The dryness of my throat was what had woken me up from the deep sleep I had drifted into. My eyes fluttered open slowly, each one felt incredibly heavy and unfocused. My vision was extremely blurred as I tried my best to see what was going on. I blinked a lot of times, trying to get some semblance of light into my eyes but it was still met with darkness everywhere. The whole world seemed to be nothing but a swirling void, as I sat there, panic surging through my veins. The air all around me thickened, suffocating me as I struggled to beat. My heart beat thundered again and again in my ears.I tried to lift my hands in order to touch my head or try to feel around for something to clear my eyes, but they wouldn’t move. That was the first time I felt it. The rough bite of the ropes as they dug into my wrists. I immediately became conscious of the fact that my arms were pinned behind my back. My whole body tensed up as this realization hit me. I instinctively tried to twist free, but I so
RAFAELThere I was, sat in the study thinking about everything that had just happened. Hernandez was in the room with me but he was off in a corner because I couldn’t bear to even look at his face right now. We were both battered up because of the fight that had ensued. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he could do something like this to me. His explanation about everything and how he was just looking out for himself had struck a nerve in me, but then there were still much better options. If he had come to me with this from the very beginning, I would have been more open and I would have been able to do something to prevent something like this.No matter how he wanted to look at it, he betrayed me and that was the crux of the matter. My eyes caught his eye several times, as we sat in silence waiting. I had placed a call to Hermes earlier and he was on his way to the house so we would discuss everything. We were going to formulate a plan to get Athena by whatever means
Everybody in the room watched as Hernandez paraded the room in silence. He was obviously deep in thought about everything that he had just heard. He was considering his options and was desperately trying to figure out what his next step would be. Rachael had put him in a completely impossible position. It was either he came out and told the world about everything that he had been up to the past few days. This would mean definite arrest for him and would definitely lead to even worse things which he was not sure he was ready for. Him confessing to all these things would implicate the people that he was working for and they would definitely not be pleased about it. If he came out to the public about all his crimes then he was definitely a dead man.On the other hand, if he chose to be quiet about it all and did nothing, then Rachael was going to hurt Athena. The threat which she had made over the phone kept on ringing in his head and he knew that Rachael was more than capable of doing s
Hermes stood in the meeting hall of his house expectantly. His hands were visibly shaking but he paid it no heed, as he tried his best to steady his thoughts and body as much as possible. It was not proving to be so effective but then he had to try. This was going to be the first time he was having a meeting with one of the investors and he was entirely nervous. For the duration of their time together, all the investors had gone through great lengths to hide their identity and there had never once been a physical meeting, there had never been need for one. Work had always gone smoothly before and they were highly pleased at the fact that he provided results and made them a lot of money as well.The fact that he had gotten a message from one of them that he was going to be visiting him personally was definitely not a good sign. It had been so impromptu as well and there was no time for him to prepare or get his act together. Everything seemed to be happening around him all at once and
ATHENAMy eyes fluttered open once again and this time I found myself on the floor in what looked like a makeshift bed. I could tell that it was a makeshift bed because it still felt like I was on the floor and my body hurt like hell. I had no idea how I had ended up in that corner of the room as I looked around. I must have slept off and that was when they did all of this because I couldn’t remember the bed being there when I woke up the first time. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I surveyed the room. If there was anything I was thankful for, it was the fact that my limbs were no longer bound.I rubbed my wrists slowly as I touched the place where the ropes had frayed them, they were still quite red and felt very sore, but at least they were no longer in shackles. Fighting through the pain which I could feel coursing through my body, I sat up on the bed and tried my best to get up. The pregnancy was not helping matters either, as I felt my back hurt from the weight which was being
RAFAELProcessing everything that had been going on was extremely hard for me. I had just been betrayed by two people which I trusted so much, one I trusted and treated like my brother, an extension of me. Even as I sat in the study looking at the drink of whiskey which I had poured out but had been unable to drink, I could still feel the hurt in my heart. The fact that Hernandez had chosen to do something like this to me was completely beyond my ability to comprehend. It was the last thing that I thought would ever happen to me in a million yearsThe fact that Rachael had tried to warn me about it but then I had not listened to her in any way. If anything, I had pushed her to do what she was doing right now. I definitely had a huge part to play in everything that was going on. Maybe if I had handled things differently when it came to matters that were presented to me then she would not have felt the need to take matters into her own hands. A world of guilt continued to float around i
Hermes waited for Rafael to arrive at his location. The call which he had placed had been against his better judgment but it was obvious to him that time was no longer on his side. The clock was ticking and there had been no positive outcome from anywhere. His efforts to find information about Athena and Rachael had hit a roadblock and it felt like his guys were completely incompetent. He had expected this though from the beginning. Rachael was the best at what she did and there was no way she was going to be stupid not to have arranged something quite solid. If she didn’t want to be found then she was certainly not going to be found. He knew that this meant doom for Athena, especially if he didn’t do exactly what she wanted. She had his hands tied and she knew it.Rachael was a completely different breed from Rafael. From the way which Rafael had treated Athena the few times he met them. He knew that he didn’t have what it took to hurt her. He couldn’t even sense her being in danger
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