~Whose side are you on?~
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Everything felt like a blur. Throughout the whole day, Persephone couldn't help but think about what had happened between James and Lucy. And most importantly, what could have been. Persephone was quick to jump to the conclusion that this whole thing was thanks to Daniel and Robert. She should have known the two would try to find a way and ruin her marriage. But she also thought about Athena.
Even though Persephone had already fully blamed Daniel and Robert. She still had her doubts about her big sister. You can't really blame her though. This was the same woman who went behind her back and tried to force her to marry Robert. And on top of everything, Persephone still couldn't find it in herself to fully trust Athena.
And as Persephone walked inside the Thornhart home, she only had one thing in mind. She had to know if her sister had anything to do with this mess. If Athena knew what Daniel was planning.
Persephone stood in the middle of the living room, waiting for Athena or at least Margaret to show up. But as she waited, she looked around the room. Persephone had left months ago but even so, everything felt foreign.
The memories were there. The arguments with Francis. Watching the fire as raindrops hit the windows during the cold winter nights. Her mother telling her stories when she was just a child. The announcement of Athena and Daniel's wedding and soon after, their child. And of course, who can forget the day James showed up and asked for her hand in marriage. All of these memories in the same room she would soon create another.
"I hope you didn't mind the long wait. I didn't expect you to come here." Athena announced making Persephone snap out of her thoughts.
"It's fine. I did show up rather unexpectedly." Persephone shrugged, not really caring. "I was surprised not to see Margaret greeting me at the door."
Even though Persephone had only shown up to the Thornhart home to confront her sister, she was hopeful to see Margaret. Even though it has only been a couple months, she still missed her motherly figure.
"She actually went out for a bit. Buying things for the house." Athena replied as she took a seat next to her sister. "She should be here soon."
Persephone nodded her head. "Doesn't matter. I actually wanted to speak to you about something."
"Really? Is something wrong?"
"Yes." Persephone replied as she played with the ring on her finger. "James had a strange encounter with Robert's sister. She tried to force him to drink something and I have a feeling she wanted to drug him."
"Lucy wanted to drug James? What for?" Athena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Out of all people, Lucy? Why would Lucy want to drug James and why James of all people?
"That is what I am trying to figure out. I also have a feeling it has to do with Daniel and Robert." Persephone looked at her sister. To see if she would give her any type of reaction to what she said. But all she received was the same look of confusion.
"Why would Daniel and Robert plan to drug James? What would their purpose even be?" Athena shook her head. "I wouldn't think Daniel would do something like that."
Athena wouldn't believe that Daniel would try to drug someone. What would be his benefit? What would he gain? He understood he couldn't force Persephone to marry Robert, that was loud and clear. Persephone was already married to James. There wasn't much he could do about it.
"You don't think your husband is capable of that?" Persephone chuckled in disbelief. "This is the same man who tried to force me to marry Robert. Had even shown up to my wedding and told me 'it wasn't over' and you still think he isn't capable of doing something like that?"
"No, I don't."
Persephone really tried to give Athena the benefit of the doubt. She tried to put herself in her sister's shoes. This was her husband and Persephone was accusing him of trying to drug James. But on the other hand, Persephone expected Daniel to do a lot worse than just drugging someone. This was the same man who tried to force her to marry Robert. The man simply only cared about himself and what he had to gain.
"Did you know anything about this?" Persephone questioned her.
Athena furrowed her brows. "Why would you think I knew anything about this? What would I gain from drugging your husband?"
"You didn't have anything to gain when you guys tried to force me to marry Robert."
Athena scoffed. "I thought we had moved past this."
Athena believed that after her talk with Persephone, everything would be alright. Everything would turn back to normal or possibly even better than before. But here she was, being accused of having any type of involvement with this incident.
"Is it really that difficult to understand? My own sister went behind my back and was fully aware of my arranged marriage with a man I couldn't stand and didn't feel the need to tell me until I had found out." Persephone expressed as she stood up from her seat. "I forgave you, Athena. But I don't fully trust you."
By the look on Athena's face, Persephone knew she had hurt her sister's feelings but she had to know the truth. Athena had to know it would take a while for Persephone to fully trust her. Just because she had helped her find a leverage, doesn't mean she was off the hook.
"So you came here believing that I had something to do with all of this? That I had some sort of information on what's going on?" Athena questioned her, standing up as well. "After your marriage, I had spent the majority of my life dealing with my children. My marriage has been rocky ever since. Believe me Persephone, if I would have known this was going on, I would have told you. I would have even warned you."
"Even if you don't know, I need to know which side you're on because I am not going to sit here and wait for Daniel and Robert to do something to me or to my husband once again. I have let those men terrorize me for way too long and it's time to put a stop to this." Persephone explained as she gave her sister a pointed look. "Who knows what else they have done."
"I have proven you with actions, Persephone. You know how sorry I felt when everything went down. I made a mistake once and I have shown you with my actions how I wanted to fix things and I have."
"Are you with me or are you against me?" Persephone asked her. "Because this could get ugly. You are my sister and I do love you but I won't hesitate to take you down with them."
"If what you say is true and Daniel did in fact try to harm James, I will be on your side. He may be my husband but we are Thornharts and Thornharts stick together no matter what."
Even though Athena truly did not believe Daniel had anything to do with the incident with James, she knew Persephone would try everything in her power to find out the truth. Persephone would find out whether or not Daniel was involved in all of this and if he was, Athena would not be able to forgive him.
Persephone nodded her head. "Good. I will start my investigation soon. I will give you the details once I have them. Until then, just do your wife duties and pretend this conversation never happened."
