Troy And Athena (Forbidden Love Series Book 15)

Brandon gaped at her for a few seconds. "That's why I came back. I needed to see you," said Brandon, looking a bit lost. "But I can see that coming here was a mistake. You've changed. I don't know you anymore. Give me back my ring and I'll get out of your life forever," said Brandon. Athena's eyes widened as she remembered that the ring was with Troy.  She had forgotten to take it back from him.

"I don't have the ring here with me, Brandon. It's with Troy. When he returns from his business trip, I'll return it to you," she said, knowing that Brandon would again take offense. It seemed as if all he did these days was take offense at her words. 

"I can't believe this. You've given him my ring?" He gasped. "You know what? You can keep it. I don't need it anyway, " he said and stormed towards the door all of a sudden.

"Brandon, if you want you can always talk to me. Our engagement might be over but as a friend we could talk," she reminded him.

"Goodbye Athena," he just said and opened the door and walked out. Athena sighed. She lost her only friend for no fault of hers. Feeling a little heartbroken, she went to sleep in granny's room.

The next morning, the doorbell rang and she opened her sleepy eyes. Who could be at her doorstep at 6 o'clock in the morning? Maybe Gwen or Troy, she thought. Granny woke up too.

"Who's ringing the doorbell so early in the morning?" She mumbled with displeasure. Athena fixed herself and went to open the door. To her horror, there stood two police officers at her doorstep. 

"Good morning, we're from the LVMPD. I'm officer Ridley and this is officer Clarkson. Are you Ms. Athena Harrison?" Asked one of the officers. Athena nodded, too shocked to speak. 

"Can we come inside, ma'am? This is urgent, " said the officer. Athena nodded and let them enter. They sat down in the reception room. "Ms Harrison, when was the last time you met your parents?" Asked the officer. Athena's mouth hung open with surprise at their question. 

"Nineteen years ago when they dumped me with my grandparents and left Vegas forever. They didn't kept in touch with us ever since," she told the officers. "Is anything wrong, officer?" She asked worriedly. 

"Yes, we were contacted by the San Francisco Police Department about a woman found dead in her rented apartment. Apparently she was depressed and addicted to drugs, an overdose of which eventually caused her death. They investigated and found her to be Eva Harrison, divorced and single. An old photograph of a little girl with the name Athena Harrison written behind it along with this address was also found in her wallet," said one of the officers. Athena was shocked to hear of her mom's death.

Her mom was suffering from depression? She was into drugs? Then why didn't she come home? A thousand more questions were racing in her head but there was only one person who could answer them. Her dad. 

"Oh my God!" She at last mumbled when she came to her senses. 

"They also found out that her rent was overdue and there was a lot of debt to her head. So they tried to contact her estranged husband, Timothy Harrison. He's your dad, right?" Asked the officer. Athena nodded, waiting eagerly to know her dad's whereabouts. 

"Did they find my dad, officer?" She asked with concern. The  officer shook his head.

"No, Ms Harrison. I'm sorry," said the officer. 

"I don't understand. Where's my dad?" She asked with concern. 

"They tried to trace him with the help of the documents found in your mom's apartment but it seemed that he had committed suicide eighteen years ago," said the officer. Athena froze with horror. Her dad had committed suicide after dumping her and giving her mom a divorce. But why?

"Suicide? I'm sure there's some misunderstanding, officer. My dad can't commit suicide!" She gasped. 

"We have the medical proof. In fact we found it at your mom's apartment. She might have been contacted when he died and that might be the cause of her depression," said the officer. 

Athena covered her face and sat hunched to overcome the news of her parents death. While all the time she had been having them for discarding her like trash, they were struggling with their own problems. "Apparently your dad was bankrupt after his new business venture failed. When he didn't find a job anywhere, he got rid of you and your mom and took his life. Your mom has a lot of debts which have come over to your shoulders, Ms Harrison," said the officer. 

An anguished cry made them all turn towards her granny's room. Athena gasped seeing her granny, standing with the help of her walker. Her face was white as paper and her eyes were tightly shut. She seemed to be in some sort of unbearable pain. She might have heard the news of the death of her only son. 

"Granny, " shouted Athena with panic, getting up to rush to her before she fell. The officers were quicker and caught her just in time. 

"She has had a heart attack. Call an ambulance, Gary," said one of the officers to his companion. His companion immediately called an ambulance while Athena gave them the address of the hospital where she was having granny treated. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and got ready to rush to the hospital. The ambulance arrived and they carried granny onto it. Athena locked the house and ran towards the ambulance to go with granny. The police car followed them all the way to the hospital. 

The next few hours was very traumatic for Athena. Thankfully the officers helped her a lot else she would have been too lost. Her granny was in the OT as she didn't recover even after giving medications. Tests were being performed to check the extent of damage to the heart. 

"We'll come back later, Ms Harrison. Take care," said one of the officers. Athena nodded and saw ten missed calls from Gwen. After the officers left, she called up Gwen to inform her about granny's condition. 

"I'll call you when they release granny," she told her. As she sat in front of the OT, she remembered what the officers told her about her mom's debt. She would have to arrange for the money. She would have to sell the shop to pay off the debt as well as sell the rented wing of their house to pay off granny's medical bills. 

The whole day, she ran, arranging for her granny's medicines, checking up with the doctor's, paying for the medical facilities and so on and so forth. The tests conducted didn't give the doctors much hope yet they promised to try their best. By evening, she was too exhausted to continue. She looked haggard and simply dragged herself. 

"Why don't you go home and freshen up and come back ma'am? Your granny hasn't recovered yet. We'll call you if she does," said one of the nurses of the ICU. Athena nodded. It was evening and she needed to freshen up if she had to stay at the hospital the whole night. She thanked the nurse and took a cab home. She spoke to the family who were renting a wing of their home. They were eager to buy their wing. Next she called the number that her granny had given her. The woman who wanted to buy the shop seemed to live in the neighborhood. She came down to talk about the sale. The dealings done, she consulted her grandpa's lawyer to prepare two legal contracts of sale, one for the shop and the other for the portion of her house. 

Having taken care of that, she quickly showered and changed and packed herself a small backpack of essentials. She quickly made herself two sandwiches and ate it all up. Feeling much better, she picked up her car keys and drove to the hospital to stay the night. 

She saw that her granny was shifted to a room, thankfully in the emergency department. She could at least spend the night there with her granny. There had been no improvement in granny so far. She was in the same condition as she was when Athena had left for home. Athena sat down beside her granny, holding her hand as tears fell from her eyes. She had lost her parents, her grandpa and the only one alive was her granny. She couldn't afford to lose her. 

"Please fight granny. You have to get well for my sake, " she sobbed. But granny's limp hand didn't respond to her cries. It seemed as if the news of her son's death had already killed her will to live. Athena tried to revive her but failed. The nurse came to inject medicines.

"Give her twenty-four hours at least, Ma'am. Don't lose hope. I'm sure that she'll recover soon," she told her. Athena nodded, praying that her words would come true.