From Betrayal to Brilliance Her Rise to a New Life novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34 The Perfect Payback

Athena rarely talked to strangers, so when the call came in, she knew exactly who it was.

Finished

She was about to hang up when Harriet stopped her. “Hey, why are you hanging up? Who’s calling? Why not answer?”

“Who else could it be?”

Harriet instantly understood. “Don’t hang up yet. Let’s hear what Lewis wants.”

Under Harriet’s urging, Athena reluctantly answered and turned on the speaker.

A weak, slightly guilty voice came through the phone.

“Athena, I had a few drinks. I’m not feeling well. My stomach really hurts. Can you come pick me up?”

Lewis sounded miserable, nothing like his usual arrogant self-almost enough to make anyone feel sorry for him.

Athena’s expression stayed cold as she took it in.

She knew this trick too well. Every time Lewis messed up, he’d pretend to be weak. Once he played the victim, she’d forget her anger and forgive him-just like before, when he missed her birthday.

The next day he sent gifts and said a few sweet words, and she forgave him.

Back then, she didn’t know he’d skipped her birthday to be with Nina. She thought he’d been working late at the office. He always managed to win her over by acting pitiful.

But that trick didn’t work anymore.

A cold smirk touched her lips. “Sure,” she said flatly. “Where are you?”

Lewis didn’t expect her to agree so easily. His tone brightened immediately as he gave her the address.

“Wait there,” Athena said before hanging up.

Before Harriet could react, Athena had already agreed to pick him up. “Wait-Athena!” Harriet cried. “You’re not seriously thinking about getting back together with him, are you? Come on, wake up!”

“Men who cheat,” she added bitterly, “are like dirty money-no matter how clean it looks, you

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Chapter 34 The Perfect Payback

still feel disgusted holding it.”

Athena sneered. “Who said I’m getting back together?”

“Then why’d you agree to go get him?” Harriet asked, confused.

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“I said I’d get him,” Athena replied calmly, “but I didn’t say I’d be the one going.” She held out her hand. “Give me your phone.”

Harriet handed it over, curious. Athena quickly texted Nina, giving her Lewis’s location. She added that Lewis was drunk and kept calling out Nina’s name, urging her to pick him up right

away.

When Harriet realized what Athena had done, she burst out laughing and clapped her hands.

“Genius!” she said between laughs.

“Lewis thinks you’re coming, but it’ll be Nina who shows up! I wish I could see his face when he realizes you have played him. He’s going to look like he swallowed a bug!”

After Lewis hung up the phone, his mood instantly lifted. The atmosphere in the private room turned even livelier. Everyone was waiting for his wife to arrive.

When Lewis had suddenly gotten married years ago, he never threw a proper wedding. All these years, he never once brought his wife to any of their gatherings.

No one knew if he was deeply in love and wanted to keep her hidden, or if he was ashamed of her and didn’t want to show her off.

Either way, everyone was curious.

They kept pretending to play the game, but their minds were elsewhere.

Lewis, smiling smugly, waited eagerly for Athena to walk through that door.

Before long, the door swung open. Everyone turned their heads at once.

Standing in the doorway was a woman in a yellow dress, her long hair falling loosely over her shoulders. Her eyes swept across the room and quickly locked onto Lewis.

“Lewis,” she said softly as she walked toward him, “I heard you were drunk, so I came to take you home.”

Laughter broke out around the room. Someone nudged Zaden with a grin. “Mr. Storm, that dare was way too easy. Were you going easy on him?”

Everyone had been expecting some kind of drama, but with Lewis’s wife actually showing up,

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Chapter 34 The Perfect Payback

the tension fizzled out.

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