The tense standoff broke with the sudden shrill ring of a phone. Athena let go of me and pressed answer.
When she hung up, her smile softened once more.
She gently stroked Nolan’s head, her eyes brimming with doting affection.
“The child is fine. You’ve caused enough trouble. Leave now, and don’t come back again.”
Nolan’s eyes were bloodshot as he limped toward the door.
A single dismissive sentence, as if to end everything, far too easy.
I lifted my chin, and the bodyguards instantly blocked Nolan’s path.
Athena shot me a cold glance.
Between us, a single look was enough; our tacit understanding needed no words.
Then her lips curved faintly as she beckoned Nolan over. “Come, apologize to Waylon before you leave.”
He stiffened, resentment and grievance clouding his face. Yet he still obeyed, moving reluctantly to stand before me.
He bowed.
“Mr. Gasper, I was too impulsive. I came at you without knowing the truth.”
“Hurting you was my fault. But you also lost a child, you should understand how I feel, right?”
“A father who can’t even protect his own child, what difference is there between that and trash?”
He called it an apology, but every word was a blade to the chest.