Warning: Triggering content.

Wasn't planning on getting this out today but you're welcome. 😂 it's 3:15 a.m., so I think there are mistakes. Do point them out.

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(Athena's POV)

(Gerard Butler as Fabian Chavez)

My heart drops to the bottom of my chest. Hell, it falls right through the floor itself when my eyes lay on the man who poured hellfire on me, the man I used to call my dad. Tears sting my eyes like venomous needles as my nails engrave claw marks into the thick flesh of my palms in rage, distress, and disgust.

I don't know how to feel. My emotions are tangled up together in a pathetic mess that I can't unravel. The little girl inside me wants to sob for all the torment he put me through, while another part of me wants to shoot him dead immediately for the same reason. But I have questions that need to be answered by him. Until then, no one is going anywhere.

Pushing my mother aside, he smiles at me. It's the same cocky, devilish smile I was accustomed to back then, yet it still possesses the ability to make my skin crawl. "It's been so long," he remarks smugly as my mother's eyes dart back and forth between us, utterly clueless.

"Nine years." I clench my jaw, taking slow, cautious steps around the table toward them.

He begins walking in the opposite direction, circling the table and dragging my mother close behind him. "Well, you've grown into a beautiful woman just like your mama." His predatory eyes rake down my naked legs and up the baggy shirt to my face.

"Is that why you used to put your hands on me?" I spit in disgust. "'Cause you saw her in me?"

"You're a mirror copy of hers. Can't blame me," he shrugs like a conceited imbecile, rallying back to the same spot he was getting cozy with Edith as I find myself back next to Eros who steps closer protectively. "I must say, you did really good for yourself though."

"I did, didn't I?" Tilting my head to the side, I muster a petty smile and cross my arms below my breasts. "I did so good that I can have an army in here to rip you to shreds right now, but I can do the job myself."

He releases a bark of laughter. "So I've heard."

"Yet you have the nerve to show up at my place." My teeth grit together in fury, my arms tightening across my chest. "I've looked for you like a damn dog for nine years. You ran like a little bitch without a trace, and now you decide to return out of the blue."

"I just had to find the right people to help me, and they did, which is why you never found me."

"And who may they be?"

"You'd never guess," he smirks, too proud of himself.

I laugh frustratedly. "I'm not playing this game with you. I'm just curious as to why you're here after all this time, and how the hell did you get in here?"

"I got him here," Edith chimes in to answer for Fabian, which only bubbles my blood further. "Well, I actually asked that cute light-skinned, green-eyed boy to bring him up for me when he was here."

"Jackson?" I ask incredulously.

          "I think that's his name." She smiles brightly, her eyes glimmering as they gaze at Fabian with love that takes me back to the time where they made me believe in something called true love and the hope of finding it someday. Now, I'm beyond repulsed, my anger on the verge of bursting. "I just wanted to be with Mateo."

"Mateo?" I scoff, my brows furrowing. "You're screwing him, aren't you?"

"I don't see why that is any of your business," my mother snarls defensively with a hint of jealousy lingering within.

Clenching my fists tightly, I let out a low growl. "It is my damn business 'cause this is my damn property," I scream, forcing my mother to flinch due to the anger my voice bellows. "And I need you to step away from him. Now!"

"We aren't even bothering you. Why don't you go back to screwing him!" She tips her head toward Eros as Fabian scowls at him. "Sounds like you two were enjoying yourselves."

"Shut up!" I bark like a vicious dog ready to rip their heads off.

Fabian chuckles amusedly. "You were never this rude to her. I guess things really have changed."

"I'm going to cut your tongue out."

As I step forward in his direction, Edith's defensive instincts kick in place, compelling her to shield the imbecile. "Hun, put your hands on Mateo, and I'll make sure you don't have any left."

"His name isn't Mateo!" I exclaim, allowing my voice to bounce off the walls. "That's Fabian Chavez, the man you were married to. Try to remember what he did."

Turning to Fabian, her face lights up like a Christmas tree full of joy. "We were married?"

