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Alonso 'Ace' Mondego II
Not your average grocery security
A.K.A Lex Martel
Undercover meets the exiled brat
I saw her the second she walked into the store—pink wedges, oversized sunglasses, at attitude na parang siya ang CEO ng grocery. Which, technically, wasn't far from the truth. Apo siya ng may-ari, and rumor was she got exiled to Zambales for being a spoiled gossip girl with a credit card addiction.
I was just supposed to be the security manager. Low profile. Eyes on the mission. Maintain the cover. Protect the pipeline. Observe.
Pero how the hell was I supposed to focus when this drama queen came in smelling like imported shampoo and generational wealth?
She looked at me like I was either a criminal or a walking red flag with abs. To be fair, she wasn’t wrong.
Then I heard it. Chismis alert.
“Kuya Lex, may nagsabi si Ate Nicki na sugarbaby ka raw ng matrona sa yacht club,” sabi ng isa sa mga bagger habang nagbubuhat ng box ng sibuyas.
I almost choked on my black coffee.
The Gossip Girl
Sugarbaby?
Look, I wear Dior Privée kasi I like to smell like danger. My watch is vintage kasi it was my dad’s. And yes, I do maintenance work at the yacht club—because our drop point for the encrypted comms is in the yacht’s generator room. Not because may nagpapalibre sa akin ng leche flan.
I tried to keep my distance. But she kept watching me like I was a Netflix special. And I—well, I had eyes.
And she had curves.
Nakita ko siyang nagwalk-out sa chiller section one time after catching me beso Isabel. No context. Just a frozen meltdown.
She thought I was grooming a Gen Z siomai girl.
God, I wanted to laugh. But I couldn’t. Kasi when she’s hurt, it hits something deep. Parang kahit buong Las Águilas pa ang i-back up ko, I’d still feel like a loser if I made her cry.
Nicki Tantuco
Ace and Nicki
The irony? She loved me more when she thought I was broke. When I was just “Lex,” the guy na tahimik, may abs, at mukhang may issue.
She never saw the bank accounts. She never saw the empire.
She saw me.
And now that she knows I’m Ace? The agent, the heir, the man with too many scars and secrets?
She still chose me.
That’s the thing about Nicki. She’s chaos in Chanel, hurricane in heels. But damn, she’s the calm I never knew I needed.
So yeah. Maintenance man or undercover commander, I’ll wreck her peace and build her a kingdom in the ruins.
Every damn time.