She Outshines Them All (Athena and Matthew)

Chapter 492

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Catherine finally lost control, her voice rising in a desperate, frantic shout, "I didn't!" Her face drained of color, her body trembling as she fought to hold herself together. "My sister is the best person in the world to me. I would never betray her! If I had done something like that, do you think the whole Donovan family wouldn't have noticed?

"Athena, if you don't like me, fine, I'll leave and never come back but you can't slander me like this! Do you understand how malicious it is to ruin a woman's reputation like this?"

Athena remained unfazed, her expression cool and composed. "That's the thing about you. You understand men too well. My father-he's a typical straight-laced guy, honorable, devoted to my mom. If you'd so much as shown any interest in him, he would've called you out, maybe even kicked you out."That's why you've been so careful."

Catherine's breath hitched. "Careful how?" she asked, voice trembling.

Athena's tone took on a sharp edge. "When no one's around, maybe it's a subtle touch of your fingers, or walking around in your nightgown. Or maybe you'd pretend to cry, just enough for him to notice. Or, perhaps, you'd 'accidentally' fall and land right in his arms. But the sad part is, to my father, you were just another relative.

any of it."

Athena pressed on, her voice cold and cutting. "It must have been so frustrating for you, right? You must've thought, 'Why did my mom end up with such a great guy when I'm just as good, if not better? Why can't I find a man like him?""

"He didn't see you the way you wanted him to-no matter how many hints you dropped, he couldn't sense

he didn't. He couldn't explain it,

to control-her anger. "You're slandering me! You're trying to destroy the reputation of a woman older than you!" she

one by one, and ask them if they ever saw you in front of my dad-wearing that nightgown, drinking, crying,

Donovan family, you've got to know that if you

because they're all too honest to think that matter how

as she seemed to search for

her voice sharp as a knife. "You can deny it, but if you do, I'll call everyone in here to verify. If I'm wrong, I'll

check all you want." But the words

filled with naive kids anymore. If they started recalling things from the past, any

dad, do you? You were probably just bitter that my mom married so well. You wanted to be

my mom have twins-girls, no less-who were treated like treasures, while she wasn't neglected or discriminated against, how could you not be envious? How could you not think, 'Why can't I find someone like

before the fire, you hid away, brooding

08:18 Mon, Dec 2

Chapter 492

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leaving no room for escape. "I even wonder if, when you saw the fire started, you just stood there, watching, waiting to see my parents suffer. I base this on something a nurse recalled. That night, you weren't asleep. You were wandering around the nursery and then disappeared for a while. The fire broke out near the

Her head hung low, eyes

working with the police. Through my connections, I managed to get access to the fire case files. The investigation found that the fire started in the trash bin near the stairwell