Page 38 of Thorns of Desire
Cazzo, I felt played. Betrayed. She wasn’t the person I believed her to be.
Ghost was able to trace Athena to Alexandra Kosta and Atticus Popov. We all knew who Atticus was, but he dug further into Alexandra Kosta. It turned out, the woman had a stage name—Bottelli. Somewhere along the way, Alexandra had legally changed her last name to her stage name.
Cassidy Tech had been wiping any and all information on Athena from around the time she turned twelve. Before that, there were sporadic wipes of identity. I couldn’t see Alexandra being the one arranging it, so it had to be her father.
My chest heaved as I read message after message pouring in from Ghost. Thoughts twisted into something sinister and cruel. I’d come here to punish her, but all it took was one look at thatinnocent face for my anger to crumble. Still I stayed—I had to get some answers.
So, I sat silently and watched her expression take on different shapes as she realized I knew who she was. Shock, fear, calculation… desperation, maybe?
“Are you working with your mother?”
“No.” Her voice was sincere, meeting my eyes. “Although I’m not sure what you mean byworking. Am I her assistant? No. Am I in the same industry as her? No. Did I go out of my way to meet you on her request? Also no. In fact, it was the reason I left the morning after. I spilled the contents of your wallet and saw your name.”
“So you know who I am?”
She rolled her eyes. “I remember you.”
My brows furrowed. “How? We’ve never met.”
Alexandra never let on that she had a child, and I certainly never met Athena during the brief time I went out with Alexandra.
She shrugged. “We didn’t. I’d peek out of the window whenever you picked Mom up for your dates.”
The tone of her voice was icy, and I raised my brow.
“Are you jealous?”
She blew a frustrated breath.
“Not in the slightest. I’m not my mother.” Her lips flattened, like she regretted admitting that truth. “Why are you here, Manuel? Clearly, you’re pissed off to learn of my parentage, so why not just ignore me?”
Cazzo, I love her mouth. I liked her boldness and outspokenness. It was rare to see it in the women that usually surrounded me.
Anticipation tightened my muscles along with something else that I wasn’t ready to put a label on.
“I’m glad to hear you’re not Alexandra,” I said, ignoring her latter part of the statement. “We can’t pick our parents,amorina, so I can’t exactly hold that against you, can I?”
She opened her mouth to speak when a distant gunshot suddenly rang out, reaching us through her open window.
My heart sped up, fear spiking hard and fast. I didn’t think; I just reacted on instinct. I lunged across the room and pulled her off the bed, using my body to soften her fall.
“Stay still,” I whispered against her ear as her body shook against me. I kept my eyes trained on the window as I reached for my gun.
She exhaled a deep breath, seeming to resign herself to her fate, and I wondered if she thought I’d let her die.Fucking never. An unexplained urge to protect her shot through me, and suddenly I knew that I’d lay down my life for Athena.
Was it possible to feel something so strong in such a short time?
The answer was in my arms.
I cupped her face and watched as her eyes darted to the gun in my other hand. She tried to wriggle out of my hold, her expression desperate and terrified.
“Don’t be scared,” I growled, twisting a silencer on the barrel of my gun. “No one will hurt you.”
And then everything happened very quickly. A shadow appeared in front of the window and I fired. The first man fell back as another reached the windowsill. I fired again and put a bullet in his skull.
Dragging Athena with me, sheltering her with my body, I shifted to the other side of the bed, pressing my back against the wall.
Her whimper had me shooting my gaze up as a third attacker aimed his gun at me. He must have had a silencer on too because we didn’t hear the bullet fire. Athena shoved me out of the wayand jerked. Her lips parted in a silent cry, and for a moment, the world stilled.
