Chapter 172 A Dead End II
Athena froze. Her heart stopped, and she turned slowly, a mix of confusion and disbelief clouding her vision.
“Mommy!” the voice repeated, louder this time, a desperate cry filled with fear. It was familiar, a voice she had heard countless times before.
Her legs trembled as she slowly backed away, her body aching with exhaustion, but the call had rooted her to the spot.
A child appeared before her, small and fragile, standing in a field of soft light.
“Mommy, please!” The child’s face was a blur, but Athena knew.
Her breath hitched. The scene before her seemed like a dream, surreal and disjointed. She reached out, trying to step forward, but her limbs were stiff, unwilling to obey.
The child stretched their arms toward her.
“Please, Mommy, I need you.”
Athena felt a sharp tug at her chest. Her baby. She had almost forgotten about it, as her body and mind had been consumed by the terror, the pain, the survival instinct. But now, it hit her with a wave of overwhelming emotion.
Her baby. Her child.
“Wait,” Athena murmured, barely able to speak through the fog in her mind. “Where are you? Where am I?”
The child’s figure began to blur, and the scene shifted again.
Suddenly, Athena was jolted awake.
“Mommy!” A voice echoed, louder now, more urgent, breaking through the haze that had clouded her senses.
It was Byron.
Her heart skipped a beat, her eyes fluttering open, and there he was.
Byron.
He was kneeling beside her, his hands frantic as they gripped her shoulders. His face was pale, his expression twisted with pain and fear.
“Athena!” he cried, his voice thick with emotion.
She felt him, his warmth, his presence grounding her. Slowly, her senses began to return. The world around her became clearer, and the pounding in her head started to dull.
“Byron,” she rasped, barely able to form the word.
He leaned in closer, his face crumpling with relief. “Athena, thank God you’re alive. Don’t you dare scare me like that again.”
But the pain in her neck, the blood staining her skin, it was all too much. She winced, but she tried to sit up, her hand reaching toward him.
“Byron… my baby…” She barely whispered, her voice shaky.
Byron’s eyes widened in realization. “Athena, are you—” But before he could finish his sentence, he saw the blood on her neck and immediately began to tend to her wounds. His mind raced, his heart threatening to break at the sight of her in this state.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he vowed, his voice strained. He had never felt so helpless, but he wasn’t going to lose her—not again.
“Athena, please hold on,” he begged, his voice breaking.
She nodded weakly, her vision swimming, but the pull of her child’s voice—the voice she had imagined in her mind—was still there.
Byron had come for her. He had found her.
And now, she wasn’t alone.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she felt a small sliver of peace.