Chapter Twenty-Five

Gabriel hesitates outside the door of the suite, knowing what is waiting for him on the inside, but unable to anticipate how bad it will be. When Athena had come to visit his office earlier, she didn't seem upset in anyway, but if there is anything he has learned from the women who have tried to pursue him; it's that women never tend to show or say what they're really feeling until you least expect it.

Opening the door to the suite, he sees Julian has already set up the living room with his monitor and other technical supplies to hook up Gabriel's laptop and filter out Athena's father's computer files. When he looks to the side of the door he sees the pile of magazines has disappeared and doesn't know whether to feel relieved or not.

"I already threw them out, you picked all the worse ones, too."

Gabriel nearly jumps out of his skin when she appears beside him sipping on her milk tea. "You ready?" she asks.

"Yes, just let me get my laptop out and hooked up. It might take some time to process, I'll let you know when it's ready for you to look through and listen."

"I'll stay here and help if I can," she says and takes a seat on the sofa, smiling brightly at Gabriel. He knows she is doing this on purpose, assuming he is already on edge about when she is going to spring the questions about the covers on him.

Instead of waiting in anticipation, he decides to just tackle it head on and put an end to her torture and fun.

"I bought those after meeting you, and it's more of a misunderstanding than you think. Bringing someone into my company, especially someone with an illustrious reputation as you, I wanted to make sure that there were no prior scandals I should be aware of that might arise and cause problems or be used as a weak point for you at any point. When I asked Julian to gather information, he thought the best way to find out was through your feature spreads in magazines, and I agreed with him, but I didn't expect there to be so many." He looks over the monitor and grins at her.

How did the tables get flipped like this? When did it turn from her teasing him, to him now teasing her? She can't help the blush that takes over her cheeks and childishly puffs her cheeks out and turns away from him.

Admitting that went better than he thought, he adds; "I think I chose the best ones."

"Didn't you say Julian had picked them up for research on me?"

His smile gives him away. "Not all of them."

Her face is now beat red and on fire, she has to slap her hands over her cheeks to try and hide them, but she knows its no use.

"Just get to checking, the faster I find something the faster I can get this family out of my life and never look back," she grumbles.

"Do you really dislike your family that much? Just what kind of damage have they done to you?" he asks, feeling a slight pain in his chest.

Athena scoffs. Whenever she talks about her former life as Athena, she feels guilty. The person she was then was Chloe Brass, she never went through any of the pain and hardships that Athena Rose went through, and killed herself over. She can't take that pain and make it hers, no matter how long she has lived in this body, she feels the guilt and the regret of taking someone else's story and making it hers.

"It's a long story, maybe I'll have the courage to recall it again out loud one day, but not today. I'm sorry," she says through a sad smile. It takes everything in him not to go over there and comfort her, gripping the edge of the desk to compose himself.

"You can tell me whenever you feel ready, or never. I don't need to know to understand it's painful." It's all he can say to her, to hopefully bring her a little comfort and to let her know she doesn't have to face these struggles alone anymore.

He's willing to be by her side until she no longer wishes him to be.

"It's set up. Would you like to do the honors?" he asks. Gabriel moves away from the desk but doesn't get up from the chair, only being one set up at the desk. Athena stands there awkwardly, wondering if she should grab a chair from the kitchen for herself, not daring to ask someone like Gabriel to sit on such an uncomfortable chair.

Before she can make up her mind, she is dragged down to sit on his lap, right in front of the monitor screen. "Just sit here, it will be easier for me to show you how to navigate this."

His voice is right in her ear, his breath tickling the baby hairs on her neck. She suppresses the shiver threatening to run down her spine and stays as still as possible in his lap, feeling like the bottom of her legs are on fire.

"I can just get another chair," she mutters.

She jumps in shock when he wraps an arm around her waist and secures her on his lap more. "It's fine, I'm rather comfortable."

What does he mean by that? He actually likes this?

Athena can feel her face getting hot again and tries to focus her attention on the monitor as it starts filling up with files and clips, all being pulled from her father's computer and phone.

