Athena slowly walked on the roadside while lost in her thoughts. She did not pay attention to the vehicles passing by her and the strange looks which were thrown in her direction.

Athena frowned as she felt a new wave of pain in her head. She almost staggered on her path. Holding her head in her hands, she entered the nearby shop.

The owner smiled politely at the sound of chiming of the door but his smile slowly faded away at the sight of Athena.

Holding back a grimace, he rounded the counter and approached her.

"Can I help you with anything, madam?" His tone was all too polite if Athena could ignore the displeasure evident in his eyes.

"I need to call someone. It's urgent."

The man hesitated but handed her the phone.

Athena grabbed it hastily and directly dialed Luciano's number. She frowned when he did not answer.

She tried others' phone number too but to no avail. Defeated, she gave the phone back to the owner.

"Where is the nearest police station?"

The man seemed surprised for a moment but then he told her the way. He watched her figure until she went out of the street and he could no longer see her.

"What a strange girl!"

Athena did not hesitate a bit before entering the police station.

A lady officer saw her first as soon as she entered. The file that she was holding in her hands, fell abruptly.

"Miss Cortello!" Just as she yelled, silence fell in the entire station.

Athena did not find it weird and approached her directly to ask for help.

"Can you please help me get home? I don't remember the way."

This is how, she found herself in the cop's car. It took about another twenty minutes or so for them to reach the Cortello mansion. The car stopped in front of the familiar black gates.

"Thank you." Athena said politely and stepped out.

The officer looked like she wanted to say something but she remained tight-lipped. Athena approached the gates where three guards stood.

They looked at her coldly. All of this was familiar but Athena still somewhere felt strange.

The gates opened as she was granted access. She stepped inside and immediately, a blow of cold wind rushed past her. She froze for a moment before moving.

Her eyes swept past the lined up guards as they watched her, she moved under their emotionless and even hostile gazes.

She looked up at the mansion, her nerves twisted for some reason. She could not comprehend whether it was a hallucination or not but she could see dark clouds looming behind the house.

She approached the front door and pressed the doorbell. It seemed someone was already waiting for her to do it as the door opened instantly.

The familiar face of one of Athena's personal maids appeared in front of her.

"Welcome home, miss Athena."

Athena frowned as she could pinpoint the slight sarcasm in her voice. For now, she ignored her and walked past her.

Without pausing a bit in her steps, she took the stairs and went directly to her room. She opened the door of her room.

Her hand froze mid-air.

It was no longer her room but a store room. She stared at it wide-eyed for a moment before stepping back.

"Miss Athena, shall I prepare a bath for you?" An unfamiliar voice rang. She looked back and found that it was another maid.

"Miss Athena." She called again when Athena did not answer for a moment.

"Where are my personal maids an-and my room?"

The maid looked confused.

"Miss Athena, I'm Rachel. I was the one assigned to serve you, and your room, it is there." Rachel pointed her finger.

Athena followed her movement and saw that her finger was pointing at Ariana's room.

"Th-that is Ariana's room."

Rachel looked at her and gave her the strangest gaze she could ever muster.

Athena could not understand the meaning behind her silent words. She frowned and closed her eyes in frustration.

"Fine! Just get the bath ready."

Rachel nodded and left. Athena followed after her and entered Ariana's or her room. She looked around the room, a little puzzled.

The room was bland and colored white which neither her nor Ariana preferred.

"Just what the hell is happening?" She groaned in confusion.

Her eyes moved to her walk-in-closet and she entered inside directly. The clothes were all branded but Athena remembered clearly that she never bought them on any of the shopping sprees with Ariana. Most of them were dresses, which were short with inappropriate cutting.

Athena fell into a deep thought. Rachel stepped out of the bathroom and she called out.

"Miss Athena..."

Athena nodded and told her to leave.

She entered the bathroom and stripped out of her clothes. She stepped in the bath tub. The water felt like bliss and provided a little comfort from her splitting headache.

While in the room, she had checked the date again to confirm.

It was indeed matching to the date she was shot.

She thought back to everything that happened after she woke up.

The nurse telling her that she jumped from the building, which was why she got injuries but some of the injuries on her face showed that someone had harmed her and beaten her badly.

She sighed and sank deeper into the water with her eyes closed.

All of this was confusing and she had to figure everything out urgently.

The last question which she tried to avoid but kept bugging somewhere in her mind was-

How could Angelo Riccardo be alive?

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I know there are several questions in your mind but all of them will be answered soon. So stay tuned <3

Next chapter will come out between Tuesday and Wednesday! You can get the early access upto 40 chapters on Patreon. The link is in my profile.

If you haven't checked out my other books, feel free to do it. Love Davina❤💞