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A few days had passed, and it felt like it had been an eternity without seeing Athena. Henry couldn’t spend more than five seconds near Hudson without wanting to rip his head off. His brother had made it perfectly clear where he stood. To make matters worse, everyone else had discussed her absence ad nauseam, and they all agreed that Henry had overstepped. Well, except for Harley. She thought he should have chased after her—a lot of good that would have done him.
For the first time in his life, Henry felt cornered. None of his excuses could sway his family to his side. It didn’t matter that he’d gone in search of Athena’s family for her own good. Since she’d requested that he stay out of it, then he should have done just that.
Henry didn’t miss the smug look on Hudson’s face when this topic had finally burned through to its end. His brother got everything he wanted. Athena was gone and he finally had his own room.
And on the other end, Henry lost everything he cared about.
Athena.
His choices had sent her away, no matter how right he felt he was. Hudson was right about one thing that Henry could agree on—Athena had the agency to choose what she wanted to do and there was nothing Henry could say to stop her.
Coming to that realization didn’t prevent Henry from obsessing over every agonizing detail of his relationship with her. He couldn’t help but wonder if giving her less direction would have made her feel less judged? If he’d opened up the conversation about finding her family, would she have listened to reason?
There were too many what-ifs in this scenario, and they only contributed to the detrimental state of his heart.
He spent most of his days avoiding his family, if only to prevent a conversation from starting up again. That’s what happened when there wasn’t anything interesting going on, and Harley was the worst instigator. There wasn’t a single conversation she had with him that didn’t end in her telling him to track her down.
Such was the conversation he found himself in currently as she prevented him from entering the house. “I’m sure you could find her. You’d just have to ask around. How far could she go?”
“I’m not going to chase after someone who doesn’t want to be caught,” Henry muttered, pressing fingers to his temples.
“How do you know she doesn’t want to be caught? Sometimes, that’s exactly what this means.”
Henry glowered at her. “That’s not Athena. And if it were, I wouldn’t be interested in her, because I don’t play games.”
Harley folded her arms. “All I’m saying is that if you never told her that you loved her, you don’t know how she would react. Sometimes, that’s all it takes for someone to realize that you’re meant to be together.”
“Will you just drop it? I get that your life is just like a fairy tale. Lucky you. But you know whose life isn’t? Mine. This isn’t some story where I can wave a magic wand and she will pull up in a bright red sports car to tell me she was a princess in disguise, and this was all a dream.”
Harley made a funny face and then smirked. “I think you’ve got your stories all twisted up and knotted like a ball of yarn.”
“I. Don’t. Care. Will you just…” His voice trailed off as Harley’s gaze locked on something behind him. He didn’t dare hope because doing such would only cause his heart to break further if it wasn’t her.
The sound of a soft engine filled the air, causing his curiosity to win over his resolve. He turned to find a bright red sedan driving up the road toward the house.
Harley laughed. “Maybe this is a fairy tale after all.”
“It’s not her,” he said.
“Maybe it is.”
He spun around to face Harley. “Don’t you have someone else you could pester? I’m sure your uncle could use an extra handout at your place.”
She shook her head with glee. “This is definitely more interesting.”
Henry huffed and headed down the porch stairs toward the car. He reached the driver’s side just as the door opened and a woman stepped out. She was familiar, but he wasn’t sure why. Something about her eyes and her nose threw him off guard. “Can I help you?”
She smiled warmly, shutting the door behind her. “I sure hope so. I’ve gone to at least three different properties so far today. I’m looking for someone named Henry Keagan?”
He stiffened. “That’s me.”
Relief flickered across her features. “Oh good.” She held out her hand toward him. “I’m Rachel. You emailed me a few weeks ago about finding my sister.”
26
Athena
Living on the street wasn’t going to cut it anymore. That much was certain. As Athena’s gaze swept from one side of the street to the next, she no longer viewed the dark corners and dumpsters as hiding places. She could no longer see herself sleeping under the stars.