          "Still are." He smiles down at her, and I can clearly see the evil lurking within his blue eyes. "We should renew our vows."

          "What vows?" I seethe, training an intense gaze on the delusional man. "You broke each one."

          A sinister smile graces his lips slowly. "Well, I've kept one." My sweaty palms tighten. "The vow to never leave her side."

          My brows scrunch together as I state, "You ran."

"I've been right under your nose, Athena," he reveals, blanketing an arm around Edith's shoulder leisurely. "I've been seeing your mother quite frequently for a few years now. I've also been keeping an eye on you from a distance. How does that make you feel?" Smugness overtakes his features without a struggle. "Incompetent? Useless? Pathetic? Worthless? Which one is it? Or is it all of the above?"

          My heart sinks, my throat clogging with emotions I've tried so hard to push down. Now they scream to break through and tear me down. I can't be the girl he used to exploit. I'm not Athena Chavez. I'm Athena Estle, and no one fucks with me.

         Swallowing down the harshness in my throat, I take a deep breath and look him right in his predatory eyes. "You always knew how to make me kneel before you."

          His head nods in slow dips a few times as he trudges behind Edith, allowing his hand to rub her neck. "I still do." He pulls out a knife in an instant and holds it to my mother's neck.

          My heart lurches up my throat as Eros steps forward to save my mother, but I firmly grasp his arm and pull him back. "Don't interfere."

          "Yeah, control your dog, Athena," Fabian taunts with a chuckle as Edith squirms against him.

          My chest squeezes, however, I don't let my fear crawl onto my face. Her eyes mist up as she remains still like a statue. "W-What are you doing?" she questions in a shaky voice.

          Grazing the knife against her lips, he whispers, "Stay still and you'll be fine, baby." His eyes dart to mine as he lowers the knife back to her neck. "I've got you where I want you now, Athena. One move and I'll slit her throat."

I laugh. "You think she's my weakness?"

"I know she's your weakness," he counters with a gleeful chirp in his tone. "Always has been and always will be."

True. He always knew the ways to manipulate me. The things, the people he could use against me. Edith and Addy are my weaknesses. Although I hate it, I can't deny it, and this disgusting excuse for a man is very well aware of it.

"I'm not the same girl."

"Of course, not. You're a woman now. A very influential one, but you still succumb to such petty things just like everyone else." The broadest smile flashes on his face. "I hurt her, but you'll feel the pain."

"Why are you doing this?" Edith asks in a gentle, petrified manner.

"Because you broke my heart," he spits in rage, pushing the knife further against the thin skin covering her throat.

"Then why don't you go ahead and kill her," I dare him with a cocked brow.

He presses his lips to the side of her head and pecks it. "Because a stubborn part of me still loves her."

          I snort at the miserable comment that leaves his disgusting mouth. "If you loved her, you'd let her go, instead of ever hurting her."

          "She's mine," he claims obsessively. "And I'll never leave her so easily for what she did." The sharp edge of the knife pokes Edith's neck which urges a few drops of blood to trickle down. "I loved her more than anything, and what did she do? Fucked and got pregnant by the same guy twice and made me believe that the kids were mine."

          Upon seeing the agony lurking in his eyes, I take a step forward and brace myself with the emotions revving up inside me. "You could've been the better man. You could've divorced her!" I point to myself. "I would've hated her for doing that to us. For breaking our family. You know that."

          With a shake of his head, he mocks me. "She's your mama."

          "But you were my hero, Dad!" I force the words out through my gritted teeth painfully. Salty tears huddle up before my eyes, blurring my vision at once and tearing my heart apart. "You were always supposed to be the hero who'd protect me from men like you."

          "Athe-"

          "Shut up!" I warn him with an intense glare that notably takes him aback as a dejected tear swivels down my cheek. "I always looked up to you. Not her." My finger points at him to stress the words leaving my mouth. "You."

          My lips quiver, more wretched tears silently escaping from my eyes. Each scar that was inflicted on my body by his belts, his whips, his knives, his hands stings against the fabric of my shirt. It singes and burns down the wall behind which I hid the emotions that I refused to face nine years ago. Although I try my best to not fall weak to my demons, they overpower me without any regard to my feeble efforts.

