ATHENAThe sounds of voices woke me up from the deep sleep I was in. It was the first time I was sleeping properly in days and the only reason I could successfully achieve this was because I had gotten a prescription for some sleeping pills from the doctor. I needed some rest and every time I tried to get it, I found myself drifting more and more into thoughts that I shouldn’t have been having. Sleep had become a myth for me but that had changed when I took the drugs.I still felt sleepy even now that I woke up and looked around. If I had my way I could sleep all day but the voices which I could hear from outside had broken that fragile connection to sleep. I sat up a bit as I tried to make sense of what was going on outside. It seemed like a commotion was happening right outside my room.As I sat up, I wondered what was going on. In all the noise I could make out two voices, one was Rafael’s which I could literally recognize anywhere. The second was a woman’s, it sounded so familiar
Hermes was seated back in the same restaurant sipping a cup of tea which he paired with a croissant. The combination went so well and it was one of the things that he missed so much about the restaurant. There was no way he was going to just cancel it because of what had happened but this time he was going to take more precautions to ensure such stuff didn’t happen again.When Rafael had reached back to him the previous day to agree that they indeed needed to meet up and talk he had been very skeptical about it.“Why the sudden change of heart?” Hermes had asked,“I just want to give you a chance to say whatever it is you want to say. I am not going to have it be written that Rafael Hall did not show enough reason.”The conversation between them had made Hermes crack a smile as he realized that Rafael was a lot like him. They might be on opposite sides right now but Hermes could already imagine the havoc they would have wreaked together if Rafael had not managed to escape all those ye
ATHENADays had gone by and the whole house had been rather peaceful and quiet. Not a lot was going on as I waited patiently for the baby to come. My baby bump was becoming more and more evident with each day that passed and I found myself looking forward to actually meeting the child. A part of me dreaded what may happen after the child was born though but I tried my best not to think too deeply about it.I just wanted all of this to be over with as quickly as possible and the fastest way for that to be possible was for the baby to be born. Once the baby was born everything would return to normal, at least as normal as it could ever be.Being cooked up in the house for hours and days on end was extremely exhausting to me. It wasn’t easy for me to adjust to a life like this, I was used to doing every single thing for myself but Rafael insisted that I didn’t do anything at all. All he wanted me to focus on was giving birth to the baby. I found this cute in a way but then it wasn’t some
ATHENAThe restaurant I chose was one which I was quite familiar with already, I really enjoyed their food and everything which was one of the reasons why I went there.The guards stood in a corner of the room while I ate, it was obvious that this was clearly Rafael’s instructions. I bet he told them not to let me out of their sight the whole day. This brought a smile to my face, if there was something I liked more than anything, it was a challenge.I finished my food and got up to head to the restroom. One of the guards followed after me immediately and I stopped him right as I got to the door.“What are you doing?” I asked,“I am very sorry ma’am but we are under very clear instructions not to let you out of our sight.” He said,“I see that actually but come on, are you really going to follow me to use the restroom?” I asked, “Will your boss really be comfortable with that?”The man looked extremely embarrassed as he thought about it and I laughed.“Don’t worry I won’t be too long,”
RAFAEL“They will be out any minute now and that’s when we are going to strike.” Hernandez said to me, “Are you ready?”“You already know I am.”He was crouched beside me peering out of binoculars at the warehouse in front of us. We were both dressed in black and I reached for the pistol behind me to check it one more time. The silencer was fixed and it was fully loaded, the plan was to get in as quickly as possible without making too much noise.This was one of the warehouses which was on Hermes’s list. We had already hit two of them and had found a variety of things in them ranging from drugs to weapons and everything you could think of. Hernandez had not been joking when he said Hermes had his hands mixed in almost everything I could think of in one way or another. I had not believed at first but now it was hard to dispute it, the man was indeed truly sick.I now knew how he made his money and this was my chance to attack it from the shadows. It was very obvious that he wasn’t the
ATHENAI had been locked in the room for close to two days now. Rafael’s face when I walked into the house kept on playing in my head, he was genuinely angry at me and the fact that he didn’t even say anything about it made things tremendously worse. I hated how it made me feel, it felt like I had been struck by a bolt of lightning that pierced directly through my heart.The fact that he didn’t even let me talk or defend myself was even worse for me. He didn’t want me to even say a word to him and he hadn’t bothered to talk to me ever since the incident. I understood his anger totally, of course he was going to be angry. After all I ran away from him and his guards, there was no way for him to know where I was or if I would even return. It was enough to send anybody into a state of anger but then he should have allowed me the opportunity to even talk about it.There was a perfectly good explanation for everything if he was even willing to hear it but from the looks of things, it was o
