Chapter 142 Get Melissa, we're leaving.
Third Person POV
The reception had barely begun when the doors burst open.
Chen Wei stumbled in, his usual composure completely shattered. His face was pale, his expensive suit disheveled, his hands shaking like he had been electrocuted.
“ZEUS!” he shouted. “ZEUS!”
The music stopped. Conversations died mid-sentence.
Everyone turned to stare.
Chen Wei never raised his voice; he has never once lost control. He was the most inscrutable of the Five Family heads. The one who played the long game. The one who never showed emotion.
And now he was running through the reception hall like a madman.
“Zeus! Where is Zeus?”
Guards moved to intercept him but Zeus raised a hand.
“Let him come to me.”
Chen Wei ran forward, nearly tripping over his own feet. He stopped in front of Zeus’s throne, breathing hard.
“What’s wrong?” Zeus demanded. “What’s going on?”
“Your son!” Chen Wei’s voice was shaking with rage and terror. “I told you! I told you that son of yours would be our ruin! He can’t be controlled! What kind of monster did you put in our midst? What have you DONE?”
The hall erupted in murmurs.
Zeus leaned forward. “Slow down and speak clearly.”
“Gavin!” Chen Wei was almost incoherent. “Gavin ruined me! All my secrets…buried for decades…they’re out! Exposed! Destroyed!”
He pulled out his phone with trembling hands. Showed Zeus the screen.
News articles talking of Chen Wei’s illegal operations. His money laundering networks. His political bribes. His connections to human trafficking rings and organ selling.
All of it was public.
“My wife…” Chen Wei’s voice cracked. “My wife committed suicide an hour ago. She couldn’t bear the shame. The reporters outside our home. The investigators. The…”
He couldn’t finish. Just stood there, shaking.
Zeus’s expression darkened.
Gavin’s face was perfectly blank.
“When did this happen?” Zeus asked quietly.
“I don’t bloody know. Right after…” Chen Wei’s eyes widened. “Ahhh all I know is he planned this. He planned all of this.”
Before anyone could respond, the doors burst open again.
Dmitri Volkov stormed in. Flanked by his guards. His face was purple with rage.
“GAVIN!” he roared. “Where is that backstabbing…”
His guards grabbed his arms, holding him back.
“Lord Volkov,” one of them said urgently. “The new king…”
“I don’t care if he’s God himself!” Dmitri shook them off. Advanced toward where Gavin stood. “You destroyed me! Everything I built! My ports! My shipping operations! All of it was seized! Federal agents everywhere! Why won’t you leave me alone?”
He pulled out his own phone. Showed the screen around wildly.
“My entire operation in Eastern Europe…gone! My contacts in the Russian government…arrested! My weapons shipments…intercepted!” Dmitri was nearly foaming at the mouth. “You did this! In ONE NIGHT you dismantled everything!”
Giovanni Moretti stood abruptly from his table. His face was white.
“Check your phones,” he said quietly. “All of you. Check them now.”
The room erupted into chaos as people pulled out devices.
And one by one, their faces went pale.
Giovanni looked at his screen.
He walked toward the center of the hall. Toward Gavin.
“You’ve been planning this for months. Haven’t you?”
Gavin said nothing. Just stood there in his crimson mantle. King of the Five Families.
Looking at the empire he was destroying.
Rashid Al-Hashim stood slowly. Checked his own phone. His expression went from neutral to horrified.
“My oil operations. My contacts in the Middle East.” He looked up. “Exposed. All of it.”
He walked toward Gavin. stunned.
“You have full control now,” Rashid said quietly. “The Five Families. You’ve stripped us of all our authorities..”
He looked around the hall. At the chaos. The panic.
“Zeus stood from his throne. Slowly. Painfully.
The hall fell silent.
The old man walked toward Gavin. He stopped directly in front of his heir.
“You’ve been planning this since you arrived,” Zeus said. It wasn’t a question.
Gavin met his eyes. “No.”
“No?”
“I’ve been planning this for twenty years. Since the day I left.” Gavin’s voice was cold.
The hall was so quiet you could hear people breathing.
“I knew you’d come for me eventually,” Gavin continued. “ I knew you’d drag me back.” His eyes swept across the Four Families. “So I made sure that when you did, I’d have the power to destroy you.”
Chen Wei made a strangled sound. “You planned to let us take you.”
“I planned for every eventuality.” Gavin’s expression didn’t change. “And when you took Melissa, you made the worst mistake in your life.”
“We crowned you king!” Dmitri shouted. “We gave you everything!”
“You gave me authority over criminals and monsters.” Gavin’s voice was ice. “And my first act as king is to burn this empire to the ground.”
Sophia grabbed his arm. “Gavin, what are you…”
He shook her off; he didn't even look at her.
“All of you are finished,” he continued. “Federal agencies across six continents are moving against you as we speak.”
He looked at Zeus. “You wanted me to be king. Congratulations. I am. And my kingdom is a graveyard.”
Zeus stared at him. Then, slowly, he started to laugh.
The sound was terrible. Wheezing. Mixed with coughs and appearing on his lips.
“You magnificent bastard,” Zeus said. “You really are my son.”
“I’m not your son.”
“You are. You’re exactly what I made you to be. Ruthless. Strategic. Willing to sacrifice anything for victory.” Zeus’s smile was bloody. “I just didn’t realize you’d use it against me.”
“You taught me well.”
“Too well, apparently.” Zeus swayed slightly. Guards moved to catch him but he waved them off. “What happens now?”
“Now?” Gavin looked around the hall. At the panicking Family heads. At the guards who didn’t know whose orders to follow. At Sophia standing frozen beside him.
“Now you all have a choice. Surrender to the authorities Take your chances with the courts. Maybe some of you will only get twenty years instead of life.” His voice hardened. “Or run. And spend the rest of your lives looking over your shoulders.”
Chen Wei sank to his knees. “You’ve destroyed us.”
“Yes.”
“My wife is dead because of you.”
“Your wife is dead because of choices you made. Crimes you committed. Sins you accumulated over decades.” Gavin’s voice held no sympathy. “I just made sure the world knew about them.”
Dmitri pulled out a gun.
Guards immediately surrounded Gavin. But Gavin didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch.
“Go ahead,” he said calmly.
Dmitri’s hand shook. Then, slowly, he lowered the gun.
“This isn’t over,” he said.
“Yes,” Gavin replied. “It is.”
Sophia grabbed his arm again. “Gavin, we need to…”
“Our marriage is annulled,” he said. Not looking at her. “My lawyers will contact you in the morning.”
“What? No! We’re bound! By blood! You can’t…”
“I’m king, remember? I can do whatever I want.” Now he looked at her. “And what I want is a divorce. Immediately.”
Her face crumpled. “But…”
“Go home, Sophia. It’s over.”
Then he pulled off the crimson mantle. Let it fall to the ground and start walking out.”
Kane fell into step beside him immediately.
“Sir?”
“Get Melissa,” Gavin said quietly. “We’re leaving. Tonight.”