My Secretive Wife

REAL NAME

Athena stared at her, puzzled, but she nodded. 

"Yes! You'll love it! Right now, it is the fastest and powerful car!" Athena smiled at her excitement to show off her new car. 

"I'll change my clothes," Athena said while wiping her tears.

"Me too!" She smelled herself and said, "Ugh! I need a quick shower!" CamZ was happy that Athena's mood lightened up, so she is more energetic to show her collection. 

Fifteen minutes later, they were already waiting for a taxi. It was only ten minutes away, and there was no traffic at this hour, so they reached the garage soon. 

She rented a spacious garage enough to fit ten cars, so she didn't need to worry about space when she found her next car target to buy. It is only open for renters or owners of the garage. Behind it is the race track where you can drive and race freely. 

CamZ opened the sliding door, and four shiny cars were in front of them. 

"Wow!" Athena was amazed at how she takes care of her cars. It seemed that it was only for display, but CamZ uses them from time to time, mainly to race. Sometimes, she goes to car shows and brings one of her babies.

"You did a great job, CamZ," Athena said as she admired her collection.

"I should! I used a lot of my hard-earned money to buy those," she said proudly. 

"Hmm.. why don't you find something to keep you occupied, while we don't have a mission?" CamZ suggested. 

"I'll think about it," Athena replied. 'Maybe she's right, I need to be busy so I can't think of him too much.' She said to herself.

Two months later

Tapping his pointer finger on his desk, Marco stared at the papers in front of him. It was the information that Anthony gathered in two months about his missing wife. 

The day she was gone, he ordered Anthony to find information about her. They start from the information she had on their Marriage Certificate. Though her name is pretty ordinary, adding her birthday eliminates thousands of unmatched people, leaving them with a few hundred to search. 

From hundreds of information to check, down to seventy, twenty, ten, five, and finally got the one file out of all of them. According to the file, this Bea Cruz just got married a few months ago, coinciding with Bea's time still in his arms. So, without even looking at the picture attached to it, he can confirm that she's not his wife, Bea. And it also said that her parents are both alive. From what he understood, his wife's dad must be dead. She didn't mention her mom, so he can only assume she might still be alive. 

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned on his chair with closed eyes. It's been two months, and he can't even have the correct information about his wife. 'How can I find you? Please tell me...' he wished telepathy existed to communicate with his wife through this. 

Marco got off of his chair and reached for his coat. He walked out of his office and went straight to the parking lot. He did not notify anybody, even his assistant, who was left dumbfounded. His boss walks by in front of him without leaving any word. Anthony looked at the documents in his hand and just shook his head. 

It became more difficult to read his boss's mind since his wife was gone. These past few months, he's been moody and leaving the company whenever he wants. He threw out all the department's documents for his approval in the last general meeting. He reprimanded the directors for slacking off in deciding with each proposal they had. He let them know that they couldn't forward it to his office unless it were final on their end. 

After that, the paperwork that piles up on Marco's desk decreases by more than half—making the secretaries and himself have less work to do. And that's the only good thing that benefited them.

The driver checked the tires when he saw his boss walking in his direction. The driver scratched his head and checked his phone to see if he missed a call from his boss's assistant Anthony. 

"Home," Marco said as he opened the door and got in the backseat. Marco leaned his head on the backrest and closed his eyes. He realized that looking for his wife's whereabouts is more challenging than completing a business transaction. 

The car went straight to the cabin instead of the big house. He hasn't been in the mansion since Bea left. He wants to be in her favorite place when she returns one day. 

Marco changed his clothes and went straight to her study. He turned on her laptop and tried to see if he could find some clue. Marco opened the album and looked at the pictures again. He looked at each of them keenly this time and printed them all so he could look at them closely.

He turned his attention to the computer and enlarged one of his solo pictures. Marco noticed that there seemed to be a white dot at the bottom right corner on each solo picture. It was a circle that appeared to be an ancient greek art, aegis. There are some words above that are unfamiliar. Marco took his cellphone from his pocket and typed it down. He immediately googled what it meant and was surprised by the message. It says, "Hephaestus, my husband, I want to protect you."

He wrinkled his brows and thought. 'The symbol is an ancient greek, and the word was the same,' he thought. 'But who is Hephaestus?' He asked himself. He googled again to know who the hell is that. 

"Hephaestus is the divine husband of Athena," he read out loud. He looked at the pictures again and enlarged all his solo pictures. He was shocked when he saw that all of them had it. He was stunned at what he had discovered. 

Then to his wife, he is Hephaestus. 'Does it mean that her real name is Athena?' The aegis is Athena's protective shield. 'Is she trying to protect me? From who?' Marco's mind was chaotic with his discovery. He feels like crying and laughing at the same time. 'I found your name, love. My Athena.' He sighed with contentment. Marco believes that he will be able to find her sooner or later. Finding her real name is a start.

After he calmed down, Marco immediately called Anthony.

"Hello, sir," Anthony said on the other line nervously.

"I need you to find all the information about Athena Cruz, immediately!" He ordered and hung up.

Anthony was confused why he had to look for Athena Cruz now instead of Bea Cruz, but he shrugged it off. He doesn't have the liberty to ask, and it was his boss's order, so he has to do it no matter what.

Anthony felt the urgency in his boss's voice, so he immediately called someone at the police bureau to look for Athena Cruz's record. Just like what they did when they searched for Bea Cruz, they eliminated unmatched people. Compared with Bea Cruz's name, the number of parents named their daughter Athena is much less. There are just a few hundred with that name and the same birthday and year.