Chapter Twenty-Eight

"O-oh, M-miss Dynes, we weren't expecting you for another week at least. What brings you here?" Julian stammers, slapping on a polite smile.

Dynes? Why does that name sound familiar?

It isn't anyone Athena has met in this lifetime, and she can't seem to find any trace of the family name Dynes in her previous memories. Perhaps they're famous amongst Luxe City in the fashion or entertainment industry that Athena happened upon in the past.

But why is the young miss of the Dynes family claiming to be Gabriel's fiancé?

If what she says is true, why did he kiss me? He already has a fiancé, and a beautiful one at that. Julian is aware that she was supposed to be arriving, she just arrived earlier – so why didn't Gabriel mention anything? Why bring my here, if he knew his fiancé would be joining soon?

Turmoil takes over Athena's heart, conflicting her already confused feelings towards Gabriel and their relationship, whatever that may be.

"I went to see Gabriel at Monroe Gardens, but the head butler there said that Gabriel hasn't been home in some time, and I know this suite is the only other place he would go to rest outside of his office. As his fiancé, I should be informed of where he is, why didn't you tell me he wouldn't be staying there, and who the hell is this? Why is she in Gabriel's suite?"

Athena opens her mouth but Julian quickly jumps in, his face turning serious.

"Miss Dynes, I will ask that you refrain from saying such things until the relationship between the two of you is made clear. Mr. Monroe has not yet claimed you as his fiancé and spreading such words could damage his reputation."

Miss Dynes' face goes as red as her hair. "What exactly are you saying? Is having me as his fiancé a stain on his reputation? I am Verona Dynes, only daughter and heiress to my mother's vast fortune and fashion company, there isn't anyone in K country who doesn't know our name. Mrs. Monroe understands how honorable it is for them to be tied to the Dynes name, who are you to say different?"

Ah, that explains a lot. So, she isn't Gabriel's fiancé but rather someone his mother is trying to set him up with, and she has gone in way over her head to think that she already has him locked down. But Gabriel himself hasn't even acknowledged her as his fiancé, so she came here earlier to surprise him.

Or, maybe she discovered that there is another girl staying in the same suite as him, so she has come to lay down her claims and mark her territory. She reminds Athena of a small dog, barking away and clinging to her master's leg, turning around to bite any hand that comes near him.

"Why haven't you said anything? You're trespassing into someone else's home. Why are you here?" Miss Dynes turns her attention to Athena once more, the jealous sneer back on her face. Athena can already tell she has walked into a situation she wants nothing to do with, but there is no running away now.

"Miss Dynes, pleasure to meet you. My name is Athena Rose, I am the personal assistant and junior bookkeeper for Mr. Monroe. I am just accompanying Julian for the time being, as Mr. Monroe is away on a business trip at the moment." She tries to give Miss Dynes the most authentic smile she can, in hopes that she will eliminate her as a love rival and see her as nothing more than a fellow worker.

"Gabriel has never had a personal assistant, you're lying. There are women's clothes in the guest suite, and feminine products in the bathroom, it's obvious you're his current bed toy but I'm afraid your time here is up. The rightful mistress of the house has returned, you can leave now." Miss Dynes waves her hand towards Athena and proceeds to walk further into the suite to Athena's area.

Walking into the bathroom, she starts taking all the hair and skin care products out and shoves them into a garbage bag carelessly, doing this with anything she sees that can be related to Athena or any other strangers.

It's clear this girl is extremely territorial.

Meanwhile in the living room, Julian continues to desperately get a hold of Gabriel to ask him to come back, before Miss Dynes guts the entire apartment and throws Miss Rose out, messing up everything Gabriel has been working towards when it comes to his relationship with Miss Rose.

He has been chasing Athena Rose for many years, and finally found the excuse to keep her trapped in his plan to make her fall in love with him and had been succeeding so far. Julian had almost given up hope on his hopeless romantic master, until he walked in on them the other day, acting like he didn't see anything but jumping for joy inside.

But with the sudden appearance of Miss Dynes, it's only a matter of time before misunderstandings occur and she ruins everything between Gabriel and Miss Rose.

"This better be good, Julian. You have interrupted this meeting several times."

"Master, please hurry home! We have a big problem here!" Julian cries out into the phone.

"What is the matter?"

Julian sobs. "Miss Dynes has shown up, we weren't expecting her for another week I hadn't prepared anything but she suddenly showed up at Monroe Towers, and now she is doing a sweep of the apartment and kicking out Miss Rose. I can't stop her, she has already declared out loud in front of Miss Rose that she is your fiancé, I don't know how Miss Rose took that but I made sure to try and correct Miss Dynes-"

"Alright, that's enough," Gabriel says and lets out a long sigh. "Everybody out, meeting dismissed." He waves off the confused board members sitting around him, all of them shuffling and muttering to themselves about what is so important that even big boss Monroe stopped the entire meeting for.

"What is Athena doing now?"

"W-well, she isn't doing anything. She tried to make it clear to Miss Dynes that you and her only have a working relationship, but it seems Miss Dynes has gone through the entire place prior and found all of Miss Rose' personal items, and she is now packing it all for Miss Rose. She is just standing there doing nothing."

She still only thinks they have a working relationship. Gabriel scoffs at the fact. Does she not see how hard he has been working to win over her heart? Has he not done enough?

Julian tends to remind him that Gabriel comes off rather cold and distant, making it hard for most people to approach him or feel comfortable around him. But Athena never seems to hold back when he is around, she is blunt and honest, doesn't fear retribution from him or his status. At first he knew she looked at their relationship as a means to and end for both of them, using one another to get what they wanted.

But he had hoped after he made the bold move of kissing her, that it would give her a different perspective of his treatment and care towards her.

Now, she thinks he has been leading her on this entire time, while keeping a secret fiancé in another country. How did everything get so messed up with him only being gone for a couple days?

"Keep stalling, I'll be there soon."