Chapter Eight

It has been two days since Gabriel's first meeting with Athena, and he hasn't heard a word from her. Anyone else might assume she has turned down the job and should start giving up hope of a positive response, but he isn't like everyone else. He is aware of how that meeting went, though some might think it went bad, it went exactly how he wanted it to.

The job offer might not interest her, but the chance to better learn how to take over the company from her father when she has the legal chance and more power to, that was his golden ticket against her. The lawyer she deals with is a close friend of Julians, who happened to be there the day Athena paid a visit to Edward Collins, and even he saw something of intrigue in her.

Why would such a young, pretty woman be visiting a lawyer's office alone? When reading up quickly on her name, it didn't take long to read that she had suffered from an attempted suicide a few months ago, and just recently woke up from the induced coma she was put under, to avoid causing further brain damage or internal damage to her body.

So again, why would someone like that be up and looking to see someone like a lawyer, before they even have the chance to recover? Julian said she didn't look like someone who just woke up from a coma and seemed more alert than ever. He barely recognized her before almost running her over, only remembering her face when she was placed in the hospital.

"Who do you think she is?" he asks me, looking over the copy of the contract I gave her on my desk. It has been sitting there since the night after their meeting, waiting for her to come back and give him her signed copy, so he can hand her his.

"It's too early to tell if she really is the same person I read about, or if she has had a sudden change of character."

Julian walks around the table towards the large bay windows, a contemplative look on his face. "I have heard of cases where people have dreams and revelations within those dreams, reflecting on their past lives and mistakes, and wake up with those memories, causing them to have a major change of heart or character," he says.

Gabriel thinks it over. It's possible, but even with that possibility, the gut feeling he has doesn't seem to fade. Since the moment she walked in, the reading he got on her has given him a odd gut-wrenching feeling, like she really isn't what she pretends to be.

But he can't call that out without any confirmation for his wild ideal. How could she not be who she is? Who else could she possibly be?

"Try and find whatever else you can on Athena Rose and her family, more specifically that half-sister of hers, Stella Madden. I read they ran into each other at a talent agency office the other day, I want to know the exact kind of relationship they have, not whatever the media has painted."

Julian nods silently and leaves the room, having his next task ahead of him.

"Keep an eye on Athena," Gabriel calls out before he leaves.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll have to be close to her, to find out more about her. While you do that, keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't fall into any trouble. God knows how many enemies I've gained recently; they've all been quiet recently and she was bound to have been caught leaving this building."

He doesn't have to explain further, Julian is already out the door. Gabriel knows this means he is left unprotected and defenseless in the meantime, but he has developed another gut feeling, this one rather negative than before.

Whether it be mere intrigue or genuine interest, Athena has caught his eye, and he would forever carry the guilt if anything happened to her because of him.

***

It has taken everything in her to keep away from her phone for the past two days, having already decided to take up the job offer and chance to be tutored and guided. Once she got home and explained what happened to Margaret, their conversation helped her decide that this was an opportunity she could use to her advantage, and therefore couldn't take the chance to pass up.

But Margaret also said not to give in so suddenly, and to make him think she isn't going to accept so she doesn't appear too eager and desperate. She doesn't want to give away to anyone, especially her father and Stella, that she is making moves and plans to take over the company and rip away everything from underneath them before they have a chance to blink.

Reading Athena's old journal and learning as much as she can about her father and the situation of her family before her soul passed has been helping when it comes to assuring everything is secure and away from prying hands, but it doesn't help to predict what her father might be planning of his own.

There is no way he is waiting in silence, especially with someone like Stella, who is dead set on taking everything away from Athena and going as far as replacing her all together. She has also been too quiet but even Chloe isn't that naïve to think she isn't planning anything herself.

It has been a few days since her father has returned to the house, something that Athena wrote in her journal was a normal occurrence before her mother even passed away. A thought that always makes Chloe want to puke in anger just thinking about it, let alone after reading it.

The further she gets into the detailed journal, the more she really mourns for Athena's lost soul, and the more fuel is added to the fire of revenge she now carries for her. In the journal Chloe has decided to keep herself, she sometimes writes little notes to Athena, hoping she is around and conscious somewhere, to see what Chloe is doing in her place, and hopes that she would be happy.

Studying the journal, the way Athena once wrote and trying to add tone to her written words has helped piece together who she once was, so she can better transgress into the new persona she hopes to take on. She wants to completely transform from Chloe Brass to Athena Rose, but she knows even with the couple weeks she has been given in this body, she is nowhere close to convincing anyone that she is merely someone who suffered a traumatic experience and had a positive self-reflection period, so she is turning into a better person.

The fact that she has already questioned during her first meeting with a official stranger, after confirming with Margaret that Athena has never met Gabriel Monroe or anyone from the Monroe family before her accident, is proof enough that she has her work cut out for her.

Margaret has been doing her best to help her remember what she can about her former memories, without Chloe giving away that she is an entirely different person still, but she hasn't made any progress other than the little bit of information she seemed to remember about the Monroe family and their casino and hotels.

Even that moment she can't explain, since it was already confirmed through Margaret that Athena has never been to a business owned by the Monroe family in her previous life or met any of the family members. So, why would she have remembered anything from her former memories, in a place neither of them had ever been?

