The playroom! Of course!
I grab my phone to check the cameras. But the shooting range and training area are empty.
Where is she!?
In panic, I run back to her room, bursting through the open door.
It’s not just messy—it’s almost pulled apart. Her cupboard door is open, and clothes have been tugged from theshelves, leaving the rest lying on the floor. Her bed is covered in random items as though she was busy packing and left some things behind.
My heart stammers, skipping a beat.
Her travel bag is gone.
In the bathroom, her person items are gone.
Her phone is gone.
She’s gone.
She left.
She finally escaped.
The scream that rips from my lungs is one of pure agony.Why! Why did she leave now? Was it all a ploy to get me to relax enough to let my guard down? No, it can’t be!
Grabbing my phone, I dial her number.
Each ring takes an eternity.
I begin to think she won’t answer when, finally, her voice comes through the line.
“Hello,” she says quietly, sounding drained.
“Athena!” I blurt out her name. “Where are you!” I demand.
“I had to leave, Adrian. You already know why,” she sighs. Has she been crying? Her voice sounds raw.
“I.. I don’t understand. Please, come back to me. Please, Athena. Tell me what’s going on,” I beg.
She lets out a long breath.
“My father is dead.”
I swallow hard. My first automatic response is,"I know."But instinct tells me it’s the wrong response. Because if I knew, why didn’t I tell her?
“Come home, kitten. We can talk about it. I know you must be hurting,” I say gently.
“But he died a week ago, Adrian. The day before you were supposed to meet him?”
Fuck. How would she know that?
“Athena, don’t do this. Let me explain, come home so I can explain.”
“You can’t explain your willingness to lie to me about something this big, this important. You kept it from me. You didn’t tell me about my own father’sdeath.”
“Ath…”
“Of all the things I knew about you, the one thing I was confident in was that you weren’t a liar. You were honest with me, no matter what the topic. But now I see I was wrong about that.”
