Dark Revenge Of An Unwanted Wife: The Twins Are Not Yours! - Chapter 255

Chapter 255: Long Night XIX
Trust no one? She didn’t even trust him! Athena mused, swallowing the disdain she suddenly felt for the man sitting a few feet away from her, maintaining a calm demeanor.

How dare he come around and take over the mission? He was supposed to be on the sidelines, and now he was in the circle; and now he was even keeping them out of the circle.

Ha! A strategic play, and he’s talking about trust?! He should leave with his friends and never come back!

“Athena…” Old Mr. Thorne’s calm, fatherly voice managed to drag Athena out of her deprecating thoughts and into a position where she began to question her reasoning.

Ewan is the cause of this! She finally realized. He was making her doubt herself—he still had that power over her. Well, she would no longer stand for it, not even with him in her face.

While combating her thoughts, she still hadn’t looked at Old Mr. Thorne or acknowledged his call. The old man had to call again to get her attention.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to connect some dots in my head,” She said, realizing she was the center of attention.

Old Mr. Thorne, who had called because of the sinister smile on her lips, didn’t need a soothsayer to understand the direction of her thoughts. Ewan was stepping on Athena’s nerves, and he didn’t want her to brood on it either.

Those two were supposed to be civil, at least; he had promised his wife to sow the seeds of love—or friendship, at the very least—for the sake of his grandchildren.

“That’s okay. Do you want to share what you were thinking about?”

Athena raised a brow and shook her head. “But I have some questions and some observations…”

Old Mr. Thorne held back a sigh of weariness. Athena wasn’t letting this matter go anytime soon.

“Sure, go ahead.”

He finally let out a sigh when she turned to face Ewan, who had been staring at her.

“Why didn’t you involve us in the plan with Spider? Who is this Spider? You never mentioned that. Since no one here has thought to make this important inquiry, I believe I should. Your earlier talk of trust and politics—was that why you didn’t involve us in the plan, Ewan?”

Athena’s voice was calm and steady, despite the flurry of emotions swirling within her, with anger at the forefront. Why hadn’t he involved her and the crew when they had included him? What sort of dirty behavior was that?

“Well, yes, that’s why I didn’t involve you all,” Ewan responded in the same calm tone, even though he was bursting with frustration inside. What’s with this woman scrutinizing everything I do?

Athena let out a hollow laugh of disbelief while glancing at Old Mr. Thorne. The old man sighed and turned aside to Ewan.

“You don’t trust us?”

Ewan shook his head. “I trust all of you in this room. I just don’t trust the unit you sent with us. I don’t even know them personally. I’m aware they are loyal to you and to Athena, but this is the real world. Let’s be realistic—everyone has a price tag.”

A pause. “And you can see that’s what saved us. There’s a mole among us, and I think that’s what we should be deliberating on: how to sniff out the mole. If I had involved everyone in the plan…well, the plan wouldn’t even exist if I had just walked in like you all, assuming everything would go right. There should always be contingencies in missions like this.”

Ewan finished before shifting his attention back to Athena. “And about Spider, it’s as I told you before: let me have my secrets, just as you have yours.”

Athena bit her lower lip, meeting Ewan’s gaze and feeling an increase in her confusing emotions. On one hand, she felt like slapping the satisfied look from his face; on the other, she felt like thanking him for saving their lives. In the end, she said nothing. After a while, she turned away from him.

“You still should have told me. I hate being blindsided,” She muttered, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

“If I had…”

“And we are sorry about that. It won’t happen like this next time,” Zane spoke up immediately, interrupting Ewan and covering for his friend, as the latter couldn’t see that the woman just needed an apology to smooth things over.

Ewan needed to take some lessons from him about women!

He smiled, giving Ewan a satisfied smirk when Athena nodded slowly and adjusted her position on the bed. All was good.

Lesson learned. Ewan mused, noting the relaxation of Athena’s shoulders. Women hated being argued with.