Hermes kept on walking around his office completely furious about everything that was going on. Rafael was proving to be a bigger thorn in his flesh than the thought would be possible. The boy was actually making moves behind the scenes which were seriously hurting Hermes’s business. The confrontation with Juan about the warehouse was only the first of many. Other complaints had been flying in from literally everywhere, facilities were being hit from everywhere.At first Hermes had thought that there was a mole in the organization and had tried his best to root out those he thought would be the mole. At some point he even considered Hernandez a threat that needed to be put down but then he advised himself against it. It became obvious to him that the places which were being hit were not places that would be known by just anybody. They were key parts of his organization, where he made a lot of his financial investments.Warehouses filled with drugs, guns, money and everything were bein
ATHENAMy eyes fluttered open, as I found myself staring up at a sterile, white ceiling. I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying my best to adjust to the new influx of light that was coming in. My vision was extremely blurring and a wave of dizziness was threatening to render me unconscious again. My hands instinctively went straight for my head to feel it, there was a sharp, pounding resounding pain that didn’t seem to know when to stop.I groaned softly as I tried my best to sit up, pushing myself by my elbows. My mouth was extremely dry and my limbs felt really heavy like they were completely submerged in water. Every piece of movement seemed to push me to new levels of pain and everything was proving to be really exhausting.Looking around, I tried to make sense of everything that was around me. It was obvious I was no longer in the house as I tried to stare out of the large window that was always in the bedroom when I woke up but it was nowhere to be found. The room I was in was quite
EPILOGUETHREE MONTHS LATER“He is so beautiful.” Athena said, as she lifted up their baby and spun him around in the air.The past months after the baby had come had been nothing short of magical. She couldn’t stop staring at the baby and she thought about how different her life was now from how it had been just a couple of months ago. They were at a point of peace and Rafael had magically transformed into the sweetest person on the earth. She now saw him smile a lot, especially when he played with Jaden. They had both chosen the baby’s name together after a lot of arguments. It had been a funny scene to witness but at the end of the day, they had settled for Jaden and it was a name that suited him so well.“He has my eyes so of course he is going to look beautiful.” Rafael said, as he emerged at the door of the room.He had been standing there for a while watching his mother and Athena without them knowing. They were startled at first, but at this point they had gotten used to the f
RAFAEL“Watch your step.” I said, as I held her hands and led her into the house.She had absolutely refused my offers to carry her. In her words, she felt I had done enough. On the contrary, I felt I was yet to do enough. I was not sure if I could ever do enough to compensate for everything that I had put her through in the past few months. I felt it in my heart though, I was definitely ready to make amends for everything. That was the plan.The doctor had finally agreed to discharge her from the hospital and we got back to a welcome party from my mother. She had been extremely happy over the past few days. Ever since I told her the news at the hospital about how the baby might actually be mine, I realized that the glow which she had the first time she found out that Athena was pregnant had actually returned to her face. I couldn’t be hundred percent sure if I was the father, not until the baby was here and we were able to carry out a DNA test.I could feel it in my bones though. It
ATHENAMy eyes fluttered open, as I came to. A faint beeping noise continued to ring in my head, as I steered wondering where it was coming from. My equilibrium was still off and I had no idea what was going on around me. My mind felt like it was covered by a thick fog and it was very hard to get it clear. My eyelids felt extremely heavy and it was like they were being weighed down by invisible anchors. Finally, I was able to pry them open. It took some time for my eyes to get accustomed to the lighting in the room. There was a light which shone soft and dull right above my head, casting a pale glow across the room I was in.I looked around as it took me a moment to adjust, to process the white walls of the room it was in. There was the hum of machinery all around me, that was where the constant beeping sound was coming from and that smell. It was a very distinct smell which I recognized immediately. I had spent enough time in hospitals during my mother’s hospital to be able to recogn
