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

about Claire, and Jaden's words only confirmed it. He had told her that the whole family loved 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 destroy the reputation of a woman older than you!"

Should I call them up, one by one, and ask them if they ever saw you in front of my dad-wearing

"After all these years at the Donovan family, you've got

they're all too honest to

she seemed to search for words,

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 apologize, and you can stay here for as long

right. You can check all you want." But the words never left

If they started recalling things from the past, any little hints she'd dropped with Wesley could

were probably just bitter that my mom married so well. You wanted to be

"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 be envious? How could you not think, 'Why can't I find someone like that? Why don't I deserve that kind of

the fire, you hid away, brooding and frustrated,

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Chapter 492

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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 nursery. If you had been paying

head hung low, eyes darting away, desperate

to get access to the fire case files. The investigation found that the fire started in the trash bin near the stairwell of the nursery. But why did the