red marks later on.

"I would, if you'd stop sinking your nails into my wrist," he hisses back.

"How else can I be sure you won't make a run for it as soon as you get the chance?" she says with a dismissive wave of her free hand. "Face it, Cruz. You're finished."

They make their way into a motel room on the top floor. Amos shuts the door and locks it.

Flopping on the bed, he orders, "Call a nearby pizza place. I haven't eaten since this afternoon."

Ava rolls her eyes and punches in the number or a local pizzeria, ordering two large cheese pizzas and a large bottle of soda.

"It's coming in 10 minutes," Ava announces to no one in particular. "Where's Dad?"

"At the hotel near the airport," Amos grunts. "Where we would have been already if you hadn't made us late."

Ava winces, a hurt look in her eyes before glaring fiercely at Ace. Ace clenches his fists, struggling to hold his temper.

"For what it's worth, Ava," he begins, unable to look back into her vindictive eyes. "I never intended for any of this to happen. I never realized that all you really wanted was Rose... or how close you two were before I came into the picture."

Ava is silent for a beat.

"Of course you didn't," she mutters, narrowing her eyes at them. "You only know Rose now, not Rose a year and 10-15 pounds ago. You only know of the Rose everyone adores, not the Rose that kids mercilessly teased because of her weight. Those rotten kids at our old school didn't care that she was a sweetheart or that she could sing like an angel. They cared about making those extra pounds on her body their target. Where were you when she sat by herself at lunch, picking at her food out of fear of becoming fatter? Where were you when a group of girls cornered her into the janitor's closet, took out permanent markers and started writing on her skin so they could outline her 'fat areas'? YOU were at precious Kepler, stepping on everyone else for your own gain."

At this point, Ace's breath is coming out in short bursts.

"I can't believe Rose never told me about this before…"he thinks. "I can't believe I'm saying this...but Ava's right. I've been so caught up in my own problems that I never saw hers. No wonder Rose never talked to me about things like this. She deserves better..."

"I need to use the bathroom," he says, brushing past her quickly and shutting the door behind him. He tries to steady his breathing. Images of Rose flash before his eyes.

Rose asking him to lunch.

Rose hugging him after he apologizes to her and her friends.

Rose kissing his forehead the first time he ended up in the hospital.

Rose crying after she thought he had betrayed her again.

Rose holding his head in her lap, trying to soothe him when he got an attack of food poisoning.

Rose holding him close in the dark closet during 7 Minutes in heaven.

Rose squeezing his hand tightly after he was admitted into the hospital the second time when he downed a bottle of pills.

Rose watching the starry night sky with him.

Rose watching with horror as the bullet struck his torso.

Rose kissing him one last time before he was abducted.

The memories make him smile, and he calms down a little until he thinks of the last thing Ava said to him.

"Where were you when a group of girls cornered her into the janitor's closet, took out permanent markers and started writing on her skin so they could outline her 'fat areas'?"

He remembers the incident yesterday with Asher and his goons. How they swarmed her, laughing. How they taunted her as she sobbed into his chest. Those ugly, black words written on her body...

" She was in need of a makeover, so we gave her one."

"Isn't she BEAUTIFUL?"

"Don't you just want to KISS her?"

Their voices rattle in his head. His knees buckle, causing him to grip the cool surface of the sink counter. He left her alone. He had a bad feeling about doing so, but the odds we stacked against them. Take the risk or face jail time. He made the wrong choice. It was his fault.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," he whispers, before covering his face with his hands in regret. The sound of sharp sniffling fills the room as his body shakes with mostly quiet sobs. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the door is open just a bit. Ava's voice is unmistakably clear.

"We did it," she says triumphantly. "We broke him."