The more she tries to figure this soul swapping situation out, the more she is left with questions instead of answers. She has thought about reaching out to Dr. Carlson again to see if there are any resources to help recover lost memories or solve amnesia, but deep down she already knows the answer to that, he has told her everything he knows. If there was another, more effective way, she can feel that even the former trust of Athena is still there for Dr. Carlson, and he would've told her of another way.

Which leaves her with nothing more than her previous plan, which is to visit places she has supposedly visited before, and the former Athena has strong connections and memories too. Margaret helped her write down a list of the places she remembers Athena mentioning and having a bit of free time during the week before she must return to her classes next week, she has decided to try and check some of them out.

"So, one of the places that Athena has mentioned the most before, is the very first place she ever did a paid modelling gig. Apparently, she ended up being an instructor a few years after thanks to her quickly rising fame," Chloe reads out dully from her list of notes.

Already having changed into a comfortable and light outfit for the warm weather outside, she slips on her shoes and trudges out the door while looking up the address for the studio.

"Are you heading out, Miss? Shall I get the driver?" Margaret asks, popping her head out from the kitchen as she hears the dragging footsteps of Athena down the carpeted stairs.

"That's alright, I'm just heading to the studio. There is proper parking there, so I shouldn't be crossing any random streets," she jokes lightly, but does add that part to reassure Margaret. It has been a little while since she has let her leave the house without someone else driving her, even to get something as simple as a coffee or food.

Margaret frowns but waves her off anyway, telling her to be careful and keep her found on sound just in case anything happens.

It is a surprisingly short drive to the studio and there is barely anyone in the parking lot, telling her that hopefully inside is practically empty. She just wants to check out the studio and see if there is some sort of locker or office where Athena might have kept personal belonging from when she was an instructor, and maybe something physical to help Chloe recover some of Athena's locked memories.

It's quiet inside, not even music or the sound of camera's, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief. She wanders down the dimly lit hallway, peering into some of the rooms along the way, seeing nothing but a cleaning and storage closet, a couple photo studios, and what looks like a closet dedicated to props and accessories.

There is one more door at the end of the hallway, which opens up into an office and locker room. Chloe cheers silently, dancing a little as she hopes she has hit the jack pot, going to the small wooden desk in the corner first to look for a set of master keys to the lockers.

After searching the drawers and finding nothing, not even anything with Athena's name on it or looking like it might belong to her, she checks her own keychain, quickly going over to the row of lockers and trying the unknown keys she has on her keychain that look like they might fit into the locks. She knows it will take her some time and if there is anyone left in the building at noon on a Wednesday, which is likely, the sound of her hurriedly trying to unlock the lockers will definitely be heard.

Keeping her eye on the door and hallway as much as possible, she almost misses when one of the keys finally opens one of the many lockers she tries. Pausing to register the shock for a few seconds, she slowly opens the locker and looks inside, a little disappointed to see nothing more than a few exposing outfits and accessories.

Digging out all the items, since they technically belong to her anyway, and dumping them into her bag, she almost misses when something slightly heavy falls into it. Digging it back out, she is surprised and overjoyed to see a small digital camera, not something you would see a professional photographer use.

Which hopefully means it is something personal and helpful to her.

Remembering where she is and how she really doesn't have any time to dawdle, she shoves camera back into her bag and quickly makes sure that everything is back in slight order so it's not so obvious that someone was in there messing around, before rushing out the door while not trying to draw attention to herself.

Getting back into her car, she takes off as casually as she can while containing the excitement in her chest and doesn't stop until she sees a gas station and pulls over to buy a pack of batteries after seeing that the digital camera has both a charged battery pack, and a spot for disposable batteries.

One can assume and prepare for the charged battery pack to be dead, and she is too eager and hopeful to wait to see if this camera contains any images or videos that will help her remember anything, or at the very least helps her figure out who Athena used to be and any information on how to handle and takedown her father.

Taking a deep breath, she rips open the pack of batteries and pops them into the camera, holding the power button and waiting with much anticipation for it to turn on. She is so distracted by this pivotal moment; she doesn't hear or see the men creeping up on her from behind, a soaked white rag in one of their hands.

The man holding the rag gets closer to her and grabs her by the bag of her head to secure her, so he can slap the cloth over her face before she has the chance to scream, causing her to take a large inhale of the chloroform soaked into the cloth. The man shushes her silently, while the others look around and make sure there is no one around to see.

Before she completely passes out and they have the chance to lift her from the bench, the man holding her head is taken out from behind by a blind attack that seems to have fallen from the sky. Chloe tries to keep her eyes open and conscious awake to see what is going on, but she has already inhaled a large amount of chloroform and is too far gone, she knows she will completely pass out soon, but still tries to get a look at her savior's face.

Everything in front of her is already a blur, even if the person were to stand right in front of her, she wouldn't be able to make out the details of their face enough to depict or remember who they are. She sees no other choice but to let sleep take over her, knowing that at the very least, someone has fought off the danger she was faced with.

But she isn't entirely sure that whoever is able to take on a group of large men, has the best intentions for her either. She can only hope that the worst place she wakes up, is another hospital bed.

Just before her vision blackens and she loses complete consciousness, she feels someone lift her up gently from the bench and chuckle as they clutch her against their chest, their body giving them away that it is a man.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Miss Rose," is the last thing she hears before she passes out, giving her no time to put together the very familiar voice.