Page 8 of London Has Fallen

“And I told him I needed him to collect. I will not be seen as weak to the other Godfathers. They owed a debt and I wanted it collected so I sent my right hand man to do the job. Would you rather I call him and order him back for this little lunch and allow the Vasilous to think us incompetent?” Costa makes a show of gritting his teeth, his eyes burn with the need to maim but he knows he can’t touch me because I’ll fucking kill him if he ever tries again. I have spent my whole fucking life protecting my brothers from this waste of fucking space. They think I abandoned them after the trials but I could never.

“You are not the head of this family. I run things, little boy. Never fucking forget that… Do you understand?” My nostrils flare as I sit across from my father, wanting nothing more than to rip his fucking throat out and piss all over his dead body. Before I can put that plan into action, Cronos appears at the back doors, looking like the devil dressed in all black. He says nothing as he rounds the table and claims the chair beside me.

“Collected and dealt with.” My brows furrow as I peer over at my twin. He flicks his gaze to Ares who places his phone on the top of the table. I nod subtly to Ares in thanks for texting Cronos, giving him a heads up about my excuse.

“You ever keep me waiting again, you will pay,” Costa snaps. Cronos ignores him, pulling his hood over his head and slouching back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and looks to the mountains. I see it in his eyes, if given the chance Cronos would happily disappear into the mountains and never return. He only came today because he knew the triplets would pay the price for him skipping out. “Now, we have a problem I want dealt with.”

“What problem?” Adonis asks our father.

“The problem of that Murdoch bitch being in the trials. Her father has reached out and wants a meet to discuss the terms and no doubt find a way for his daughter to be excused.”

“Then why not allow him to barter her way out and put an end to this?” I say. Costa narrows his gaze at me.

“The whore must remain in the trials.” I can’t keep the shock from displaying across my face as the triplets begin to murmur among themselves.

“She can take my spot,” Cronos says, keeping his stare focused on the mountains.

“You want to fucking die, boy?” Costa roars as he jumps to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process and drawing the attention of the guards that roam the property.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Cronos bites back.

“What’d you just say?” Costa says in a voice far too calm for the look on his face.

“Enough! We need to focus on the girl and what we do about her,” I interject, trying to redirect the conversation.

“She won’t beat us,” Apollo cockily says. Costa swings his gaze to him, the smile on his face disappears instantly. I tense in preparation, ready to take Costa down if he tries to hurt him.

“She managed to kill the rabbit before you three fucking disappointments could, didn’t she?” The three of them all drop their gazes to their laps. I spot Cronos stiffening out of the corner of my eye.

“What do you have planned?” I ask the bastard. He swings his gaze to me and smiles. The sight has a shiver wanting to skate down my spine but I fight the feeling of doom from overtaking me. I know without a doubt he is going to use the opportunity the trials afford him in retribution for the Memento Mori making a fool out of him. They pushed for this school and in doing so it opened up the doors for the other Godfathers to send their children there for adequate training, training that could give them an advantage to overthrow one of us and end the reign of our family name.

“The Godfathers want her in the trials. The meeting with her father is set for the week school returns. The five of you will be there. We will decline his offer, he cannot interfere or help her in any way. The girl will be on her own and forced to either endure the trials or quit and forfeit her life.”

“What happens if she fails?” Ares asks.

Costa’s dark eyes alight with glee. “She will die and given the laws of our people, we are within our rights to end her life. Royal will come for us and so will Bishop and the rest of their family but they can’t touch us.”

“What?” The confusion in Adonis's voice is clear. Costa opens his mouth to answer but I beat him to it.

“Because if they touch us, then the rest of the founding families will intervene and fight alongside us because they broke the rules. The Murdoch mafia and Memento Mori can’t seek revenge for the heiress, if she starts the trials of her own free will. Knox, Ian, Andreas and Karl will have no choice but to honor the agreement they all agreed to when peace was brokered by the founding fathers.” I flick my gaze to Costa when I piece together the final piece of the puzzle and shake my head.

“You want her to fail because you know her father and grandfather will say fuck it to the agreement and come for us, resulting in the end of them.”

He smiles wide and nods. “Clever boy.”

“But why?” Ares rasps out,

“Because his greed knows no bounds. He wants their territory and them attacking us results in them having to hand over their holdings,” Cronos says as he shakes his head in disgust. Costa doesn't reprimand him for his jibe.

The final piece clicks into place for me. I raise from my seat and eye my father in shock. “You planted the rabbit.” He straightens and dusts non-existent lint from his shirt sleeve.

“No idea what you’re talking about, boy,” he says smugly.

“Jesus Christ, you set her up because you want her in the trials,” I shout. His eyes narrow in warning but I’m past fucking caring now. “Your four sons are in these trials!” I shout.

“They won’t have to complete them–”

“How the fuck can you be so sure?” I snap, cutting him off.