Page 65 of London Has Fallen

“Miss Murdoch?” he says when he answers.

“Marco, come quickly there is someone trying to break in.” I end the call for dramatic effect and smile at my bestie as I perch my ass on one of the breakfast stools and pat the one next to me. He shakes his head but I can see he’s fighting to keep his smile hidden as he claims the seat next to me. “3…2…1..”

“London!” my dad roars from down the hallway. I hear their feet pounding the ground as they rush to find me and rescue me from the intruder.

“In here!” I singsong. I snort at the sight of all of them with their guns drawn except for Artemis and Aunt Meelz. Artemis shoves past everyone and ignores my dad’s threats as he comes to me. He doesn’t hesitate as he pushes between my legs and cups my face, I smile.

His eyes narrow. “You little shit,” he mutters.

“The fuck did you just call my daughter?” Dad barks out followed by the sound of his gun cocking. We ignore him as I reach out and grip Artemis’s waist.

“I was scared,” I say in a nasally voice trying to sound scared.

“Bullshit, everyone in this fucking house is scared of you,” he claps back, earning a gasp from me.

“Darling, how could you say such a thing?” Artemis rolls his eyes before he is shoved out of the way and I’m met with a very angry Royal Murdoch standing before me. “Daddy, thank goodness you’re here, I was so scared?—”

“Cut the shit, London,” he snaps.

“Fine.” I slouch back against the counter and cross my arms over my chest.

“Chaos, call Marco and call off the hunt, tell him my daughter was being a brat.”

My jaw unhinges. “I was not being a brat!” I shout.

“Were too!”

Happiness erupts inside me at my dad’s reply, everyone around us groans. “Were not!”

“Yes, you were.”

“I love this game, Daddy! Was not.”

He grinds his teeth so hard I think he may actually break them, then releases a growl before spinning away from me and looking at my grandfather. “See, she isn’t a fucking sweetheart, you deal with her while I finish planning this shit.”

“I vote Artemis deals with me,” I say as I raise my arm into the air like I’m a student in school trying to ask my teacher a question. I spy Artemis out of the corner of my eye shaking his head and fighting not to laugh. When Dad takes a single step in my man's direction, I leap off my chair ready to intervene until Cronos yanks me back by my wrist. At the sound of my grunt, Artemis snaps his head toward us and a cloud of darkness shrouds him as he focuses his gaze on where his brother is touching me. Artemis shoulders past my dad, not giving a fuck that he is pointing a gun at him. He smacks Nos’s hand away from me and pushes me behind him as his twin climbs to his feet and gets right in his face.

“She doesn’t want you!” Artemis forces out through clenched teeth.

“You don’t fucking own her,” Nos snaps back. I look around the room to see my family are all standing around watching this unfold.

“What’s the problem, Nos, you angry because she doesn’t want you or are you pissed that we are identical and she still sees me as more than you?” I reel back in outrage.

“Hold the fuck on—” They ignore my protest as Nos steps into his brother so they are eye to eye.

“She will see soon enough that you only care about taking over for Costa and she was nothing to you but leverage to garner the support of her family because you were too weak to overthrow him by yourself.” I balk at Cronos, his twin literally nearly died to try and save their lives and this is how he repays him.

“At one stage that was all I wanted because it meant giving you and the triplets your freedom from our fucking father!” Artemis shouts in his face. It’s at that moment the triplets enter the room looking worried at the sight of their brothers.

“We didn’t need you to protect us,” Cronos shouts. I slam my eyes closed because the four of them haven't seen the scars he saved them from.

“And I didn’t need you to move in on my girl the moment you thought I was dead, but yet you did.” My eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

“He doesn’t?—”

Cronos cuts in before I can finish. “I’m the better choice.” I stumble backward and dart my gaze to my dad who shoots me an I told ya so look, it pisses me off that he looks so smug about this situation.

“Yeah you are,” Artemis’s reply stuns every person in this room, even Cronos.

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