Dark Revenge Of An Unwanted Wife: The Twins Are Not Yours! - Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Getting Answers VI
Zack wetted his lips with his tongue, hearing Ewan’s impatient statement, not oblivious to its intent. “Well, as I was saying, Athena was too curious, too intelligent for her years. Perhaps if I had looked beyond my selfishness then, I would have seen her for the genius she was and…”

“Use her the more. Maybe to strike more business and political deals for you?” Ewan interrupted, as if stating a fact.

Zack paused with his mouth open, staring at Ewan keenly.

“Am I wrong?” Ewan continued, his brow raising, daring Zack to refute the answer.

Zack closed his mouth, turned away from Ewan and beckoned to a waiter. “More coffee, please.” He placed his order, before reverting to his unwanted guests. “That’s beside the point, Ewan. It’s not necessary now, the what ifs…”

Sandro and Ewan couldn’t help the sarcastic chuckle that broke from their lips, an unwelcome sound that caused Zack to swallow uncomfortably, both his words and his saliva.

“Of course, Zack. By all means, continue.” Ewan gestured, leaning backward into his seat, absolutely happy and relieved that Zack had been among those that had thought Athena was an illiterate.

“I will just get straight to the accident point…”

“That will be better for everyone.” Sandro added, nodding his head in agreement, placing his hands on the table, waiting for the main reason they had come here.

Although he didn’t think that Athena was the woman that had saved Ewan those years ago, he was still curious about the accident had made the entire town believe she was illiterate. Who had even spread the damn news?!

“On that day, Athena left the house as usual…”

“As usual?” Ewan interrupted again, gesturing with a flick of his hands that Zack explain himself.

“As I mentioned earlier, she was very active and curious. Every morning, especially during the weekends, she wandered around the mansion. But when the accident happened was during the school holidays, she went out every morning then. I wasn’t sure where she went to, but since she always came back, dutifully, during the accorded time. So, I had no issues, neither did her mother. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if my wife, Calista, knew where she was always going to—they were always whispering and talking. Albeit, because she wasn’t a… male… child…”

A pause, where Zack waited, perhaps, for a shoe to land on him. When he met the gazes of the men in front of him, he was surprised a little to note the bland expressions on their faces. However, he knew that they just wanted to get this over with.

“Because Athena wasn’t my blood, wasn’t a male child too, I couldn’t be bothered about her, not really, so long as she did what she was supposed to do in the house, so long as she obeyed instructions without hesitating.”

It was on the tip of Ewan’s tongue to ask if there was a time Athena ever hesitated and what punishment was accorded to her when she did, but time was running past—there was no time for the extras. That can come up anytime, during his research.

“So, on that fateful day, when she left and didn’t come back at the slated time, my wife became very worried. Me, I was just annoyed that she was bringing up the blood pressure of my wife, so I kept threatening hail and brimstones on the girl, not knowing that some evil had befallen her.”

A pause, where he chuckled and shook his head sadly.

“We waited for a few hours after the slated time, and when she still didn’t come back, I started to get worried, not because I actually cared, but because of my wife. Calista had gotten so attached to Athena, that if anything had happened to the little one then, she would have died those years ago.” A contemplative pause, where he started the slow beat on the table again.

“So, I went out to search for her, with some of my people that night. We searched and searched, checking out the places that people of the town had mentioned seeing her, yet we couldn’t see her. It was even surprising to hear that she had been seen on the borders between our towns.”

Ewan exchanged a furtive glance with Sandro as if to say: ‘you see?’ But Sandro still wasn’t bought over—that statement couldn’t mean anything. Didn’t he wander too as a child?

“Well, we searched for three days, but we couldn’t find her. At this time, Calista had stopped eating, no matter how much I pleaded with her, how much I tasked the servants to prepare her best meals at every time of the day. She only wanted to see Athena. Hence, I got more serious with my search—I didn’t want to lose my wife. I hired three private investigators to be involved in the case. I didn’t involve the police though—I was careful to keep the case a low profile, because I had eyes for a political seat, and didn’t want to stain my reputation.”

“And did you get the seat?” Ewan asked, unable to stop himself from making the dig, even while knowing the answer.

“No. Herbert Whitman did.” Zack muttered, exhaling tiredly.

Just then, the server brought the tray containing a cup of coffee.

“Thank you.” Zack said meekly, accepting the cup. He exhaled loudly when he took a sip. “This is nice.” He said, shrinking when he met the hostile gazes of the young men.

He instantly kept the cup on the table, and continued his tale, needing them out of his space as soon as possible.

“We kept up the search for a week, and yet nothing turned out. I was with Calista in the room days later, trying to convince her to eat when my butler had rushed into the room without knocking, panting like someone that had run for his life from the hands of killers. I didn’t care to ask him why he would breach my privacy, sensing that whatever had him this way had to be very urgent. Well, I was right. He brought the news that Athena had been found. Quickly, my wife that had been bedridden from sorrow rose from the bed with an insane amount of energy I didn’t think she had within her, seeing as she hadn’t eaten properly for a week, and ran out of the room. In the sitting room, Athena was sitting on a sofa with one of the private investigators, looking lost. We had thought maybe she was in shock or something. But when Calista tried to hug her, and she screamed as if seeing a ghost, we knew there was a problem.”

Zack inhaled and exhaled softly, as memories of that day and the following days and months started running through his mind like a movie moving from one episode to the other.

“That was when my house became a second abode to doctors, especially since Calista refused to believe that Athena was deranged. She cried every day, for everytime Athena turned away from her, and rejected her offer of even friendship. The doctors had mentioned that Athena had suffered from a certain blow to the brain, but they hadn’t been able to tell us what kind of blow it was. They had only mentioned that it had pushed off to a side, most of her memories. So, they started giving her treatments that would help restore her memories, and reduce the pain…”

“Pain?” Ewan interrupted again, leaning forward.

“Yes. She usually had chest and head pains at intervals. Worse, it was unpredictable. There was nothing the doctors could do about it either.”

“You mean the local doctors?” Ewan asked, resentment breeding in his voice.

“At first, I stuck to the local doctors, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to myself, but Calista wouldn’t have it. She finally brought someone from overseas, and even though the doctor’s drugs did much better than the previous ones—reducing the pain and all—it still didn’t bring back all her memories, especially the ones surrounding her accidents, and the ones before that. At least she finally remembered us, I think… around the eighth month.”

Zack shook his head. “That period was one of the worst in my life, in my wife’s too. I’m sure it was then that the stupid sickness started eating her up.”

“You blame Athena for that too?”

Viciousness flashed through Zack’s eyes for a second. “Well, if she had been wise enough to remain home, she wouldn’t have lost her way, and my wife wouldn’t have been subjected to such trauma!”

“You are truly beyond redemption.” Ewan said calmly, kissing his teeth. “All the same, go on. If I should stay in your presence any longer than necessary, I might pay you back for all the troubles you have caused me and my family.”

Zack took his lips in, clasping his hands tight around the cup, not bothered by the hotness hurting his hands.

“You don’t need to stay any longer, Ewan, because I am done. It is as I mentioned earlier, I don’t know the exact accident that had wreaked our lives more than twenty years ago.”