"I used to brag about you at school. That I had the best dad in the whole wide world. The kindest, most hardworking, incredible man that I wanted to grow up to be like," I let out a soft cry, taking a tiny step forward. "The dad who used to attend all of my soccer games, who used to push me onto the stage to sing my heart out because he was my biggest fan, who made my passions his, who picked me up every time I fell. He made sure Addy and I had everything we could ever ask for. But all that went down the drain with the snap of a finger."

For the first time, I notice a hint of remorse engulfing his face slowly. His brows frown. He swallows hard, but doesn't loosen the hold on the knife or my mother, instead, he tightens it. "She lied to me, Athena. This manipulative bitch made me believe that you and Adena were my daughters." A tear rolls down his scruffy cheek as he grits his teeth. "I loved her more than anything in the world. Everyone knew that. They told me not to blindly trust her, but I didn't listen to them. Our marriage was just a joke in her eyes. She made a fool of me."

          "She broke your heart, so you broke m-mine," I choke on my words miserably as more harsh tears sweep down when Eros rests a hand on my upper back that I immediately jerk off. Stepping away from the man, I stare at the one who held my mother hostage. "You were my dad, not the man whose blood runs in my veins. I loved you, but then you broke everything in me. You tore that twelve-year-old girl's dreams, her aspirations, her innocence like it never meant anything. Like my dreams were nothing. Like I meant..." A dry sob breaks through my throat agonizingly. "Absolutely nothing."

          With the back of his hand, he wipes away a hasty tear and speaks after a much needed second. "And whose fault do you think that is?"

          I give him a forced nod. "Mama's."

"Exactly," he snarls.

"I'm not done," I bark in anger as my nostrils flare. "She screwed up, but you took screwing to a whole another level. You messed up everything good in our lives. Your job. Our family. Mom. You literally broke her. She doesn't remember anything, but I do. Every-fucking-thing you put me through still plays in my head." Brushing the wet trails from my face, I clench my fists and clear my throat. "You left me in pieces. But I've put myself together in ways you cannot break, or anyone else for that matter."

          "Does that make you sleep better at night? To think that you're unbreakable?" he scoffs, switching his gaze to Eros behind me. "Or maybe you're just too busy fucking every boy in your sight like the whore you've always been."

          "You're right." I shake my head and look over my shoulder at Eros who is red in anger. His distressed gaze rakes over my features as I grab his hand and pull him up beside me. "This is Eros, the man I'm fucking like a whore."

          "Athena," Eros whispers my name, shaking his head and motioning me to stop.

          A sizzling tear slips down my eye as I flash him a sad smile. "I thought I'd never say this, but come meet my so-called parents." I point to them. "That's Edith, my mother, and that's Fabian, the man I used to refer to as my father."

"I'm still your father."

"Fathers don't rape their daughters!" I scream, wrenching my heart as my voice cracks and breaks. "They don't beat them relentlessly, starve them, sell them to new men every night for a few bucks. They don't do that!"

Eros squeezes my hand as I let out another cry of distress. My heart strangles itself. My eyes hurt from all the crying that I can't seem to stop. The consistent throbbing in my head makes my body woozy. And the churning of bile in my stomach is just another disgusting cherry on top of the entire situation.

          "You left me in a place where I couldn't trust anyone, couldn't love anyone because you butchered that word for me. You ruined any notion of marriage for me when you destroyed yours and threw everything out of the window for petty revenge that you took too far."

          "You would've married someone like him?" Fabian remarks in sheer disgust at the appearance of Eros. "He looks like a damn walking tattoo parlor."

          "It's not about marriage. I don't believe in that stupid thing or love. They mean nothing to me." Dabbing away the tears from my cheeks with the back of one hand, I smile to myself. "The thing is that Eros makes me genuinely happy, and I haven't felt that way in a very long time."

He laughs menacingly in a judging manner whilst constricting his hold on my mother. "Is it the sex?"

