A SON???
“So, Athena, is it?” Peter Slater asked, leaning back in his chair. “The beloved daughter of the Vance family.”
Athena forced a polite smile.
“Yes.”
“I heard you have no intention of taking over your family's empire.” He looked her over with an amused expression. “Instead, you're doing a menial job.”
Athena's smile stiffened.
“I work as the secretary to the CEO of one of the top five companies in the country.”
“Secretary?” Peter scoffed. “Come on. That's a menial job.”
Athena's fingers tightened around her glass.
“When we get married, you're going to quit.”
Her brows shot up.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I can't have my wife working under another man. Who knows what might happen?”
“My boss and I have a strictly professional relationship. We're connected by nothing except work.”
“Work indeed.” Peter smirked. “Speaking of which, what's your body count?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your body count.” He leaned closer. “Don't tell me it's more than ten. That's quite a lot.”
“And what's yours?”
“Mine doesn't matter, sweetheart.”
“Of course.”
“So?” he pressed. “If you don't want to talk about that, fine. Let's talk about something else.”
He paused before asking casually,
“What's your favorite position in bed?”
Athena stared at him for several seconds.
“Wow.”
“Once we're married, you'll have to learn to be submissive. In bed and everywhere else.”
“Married?”
Athena let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You must be delusional if you think I'm going to marry you. You're selfish, arrogant, and unbelievably disrespectful. You disgust me.”
She stood, preparing to leave.
“You know what? I'm done here.”
“Women like you always pretend to be difficult. Acting like saints and playing hard to get.”
He reached into his wallet and pulled out a hotel card, holding it out to her with a smug smile.
“Let's spend the night together, Athena.”
Her eyes dropped to the card, then shifted to the untouched meal in front of her. Without another word, Athena picked up her plate and dumped its contents straight onto his expensive shirt.
Peter shot to his feet.
“You—!”
He reached for her arm, Athena reacted instantly. Her palm connected with his cheek so hard that he stumbled backward and crashed into his chair.
Athena stood over him, breathing heavily.
“f**k you, bastard.”
She grabbed her handbag and walked out of the private dining room without looking back. The moment the door closed behind her, she finally released the breath she'd been holding, that was officially the worst blind date of her life..
Her phone suddenly began to ring, Athena glanced at the screen and it was her mom.
Of course, she knew exactly what this was about. That jerk had probably already called his mother to complain after Athena had poured her dinner all over him.
She almost laughed as she silenced the call and shoved her phone back into her handbag. She wasn't picking up, she wasn't in the mood for another lecture about marriage, blind dates, suitable men, family expectations, or how she was supposedly getting too old to remain single.
As she drove home, she couldn't help thinking about Peter's smug face. Her grip tightened around the steering wheel.
If her mother tried to set her up with another man like him, she swore she would personally ban blind dates from her life forever.
After parking her car, Athena walked toward her apartment building.She was almost at the entrance when something caught her attention, it was a little boy stood alone near the building, his small hands tucked into the pockets of his expensive-looking trousers.
There was something unusual about him, his eyes were far too cold for a child his age. Yet despite his distant expression, Athena couldn't help noticing how handsome he was. His neatly styled hair, and expensive clothes made it obvious that he came from a wealthy family.
Apart from that, he looked lonely. Athena glanced around, expecting to see an adult nearby, but there was no one, she hesitated before walking toward him.
“Hey, how are you?” she asked gently. “Where are your parents?”
The little boy looked at her, his brown eyes remained cold and unreadable. He didn't answer, Athena frowned slightly and she thought maybe he was frightened because he was lost.
“Are you lost?” she asked.
Still nothing.
Athena's heart softened.
“Would you like to stay at my house until your parents come looking for you?”
She stretched out her hand. For several seconds, the boy simply stared at it then, to her surprise, he reached out and placed his tiny hand in her then smiled.
Athena froze for a moment, the coldness disappeared from his face, replaced by the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.
“Aww,” she murmured, smiling back.
She carefully led him into her apartment. The moment they entered, she headed toward the kitchen but when she turned around, she noticed the little boy following closely behind her.
“You don't have to follow me everywhere.”
The boy simply stared at her.
Something about the way he looked at her made Athena pause, it was almost as though he was afraid she'd leave him alone and her heart softened again.
“Okay, okay. You can stay with me.”
She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
“Here.”
She took out a small pack of juice, opened it for him, and handed it over. The little boy smiled and accepted it.
“Give me a few minutes,” Athena said. “I'll quickly prepare some dinner for us.”
She expected him to return to the living room. Instead, the little boy stayed and he even began helping her. Athena stared at him as he carefully carried a few things from the counter.
“You're quite different from most rich kids.”
He looked at her with an innocent expression, Athena smiled and continued cooking. They were halfway through preparing dinner when a knock sounded at the door.
Athena frowned because she rarely had visitors.
“Who could that be?”
She wiped her hands and walked toward the door. The moment she opened it, she froze as her eyes widened.
Standing outside was the last person she expected to see, her boss but he wasn't looking at her. His gaze was fixed on the little boy standing behind her, she slowly turned around to see the little boy's expression had completely changed, the beautiful smile he'd been wearing moments ago was gone.
“Let's go home, son.” Her boss suddenly said as Athena's mouth fell open.
Son?
Athena looked from the boy to her boss in confusion.
Her ruthless, cold, and intimidating boss had a son?
And somehow, that son had ended up in her apartment.
