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

Catherine, but he didn't. He couldn't explain it, but something about her felt off. Jaden had sensed something that Athena only now understood-he was ten when she and Zilvia were born, so maybe he'd picked up

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

"Slander? My parents and brothers are downstairs. Should I call them up, 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

said anything because they're all too honest to

her lips trembling as she seemed to

if you do, I'll call everyone

wanted to scream, "I'm in the right. You can check all you

Donovan family wasn't filled with naive kids anymore. If they started recalling things from the past, any little hints she'd dropped

dad, do you? You were probably just

even sharper. "When you saw my mom have twins-girls, no less-who were treated like treasures, while she wasn't neglected or discriminated against, how could you not

bet before the fire, you hid away, brooding and frustrated, missing

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Chapter 492

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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

gaze. Her head hung low, eyes darting away, desperate to

real events," Athena said, her voice calm but firm. "That's why I've been 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