Page 61 of London Has Fallen
“Wait.” He snaps his mouth closed and tries to look innocent but I see it in his eyes. I leap to my feet and peer down at my dad. To the rest of the world he may be unreadable but not to me. I cross my arms over my chest and stare him down. “How do you know he is whiny and ungrateful?”
“Sir, Miss Murdoch is at the gate,” Marco says from below us on the lawn. Dad slowly stands in front of me but I refuse to back down.
“Remember I love you.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
“I will always love you more than any fucker, now follow me before your mother fucking kills the both of us.” He turns and begins to walk away.
“Wait, why the hell is Mom mad at us? What did you do?” I shout as I chase after him. He pauses in the doorway and peers over his shoulder at me.
“I kept a secret and you are going to act like you knew the entire time so I don’t go down alone.”
I balk up at him. “Hell no!”
He narrows his eyes. “You’ll change your mind.” He clips out before heading toward the front door with me hot on his heels. “Erika,” he shouts as he pulls the door open and moves outside. I look over my shoulder to see my mom, grandparents, uncles and aunts looking just as confused as me. I spy the triplets and Nos out of the corner of my eye when I turn to follow after my dad. I stand beside him as we watch a sleek black pick-up truck head toward us.
“Who the fuck is that?” Aunt Sin asks.
“I found Amelia.” All of us turn and stare at my dad but he refuses to meet any of our gazes.
“When?” Uncle Chaos snaps.
Dad shrugs and steps forward when the car draws near. “She was never missing,” he says it so casually like he didn’t do something wrong. The tint on the windows of the truck are so dark I can’t see inside it. When it comes to a stop we all stand here waiting as Dad heads around to the other side of the truck out of view while the driver’s door opens and Aunt Meelz climbs out. She shoots everyone a smile but when her gaze lands on me a flicker of guilt flashes in her eyes which stumps me.
“You move and I will fucking slit your throat while she watches. You have one purpose of being here and that is help find the fucking Greeks.” I frown at hearing my dad’s threat and it annoys me. I can't see who he is talking to. I feel Nos at my back and the triplets form a semicircle around us.
“Who is it?” Adonis whispers.
“No fucking clue but I’m about to find out.” I take a step forward and slam to a stop when my dad rounds the hood of the truck. He stares at me for a second looking torn, before blowing out a breath and stepping aside.
“Hello, Omorfia.”
Artemis
She looks like a fucking angel standing there, the shock is evident in her eyes but so is the love she feels for me. My attention is snagged when Cronos steps forward and places a hand on her shoulder. I glare at the hand.
“Artemis,” Ares shouts as he, Adonis and Apollo rush toward me. I tense and prepare for the onslaught of pain that will ensue when they tackle me but Amelia darts in front of me at the last second stopping them.
“He’s still healing and needs to take it easy, so go easy,” she warns. The three of them nod and smile wide at the hot nurse.
“Yes, ma’am,” Apollo says with stars in his eyes. They dash around Amelia and carefully wrap me in a three-way hug. I close my eyes and exhale. I knew they were alive but seeing them safe with my own eyes is another thing altogether. Adonis and Ares release me, stepping back with stupid grins on their faces while Apollo keeps his arms locked around me. I wrap my arms around him and hold him close.
“I’m fine,” I say, trying to ease some of his worry but all my words do is have him tighten his hold to the point of being painful. Amelia shoots me a disapproving look but I ignore it.
“I watched you die.” Guilt churns inside me. I wanted to reach out to them and tell them I was alive but I wasn’t afforded that opportunity. The one time I ignored Amelia’s warning and climbed my broken ass out of bed, I tore the stitches and she snitched to Royal who threatened to kill my brothers if I tried again.
I gently push him back and hate the sight of tears leaking from his eyes. Gripping the back of his head, I pull him into me and press my forehead against his. “I’m not going anywhere, brother, I’m right here.” He nods and I smile trying to reassure him without words that we’ll be okay, I’ll make sure of it. “Now, want to let me pass so I can see my girl?” He grins and steps back allowing me to see her again but this time it isn’t just Cronos with her, Chaos, Kacey, Chanel, Bishop, Kiara and a woman I assume to be Chaos’s wife, Cassandra, stand around her. I dart my gaze to the side to see Royal standing there with his wife at his side and an unyielding look in his gaze.
The rational side of my brain knows I should bypass her and follow after her father to do what I was brought here to do and give them the secret location of the Godfathers, but the other part of me, the part that has done nothing but dream of the moment I would be able to finally see her again, urges me to go to her.
“Believe it or not, the choice you make right now is the choice that will shape your future with both of them, choose wisely, Art,” Amelia warns. “Make the right choice, Artemis, because neither of those two offer second chances.” Steeling my spine, I make my choice. In a lot of eyes this may be the wrong thing given everything I have done to protect my family, but this is something I can’t give up—no, I won’t give up. My life has been nothing but bleak, nothing mattered aside from Cronos, Apollo, Ares and Adonis. But now, I care about someone just as much and I am not letting go of that. I can feel their gazes on me as I approach but I only have eyes for her. She stands there shrouded in the protection of her family but what they don't realize is, she doesn’t need them to protect her. I don’t stop until the top of my shoes hits hers. I’ll admit having all her family this close and them clearly knowing that I have been with her is unnerving, but I’m making a choice and I’ll choose her every fucking time.
“You need to give her space.” I meet my twins stare and it fucking hurts, I can see it written all over his face. He’s fallen for her and my miraculous resurrection from the dead has thrown a wrench in his plans to move in on my girl.
“You need to back the fuck off because she isn’t your concern,” I bite out. Cronos doesn’t back down or move an inch.
“You think she is your concern?” I slowly turn to the other side and meet the sinister gaze of Bishop Murdoch. This man is fucking lethal, he’s the guy you warn your children about, he makes the boogeyman look like a daydream.