          I chuckle at the defensive aura emanating from his body. "Could be. I've never had this good sex in my life before, and his dick is quite large as well. Can't say the same about you though." I smirk smugly from the fact that my words are firing him up. One more push and I'll have him where I need him. "Your tiny penis puts mankind to shame."

          "Shut up!" Fabian shouts as I smile.

          Almost there.

          "No wonder mama cheated on you," I instigate him a little more.

          "I said shut up, you pathetic bitch!"

          "You were never a good fuck for her. I don't blame her for sleeping with a rich man who gave her good sex and money that you couldn't provide," I mock. "I call it a win-win for her."

          "I'm warning you, Athena," he threatens me, pushing the knife further against Edith's already bleeding neck. "I will slit her throat if you don't shut your dirty mouth up, you fucking slut."

          Fabian always prized his masculinity and imposed his power over me. A good bruise on it and he'll crumble in no time. I just need to get him there. "Do you remember when you killed my baby? When you beat my kid out of me?"

My face scrunches as I remember each blow of the baseball bat to my belly which resulted in the death of the baby developing in my womb. I was six months pregnant before Fabian found out about it. The bump went unnoticed by everyone because I wasn't eating enough to enhance the normal growth of the fetus inside me, and the baggy clothes helped me conceal it. It was the worst day of my life when he saw me rubbing my belly with a smile on my face. I recall laying in the cold tub in excruciating pain sobbing as I bled the little fetus and mourned the loss of the child I was ready to have. It was the moment that broke everything good in me, the moment I lost all innocence within me.

"I remember exactly how you murdered my baby. But I've always wondered if it was because you were mad that you couldn't get any woman pregnant, which is why you couldn't have me walking around the house with a six-month-old kid in me." My fists shake in rage. "You were pissed that your sperm was no good, precisely how all this started. You're the worthless one among us. You're a pathetic cunt who deserves nothing. You'll die alone, and I'll be the one sending you to hell."

He growls under his breath as his face contorts to pure wrath. In the heat of the moment, he throws the knife in my direction that comes aiming for my head. I dodge it by a few inches and catch it mid-air. With a little force, I fling it back at him. A painful scream leaves his mouth when the blade embeds itself in his shoulder, compelling him to stumble back onto the sofa behind him as he pushes my mother away. She falls and hits the edge of the table before slipping into unconsciousness.

I rush to my mother's side while Eros heads for Fabian. "Don't kill him yet," I order before examining my mother.

Her pulse is strong despite the new open wound on her head and the cut on her neck. I manage to drag her flaccid body and place it on another sofa. I allow my fingers to run over her cheek as I sigh in relief and peck her forehead softly. She's okay and that's all I need at this moment.

I could hear Eros landing punch after punch on Fabian before I finally go to his side and stop him. Fabian grimaces in pain and spits out blood from his mouth.

My hand slaps him right across his miserable face. "That was fairly easy."

          Fabian laughs, flashing his bloody teeth. "I've already done what I needed to do."

          I cross my arms over my chest and shrug. "Mama is fine, so you did nothing."

          He laughs again. "I'm not talking about her." He shakes his head, squirming a bit under my and Eros' stature. "Look around you, little owl. Who isn't here?"

          My heart skips a few beats when I finally realize what he's talking about. Vicious rage courses through my body as it lights up on fire. My hands tremble and my eyes only see red, which is soon enough going to be replaced by his blood on my hands.

          I grit my teeth together and growl. "Where is she?"

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Yay or nay?

Long wait, I know, but had to focus on finals and now they're finally over. Gave the last ones today. Hallelujah!

How do you guys feel after this chapter? What emotions did you go through? I personally cried writing this chapter. It was very hard writing this, but I got it done.

How do you guys feel about Fabian? Did you feel bad for him a bit or not?

Who do you guys think gave Fabian shelter when he ran?

Who do you guys think Fabian took, and what did he do to that person?

What are your thoughts on Athena after knowing what all she's been through?

Also watched The Avengers: Infinity War today and bruhhhhhhhhhh! I'm dead 😭

Much love ❤️
~Reet