"You never told me how you managed to do all this. Was my father really not suspicious of you, or my stepsister?" she asks.

"Actually, your stepsister was a big help. She was eager to curry my favor while I was there, so I used that to my advantage. She spilled her drink on me intentionally and offered to help me clean it out upstairs. I asked if her father had a jacket and shirt I could borrow, and she led me right to his office. From there, it wasn't hard to distract her to look for his clothing while I simply popped the chip into the computer, and his phone that was coincidentally charging right next to it. It was unbelievable, you would think these people would be more on guard when they have someone constantly plotting against them," he adds the last part in a teasing tone, suggesting that some unsavory things were said at the dinner table.

"What did my lovely stepsister tell you about me?"

Gabriel gives her a hard, long look before responding. "Nothing I cared to listen to, I'm well aware of who you are."

Athena bites her lip and turns her face away from him, unable to take the guilt that washes over her.

No, Gabriel, you don't know the real me.

"Wait, stop scrolling. What does that say?" Gabriel asks, putting his hand over hers on the mouse to stop her, only causing her to jump in shock again and swipe back up to the top. Scrolling back down, Gabriel stops on a file titled 'Will and Testimony'.

"Could this be your mother's will you have been looking for?" Gabriel asks, monitoring Athena's face. She seems just as shocked and confused.

"There's no way…" she mumbles to herself.

"What are you thinking?" he asks.

"There is no way this can be my mother's will, if Mr. Collins the lawyer didn't even know it's whereabouts. My father can't already have found it and shown it to Mr. Collins, or else I would have been summoned already for the reading of the will. This has to be…"

"A fake. Look there," Gabriel says and points to a fine print. "Do you really believe your mother would have left anything in the name of Stella and her mother? Was she even aware of Stella before she died?"

Athena looks down, trying not to let the emotions of knowing who killed her mother overwhelm her.

"She was aware that my father had been having an affair since they got together, but like a naïve person in love, she kept thinking he would change just because he said he would. In the end, it was Stella and her mother who caused her accident, and the reason this is all happening. If my mother was still alive, she would have the backing of her family to help her, whereas on my own, I have no right to anything. They never approved of my father and for good reason, so my mother was told that she would be on her own if she insisted on staying with him, and only when she left him would she be welcomed back. I tried convincing her for years to leave him, but no matter how many lies or scandals arose, she always believed his empty words and went back to him."

She doesn't even have the other side of her family to help her out. Has she really been in fighting all this in the dark by herself?

Another file pops up on the screen, showing a recording phone message, her father must be on the phone with someone now.

Opening the file, she puts on the headphones, but Gabriel stops her and puts to the microphone next to the computer.

"Whatever he is saying we're going to record, so we have the recording directly from his phone and a backup, just in case."

He really thought all of this out for her, even covering the back door for the 'what if' scenarios. If anything were to happen to these files or this computer, they will have recordings of everything anyway.

Athena opens the file and listens intently as her father's voice fills the room.

"Mr. Davis, how have you been?"

Mr. Davis? I've never heard the name before.

"Is everything set for this weekend? I have the documents and files with me, we just need to do the reading and sign everything off, right?" her father asks.

"Yes, Mr. Heroux-" He reverted back to his own name? What is going on, does he not want the shares and assets of Rose Group? He has to be a part of the family just to be eligible, that's why Stella and her mother were never owed anything and why her father tried so hard to at least make Stella a permanent Rose relative.

"Everything is set for this weekend, you just need to bring along all the documents of your company and your late wife before she passed, we will do the reading and finish with the signing. I hope everything can go smoothly for our first transaction."

Just who is this Mr. Davis? A name Athena has never heard her father mention since she was rebirthed, and can't seem to pull any memory of it from Athena's past, but he is acting almost as if he is going to be a lawyer for the fake will reading.

No, it can't be…he didn't go and get another lawyer behind Mr. Collins back to authenticate his fake will and assets? That could cause him a lot of trouble if someone were to find out…