Chapter 42 Athena
ATHENA
“Athena, wait—”
I didn’t. Alec’s voice was lost behind me the second the car stopped. I bolted out, heart racing, feet barely touching the ground. What stopped me cold wasn’t the chaos inside my head, but Ace. He was pacing in front of the building, a gun clutched in his hand.
Ace. My brother. Armed.
I’d never seen him hold a weapon in his life, and that scared me more than anything. I ran to him, my body burning, everything inside me screaming. His eyes widened when he saw me.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he barked, glancing toward the car. “Who did you come with?”
“Where is he, Ace?” I shouted, shoving him hard. My fists hit his chest, desperate, useless. He didn’t move, just blocked the door. “Move.”
He said nothing. When I shoved him again, he caught my wrist, gripping it tight, shoving me back with a silent message: You’re not going inside.
Then I heard a gun cocking behind me.
“Step away from the door, boy,” Alec said coldly.
Ace clenched the gun tighter. “Who is this guy? You came here with him?”
Alec looked one second from snapping, and so was I. Every bone in my body was screaming that something was wrong inside this building. I stared at Ace, begged him with my eyes. Let me through. But he didn’t. He looked at me like I was a stranger.
“You’re a traitor, Athena. A fucking traitor.”
“Watch your mouth before I shut it for you,” Alec growled.
Ace wouldn’t move, and that left me with one choice. I turned to Alec, nodding.
He didn’t hesitate. One brutal swing, and Ace crumpled to the ground. My chest splintered, but I stepped over him anyway and ran. I had to. The deeper I pushed inside, the louder it got—shouts, glass shattering, the sound of something breaking.
And then I saw it. My father on top of Dominic. Fists hammering down like a man possessed. Blood everywhere. Dominic wasn’t fighting back, and he looked half-dead already. Alec raised his gun behind me, but I stopped him with a look.
This was my battle.
“Get away from him!” I screamed, throwing myself between them.
This time, he froze, and I used it to push him back, shielding Dominic with my body.
I knelt over him. Oh, God. His face was ruined, his chest barely rising.
His hand lifted weakly, bloody fingers brushing mine, squeezing faintly before going limp.
My father stood above us, panting like an animal, blood on his knuckles.
“Leave, Athena,” he said, voice low and cold. “That’s an order.”
He stepped forward. I spotted the gun on the ground and grabbed it with trembling hands, raising it. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“Don’t make me do this,” I whispered, begged.
His expression shattered like something inside him broke.
“You’ll let Alec take him. Now. That’s my order, Dad.”
Dominic coughed violently beside me, more blood pooling at his lips. His hand gripped mine again. My father’s eyes flicked between the gun and me.
“He leaves here dead, or not at all,” he said. “I made a mistake teaching you mercy.”
My father knew me better; he saw it in my eyes. I wouldn’t shoot him, I can’t. So I did the only thing I could do to get his attention. I turned the gun on myself and pressed it to my temple. His entire face changed. The predator vanished. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes.
“If he dies, I die with him.”
Dominic’s head shifted weakly, eyes wide with pain. He tried to stop me, but his hand fell limp again. A tear slipped from his eye, cutting through the blood on his face. We were cursed. The golden daughter and the broken prince. Doomed from the start.
Okay! Okay!” my father shouted suddenly. His voice cracked, desperate. “I’ll let him go! Just put the gun down, Athena. Please.”
I nodded to Alec, and he ran for Dominic, lifting him. I kept the gun on myself, just to be sure. My father didn’t move. Dominic’s bloody hand clung to mine until the very last second, when Alec dragged him away. His lips brushed the air with one final whisper.
“Having you was my greatest honor, Athena Marie King. You made my life worth living again. Thank you.”
And then his eyes closed. I collapsed the second they left the building. Threw the gun aside and screamed into the bloodstained floor. My father stepped forward.
“Don’t,” I choked. “If he dies, you’ll never see me again.”
The words gutted him. He looked like I’d already put a bullet through his heart.
“Athena… I didn’t know—He took you away from us.”
I laughed bitterly, shoving him harder. My fists hit him, again and again.
“You have no idea the pain you caused. You destroyed him.”
“What are you talking about?” His voice was hollow.
“It started with you. The day you pulled the trigger on Theo Stone. You didn’t just kill him, you destroyed a family! Garrett killed Dominic’s mother in front of him. Turned him into a weapon, abused him for years. All because of you!’’
“I didn’t know—”
“You never know,” I hissed. “You just take what you want, like you took Mom from Theo Stone. Like you take everything you want in life!”
He opened his mouth, but I raised my hand to silence him.
“If I have to choose, Dad…” I whispered, “I choose him. Just like you always chose Mom.”
And for the first time, I saw Maddox King completely, utterly defeated.