From Betrayal to Brilliance Her Rise to a New Life novel Chapter 201

Chapter 201 Avoidance Tactics

During that time, a secretary came in to drop off some coffee. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes couldn’t help drifting toward Athena.

Athena could tell that she was curious. After all, Athena had been the center of gossip not long ago. Even though the buzz had died down over the past couple of days, anyone who’d seen the negative press probably still had a strong impression of her.

Athena did her best to stay composed. It wasn’t until the secretary left that she finally relaxed a little.

She waited in the office for Zaden, but after several hours, he still didn’t show up. In the end, she couldn’t wait any longer and stepped out to look for Tommy.

“Mr. Croft, do you have any idea when Zaden might be free?”

“I’m not sure, Ms. Hall. He’s been swamped lately. Maybe you should head home for now?”

Athena sighed inwardly at his response. It looked like Zaden really wasn’t available today. She figured she might as well leave.

“Mr. Croft, when you get the chance, could you let Zaden know I came by? Ask him to call me when he’s free?”

Tommy gave her a polite smile. “Of course, Ms. Hall. I’ll be sure to pass the message along.”

Athena turned and walked away.

As soon as she left, Tommy hurried into the office. Zaden was sitting in his chair, staring out the floor–to–ceiling window, his eyes dark and unreadable.

“Mr. Storm, Ms. Hall just left.”

Zaden snapped out of his thoughts and gave a small nod. “Yeah. I know.”

Tommy looked at him, a bit hesitant. After a moment of silence, he spoke up. “Mr. Storm, avoiding her like this isn’t going to solve anything. If you really don’t want a divorce, maybe just talk to her. Who knows? She might actually change her mind.”

Zaden let out a quiet laugh at that. He hadn’t expected his assistant to start lecturing him.

His voice dropped as he said, “I will.”

Just… not yet.

1/3

Tommy had no idea what Zaden was really thinking, but since it seemed like Zaden had his own plan, he figured it wasn’t his place to push further. He trusted that Zaden knew what he was doing.

The next day, Athena showed up again.

Thanks to the experience from yesterday, Tommy was a lot smoother with his lies this time. With his sincere expression and that slightly overwhelmed look on his face, he honestly looked like someone buried in chaos. Even though Athena had prepared herself for this possibility, she still couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

She didn’t want to be the one to tell Zaden to set his work aside.

So in the end, she just waited again, in a small conference room this time.

And once again, she waited the whole day. Zaden never came. Even someone as optimistic as Athena was slowly starting to realize something…

Zaden was avoiding her.

No way. Seriously?

She couldn’t believe it. Why would Zaden avoid her? Could it be

…

he didn’t want the divorce?

The thought made her heart race, but she quickly shut it down. No, that couldn’t be it. Maybe Zaden really was just too busy. Maybe she just happened to show up at a really hectic time.

But still, she’d come by several days in a row now, and every single time, he was too busy?

He didn’t even have five minutes to see her just to say they’d talk another day?

No. This couldn’t keep going. She needed to come up with a plan.

Athena slowly calmed down. She wasn’t going to just sit around and wait anymore, so she went straight to Tommy and told him to take her to see Zaden.

Tommy hesitated, looking seriously conflicted.

Athena narrowed her eyes at him and said, “Is Zaden really that busy, or is he just avoiding me? Mr. Croft, come on, we’ve literally been through hell together. Just tell me the truth.”

“Uh… Ms. Hall, maybe-”

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