Chapter 3: Betrayed

Athena maintained a stoic face as she was pushed to the center of the hall where a council of elders presided over issues emanating from the elites in the region. Not even her father's look of disappointment and disgust was able to excite an emotion out of her.

He hadn't believed her words the previous night, when Ewan had taken her to her home, rather he had kept cursing her for being as useless as her mother. Her father never forgave his wife for not giving him a son, before her death.

The only person that had believed her was Gianna. No one else from the elite community, or the public. If her mother had been alive, then...

"Athena Moore, you know why you are here right?"

Athena's attention returned to the matter on ground, when she heard Fiona's father speak. He was one of the elders in the ruling council, and of course, he hated her.

She shook her head mechanically to his question, eliciting murmurs from the crowd that had added up from the two families involved in the case. They couldn't believe her audacity.

"Athena, we are not here to play around. How can you not know why you are here? You have been accused of cheating on Mr Ewan of the Giacometti clan. What do you have to say on the matter?" Another elder asked, taking the reins of the interrogation.

"I didn't cheat on Ewan. If there was a cheat in our marriage, then it should be him. Weren't you all aware of his improper relationship with his best friend, Fiona? Frolicking with a mistress, under the guise of friendship..." Athena chuckled about the smartness of the arrangement, before speaking again.

"Did y'all say anything? Was Ewan sanctioned for disregarding the sacred union?" She questioned calmly, struggling to put her rageful emotions on hold. Bursting out in anger won't help her in the council.

Fiona's father scoffed. "What insolence! Do you have proof? Has your unfounded jealousy driven you to cheat on him with another man? Don't change us from the discourse, young lady. Tell us why you committed this disgraceful act, on the eve of your mother's funeral. Isn't that cruel?"

Athena inhaled deeply, feeling the jab sink straight into her heart and increase the pain that was already there to a hundred-fold. They would include her mother into this too?

At this point, she hated herself for ever choosing Ewan. If only she could turn back the hands of time.

"I didn't sleep with another man. That picture was edited, or the woman isn't me." She managed to answer, her hands remaining as fists by her side.

an outbreak of

have been caught in the act. Be truthful, and we can perhaps reduce your sentence."

hell out of Ewan who was still seething in anger over being betrayed

Athena had the audacity to smile while on trial. She should be

to lie, Elder Alfonso? I'm sorry, but I can't. That is

then. What were you doing at hotel Lafoon two days ago, before your mother's burial?" He asked, standing

a

man. Weren't you? The CCTV had captured

again, grating on the nerves of the people. She already knew where they were heading to with this. It's a good thing then,

I was there to meet an old

believe the balls of this woman. Beside him was Fiona, with a false

for a talk. I met him at the hotel. We had lunch at the hotel's eatery. Whilst there, I got sick, and he told me to move to the room—which I had booked for him in advance—and take a rest on the bed while

the chief elder had to strike the table to ensure silence. He gestured at

that the doctor had come and left. I took the medicines before leaving the room. I didn't see Luca, so I left him a message. Nothing happened, Elder Timothy. Luca is here. You can ask him." Athena finished with a definite calm, not finding it necessary to add that the same day was when

broken by chills transcending the contours of her body when she saw a smirk on Elder Alfonso's lips, right before he called on Luca from

her stomach, when Luca stepped on the

nothing, feeling her hands begin to sweat. Evil foreboding overwhelmed her so much that she felt faint. Luca was her only source of salvation, but why was he looking like

pledge to speak only the truth?" The head of the ruling council asked,

The accused had

as Luca's eyes darted between

She couldn't believe that her childhood friend, a best

him? She wondered, her ears attuned to the lies he was spouting

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