Chapter Thirty

It should take Gabriel at least a few hours to get back to Monroe Towers, which means Julian has to find a way to put a stop to Miss Dynes rampage before she chases off Miss Rose for good. What confuses him is that Miss Rose seems to be letting her pack up her things without saying anything, she is just standing there observing Miss Dynes as she rushes around angrily and tosses all her things into garbage bags.

"Well, why are you just standing there? I demand you pack your things and leave immediately. I won't have some homewrecker mistress staying here under my watch!" Miss Dynes continues to kick up a fuss.

Athena lets out a light chuckle.

"Miss Dynes, have you stopped to give me the chance to explain who I am and why I am here?" she asks.

"I don't care to hear whatever lies you're going to spew, you're just a nobody who doesn't know her place. You've had fun with my fiancé for a while, now it's time for you to wake up and return to your own reality."

Miss Dynes turns and takes a glass figurine, picking it up and smashing it on the ground. Julian cries out and rushes towards the now shattered pieces.

"This was property of Mr. Monroe, are you crazy?" He cries out but stops and composes himself, giving Miss Dynes a serious and angered look. "You've gone on long enough now; I must insist that you stop destroying Mr. Monroe's property. I have already contacted him, and he is own his way back, so please be patient until his return."

Miss Dynes smiles smugly at Athena.

"Good, the sooner he gets rid of this ugly homewrecker, the better."

"Who are you referring to as a homewrecker?"

Everyone nearly jumps at the sudden arrival and sound of Gabriel, standing behind them in the entrance foyer. He throws his jacket onto the armchair in the living room as he passes, his eye fixated on Miss Dynes.

"Gabriel!" she squeals and rushes towards him.

"By definition, a home wrecker is someone who enters another's home and wreck their things. If I understand what I just saw correctly, Miss Dynes, you are the only one who has entered my home and wrecked my things."

She comes to a halting stop and pouts under the intense glare from Gabriel.

"What do you mean, Gabriel? Why are you being so harsh to me? I just came to surprise you and found some random girl in your home. You're going to be marrying me some day, don't I have a right to be upset about another girl trying to get close to you?"

Athena tries not to cringe at the whining sound of Miss Dyne's voice, sounding like nails on a chalkboard to her. She turns to Julian and motions for him to help her pick up her things that have been scattered about, not wanting to witness the scene of a girl clinging to Gabriel in front of her.

She has barely processed her own feelings for him, she doesn't need jealousy to rear it's ugly head into the mess of her emotions right now, and cause her to make this already awkward situation worse with her own overwhelming emotions.

Although she tries to hide her feelings well, she is an open book to Gabriel, and he can tell right away that she is upset at the display but is trying her best to remain modest and ignore it, knowing when not to step in.

"Don't pick it up," he tells her and Julian. "Leave it. Julian, go make Athena some tea and bring this to serve with it on the terrace," he says and lifts a bag with what looks like a large box inside of it toward Julian. He nods and silently walks towards the kitchen, stopping to look back at Athena.

She is looking at Gabriel with a confused look, wondering if he can really tell what she is feeling right now, and giving her an excuse to leave the room.

"Go on, I'll be there soon," he assures her, giving her a soft smile that he hopes tells her not to overthink the situation and give him a chance to explain afterwards. She simply nods and follows after Julian, not looking convinced at all.

Gabriel lets out a frustrated breath knowing he has his work cut out for him later, but he has something else more important to deal with at the moment. He has been expecting Verona Dynes to make her appearance soon, but he never suspected that his mother would have her sent here earlier than expected, and coincidentally when he was away on a business trip, leaving his place supposedly empty.

No doubt she was sent to his manor but was told that he hasn't been home in days, and his mother gave her the address of his hotel suites here, suspecting that the place was also empty with him gone on business, not expecting him to be hiding Athena away here.

Bravo, Mother. You got a surprise you weren't expecting.

There is no way Verona won't eventually tell his mother of what she discovered here, meaning Athena is no longer able to stay here. His mother is set on him marrying into the Dynes family so she can have her dream career boosted to the heavens and break through the international fashion market once and for all. She has spent years in New States trying to make her big break, but has never been able to achieve it on her own.

With the help of the Dynes family and the reputation Mrs. Dynes has already made for herself, alongside her superstar model daughter, there is no way his mother can fail at making a huge name for herself. But the only way the Dynes family will look twice at her small in comparison company, is through great benefit.

What better way to benefit their family than to make their daughter happy and give her the fabricated happy ever after she has always envisioned? He knew this day would come ever since they were kids, knowing that Verona has been infatuated with him for a long time and at one point hoping it was just a passing fancy and would go away with time. When she still showed the same interest, if not more intense interest in him when they were teens, he knew it was only a matter of time before his mother used that connection to her own advantage like she is trying too now.

"Gabriel don't be angry with me. You knew I was going to be staying here in the city for awhile, and you promised you would help take care of me while I'm here," Verona says and saunters up to him, grabbing onto his arm again.

He holds an expressionless look towards her, making her smile falter.

"Verona, any sort of relationship between us was never agreed during our last visit together. If anything, it was brought up as an option and is more of a suggestion to me. I am a busy man; I don't always have time to bother with these matters," he explains and carefully removes her arm from his.

