Chapter 4%
Two days
That’s how long I stayed locked up in my bedroom packing my things in silence and preparing for my departure R
I ate nothing and barely survived but now the previous emotional wounds did not hurt…I was numb.
Soon a knock came.!!
“Athena?” Jessica’s voice came sugary sweet.
When I didn’t move to answer, the door creaked open anyway.
Jessica stepped in like she owned the place.
“Sister, I know you have been… going through things but.. it’s my birthday, and everyone’s asking where you are. You have to come and greet guests because even if father is angry with you.. you are still his daughter.
I still said nothing and continued emptying my wardrobe.
“Athena… Please? I’m just trying to keep the family together.”
And then another voice followed
Deeper. Colder. His!
“Where are you going? Why can’t you act normal once-”
“You are my servant not master, no need to forget your place,” M
for a second, his face devoid of emotions as he looked at me.D
words sliced through the atmosphere like a dagger and Xander froze
hadn’t seen him since that night. The night he sold my legacy like it was a clearance item.
“Miss Athena you have everything.” he said finally in a formal tone. “The Valcruz name…the fortune and legacy. You don’t need to compete with your sister or bully her.
The least you can do is show up for one night. Just behave.”
1 laughed.
It broke out of me bitter and raw and more painful than a sob.
Behave?
Jessica sniffled, acting innocent. “Xander, you are my sister’s bodyguard and friend so please help me…I just want Athena to come downstairs. Everyone’s talking.
I turned my face away.
If I looked at either of them another second, I was going to scream.
“Get out, I will be there.” I said finally, my voice hoarse and dull.!
Because the only thing worse than being broken….was letting them see it.
The ballroom glittered in soft pink and gold, walls dressed in roses, chandeliers dripping light like liquid sugar. Laughter floated like perfume, thick and sickly.
And then I heard him.
My father,
Laughing.
Proud.
“So, the Thorne heir himself chased after my Jessical” he beamed to a circle of men in tuxedos. “Xander Thome, of all people. I always knew my daughter was special!”
Someone asked about me,
He didn’t hesitate.
Not like Jessica. She is incomparable with that well
“Athena?” A wave of dismissal passed over his face. “She is a troublesome child. Not behaved child and is always in conflict, always needing attention.”
I froze. The words sank their claws in my throat. Still, I stood there in the shadow of the marble column, invisible but listening.
Then Jessica’s voice rang out over the mic.
“Everyone!” she sang. “I want to say something before the cake!”
People gathered, drawn like moths to her manufactured glow
She smiled sweetly, her gaze sweeping over the crowd until it landed on me. She beckoned me forward like I was part of her little act.
“I know things have been… tense…” she said, voice soft and saintly. “But I want you all to know that I and my sister have made amends.” I blinked.
She turned to me, eyes wide with false vulnerability. “I am sorry to make you angry and jealous sister, my intention was never to compete with you no matter how much you hated me I have always looked upto you…because at the end of the day, we are sisters.”
The guests murmured.
Jessica smiled like she had just performed a miracle. “I just want us to be a family again. Don’t you, Athena?”
My lips parted, but I had no voice.!!
10-00 АМ
1
She turned back to the cake, slicing it elegantly before lifting the first bite.
“To my sister” she said sweetly. “May she one day find peace and purpose.“)
She stepped closer and offered the fork to me.
I didn’t take it
Her whisper reached only my ears: “That’s the last thing you will ever taste as part of this family bitch. First your mother was thrown out and now is the time you follow her. Your father is not your own, your ex–fiance is running after me like a man in love and even your bodyguard whom you loved has chosen me above you… ”
My eyes were bloodshot red and yet I did not wish to give Jessica the satisfaction of making a fool of me thus I spun on my heel, ready to walk out of that golden hell.
And that’s when it happened. my dress tugged strongly and then..
SNAP
Air hit my spine like ice.
Gasps tore through the room.X
The weight of silk slid down my body in a merciless wave as my dress slipped down half my body making me partially bare–my breasts visible.
I clutched the fabric to my chest too late.
Cameras flashed instantly.”
A low whistle cut through the silence as men openly gawked lecherously.
My arms shook as I tried to pull the ruined dress back up, but the clasp was gone. A deliberate cut which was clean and cruel making me kneel on the floor with tears in my eyes.
Behind me, Jessica gasped like she was the one attacked.
“Oh no, sister!” she said, hand flying to her lips. “Athena, why would you do something like that? Is this for attention again?”
The crowd tumed.
Their faces melted together..shock, curiosity, disgust.
And then…
He moved.
Xander B
From the edge of the room, his gaze locked onto mine. Cold. Distant as he came forward and yet didn’t shield me.!
He shrugged off his jacket like he was shedding pity and then dropped it at my feet!
Not on my shoulders.
Not around me.
At my feet. Like it was a choice.
A gesture that said: ‘Cover yourself. You have embarrassed us all.
I knelt and grabbed it with shaking hands teared tumbling down my eyes in absolute devastation, pulling it over my trembling frame
The room fell away in blurred edges and muted laughter as Xander guided me toward the exit.”
No words. No comfort.
Just pressure at my elbow like I was some clown to be escorted out quietly.
We reached the bathroom that I rushed inside clicking the shut behind me.
My back hit the cold wall, and I slid to the floor, the marble biting into my bare thighs as I clutched Xander’s jacket around me like a makeshift shield. My breath was ragged, hands trembling, shame crawling up my spine like fire ants.&
Hot tears trailed down my eyes as I felt like it was better if the earth would open up to swallow me whole.
Then I heard Jessica’s crying voice outside.X
“W–Why would my sister do it?rk
“They way she acts…” Xander said coldly, his voice low and clipped. “Like it means nothing. Like stripping in front of hundreds was a performance she was proud of is something an innocent person like you will never understand Miss Jessica.”
Then came the words that pierced my heart like knives.
“I can’t believe a woman could act with so little self–respect.” Xander muttered. “Who takes their clothes off like that? For what. attention? Sympathy? A moment in the spotlight?”
I stared at the floor feeling like the walls closed in
“I mean, she’s always been an attentionseeker framing you and acting like a prostitute.” he continued outside. “But tonight proved it. No woman with dignity would do something like that. She exposed herself in front of everyone.“!
The words were bullets.
One
Mter
Another.
10:01 AM c c
une.
After
Another.”
He truly thought I chose this. That I planned the humiliation. That I wanted eyes crawling over my skin, wanted to be less than human in front of a ballroom full of people.
To think I loved this kind of man and gave him my heart?
I was full of regrets.
Loving him was the biggest mistake of my life.
