Page 67 of London Has Fallen
“Show them. They think you are some selfish prick who does everything Daddy says. Make them understand that isn’t who the fuck you are or I will.” He takes a deep breath and nods.
“Can you help me?” I reach for the hem of his shirt and fight the smirk from breaking free at the sound of my dad, grandpa and uncle’s muttering curses beneath their breath.
“He can’t do it on his own because of the stitches!” Aunt Meelz scolds them. the moment his shirt is off, I shoot him a reassuring smile and step out of the way so his brothers can see. He slowly turns so they can see the scars that litter his back and chest, even my own family gasps at the sight. My eyes are glued to the bandage around his abs, guilt churns inside me at the sight.
“What the fuck!”
“Who did that?”
“How long did this go on for?”
“I thought you said you fought in the underground?” the four Argyros siblings fire off at once. Artemis runs his gaze over each of them before answering.
“I told you I fought in illegal fights so you would never know the truth about what Costa would do if any of us stepped out of line.”
Adonis reels back. “What the fuck do you mean, if we stepped out of line?”
“It doesn’t matter!” Art says in a firm tone.
“Yes the fuck, it does!” Ares claps back.
Artemis runs a hand through his hair, clearly feeling uncomfortable about this whole thing and having my family gawking at him and listening to what he’s saying wouldn’t help either.
“If any of us did something he didn’t like, I got one of these and then the shit beaten out of me by four or more of his men. You happy now?” The four of them stand there with pale faces. I move in closer to Artemis’s side and lace my fingers through his, some of the tension eases from him.
“If it makes it better, he got one of those on his back because of me,” I say, the four of them swing their gazes to me.
“What?” Dad barks, drawing my attention to him but Artemis answers before I can, keeping his gaze on his shoes.
“I got four that night because I helped my brothers pass the first trial and refused to kill London.” A range of emotions ripple across my dad’s face.
“The day we came to meet with you all about the trials, you were injured?” Artemis lifts his gaze to meet my Dad’s and nods.
“Yes. I got two cuts because I defied an order and failed to kill London for the first time.” The bitterness that laces each of his words can be felt by all.
“Wow, so three of those belong to me.” Artemis pins me with a bored look.
“Really?”
I shrug and smile up at him. “Hey, I’m totally into the scars,” I defend.
“Put your fucking shirt on,” Dad snaps. My family laughs at his expense.
“Help me?” Art asks.
“Of course!” I answer, only to be hauled backward by the back of my shirt by my dad. “Hey!” I protest.
“He has those four to fucking help his Edward Scissorhands looking ass.” I gape up at my dad.
“I know who that is!” The asshole just winks at me, while I stand here and silently fume.
“Good, then you know the whole town hated him,” he says smugly.
“Want to know where else he has scars and bruises?” I clap back, the smugness drops right off his face, triumph ripples through me.
“Want me to add to that collection of scars in your name?” Anger replaces my triumph.
“Touch him and I’ll resort to my old tactics of trying to kill you in your sleep.” I hear my grandpa, uncles and aunts choke on air behind me.