ATHENAMy heart had still not stopped beating frantically from the moment I stepped into the car. I kept on thinking about everything that had happened and what was going to happen. I had still not yet figured out what I was going to say and the time of reckoning was drawing closer and closer. Every time my eyes locked with Rafael’s mom’s, she shot me a smile and a look of reassurance, as if telling me everything will be alright without actually saying any words.I understood that she was trying her best to calm me down but nothing seemed to be working at that very moment. I hadn’t seen that bastard in months ever since he got married and now I was just going to show up at his doorstep with a baby in my belly. It was definitely going to be weird and I had no idea how he was going to take it.So many scenarios were running through my head as I sat in the car, tapping onto my knees, rhythmically. It was a method that I had developed many years ago in order to calm myself down when I was
RAFAELThere I sat, packed outside the building which I had just seen Athena walk into. I still couldn’t see who was in the driver’s seat of the car but whoever it was, the person was definitely in a lot of trouble. I had given very clear instructions that she was not to be let out of the house. I had made myself very clear on the matter and I definitely did not expect that anybody would go against my orders.None of what I was witnessing made sense to me, as I sat in the car trying to decode everything. I had followed the car when I saw Athena in it and all through the car ride, my mind kept on trying to decode where she was going to and what was going on but I couldn’t think of anything absolute. Everything I thought kept on pointing to one thing and I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe that she could possibly betray me and still be taking her father’s side, especially after everything that she had heard and seen.From the looks of things, it seemed like I was wrong
ATHENAThe shock was very evident on my face as I stood there, trying my best to comprehend what I was witnessing. I had seen everything unfold before my very eyes but I still couldn’t believe it. It had all happened so fast and I didn’t even have time to react to anything that was being done. I just stood there with my hands over my mouth in complete shock. Rafael was on top of Justin and was furiously pounding down on him like his life depended on it. It was obvious to me that if this continued then Justin was going to die.Out of my subconscious, I could hear screams of panic and worry but I was not sure exactly where they were coming from. Were they coming from me? Oh my God, I was the one actually screaming my lungs out, as I tried to call attention to the scene that was going on. The neighborhood where the apartment was in was very quiet and serene which was why I had chosen it for me and Justin in the first place. There were not many neighbors and no one was really walking arou
“What the fuck are you doing in my room?” Hernandez asked, as he walked into the room.He was just returning from his meeting with Rafael and right off the bat, he had figured out that his door had been messed with. He had a security system of his own in place; a piece of paper which he lodged at the top of the door. It was very easy to miss for anybody who was not looking out for it but then it made him know if someone had been in his room or not. He had not needed to do this before, but ever since he listened to the conversation between Rachael and Rafael where she suspected he was the mole, he had decided to take more precautionary steps in his dealings.Rafael was not the problem since he knew that he trusted him beyond a doubt. The major problem, the thorn in his life was Rachael and he still had not figured out a way to get her out of the picture. He had half suspected it was her that had made her way into the room but then he was shocked to still find her inside the room when h
RAFAEL“What were you even doing there?” My mother asked me as I watched Athena head upstairs to her room. All through the car ride to the house, I kept on thinking about what I had just done and how it would affect everyone. I was not sure what had come over me and I thought my days of losing control were past me by now but apparently, they weren’t. When I had seen him lift his hands to strike her, I had been filled with such hate that it threatened to drown me. I was reacting to his actions but then it was obvious even to me that I took things a step too far.From the faces of everyone who was present there, it was obvious that I had made a grave mistake. I had seen some passersby come try to take pictures and even make videos. I had no idea if they had succeeded but at that moment it was the last thing on my mind. There was this unexplainable need to protect Athena at all costs. I could not explain it but then it felt like I was not in full control of myself. That beast which I had
It was the dead of night now and there was a slight knock on Athena’s door. She had been fast asleep but then the knock woke her up slightly. She was not sure if she had heard right or if she was still sleeping. She looked around the room as she realized she was all alone. Rafael’s mother was nowhere in sight and she had been around before she slept. Athena could not even remember when she had slept and how she had ended up in bed, all she knew was that her heart was still heavy from what had happened that afternoon. She looked around as she tried to figure out what the time was and that was when she heard another knock on the door. It was louder than the previous one and that was when she realized she had not dreamt it.The knocks kept getting more and more frequent and she wondered who was at her door by this hour of the night. She got up from bed and made her way to the door but then she didn’t open it. There was a faint idea in her head on who it was but then she needed to confirm
ATHENAI opened my eyes to the rays of sunlight gradually coming in from the slightly opened window. I had not realized it was already morning which surprised me because I had not actually been asleep. Sleeping had proven to be quite a luxury that seemed to erode me a lot these days. Most times I didn’t know exactly what the cause of my insomnia was and my head was usually filled with random thoughts, but it was totally different this time. There was only one thought that completely filled my mind for hours on end. Thoughts of him.It felt like he was everywhere I looked and even when I closed my eyes, I kept on thinking of everything that happened last night. The soft brush of his fingers on my face, the look he had in his eyes as he stared down at me, the way he pulled me into him and the way he spoke so softly. It was like he was a completely different individual from what I knew. He reminded me a lot of the person I met the first night I saw him. The man who I had allowed to know
Hermes stood at the door of the shop with one of his men. His eyes were fixed on Athena and Rafael’s mother. He could see a deep sense of fear in the woman’s eyes and he knew that she remembered every single thing that he did to her back then. This brought a deep smile to his face as he walked into the store. Their eyes tracked his movements as the two women were frozen in shock, completely unable to move. So many thoughts were running through their heads as they exchanged glances and wondered what he was doing there.“What are you doing here?” Athena asked, finally finding her voice.“Like I said, we need to talk.” Hermes said, as he moved closer to her.Rafael’s mother stepped in between the both of them. It took the last bit of courage in her mind to do this as she remembered every detail of what had happened when she was kidnapped. She could feel her mind go into full on panic mode when she saw him step into the store and it felt like she was back in that cold dark room which Hern
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