The mention of his father is already bringing on a headache. He hasn't heard from or spoken to his father since he was sent overseas to New State for rehab, as far away from the city and his gambling and drinking addictions as he could get him. His mother and sister decided to go with him and look after him in case anything happened, while Gabriel stayed in Luxe City and ran the company, sending them money when needed.
"What were you looking to do at my company?"
"Since I don't have much experience, I was hoping a spot as your secretary was available. It would allow me to work closely with you and learn firsthand what it takes to run a company, even one as small as mine is going to be."
"Unfortunately, I don't have a secretary, Miss Dynes. I have a personal assistant named Julian, who does an excellent job and would hate to hear after running my company while I'm away, that I will be returning to replace him."
Verona pouts but quickly hides it with a smile.
"How sad. Is there any other position you think is suitable for someone like me?" she asks, extending her hand over the table to graze her fingertips across the back of his hand.
Did she forget that my mother and sister are here?
This would be a perfect time for one of Saskia's infamous interruptions right now. He smiles, visibly uncomfortable, and withdraws his hand to pretend to take his phone out and check the time.
"Without any experience, Miss Dynes, I'm afraid there might not be a position in my company. I believe mother owns most shares to the Monroe Towers, I'm sure there must be a supervisor or front desk attendant position she could intern with there. What do you say, mother?" Gabriel asks and look towards his rather silent mother.
She frowns, seeing right through his scheme and turns to give Verona a tight-lipped smile. "Certainly, Miss Dynes. I will look into it and make sure you are set up with a position somewhere within the Monroe groups many establishments. Gabriel oversees all operations so he will also be there to make sure you are well looked after when you return to Luxe City."
She drills the last part towards Gabriel, but he is distracted once again with his phone.
It's been a while since I last called. Should I call again and see how she is?
"Well, this has been lovely, but I am exhausted. I saw we call it a night and let the lovebirds decide if they'd like to meet again without a parental and sibling escort, because I would appreciate that," Saskia says.
"Alright, Sassy, we can leave soon just let me get the cheque. Jeez, I have no idea where you got this terrible attitude from," Scarlett Monroe says and frowns at her youngest child, wondering where she ever went wrong with her.
"Miss Dynes, it was wonderful meeting you, I'm sorry to have to rush off like this. One thing I can say about running a company, is don't expect to get any free time or a solid sleep schedule."
"You joke, Gabriel, and please call me Verona. Miss Dynes sounds too formal for our relationship. We did once call each other best friends, right?"
She seems to be using that as leverage and reason to have any connection with Gabriel, now or in the future. It's true, growing up they once live next to each other and formed a close friendship, but he never saw her as more than a little sister, since she was so similar to Sassy although she is the same age as Gabriel.
When they were 12, she told him that she had a crush on him, but Gabriel could never see her like that, and tried to turn her down without her feelings. This was a hard lesson to learn for both of them, but one he had hoped would mature her in the future.
The way she keeps eyeing him and has made it obvious she still likes him tonight; tells him it hasn't taught her anything. It has been 10 years since they last saw each other, the feelings she had for him should have disappeared long ago.
There is only one thing she cares about now.
***
"Miss Rose, Gabriel Monroe called for you again. Will you really not take his calls?" Margaret asks, informing Athena for the third time this week that Mr. Monroe had called to ask how she was doing and to speak with her about an important matter.
But she has no idea what that important matter is. She asked Margaret and all she mentioned was that Athena had come home the morning of the Saturday when she lost consciousness with a handful of books from work and was told to look over them for Mr. Monroe. She didn't tell Margaret any other details than that.
She has searched the entire house, but she can't find the books that she mentioned!
Athena isn't even aware of the importance of those books, she can't tell him that she lost them, she doesn't even know the man.
Then how do we have this relationship? Why does my heart beat fast every time I think about him?
"Margaret, why can't I remember anything?" she asks quietly.
Margaret rushes over to embrace the young woman but stops and hesitates to do so. Athena in the past has never been an affectionate person, unless towards her mother, and became an even more distant person when she passed.
After she woke from her coma, she seemed much warmer and kinder than she was before, the kind of person you could embrace without thought because you know it's what they would want.
She puts her hands down and smiles gently down at Athena. "You've gone through a great deal, Miss. But you are strong and have overcome many difficulties, I'm sure this is just another bump in the road for you. With the help of the doctor and your determination, you'll have your memories and life back."
"That's just the thing. Do I even want my life back? I can't recall the last month, but something tells me that wherever I was, I was happier there."
I keep having weird dreams each night, different from the last but somehow the same. It's like I'm watching old home movies, where I remember the moment but not the person in the video. The girl has brown hair and brown eyes, she is plain and meek. She has no friends and doesn't stay in touch with her family, but she is free to pursue whatever she wants, no consequences tying her down and people scheming around her.
It's the life Athena always wishes she had, where she didn't have all the drama and struggles, she has now, battling her father and his new family from taking everything from her. She is an easy target right now, having such broken memories it would be easy to take advantage of her.
Margaret had security at the front gate and around the house tightened last week, apparently under Athena's orders because her father has been snooping around looking for her will, though he keeps up the act that he has already laid eyes on it.
She knows for a fact he hasn't, because she knows where it is. So, why didn't she get it before? If she knew her father was looking for it, why hasn't she moved it? She has never been this stupid before, she has kept that will away from her father for over a year now.
Although she hasn't read the contents yet, she already has a good idea of what is says inside, or else her father wouldn't want to get his hands on it before her 21st birthday, when it can be read aloud to the family. Her mother made sure that no one had the authority to open it, other than her lawyer Mr. Collins, before Athena turned 21 so she could properly claim anything left in her name.
