Chapter 117: ¹¹⁷: you have me

Athena’s POV:

I slowly opened my eyes, immediately feeling like I was going to throw up as a sharp wave of pain surged through my abdomen.

Everything around me was still unclear. The room seemed to sway slightly in my vision, and I couldn’t make sense of where I was.

Yet, beneath the pain and confusion, I could feel something cool and strangely comforting surrounding me. I tried to remember where I was, but my thoughts felt scattered.

"Athena, child, are you fine?"

Just then, I heard a soft, familiar voice. I felt someone’s gentle fingers caressing my forehead, and I instinctively closed my eyes tightly before opening them again, trying to clear the blur from my vision.

This time, my sight was a little clearer. I looked at the woman sitting in front of me.

"Mother Elena," I whispered. My brows furrowed as I tried to remember how I had come here.

Wasn’t I in my pack?

Then the memories came rushing back. My heart seemed to crush inside my chest as I remembered what I had seen when I went to the packhouse.

My throat tightened. Tears immediately welled up in my eyes as the image returned to my mind.

How... How could my own best friend have been with that man?

I remembered her moans, the way she had whispered sweet nothings into his ears.

The man who had once been my fiancé. The man who had killed my father. The man who had betrayed me, betrayed my pack, and driven a cursed dagger into me without showing even the slightest mercy.

And Romana had been with him. Like that. How long had they been together? Had she also been involved in Harry’s plan to destroy my life?

Were they together even when I had considered Harry the love of my life?

The questions came one after another, each one twisting painfully inside my chest. I couldn’t bear the thought. I suddenly shot upright on the bed, my stomach churning violently at the memory.

"Athena, what happened? Are you fine?" I heard Damian’s worried voice beside me as Mother Elena immediately reached out to support me.

"Where is the bathroom?" I stuttered, struggling to get the words out as I pushed myself off the bed. My legs felt weak and unsteady beneath me.

"Let me take you there!" Mother Elena quickly grabbed my arm, supporting my weight as she helped me across the room.

I barely managed to make it inside the bathroom before my knees gave way. I fell onto the floor and immediately began throwing up, my entire body trembling from the force of it.

Romana’s words kept circling through my mind.

Her voice. Her moans. The memories refused to leave me.

They repeated themselves over and over until my stomach churned with disgust.

I felt Mother Elena place a hand against the back of my head, supporting me as I struggled to catch my breath.

But I couldn’t stop. I kept retching even though there was nothing left in my empty stomach. My body had nothing more to give, yet the sickness wouldn’t leave me.

"My child, what happened? Tell me. Don’t keep it bottled up!" Mother Elena said softly, helping me keep my hair away from my face.

"I don’t know," I whispered back. I slowly pushed myself up and moved toward the basin, turning on the tap before splashing cold water onto my face.

"I don’t know what is happening to me! I just feel like the most stupid person in the whole world," I said, repeatedly splashing the cold water onto my face, praying that the shock of it would somehow help me come back to my senses.

But it did nothing. The voices were still there. They weren’t stopping. If anything, they were only getting worse.

"Athena, it’s okay to feel like this when things get too rough," I heard Mother Elena say gently.

She reached out and held my hand, stopping the frantic movement as I continued trying to splash water onto my face.

"Look at me." Mother Elena turned me toward her while the water continued running beside us. The steady sound of it somehow reminded me of the storm raging inside me.

"Mother Elena..." My voice trembled. "Everything I had in my life was fake. Just wishful thinking."

I choked on the words as tears streamed endlessly down my cheeks. "The person I loved betrayed me. The person I thought was like my sister... my best friend... she also..." My voice broke. "She also betrayed me!"

Mother Elena’s expression softened as she listened, but I couldn’t stop the words pouring out of me. "I...I feel like everything in my life was a lie. There is nothing left."

My lips trembled. "No one. I have no one whom I can call mine now."

Just then, the bathroom door opened with a loud thud. Before I could even turn around properly, I felt myself being engulfed in a hug.

"Who told you that you have no one?" It was Damian. His arms held me so tightly that for a moment, I couldn’t even move, even if I wanted to.

"You have me!" He finally broke the hug, making me look up at him in shock. I stared at him, unable to process his words.

"Uhm..."

We suddenly heard Mother Elena’s voice beside us, making both of us turn toward her.

"Uhm... I meant, you have us with you!" Damian quickly corrected himself, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Isn’t that right, Mom?"

"Yes. It is true." Mother Elena immediately stepped forward and pulled me toward her, deliberately breaking her gaze away from Damian.

She placed both hands gently against my face, brushing my hair away as she looked into my tear-filled eyes.

"You have us now. We are your family. You don’t have to think of yourself as someone who is alone."

"But Mother Elena, I am not who you think I am," I whispered, placing my hands over hers. My voice trembled as I struggled to explain what I was feeling. "I am too miserable. I would bring problems to you guys too...I...I..."

"No..." Mother Elena shook her head gently, cutting me off. "You are nothing but a sweetheart," she whispered with a warm smile.

Her fingers gently brushed through my hair. "From now on, I am your mother, and Damian is your bro..."