This causes her to pout in annoyance, not buying his excuse.

"If that's the case, then who is that woman to you? Why does she get to stay here, but I'm an uninvited guest? Gabriel, we've known each other since we were children, we've grown up together. How can you put the importance of some strange woman over me?"

Gabriel has always doted on and treated Verona as a younger sister, no different than how he treated Saskia growing up. But somewhere along the line she started to misinterpret those actions as romantic feelings rather than brotherly affection, but he was too blind and ignorant to realize until it was too late, Verona clearly already infatuated with him.

She is a girl who is familiar with always getting what she wants and having things go her way every time. If she sets her interest on something, no matter how fleeting it is, it has always been given to her. Verona has set her eyes on many men in her life and she has conquered and thrown away every single one of them, but Gabriel is one man she has never been able to get, making her want him even more.

He has always remained a man uninterested in women, making her think she is just waiting for her, the "right woman", to come along. She always assumed that he never confessed his feelings towards her when they were younger because they were both immature and inexperienced, but then he went away for a long time, and they haven't seen each other.

It's her plan now that they are older and more mature, with the advantage she has with the connection between their families, to once and for all win over his heart.

But now she feels she has a rival. The mysterious blonde woman who has appeared in his life and he seems rather protective over. What is their relation to each other? Why is he so familiar with her, that she is allowed to stay in his luxury suite with him, but someone as close to him as Verona isn't? Even though it hasn't been confirmed out loud between the two families, Verona is confident she will become the future Mrs. Monroe, no matter who or what threatens to stand in her way.

Gabriel can see the wheels turning in Verona's head, trying to figure out what Athena means to him and what her chances are against her and getting rid of her if needed. He doesn't have time or interest to deal with the petty and jealous drama of a girl too blinded by infatuation to see the bigger picture.

But he also doesn't want any harm or discomfort to come to Athena, and further drive her away from him. When Julian told him what was happening back at the hotel, he rushed over to the airport and called for the first helicopter out of there, breaking all sorts of regulations, knowing he will have a mountain of fees to pay for later, but he didn't care.

He knew if he didn't settle the matter here and properly explain to Athena what is going on, she would take the first opportunity she had to pack her things and leave, not wanting to deal with this sort of drama either, and is already quite timid towards Gabriel ever since he made his sudden advancement on her.

"I agreed to help you adjust here by setting you up with a house and a job at my company until you get settled and pursue your own interests here. I never said I would have you live here, I'm sure I gave your mother the correct address of the new home I have arranged for you, yet you appeared at my manor and then here. How did you know about this suite?"

Verona winks and lifts a finger to her lips.

"It's a secret. I'm your future fiancé, it's only right I know everything about you."

Gabriel takes out his phone to message Julian to come back and take Verona away.

"I'll have my assistant take you to your new place and I'll forget what happened today if you can promise to stop saying unnecessary things and making such irrational decisions like today. If you need me, call me before suddenly showing up."

Verona can feel him trying to push her away, no doubt wanting to rush to his mistress and make sure she doesn't misunderstand anything. She doesn't want to give Gabriel and that homewrecker the chance, she needs to win over his heart as fast she can before anyone else has the chance to steal his interest away from her.

Even though he scolded her for calling herself his fiancé, he didn't deny their relationship and only told her to stop announcing it out loud. He is a well respected and reputed business man here is Luxe City, any sort of rumors or misunderstandings in the media can have a negative impact on his image and company reputation, he is merely being caution to the public eye and ear.

Deep down, he truly cares for her and is just waiting for the right time to announce their relationship. That's fine, Verona has no problem waiting, but that doesn't mean she will allow anyone else to occupy his interest in the meantime.

"I just arrived here and you're already trying to drive me away. Why can't you be the one to show me my new home since you so kindly arranged it for me? I have no doubt you styled it exactly my liking, I want you to be the one to give me a grand tour. I can cook you my first homecooked meal for dinner, as a small token of gratitude and to show my sincere apologies for what happened tonight," she says and gives her best pleading look, knowing he could never resist this look in the past.

But his stone-cold, expressionless face doesn't budge.

"If you really want to show your sincere apologies, it isn't me you should be displaying it to. As for working with the company, you can come to my office Monday morning, and we can discuss your position there further. I have a few things to tend to right now, I don't have the time to show you around or have dinner. Julian is very familiar with the property as well, he will do a fine job making sure you are well accustomed and comfortable."

He doesn't even bother seeing her off before walking away, instructing Julian to drive her straight there and make sure she is as satisfied as can be and looks like she will be staying at the property for the time being before finishing his duties for the night.

Once they're gone, Gabriel composes himself and turns back towards the terrace entrance, where Athena has been patiently waiting for him, munching on the luxury sweets he picked up in a rush on the way back, wanting to surprise her originally when he saw the bakery in town during his business trip, and had a more elaborate plan to buy one of everything there to bring back, but had to settle for a variety pack that was pre-packaged.

Instead, he arrives him to a out on control and raging female destroying his valuable property and settling a possibly huge misunderstanding with the woman he has been trying so hard just to grasp her interest. He has taken care of one issue; he now has the difficulty of figuring out how to settle and tackle the next.

Taking a deep breath once more, he pushes his way through the terrace door and out into the cool night air.