Athena asked her mother countless times before she died to leave her father. They already knew of Stella and her mother, and that her father was still seeing them and supporting them. She had no doubt they had something to do with her mother's death and did a great job of covering it up and making it look like an accident, using her own money that her father currently has control over.
In the past, she tried reaching out to her grandfather and ask for help, but there isn't anything he can do anymore. He sold all his shares to Athena and her mother, most of them going to her mother and the rest being put in Athena's name for her to claim when she turns 21 and gives her the option to involve herself in the Rose group.
When her mother passed, the shares she had were transferred to her father. But she is almost 100% sure that her mother left the shares to Athena, the rightful heir to the Rose Company. Since she can't do anything for another 6-months at least, she has no choice but to let her father take over until she can.
In the meantime, she has had to keep her father and Stella away from her mother's will, knowing that they have the people and connection to fake it in their name, and take everything away from Athena. She has no one to back her up right now, with the Rose family currently mourning their lost daughter and dealing with losing everything to her father and his poor management skills.
The company stocks have plummeted more than 65% since her father took over, with many investors turning their backs on the Rose group and refusing to work with them or sign any projects with them. Her father has done a good job of trying to hide it from the media, but at the end of the day none of that matters, the main investor groups know how terrible he is.
The main reason Athena gave up on pursuing the company is because she knew that by the time she could claim the Rose Company, her father would have ran it into the ground already, and it would be too much responsibility for her to try and repair the reputation of the Rose group after all that.
She knows she would fail just as bad and ruin her family name in Luxe City forever. She wouldn't be able to handle the burden and guilt of knowing she let her mother down. Her name would also become a laughingstock among high society for having failed her entire family and company. Even though the company is in bad shape, there are still hundreds of employees under them who are looking to Athena and her father to protect them and the company.
Can she do that?
She didn't think she could in the past, but Margaret says she has already gone to see Mr. Collins and collected all her mother's properties and assets, hiding them away at her university. She even went a step further and had her father removed as a visitor and liable guardian at her school, so he can't just walk in and enter her locker whenever he wants.
But she doesn't remember doing any of this, nor can she see herself thinking of any of it. Margaret swears she did, and after going to the school earlier in the week, she confirmed that the documents were there and brought them home.
She still hasn't found the books that Mr. Monroe mentioned, though she has no idea what they look like to begin with, she does remember most of the books lying around her house and in the study, her family never being big readers, so a library was never something they imagined including.
"Do you remember the books I carried home after my last meeting with Mr. Monroe? Do you remember what they looked like?" she asks Margaret, who has been awkwardly standing by as Athena grows deeper in thought.
"I remember seeing the cover of the first one, you had carried them into the house and went straight to your bedroom after coming home that day," she explains.
So then, why can't she find them anywhere here?
"No chance you saw where I put them?"
Margaret frowns and shakes her head.
"Thank you, you can leave then."
Athena flops back on her bed once she is alone and tries to rethink everything that has happened in the past week, and the weeks she can't remember. Searching under her pillow, she is overjoyed to see her journal is still there, but she hasn't written anything new in it since before her attempt on her life.
Well, this is of no use.
Returning her journal back to its original place, she gets up and walks over to her vanity desk to get herself ready for the day, even though she is unsure yet again what to even do.
She has spent the last week in her bedroom, only going out once to the school and to visit Mrs. Janet to confirm that she took a break from her modeling. She thought it was something she might regret, but so far it has been pleasant not having to constantly worry about keeping up her image and making appearances.
But she doesn't know where to go from here. She wanted to leave this place, not come back with more complications than before. She hated her life enough as it is, why must she continue enduring the schemes and drama of her family?
Can't she just run away?
Is there anywhere on this earth that I won't be found?
No. Knowing Stella and her mother, they will never let Athena go free until everything she has is theirs.
I don't know why they're going to such lengths; they can have it all. I don't want any of it, if these are the consequences that come with being rich and in power. What's the point of power, when I can't do anything with it?
Because her father is currently holding the power of the Rose family, wielding it like a martyr and leaving Athena to fend for herself. So, she did, but it didn't get her anywhere.
She made a name for herself, made her own fortune and gained her own respect. But when it comes to facing someone like her father, she is still no match. She needs someone stronger and just as powerful, if not more, behind her.
Gabriel Monroe.
Why is he associated with someone like Athena? Margaret said it was due to a car accident, she was almost hit by Mr. Monroe and his driver, but she was the one who ran out into the middle of the street. He brought her to the hospital and paid for her medical expenses, therefore she is working for him to help pay back those expenses, because he doesn't take handouts.
It all seems suspicious. He is risking his business by allowing someone as unqualified as Athena to enter as a junior bookkeeper, as well as creating unnecessary rumors about them. Gabriel Monroe, a man of very few words and even fewer endeavors, suddenly takes on a young female bookkeeper.
Athena isn't just anyone either, her name is well known in Luxe City, and she isn't known for settling down with just one any man either. Although Gabriel Monroe can be considered an exceptional man of his generation, she was never one to care that much for appearance, it was always what they could offer her, how good they could make her feel and how much she can forget her life while with them.
Once that is over, she has no interest anymore. She always thought she just lacked the empathy bone that everyone else has, the one that allows a person to get swallowed up by such fleeting things as feelings. Her mother, as much as she loved her, was a perfect example of that. She loved Athena's father to no end and followed him blindly everywhere he went, only to be betrayed by that very man for another woman in the end.
"What am I going to do? What happens now?"