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Athena
“I’ve told you already, Athena. Bring me that guy you were caught kissing, or you’ll marry the man I choose for you.”
My father’s voice thundered through his office, laced with authority and finality.
I stood before him, arms crossed, barely holding in my frustration. How many times did I have to repeat myself? I didn’t know the man in the photo. It had been a mistake, a fleeting, meaningless moment, yet my father clung to it like a scandalous crime.
The stranger had yet to make himself known, lurking in the shadows while I bore the brunt of the consequences.
I had been on my way to the hospital when his call came through, demanding my presence immediately. As if my life revolved around his whims.
Not that my life was in order anyways.
Lucien hadn’t spoken to me in days. He had given Moore, Moore absolute power, while I was left stranded in silence. And now, the stranger I had spent a single night with had the audacity to send me my own nudes. My own.
He had been on my neck, sending me that shred of my mistake every damn day with extremely annoying messages.
He is a freak, one I can't wait to get off my back.
Lucien, however, hadn't confronted me about the scandal. That unsettled me the most. Maybe that was why he was keeping me at arm’s length.
When we started this arrangement, he had made one thing clear. I could have a love life, but when I found someone, I had to tell him. That would be the moment he ended whatever we had. He would put an end to our arrangement.
And I had never told him.
Because I never wanted anyone else.
Lucien was too good to let go. He could be brutal, yet he was the gentlest man I had ever known.
He had saved me before, years before we became what I loved most in the world, from the press, from the scrutiny, even from a flying object hurled my way. That was the moment I had fallen for him.
He had looked at me with something so raw, something that made me believe I was more than just a pretty face who pleased everyone, like he knew how broken I was, like he saw through me. He had chosen me to be his submissive, and I had loved every second of it, until she came along.
Until Moore ruined it all.
I turned back to my father, my voice laced with defiance. "If I don’t find him, what then? You’ll throw me into a marriage like I’m some business transaction?"
His expression hardened. "If you continue to embarrass this family with your recklessness, then yes. You are past the age of playing games, Athena. You are my daughter, and you will act accordingly."
I almost laughed. "Accordingly?"
Like my entire life hadn’t been a series of obligations. Like I hadn’t been molded into a perfect doll, only to be placed on whatever shelf he deemed appropriate.
I felt the burn in my throat, the words I had swallowed for years threatening to spill. But I knew better. Arguing with him was useless.
Since childhood, I had been detached from my family. My mother was too quiet, too compliant, always bowing to my father’s will. I had sworn never to be like her.
I wanted freedom, liberation. And the only way to get that was to choose my own path.
But if there was one place I never wanted to be free from, it was with Lucien. For him, I would give up everything. Even my freedom.
My father had chosen my school, my career, my friends. Even my relationships. Every decision had been his.
And now he wanted to choose my husband.
I took a deep breath, forcing my anger down. It wouldn’t do me any good to argue with him, not when he was set in his ways.
So I gave him what he wanted.
“The man in the photos was a mistake,” I said smoothly. “I thought he was someone else. I had gone to meet my real lover, and at that moment, I mistook him for that man. It was nothing. A fleeting, foolish mistake.”
My father’s eyes narrowed. “And yet, you refuse to bring this lover of yours to me.”
I smiled tightly. “I will. You already gave me a month. I’ll introduce him to you then. But I won’t marry anyone I don’t choose.”
His silence was sharp, his glare piercing. He didn’t believe me.
“Fine,” he finally said, his voice laced with warning. “One month. Not a day longer.”
I left his office knowing one thing, I had to win. I would get Lucien, at every cost.
There was only one man I saw myself with, and I would make sure my father accepted my choice. Lucien.
And the only way to ensure that was to get rid of Moore.
I stepped out of the presidential mansion, my mind racing with possibilities, when my phone beeped.
I hesitated before checking it.
Please, not him again.
I had blocked his number countless times, yet he always found a way to reach me.
But the message wasn’t from the stranger.
Instead, it was a notification.
Moore humiliating Grey Allison and his wife.
I almost ignored it. Moore’s scandals weren’t my problem.
But then I saw something else.
Lucien.
My breath hitched as I clicked the link.
Moore and Lucien were together.
At an event.
His event.
One I hadn’t been invited to. One I have absolutely no idea of. Like every elite in Italy was there, while I didn't get to know?
A sharp sting settled in my chest as I scrolled through the pictures.
Lucien standing beside Moore.
Lucien letting Moore walk him to the podium.
Lucien allowed her to take pictures with him and his associates.
She even spoke at the event.
That should have been me.
I clenched my fists, anger simmering beneath my skin.
He had always let me be the one by his side. He had always confided in me. He had always given me the space to be his.
But now?
Now, it was her.
I swiped again, desperate to find something, anything, that showed he had humiliated her. That he had put her in her place the way I needed him to. That he had taken her there on a purpose, a mission to break her.
But there was nothing.
Instead, there was something worse.
The way he looked at her.
The way he held her.
Possessively.
My stomach twisted as I stared at the image.
Then I swiped one last time.
And my heart stopped.
Lucien—
Lucien was carrying Moore.