“So, now that everything has been settled, what are your observations?” Aiden asked, enjoying the unfolding drama. It was enough to take his mind off a certain someone.

“I think we were being watched,” Athena answered, leaning forward. “Apart from the mole aspect Ewan discussed, we were being monitored—like our every movement. I confirmed it when we were in the secret doors; the doors closed by themselves, including the vents that emitted the gas. There hadn’t been a trigger. Whoever was watching had triggered it.”

Sandro nodded in agreement. “She’s right. I felt it even when I was outside with Zane, preparing our guns for the massacre ahead, before we were attacked. Even Spider shared this thought—he felt he wasn’t the only surveillance in the area.”

And Spider was never wrong, Ewan thought, clasping his hands tightly. This was why he had kept the plan confined to his friends; the plan within the plan. And yet, they had almost left the scene without any clues.

“Did he share any other thoughts on this?” Athena asked.

Sandro shook his head. “Not at all. He probably would have checked it out—he has ways of doing that—if lives weren’t involved. We don’t want to upset things we are unaware of.”

Athena nodded slowly. So they were being watched. By whom? The gang, or whoever had hired them? The latter option seemed more viable. She exhaled harshly. “So, how do we go about finding the mole?”

“You can leave that to me. I can track it within days. Sandro and Zane will help, but that will be after we’ve checked the rubble of the building,” Ewan proposed.

This time, Athena didn’t argue or decline his request.

Ewan held back a smile; she was finally cutting him some slack.

When he had instructed Spider to get him a different mic and to obtain separate earpieces for Sandro and Zane—ones not shared with the others—he had suspected that Athena would blow up when she finally did find out. Yet he’d gone ahead because he had a duty to protect her now.

Maybe he should have sent her a text? Yet would she have acknowledged his caution then?

Ewan was pulled from his thoughts by Athena’s next observation. “The necklace we found in the safe place—it looks like a key. Does it seem that way to anyone else?”

There was a moment of silence as everyone ruminated on this.

“I can see why you would say that,” Ewan spoke first, his brow furrowing in concentration. “Even though it is shaped like a standard cross necklace, there’s something strange about the design. Its edges are quite…”

“Different from the usual?” Athena supplied.

“Yeah, that,” Ewan agreed, pleased with their truce.

“So, we just have to find out what it opens?” Old Mr. Thorne asked, and everyone nodded.

“Well, we can sleep on that. This old man is tired,” He said with a chuckle, causing those around him to laugh as well and apologize for keeping him up.

He waved their apologies away. “Sometimes, an old man has to do the necessary things.”

He got to his feet and started toward the door. The others in the room followed in his footsteps, their shoulders drooping a little from fatigue. It had really been a long night.

“Oh well, Athena, it seems your night hasn’t ended…” Old Mr. Thorne muttered as he opened the door.

For a second, Athena thought it was the twins or Gianna, but it was Susan standing behind the door when Old Mr. Thorne opened it wider. She wondered how long the latter had been standing outside.

While the others filed past a sad Susan, Athena stayed back in the room. Just as Old Mr. Thorne had said, her night was still long.

“Hey, Susan, how are you doing? How are you feeling?” She asked when Susan stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

The young woman shrugged, sauntering over to one of the sofas in the room. “I’m not sure. Maybe like I just got run over by a bus. I feel sad, angry, vengeful, upset—all at once. But one thing is certain: I want Morgan’s head.”

Athena folded her lips, thinking, and settled into the next space on the same sofa. She gently draped her arm over Susan’s shoulder. “I promise we will get him for you. If he isn’t already dead.”

A dull spark lit in Susan’s eyes as she turned to Athena. “You shot him?”

Athena nodded. “Let’s just hope that’s enough to slow him down until we catch up with him.”

Susan furrowed her brows. “You know, that’s the first time I’m hearing you lost your mark. My mother…” She paused, peeling open a fresh wound. She turned back to Athena. “Tell me how she died.”