Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“Don’t you think that Liam may be a better fit to take on this project?”
“Why?” I lock my jaw and lean back in my chair. “Because he’s a man?”
Toria’s eyes widen, and she quickly opens her mouth to reply, but pauses, recomposes herself. “No, of course not. Consider it done.”
I nod my approval and watch Toria leave my office, pleased I don’t have to fire another weak-minded woman.
My secretary buzzes in. “Your brother, Phoenix, is on the line.”
“Thank you,” I reply, prepared to take the call even though I have a million things to do today.
Phoenix hasn’t been himself lately. He’s been obsessing over these damn journals he found of my mother’s. My brother has never been stable to begin with, which makes me worry what going down this rabbit hole could do to him.
She killed herself. We need to accept that fact and move on. Actually, we should have accepted that fact years ago. But sadly, Phoenix struggles with this, and I feel I need to be his support system simply by default. My father sure as hell isn’t going to be. Our brother, Apollo, has the sensitivity of a gnat—though I’m not much better—and my other brother, Ares, is dead. So, that leaves me.
“Athena,” Phoenix says when I answer the phone.
“Is something wrong?” I can always pick up on my brother’s emotions.
“It’s Mother.” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t think she killed herself.”
I release a heavy sigh. “We’ve discussed this. Does it really matter if she was the one to jump off the cliff or if someone actually pushed her? She’s dead. And this happened a long time ago. It’s long due we let this go.”
There’s a long pause. “Athena… I think our mother is still alive.”
“Phoenix—”
“You need to read these journals,” Phoenix blurts out. “She says that Father helped her leave the family.”
“You know as well as I do, that Father would never let her go. Godwins don’t divorce. It’s some dictate our fucked-up ancestors made or something.”
“If you read these journals—”
“I’ll look into it, okay?” I say, not wanting to tell Phoenix that I already hired a private investigator to dig more into the mysterious events around my mother’s death. Or the fact that I am scheduled to meet up with him today.
My brothers and I were never convinced that she simply jumped to her death off the cliff in the back of Olympus Manor. It’s what we were told. It’s what we were supposed to believe. But deep down not one of us truly believed it. In the darkest shadows of our hearts, we feared our father had something to do with it.
Not suicide. Murder.
“I want you to read these,” Phoenix presses.
“I told you I’d look into it, and I will, but right now, I have to go. I have a meeting.”
I hang up the phone before Phoenix can say more. I don’t have time to get wrapped up in these thoughts and emotions. I need to make decisions and act based on facts. Hard facts.
Hopefully, after my next appointment with the PI, I’ll be closer to knowing what exactly happened to my mother. She died when I was fifteen, supposedly by her own hand, but that just doesn’t sit right with me. The woman I knew was vibrant, full of life and, like most of my family, was far more likely to commit homicide than suicide.
Did she have demons? Sure. We all do. Godwins are swimming in them, but that doesn’t mean we’d jump to the crashing waves beneath a jagged cliff.
Either way, she’s dead—regardless of what latest freak-out moment my brother is experiencing. Part of me thinks that’s all I need to know, but another part says there is more to the story, and my curiosity is getting the better of me.
My cell phone vibrating on my desk pulls me out of my thoughts. Of course he is calling now. No doubt the little worm ratted me out to my father.
“Hey, Daddy,” I say when I answer.
“Athena, I hear you’re busting my favorite client’s balls.” There isn’t even a hint of disapproval in his voice. I hate how much I love making him proud.
“He thought I was going to be an easy target. I had to correct that misunderstanding immediately.”
“You threatened to frame him for insurance fraud?” There is a touch of laughter in his voice.
“Honestly, I would have done more than that. If I felt the need to get the law involved to do my dirty work, I might as well pin a few of our sins on him, too. Several birds, one boulder, all that jazz.” I have to get him off the phone fast. My next appointment is one I have been looking forward to all day, and after Phoenix’s call, a needed one.
“I know what you’re doing, and who you’re meeting with. Stop.” His voice loses all its humor.