Chapter 10%
Xander sat in his car, his fingers trembling as he called my number once… twice.. hundred times and each time when his call was rejected his heart beat violently!
“Athena…blocked me?” The realization dawned on him and his entire body froze. He immediately dialed his assistant
“Athena was going to leave the Valcruz estate! She must have not gone too far, Find her now! The men scoured every plane route and place yet there was no clue to where I currently was thus despite all their efforts they could neither locate my private jet nor stop it in due course of time.&
For Xander it was hell, he drove like a madman, streets blurring past him as he was desperate to know the truth of what really happened
Was Jessica really the woman who saved him from an assassination attempt all those years ago?%
His breaths were ragged, the taste of betrayal still sharp in his mouth⠀
Jessica.
Everything she ever said. Every sweet lie, every half–truth.
It had all been her game.8
But I was the one who suffered through it all and he.. Xander made sure I was left with nothing..
He drove faster
When he reached the weathered grey door of the psychologist’s house tucked in the posh area of New York city, he didn’t wait for any appointment and instead pounded on the door like a madman.
It opened on the third knock.!!
“Dr. Mim Shen stood there elegant and composed, as she recognized Xander immediately.
“The man Athena mentioned like he was her breath.” She said accessing him with the same sharp eyes that had once tried to read the pain behind my words, all those therapy sessions that I visited alone made her realize how hellish my life was.
She stared at Xander for a long moment before asking coldly.
“I am the best professional psychologist in the city and yet the pain of that little child, the sufferings she endured for more than fifteen years made my heart break, you people must be made of stone to never melt and make a use of a girl like that… What brings you here at this odd hour?”
Xander’s voice cracked.
“Please. I need to know what happened. No lies. Just tell me. What did I miss?!
Despite letting him inside she didn’t ask Xander to sit
She walked into her office and left the door open. He followed, drenched in guilt.9
Her voice was flat.
“Athena Valcruz had one visitor in twenty years. And it was me, in court–mandated sessions.”
“Do you know what that means? Not a birthday card. Not a check–in. Not a phone call. No one came to even ask if she was okay after she just attempted suicide. ”
Xander stared at the floor, faw clenched so hard it ached.
Dr. Shen continued, her voice gaining steel.
“When she tried to take her own life at seventeen, the second time slashed her wrists with a rusted nail in the attic where she was locked, the maid who found her was fired for reporting it “}
“And Athena? She was scolded for ‘creating drama.‘ She apologized while they cleaned her blood from the floor. I was the one who reported this to police and with judicial help sent her to a far away boarding school where she only came home for holidays.” Xander reeled.
His legs gave out. He sat without realizing.
“She kept apologizing in every session. Said she was sorry for being a burden. Sorry for taking space. Sorry for crying. It was only after she met a strange man five years ago that her health started getting better.
Xander’s heart thrummed as he looked at Dr. Shen with eyes that looked like complete ruination as if his soul was set ablaze.
“What strange man?‘ His heart was beating loudly as he asked.
“Here, she wrote this letter to me on our last day of therapy session and said she would soon recover so she needs to be strong.” Xander’s fingers trembled as he opened the latter
[FROM ATHENA: Hello, Miss Miral was in my garden rescuing a litter of kittens when i saw a heavily bruised man lying in a dark colper….it was as if he was hiding from someone.
At first I was afraid to approach him but I saw that he was still breathing, his face covered with blood.
I told my father he would have tried to get rid of him to avoid controversy and if Jessica knew she would have used every means to frame me so I brought him to my room and nursed him to health that night but it was strange that he disappeared as soon as morning
come.
But you know even if I couldn’t see his face. he must have been my age, if that person can survive such wounds and live then why can’t 179
will be strong from now on.
10:01 AM ď ď·
The letter fell on the ground as Xander clutched his chest in horror as if his heart was ripped out.
“ATHENA! It was her who saved me that day!”
It was memory.
A real memory.!!
A storm…five years ago when the estate’s gardens had flooded. Thunder had rattled the trees and Xander Thorne was hiding from assasins, his entire body was broken as he bled profusely, on the verge of dying he entered the Valcruz gardens knowing that he was going to die.
Then he saw a figure in dizziness!
A fragile girl resembling a fairy.
Kneeling in the mud behind the stables, her white dress ruined, cradling a soaked cardboard box to her chest. Inside it, three half–drowned. kittens.
Din streaked her cheeks as her fingers were bleeding.8
bush unable to lift a hand, his
“What the hell are you doing?” he wanted to scream yet there was no voice in his throat as he lied near a b eyesight blurry
The girl hadn’t looked up until she heard him moan in pain “Oh my god! What to do what happend to him?” She came to him with slow steps like a fearful cat before she said “If I waited for a doctor he would be gone by morning.”
