"AHHHH!" A scream came from behind her.

Athena knew that it was Sarah.

She took advantage of the distraction and struck him hard on his fingers. The gun recoiled in his hands. He was quick to take control back but Athena was quicker.

With a swift move, she had disarmed the man and the gun was now in her hands. Without hesitation, she pointed it at the man.

"You bitch!"

"Don't move."

He had severely underestimated this weak looking girl.

"Athena..." Sarah was shocked as she hid behind the sofa.

"Who sent you here?" Athena asked calmly. Her hands around the gun never shook.

"As if I will tell you." He chuckled.

Not long after, Athena heard a movement behind her. Someone had pointed a gun at the back of her head.

"Drop the gun, little girl." A muffled voice sounded behind her back.

Judging from the silence of the music outside, she knew that the situation was much serious.

"Ahh! Let go!" Another man had taken Sarah hostage.

"Let go of the gun or we will bash her skull."

"Athena...!" Sarah cried out in horror as the man yanked her hair and pointed the gun at her chin.

Athena sighed and dropped the gun.

On the instant, the man in front of her had punched her on the face.

"Bitch!" He spat at her and kicked her in the stomach.

Athena hissed under her breath but did not utter any other sound.

"Take them out!"

Athena and Sarah were brought to the poolside where five other men had taken everyone else hostage.

"Athena!" Ariana shouted in concern and without caring about the men's earlier threats, ran to her. She checked the injury on Athena's face. Her own face covered with a look of hatred.

"You bastards!" She cursed at these men.

"Quiet Cortello! Or I will blow your mind out first!" The man who had hit Athena threatened her.

"Fuc--" She was about to curse his whole family when Athena grabbed her hand and stopped her from doing so.

"Everyone is scared." Athena whispered.

Ariana went quiet.

"KNEEL!" The man yelled again.

Athena pulled Ariana down.

Max's hand brushed against Athena's hand. She looked at him and smiled faintly as if silently telling him not to worry.

Max could not help but remember the first day he met her trueself. She was a naive and pure girl. But today, she had changed for better. If this was her old self, she would have start crying. But Athena was calm and confident now. Thus, Max liked this Athena even more.

Athena and Ariana knew that these gangsters must be their family's enemies. So they were not a bit curious at all and they knew that their brothers must have been alerted about this.

"Are they terrorist?" One of the girl of their class asked the person beside her.

"Who knows. I just don't want to die."

"God. I have not even turned 18 yet."

"STOP SPEAKING!" One of the man yelled.

Silence fell around.

Another minute went by.

Athena stared at the scar on her hand mindlessly. Ariana was quiet too.

Suddenly, Athena raised her hand.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Shut up!" The same man from earlier spat at her again.

Ariana frowned in disgust and wiped Athena's face.

"Don't throw your nasty bacterias at my sister's face!"

Someone chuckled faintly amongst the captives.

Ariana was being sassy as usual and the evil witch as she was. She was not taking them seriously and everyone present knew where her confidence came from.

The man lifted his foot to kick Ariana but Athena raised her hand and grabbed it.

In a blink, she had yanked his foot. The man slammed down face-first on the floor. The force of the impact was strong enough for him to lose consciousness.

"HEY!"

Another man came running towards her.

Max wrapped his arm around his neck, forcefully subduing him while Ariana and Athena worked together to make quick work of these gangsters, together with the other guys of their class.

A gunshot rang and everyone screamed.

"BE CAREFUL!" Brittany yelled, seeing that a bullet whizzed past Athena's body too closely.

Ariana picked up the gun near her foot and shot at the gun in man's hand. Athena reached him by this time and threw him on her shoulder before slamming him hard on the floor.

"Yess!" Everyone cheered and clapped.

Sarah sighed in relief and cheered along with others. The animosity she was feeling with Athena faded away at this moment.

Ariana and Athena looked at each other with a grin.

All of a sudden, a gunshot fired.

Ariana's eyes went wide as Athena's body fell into the pool.

"ATHENA!" She screamed and ran towards her. Others did the same.

Max quickly subdued the gun man but it was too late.

He ran towards the pool. His heart sank in his stomach as he saw blood in the water. Ariana did not hesitate for a moment and she directly jumped into the pool.

She pulled Athena's body out with Max's help. Her body started to tremble at the sight of bullet wound in Athena's head.

At the exact moment, sirens could be heard.

Vittorio, Romeo and Alexander came along with a team of private doctors and police.

"Ariana! Athena!"

Hearing the familiar voices of her brothers, Ariana cried out.

"Ath-Athena....! Save her-- save her."

Romeo pulled Ariana into his arms to calm her hysteric self down as Vittorio and Alexander checked on Athena.

"Sir! Her state is critical. We need to hurry."

Alexander nodded immediately.

As they took Athena out of there, Vittorio looked at Alexander.

"I will inform Vincenzo and Luciano."

Happy new year to everyone❤ May this year bring you peace, happiness and love...💞

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