“Athena!” Rafael yelled, as he rushed over to her side.He had watched her fall when he came out of the car and this had taken him completely by surprise. He knew that she could already tell exactly what had happened from the moment he stepped out of the car. The stench of failure was no doubt all around him and he had thought about it all through the drive to the house. He thought about how he was going to tell her that her father was dead and he had watched as Hernandez put a bullet through his head as he was unable to do anything about it. The mere thought of telling her such a thing troubled him so deeply and it showed on his face immediately he stepped out of the car.Without him saying a word, she could already tell that the worst had happened. The look in his eyes told more words than he could ever say. Athena had felt like she was going to cry, as if a great burden had just come upon her shoulder. A burden which was too heavy for her to bear. She felt like she was going to cru
RAFAELWe finally pulled up to the house and my mother was right outside to greet us. She was so happy that we made it out, as I watched her hug Athena deeply. She checked her to ensure that she was fine while she led her into the house. I could see a deep sadness on Athena’s face even though she tried her best to hide it for my mother’s sake. I could tell that she was greatly troubled about what happened to her father. Her words in the car kept on ringing in my head. She had asked me to help him and there was only one way I knew how to.Walking past them, I headed to my room upstairs and went straight to my wardrobe to bring out my box. This was where I kept my suit and weapons which I used when I raided Hermes’s warehouses. Every time I wore it, it meant that I was about to do something which I was not essentially going to be proud of. I stared at the box for a couple of seconds as I contemplated whether or not to open it. Questions danced around in my head as I wondered if doing th
The whole room seemed to be in a sort of chokehold, as everybody’s eyes bounced around. Hermes’s arrival had been quite unexpected to all of them and they had no idea what any of this meant or what he was doing here. From the way that he had burst in, his intentions could be told to some degree though. He was standing in between his two guards who had come into the room with him and he had a smile as he stared at the meeting which was going on at the table. Rafael most especially was very surprised by all that was going on. He wasn’t sure what to make of all of this as so many questions ran through his mind.He got up and walked over to Hermes as their eyes met.“What the fuck are you doing here?” Rafael asked,“And here I was thinking that you were an honorable man that I could trust, Mr Hall.” The investor said, as he sat up and adjusted his suit. “The last thing I was expecting was that you would bring the enemy right to my doorstep after you were the one that asked for this deal t
RAFAELAll through the night leading up to this, I found myself completely unable to sleep. This was certainly not a new phenomenon for me. Sleep had managed to elude me a lot during the past few days and I desperately hoped that I would finally be able to find rest when all of this was in the past. When Athena and the baby were safe and sound, I would finally be able to rest and think about everything. I had desperately avoided thinking about what Rachael had told me the other day. This whole time, I had not even considered the possibility that the child that Athena was carrying could be my own in any way. Initially I had seen it as a means to carry out my revenge on Hermes.Raising the child the way which he had raised me, that was what I had planned to do. That plan had since left my head, but then, I still had never considered the possibility of the child being mine. All I had thought was that the child was Athena’s ex’s and this had pissed me off so much for a reason that I was s
ATHENAEven as I sat bound to the chair with a bag over my head impeding my vision, the whole scene at the restaurant kept on playing in my head. I had seen the bullet go through Rachael as she slumped to the ground along with the gun which she had trained to my back. The whole thing had happened so fast and even though I had tried my best to get to Rafael, especially after hearing him screaming my name out loud, I wasn’t able to. I couldn’t get to him before the van pulled up beside me and the men tossed me in. As I sat in the room, I could still feel their presence all around me. I wondered who they were and nobody had bothered to tell me anything ever since we got to wherever this was. They had not spoken to me directly despite all the questions I threw their way. I was in a world where I knew no one and I struggled so hard to comprehend what was going on.I was sure of one thing though, these were completely different people from Rachael’s men. When we first got here, I had though
RAFAELWe all rode in silence as we headed to my house. Rachael was bleeding in the back seat and I had instructed one of my men to tend to her wounds. She kept staring at me without saying a word, but I could tell from the frown on her face that she was not pleased by anything that was going on. When I had offered her my assistance when she lay on the floor bleeding, she had initially tried to fight me. It had not been so much of a fight as her hand was not of so much use. The bullet was still lodged in there and I had already called the family doctor to meet me up at the house to perform a quick removal of it. The wound didn’t look entirely nasty and I was sure she was going to live through it.Hermes was not too pleased about my decision to keep her alive and he made this expressly clear. Even when I tried to place her in the back of the car, he expressly denied and insisted that he was not going to ride with someone who had been responsible for putting his daughter in harm. I coul