Old Days Break Free [ON HOLD]

36

Execution

Athena's POV

Arriving at some VIP room, sumunod akong pumasok kay Samantha habang nakasunod naman si Tita Jamaica sa aking likuran.

Sinarado niya ang pinto kasabay ng pag upo ni Samantha sa hospital bed.

I've been so confused how Samantha looks like she's not pregnant, hindi ko pa siya nakikitang may hawak na bata and it's impossible for her na ipanganak agad ang bata dahil 8 months palang ito.

She'll be a premature baby.

"The kid died on my stomach... I got hospitalized and it's between me or the child. Jezreel picked me." It felt as though my entire world had stopped the moment her words registered.

The gravity of what she said weighed heavily on my mind.

Could this really be why they hadn't come home sooner—because of what had happened to Samantha?

I couldn't wrap my head around it.

Samantha had already suffered the unbearable loss of her child, and now, she had lost her wife too.

The realization hit me like a tidal wave, and guilt surged through my chest like a force I couldn’t contain.

How could I not have known?

How could I have been so blind to everything crumbling around her?

"But this isn’t why we’re here right now… I want to speak to the organization Jezreel was leading," Samantha said, her voice steady, pulling me out of my haze of guilt and shock.

I realized then that I had been unconsciously staring at her stomach, where the child she lost once grew.

"What?" I asked, my voice faltering, despite already hearing her clearly.

I was too stunned, too overwhelmed to fully comprehend what she was suggesting.

My mind couldn’t keep up with the reality of what was unfolding in front of me.

"I’ve known for some time now that my wife, Athena, was involved in an illegal organization. I know she was the mafia boss of a group she named Venom." Samantha stood abruptly, pulling her phone from her pocket with a decisive motion.

She tapped a few times on the screen, then turned the phone toward me, her hand steady, as if to offer me undeniable proof of what she was saying.

On the screen was a photo of Jezreel. She was surrounded by over a dozen men and women, casually dressed, but their stance—rigid and confident—screamed of discipline.

Their presence was unmistakable; they were soldiers of a different kind, warriors cloaked in the casual air of civilians. But they were lethal, and I knew it.

My mind flashed back to the memory. I recognized the scene—Jezreel, standing strong, commanding the room.

It was from the day we were at the photoshoot for the hospital’s advertisement.

She had dared me to hold hands with Lorraine that day, teasing me like she always did, lightening the mood in her own chaotic way.

We had run that day, not from paparazzi, but from something far more dangerous. Cordelia, the current spy for the Silver Owl mafia, was on the move, secretly negotiating with the Red Sinners.

That mafia, too, had its eyes set on us—Venom. And Jezreel had stood at the heart of it all, always one step ahead, always protecting what she believed in.