NESSE’S POVAfter having my bath, I stood in front of my mirror naked, and I stared at my stomach.“I don’t want you,” I said deeply.I was alone in my room, so the words came out of my mouth, and I meant every single one of it. I didn’t want the baby, and as I stared at my stomach, I could feel resentment bubbling inside of me.The pregnancy was just two weeks and a few days, but I could already see it marring my stomach.What would I say when the swell began to show? How would I be able to keep it away from the eyes of everyone? For someone who was running away from scandal, this was worse than anything that could have ever happened to me.“You are going to ruin things for me,” I said again. “If only you would just leave me alone,” I added.I couldn’t even touch my stomach because I didn’t want to have any form of connection with whatever is growing inside of me. Even when I was bathing, I could barely wash my stomach, and it wasn’t because the doctor said that the pregnancy was a d

JULES’S POVGetting Arthur to plead for us to return back to the city at night was a task I never saw myself doing, but it eventually worked.“I don’t want any favors from him,” Arthur had countered proudly.“You don’t have a choice right now,” I told him.“We have already been handed tickets to leave,” he had reminded me. “And arrive in the city in broad daylight so that everyone would see our shame?” I had asked Arthur with irritation. “You might have lost your shame, but I haven’t. I am not going to let Benita’s friends make mockery of me,” I had added sternly.“I don’t think you should be thinking about them right now,” Arthur had said. “If we don’t take this free opportunity, we will be stranded in a foreign country,” he had added in a warning tone.“And I would rather be stranded here than go back and be the ridicule of all,” I had responded.“Then you will be staying back alone!” Arthur had declared.“Fine!” I had responded, and he knew that I meant every single word I had jus

IRON’S POVI returned to the Organization worse than I left, and I was fuming.“Nesse is lying to me,” I said to myself.Well, not about whether or not she still had the pregnancy, but who the father was. Athena already told me what I needed to know, and Nesse being so defensive about it was enough confirmation that I might just be the father.The real question was if she had successfully taken it out.From Nesse’s house back to the Organization, the hurt I was feeling inside my chest kept intensifying at the thought of Nesse taking out what belonged to me.Usually, I should be relieved, considering the fact that I didn’t want it initially, but that wasn’t how I was feeling now. The hurt was tearing at my gut and threatening to overwhelm me. The last time I felt this kind of pain was when I held Hera’s lifeless body.“How could she do this to me?” I kept asking myself.I felt the sting of tears in my eyes, but I would be damned if I cried. Only Hera deserved my tears. However, this o

ATHENA’S POV“Make sure you find out if Nesse is still carrying the pregnancy or not. That is your major assignment now, and I need the report of that before the end of the week.”That was Lord Dante’s exact instruction before I left the Organization this morning. He kept giving me reasons to believe that he was truly Nesse’s ex-husband, and that he might be the father of her baby, and quite frankly, I didn’t know how that made me feel.Especially as he still insisted on keeping things away from me.“We are going somewhere right away,” Nesse said the moment she came out of her office.I was so deep into my thought that I didn’t even notice when she came out of her office. However, I got up immediately and grabbed all that I needed to.I still hadn’t learned how to make use of the tab, but so far, Nesse hadn’t really talked about it.“Yes, Nesse,” I said as I followed her into the elevator.While we were being taken to the ground floor, I tried to look at Nesse through my side eye, try

HADES’ POVIron wasn’t joking about what he said; he was dead serious.“We are leaving soon,” he told me.“Um, should the both of us leave the Organization at the same time?” I asked, intentionally sounding worried. “I mean, judging by everything that is going on,” I hastily added.“There is no better time than now, Hades,” Iron responded firmly. “The more I delay, the worse things get,” he added.“I can stay back and keep watch for you, Iron,” I offered.Iron still hadn’t told me why he was going to see the Seer, and what he was going to see him for, but something in me just didn’t like the sound of it. I felt that I might not like it, and I wanted to avert it. Besides, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the Seer.Maybe Iron should have continued keeping it a secret from me.“Are you backing out?” Iron asked me, his gaze piercing into my eyes.“Absolutely not,” I responded quickly.“I have been playing too safe, Hades, and it is costing me way too much. It is time to play it r