CHAPTER 6: THE CAGE

ATHENA'S POV

My heart pounds as I shove open the door to Xander’s private study, my breath all ragged and raw.

I don’t even bother to knock; I’m too furious to care.

“Xander!” I yell at him.

He’s standing by the window with the city's skyline behind him then he turns slowly to look at me.

“Athena,” he says. “I thought I made it clear that you’re to stay in your suite unless escorted.”

I should be annoyed at how he thinks I'll listen to his instructions however I ignore his arrogance and walk towards him.

Yesterday I barely managed to run back into the gala's main hall before Veronica would see me, and when I had arrived HE had had the guts to scold me for living his side and hadn't even allowed me to explain myself even when I had looked like I was panicking.

He just sent me home with dozens of guards that I had no idea he had brought along with him in the first place.

As if being sent home like a troublesome child wasn't insulting enough, he hadn't come back till today.

And now I'm angry, and yet still scared---- of course I am; who wouldn't be after hearing that kind of phone call being made about you.

“Veronica is trying to kill me,” I spit while my voice trembles.

However, he just raises a brow, looking unbothered.

“Excuse me?”

“SHE was on the phone at the gala. I heard her, Xander.” I stress, with my fists now balled at my sides.

“She said she wanted me and the baby gone— and to make it look like an accident.”

He lets out a breath, shaking his head. “You’re overreacting.”

“Overreacting?” I repeat in disbelief at his response.

“She ordered a hit on me, Xander!”

What was his problem? Didn't he want his 'heir' to be in safe condition anymore?

Xander sighs and moves toward his desk, adjusting his cufflinks like he’s just closing a business deal instead of hearing about a murder plot.

“Veronica is manipulative, yes, but she wouldn’t stoop that low.”

I stare at him. “You can’t be serious.”

He looks up, and eyes me cooly.

“Athena, you’re under a lot of stress. Hormones and paranoia are understandable given the situation.”

My mouth drops open. “Hormones? You think this is because of my hormones?”

Xander’s jaw tightens. “Calm down.”

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down!” I shout.

"You actually think that because I’m pregnant, I’m imagining things? That I’m hysterical?”

Leaving his desk completely, he walk begins waking closer to me.

“I think you’re letting your fear get the better of you.”

“You arrogant son of a—”

“Enough," he says lowly.

“You’re carrying my child, Athena, that means you will stay here, where I can protect you. And I'm already doing just that.”

“You weren't even listening to me just now. Are protecting me or controlling me?"

“Same difference," he says and I glare at him, feeling both angry and helpless.

“You don’t get to control me," I say but he tilts his head and narrows his eyes at me.

“You’re wrong. As long as you carry my child, you belong to me. Every. Single. Part.”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut, leaving me trembling and I rasp out.

“You’re a monster."

He shrugs. “Maybe.”

Angrily I turn around and storm out of the study, feeling my tears of frustration sting at my eyes.

I race down the hallway to the guest suite where I’ve been staying and look out through window, dabbing at my eyes with the curtain to clean my tears.

I'm sobbing but I don't fully understand why I am.

I cry and cry into the soft fabric of the curtains until the sound of my phone ringing on the bed reachs my ears and draws my attention.

Sniffing, I wipe at my face with the curtain one last time and walk over to my bed, picking up my phone that has already stopped ringing by now.

When I swipe at the screen, I see a popped up notification, again from an Unknown number.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: You’re already dead, Athena. You just don’t know it yet.

My breath catches and I type back furiously with shaking hands.

'Who are you?'

But the message doesn't send----- of course it doesn't; you can't send messages to or call unknown numbers because they've been made private or unknown.

Sighing I toss my phone back on the bed and flop down as well, burying my face into the pillow and starting a fresh batch of tears.

------------

It's been over three hours since I finished crying my eyes out, now I'm pacing back and forth on the floor.

This place feels like a prison; I think and reach for the door handle when I get to it, pulling it open.

“Miss Foster,” I hear someone say from beside me and startle, turning around to see four guards, two on each side of my room door.

Four... FOUR GUARDS!!!!

“Mr. Knight’s orders are that you’re not to leave without his permission," one of the guards say.

I stare at him in disbelief. “Are you serious? Didn't he say I could but I have to be escorted?”

He doesn’t blink at my words and just dips his head at me. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Anger now literally bubbling under my skin, I retreat to my room, locking the door behind me and then lean on it, placing my right palm to my forehead.

My chest feels so tight now like a monster is squeezing the air from my lungs and that monster might as well be Xander.

I start pacing again but pause when I hear Xander's voice telling his guards something.

Placing four guards at my door is ridiculous and I walk back to the door to open it and give him a piece of my mind but then I hear a click.

Wait... He didn't...

Did he?

I reach for the handle and try but it doesn’t budge.

It's been locked from the outside.

Panic grips me and I start rattling the handle.

“Xander!” I scream but he doesn't answer.

“Open the damn door!”

Still he doesn't say anything and I slam my fists against the wood desperately and angrily.

"Xander you bastard!!!!"