Rumors inside the ball were spreading as the bidding continued.
“18 million,” Dr. Stephen yelled. ‘This will be my last bid. I have no more to give if he raises the price,’ he thought.
“30 million,” Ethan said with a smirk. ‘You’ll probably go bankrupt if you make another bid.’ He thought as he glared at Stephen, who was now clenching his fist.
‘Dammit! I can’t go over 30 million. What will I do?’ He thought as Athena held his hand and caressed it slowly, reassuring him it was alright.
“Don’t worry about it. Everything’s going to be fine. At least you helped drive up the price of the jewelry, and the chosen charity will receive more than half of the proceeds. It can really hel
The event ended successfully, and a few guests were lingering at the ball, enjoying themselves and mingling with each other. Austin stayed, sending Athena, Stephen, and Maxime home to be escorted by the President’s security. They left way before the party even ended.Austin planned to keep Ethan busy with the help of the media. He was planning to confront Ethan after they all left because he didn’t want to drag his father’s reputation in the dirt and make an issue of what Ethan had declared earlier.Ethan knew Austin wanted to confront him, and he stayed because he wanted to know what his friend wanted to say. He considered Austin as his family and wanted to know why they didn’t confront him when they learned the truth. When the rest of the guests left, Ethan caught Austin standing in the corner, facing the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.“Do you think you can easily take Athena away from me?” Ethan said as he approached his friend.Instead of answering, Austin
The deafening sound of the alarm woke Athena up. Last night, she set her timer two hours earlier than usual.It’s been a week since the event, and since her foundation, Good Samaritan, was one of the chosen charities to receive the money from the auction, she treated the children from the foundation on a two-day overnight field trip. It excited the kids when they heard about it.Unfortunately, Maxime was scheduled for her pre-natal check-up, and Austin was accompanying her. Ever since he’d gotten famous, Stephen’s schedule at the hospital was always full. Only Marcus could come on the trip with her, aside from the security they assigned to Athena’s safety.“I wish I could really come with you… But sadly, I can’t. I don’t want to risk our baby’s health to go on a field trip. But next time, I will promise… I will accompany you.” Maxime swore.“Don’t worry about it, Maxime… We can go on another trip after you give birth to little Austin.” Maxime’s eyes widened and cover
‘This guy looks familiar… Where did I see him?’ Marcus wondered as he looked at the guy standing beside Athena.“Who is he?” Marcus asked with a frown. Marcus looked at him from head to toe. ‘It seems like he’ll give us trouble.’ He thought.“This is Mr. Ethan Reed. He will join us on our trip.” Athena said.‘Right! I remember him! I saw him on TV, he’s that guy from the news. He was the talk of the town last time when he declared being married on national tv.’ He thought.“Why is he joining us?” He asked.“He’s the person who won one of the jewelry sets at the auction last week. And since he picked out our name for the donation, he wanted to spend time with the kids and wanted to know them better. He has a charity in country P called Savior’s Foundation. So, I allowed him to join us.” Athena raised her brows and shrugged like she was saying we can’t do anything about it. Then she stood beside Marcus and whispered, “Please don’t tell Stephen about this.” She begg
“For today’s first game… We will play tug of war!” Kath, the guardian, announced. She is hosting the event that they prepared for the kids.“Divide the groups into 2. Mr. Marcus Strout will lead team 1, and Ms. Athena Morris will lead team 2.” She announced when Ethan raised his hand.“May I join the game too?” He asked, which made Marcus shake his head in disagreement.‘Why does he need to interrupt? We don’t need him in the games. He probably isn’t even fit to do anything but look good.’‘Why can’t he just sit and watch from the bench or enjoy the beauty of nature? Or stare at Athena from afar. We both know he came here for her.’ He wanted to tell him to stop interfering, but the kids were all present and he didn’t want to be the bad guy.“Oh, okay. Alright, Mr. Reed will join us too-”“My team is already full!” Marcus interrupts the host, and he grabs the other guardian, named Leo. But he regretted it as soon as he saw Ethan grin at him and went to Athena’
Two hours had passed, and there was still no news of the missing children. It was getting late, and the other guards who helped with the search together with Marcus had returned to the villa because they could not find them.“Where’s Athena? Is she in her room? Has she come back?” Marcus asked when he noticed that she was not around, and the guards started to panic.Ethan came to the lobby, oblivious to what was happening. ‘Why is everyone in chaos? What is going on?’ He wondered.“Is there any problem? What’s all this noise?” Ethan asked.“S-sir, 2 girls from the foundation went missing… And now, Ms. Athena hasn’
“I can’t explain everything to you right now… But all I can say is… I love you,” Using his right hand, Ethan pulled Athena closer to him while his other hand supported her back as he kissed her directly on the lips.Athena froze, and her eyes widened in shock. She couldn’t figure out what to do as she saw Ethan’s eyes close like he was savoring her lips. The minute he felt Athena stiffen, he took the opportunity to deepen their kiss. He bit her lips, making Athena gasp and part her lips.Athena’s mind went blank, but she felt something stir inside her. ‘The way he kisses feels very familiar to me.’ Her heart was pounding so fast, and she felt butterflies fluttering inside her stomach, which was something new to her. She was drowning in his kisses that she forgot why they were in the forest.‘Stephen kissed me before, but my body never reacted this way.’ Upon remembering her boyfriend, Athena pushed Ethan away. She covered her mouth with her hands because she felt guilty
Marcus sighed. “Fine. I won’t tell them. But promise me, from now on, you‘ll never keep secrets from me again.” Athena smiled widely and nodded her head in agreement.“By the way, did he say something to you?” Marcus narrowed his eyes at Athena, which made her frown. She was trying to recall what Ethan did, then she remembered the sweet nothings he said to her while she was at the peak of her breakdown just to console her. “Well, I don’t recall anything. Why’d you ask?” she denied while trying not to acknowledge that her face had turned pink.“Uh. nothing.” Marcus shook his head. ‘It seems like… Ethan said nothing to her.’When they were walking back to their rooms, Athena suddenly remembered the kiss. She ran her forefinger across her lips, recalling the feel of Ethan’s lips as he ran his tongue across them and into her mouth, touching her tongue. She closed her eyes and blushed. ‘Why do you have to remember that stupid thing? You should have forgotten about it alr
“How do I look?” Athena smiled from ear to ear as she asked Maxime about her outfit.Athena was wearing a red Gail strapless bandage dress that ended above her knees, which she paired with a black 4-inch stiletto, and a Gucci sling bag. She used light makeup tied up her long wavy hair in a high ponytail.“Well, you look gorgeous as ever.” Maxime smiled as she sat on the bed carrying her baby. She looked at her friend with delight as she prepared for her date.“What time is your dinner with Stephen?” She asked.“I told him I’d meet him at 7 pm at our favorite restaurant.” She smiled.“It’s not even 6, isn’t it too early?” Athena shook her head.