With a proper goodbye, Persephone was out the room heading straight to the door. As she opened the door to leave her old home, she was stopped by none other than the man she didn't want to see.
"Persephone, fancy seeing you here." Daniel greeted the woman. "Or should I say your grace instead."
She knew he was trying to provoke her. All Persephone wanted to do was push him, yell at him for trying to drug her husband. But Persephone knew she had to be strong. She couldn't let her anger get the best of her. She could no longer scream and yell everything she would want to say to him. Instead, Persephone had to beat him in his own game.
"Just visiting my sister but I'll be going now."
"That's too bad. I would have loved to hear how your marriage is going."
Persephone gave him a tight smile. "My marriage is going rather lovely. Can't say the same for others."
Daniel knew this was direct towards his own marriage. "I guess some things never change."
"You got that right. Old habits never die but they do usually come to light."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to be, Daniel." Persephone smiled as she answered the man. "Have a good day."
Daniel watched as Persephone got on her carriage without turning back to look at him. Everything felt strange. Why was Persephone here? What would she want? Too many questions were running through his head.
As Daniel closed the door behind him, he walked towards the living room where Athena was still standing. "Is there any reason why Persephone was here?"
The sound of his voice made her slightly jump. Too consumed in her thoughts to hear him walk inside the room.
"It was a surprise visit. To see how the boys and I were doing. Nothing special." Athena didn't find it in herself to talk to him about what she had spoken with her sister. But she couldn't look at the man without thinking about him possibly getting involved in Persephone's marriage and James' health.
If what Persephone said was true, Athena wouldn't be able to forgive him. She would hope for her sake and for the sake of her marriage, Persephone wouldn't find anything that would involve Daniel. But in some way, if this was the man who tried to pressure her sister into marrying Robert for some reason only he knows about, who knows what else he has in store for them. What else could he be hiding?
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It didn't take for Persephone to return back home. All she wanted to do was to start her investigation and see who truly Daniel was. She knew the only way to prove that he was involved in possibly drugging her husband was to set up a plan. Persephone needed to know what has been going on behind her back for all these years but she knew she couldn't do it alone.
"Thank God you're here. I almost thought I would spend the whole day waiting for you." Naomi dramatically spoke as she watched Persephone walk inside.
"How long have you been waiting for me?"
"About 5 minutes."
Persephone rolled her eyes as she pulled her best friend into a hug. "I'm glad to have you back."
Naomi had arrived just in time to play a part in Persephone's plan. Being on her honeymoon with her husband was a dream. Never in her dreams would she have imagined to have married a prince. How she has become a princess. But while her future home was in the works, Naomi came back to spend time with her friends, especially to spend more time with Persephone.
"It's great to be back." Naomi pulled away from their hug, smiling at the brunette. "So, any news? Potential baby on the way?"
"No babies as of yet. Sorry to disappoint." Persephone joked as she took a seat next to Naomi. "But I do have some news for you. Actually, I have a proposition for you."
Naomi practically lit up. "Spill."
"I have a feeling Daniel and Robert are trying to involve themselves in my marriage. I don't know what exactly it is but I want to uncover it before they could do any other damage."
"I thought they would be done with this madness. What have they done now?"
"James went out with his friends and a girl tried to force him to drink something. That girl happened to be Robert's little sister, Lucy. I have a feeling this has something to do with Daniel and Robert." Persephone explained to her friend. "There is no way this could be just a coincidence."
Naomi nodded her head. "So how do you want to uncover their plan? It won't be easy and you have to be very sneaky about it."
Naomi will be more than willing to help her best friend uncover this little mystery but she knew they had to be sneaky. To uncover the truth will be hard but it will be worth it.
"I have a couple of ideas in mind but I don't want to do this alone. With you and Bella, we can uncover more than just this drink problem. I want to know what else Daniel is hiding. What was the urgency to have me marry Robert? Why all of sudden Francis stopped trusting him? I want to uncover everything." Persephone knew this was too much to ask, but it was worth a shot. She needed to know what Daniel was hiding and possibly help her sister and nephews.
"I'm with you, P. I will be there whenever you need me." Naomi agreed. "Besides, it would be fun to uncover Daniel's mask. Hopefully then we can finally put a stop to this back and forth and you can finally be happy."
Naomi didn't like that even after Persephone was married, Daniel and Robert did not stop bothering her. She thought things would have ended. That Daniel and Robert would throw up their white flags. But as time went by, it seems like things were far from over.
"Hopefully. I am honestly just sick and tired of it all. I thought this would have ended but I think this is just the beginning."
"Knowing them, they won't stop until they achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve."
"I know but I feel like we might uncover something darker and sinister. We don't know Daniel. We don't know what he is capable of." Persephone was never scared of Daniel. She would take that man head on. But Daniel was a total stranger to her. He might not be who he says he is and she's not sure how she would react to knowing that the man living in her house could possibly have a dark motive.
"Whatever it is that we uncover, I will be there every step of the way. You won't go through this alone and if they have some dark plan, we'll uncover it and we'll destroy that man."
"Then as of today, the plan will officially begin."
"What is the first step of our plan, Duchess?" Naomi smiled, ready to start their investigation.
"Tomorrow, bright and early, we will be going to the Arringtons'. I think it's time we pay a little visit to Lucy." Persephone turned her head to Naomi. "It's time to uncover the truth."
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! Author's Note !
─◌✰್ Lowkey hate how short this chapter is but I have taken too long to write this chapter. Hopefully the next chapter is a lot long but for now enjoy this little filler.
─◌✰್ Persephone is playing fire with fire and she will soon uncover a lot, especially things from the past. First stop, Arringtons'.
─◌✰್ Thank you all for reading. Enjoy♡