Page 38 of London Has Fallen
He nods soberly and faces the water again. “Her name was Aida.” It doesn’t escape my attention that he said was. “She was fucking beautiful, too beautiful for this world.” Anguish laces his tone. “She was pure and innocent, fuck she was so radiant that each time she walked into a room you couldn’t help but stare. Every time I saw her she would steal the air from my lungs. I remember the first time she spoke to me, I couldn’t even form a sentence or string two words together. She was my angel.” He drops his gaze to his lap, his shoulders hunched forward and without thinking I shuffle closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder, offering him comfort. He wraps his arm around me and places a kiss to the top of my head, that small gesture has warmth spreading through me.
“It sounds like you loved her very much.”
A whoosh of air escapes him. “I’ve never stopped loving her, Lon.”
“What happened to Aida, Nos?” I hesitantly ask, being cautious of someone else's feelings is new to me but with Nos, I have this strange urge to protect him and never intentionally hurt him.
“I was going through the trials with Artemis, we were neck and neck through the whole thing, but on the knowledge challenge I managed to best him and won which meant he needed to complete the final trial without a single mistake in order to take over for Costa. The final trial is the one that separates the men from the boys the Godfathers say, but the truth is, it’s for the sick and black hearted bastards.” The anger that coats his tone seeps into my bones and my own rage for the pain that was inflicted on my friend rises inside me.
“What’s the final trial?”
He ignores my question as he continues. “If Artemis completed the final trial, he would take over but what I didn’t know at the time was if he won, I would die. Costa knew Artemis couldn’t kill me, so he made sure that neither of us would win the trials and used Aida to do that. I was forced to watch… they fucking brutalized her and destroyed the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in this world. When it was all over, I took her out of there and tried to fix my fuck up but I knew the moment we left that room that her soul died in there and only her body remained with me.” The watery tone of his voice has the need to hold him close forcing me to wrap my arms around his waist and nuzzle into his side. His hold on me tightens as if I am his anchor. “She killed herself two days later.”
“Nos, I’m sorry.” I’m surprised at how much I mean that. Feeling sorrow for someone else is fucking strange.
“She left a note. She blamed me for everything and wished she had never met me and honestly, I wish I never met her either. If I had left her alone she would still be alive and happy, living her life with some guy who actually deserved her and could keep her safe.” In one of the boldest moves I have ever made, I shift and straddle his lap, gripping his face between my hands and forcing his gaze to mine. The sight of unshed tears in his eyes fucking kills me. He’s my dark entity and I will do anything in this world to keep that haunted look from ever entering his gaze again.
“This is all your father’s fault, not yours.”
“That motherfucker isn’t my father,” he spits.
“All the greatest loves in history are designed to be painful, Nos. Most people think love should be easy and comfortable but that isn’t the type of love people like us crave. We want painful, soul shattering, groundbreaking love that consumes us and drives us insane. What you shared with Aida is something that can never be replaced. She was your first love and don’t you dare push me in the fucking lake for saying this but… she wasn’t your greatest love, your soul breaking, death craving love.”
A frown works its way across his handsome face, his hands grip my waist in a vice-like hold. “How do you know that?”
Leaning forward I rest my forehead against his. If anyone were to see us in this position it would appear like we are two lovers sharing a private moment but this is just… us. “Because you're still here,” I whisper. “Romeo couldn’t live without Juliet and vice versa. Your Juliet is out there, Nos, you just need to find her and let her break down your walls and destroy the fuck out of your heart until she owns every goddamn fucking piece of it. If it doesn’t hurt then it isn’t worth it.”
“Is that how you feel about my brother?” The air whooshes out of me, I guess it’s time to practice what I preach.
Artemis
“She is fucking crazy, Art!” I spin around and face Blake just as Cronos shoulders past me to go after London. I fight the urge to chase after him and tell him to fuck off and stay away from her.
“What the fuck did you expect, Blake?” I shout.
“So, we’re just gonna go,” Ares says but I pin the three of them with a look that has them standing taller and shutting their mouths.
“I have a fucking dagger in my leg, Artemis! She fucking stabbed me because she thinks I’m fucking you,” Blake shouts.
“You still wish you were,” Adonis mutters. Blake shoots him a scathing look but I ignore my brother.
“I’ll take you to the nurses office and get a car to return you to your apartment,” I say tiredly.
“I’ll spend the night here,” she fires back.
“Please do, then we can see London kill again,” Ares says gleefully.
“She’d look so good covered in blood,” Apollo adds.
“Fuck yes, go to Artemis’s room and when Cronos brings her back, I’ll send her right there,” Adonis says with a wicked smile. I know what the three of them are trying to do and it isn’t going to work. Blake and I used to fuck but that shit has been over for years, we’re just friends now and I feel like a fucking dick that she got hurt because London can’t control herself.
“Don’t you three have some girl to molest?” The triplets and I stiffen, no one outside of family knows about that and rape being a trigger for our entire family after what happened, fuck.
“Take her to Max’s office and get her patched up and sent home. I need to go after Cronos,” I order the triplets.
“You can’t leave me here. I’m fucking injured,” Blake shouts.
“I’m sorry, B, my brother needs me and isn’t in the right space to be alone with my girl.” The moment the words leave my mouth, I regret it. The triplets eyes are wide and their smiles are fucking wider. I ignore them as I race after Cronos. The moment I break through the doors, all I see is his taillights. “Fuck!” I race to the garage and bypass my car, heading straight for my Ducati. I slam the helmet on and peel out of the garage, chasing down Cronos and London. I have a feeling he’s taking her to his spot. He thinks I have no idea about that place but each night he would run away to feel closer to Aida, he would go there and I would hide in the woods. He has no idea I was ever there but I never wanted him to be alone. It’s my fault why he is the way he is.