The Billionaire Twins Need A New Mommy!-Chapter 788: Should’ve Tried Harder

"This way!" Lola grabbed Derek’s arm and dragged the three of them into a nearby room. Once inside, she pressed her back against the door.

Confused, Derek shot Silo a look. Before he could even ask why Lola had suddenly pulled them into this small room, footsteps and voices rushed past outside.

How did she...

Derek gulped, his shaky eyes shifting to Lola as she slowly peeked through the crack in the door. Even in this situation, he felt more panicked now than when they were locked in the cell.

Deep down, he knew that if they were caught, worse things would happen to them.

"Can we really leave this place?" he asked under his breath, eyes fixed on Lola.

As expected, she didn’t answer. Instead, she quietly shut the door and scanned the small room. Walking past them, she headed toward the narrow window to check outside.

There, she saw countless armed men rushing out of the premises. Whether they were searching for her or not didn’t matter.

"Damn it," she muttered. "I don’t know the layout of this place."

She bit the inside of her lower lip until a distant explosion echoed through the air.

The sound was faint, but when she looked out the window again, she saw thick smoke rising far in the distance. If the noise reached them this clearly, it wasn’t some small blast.

It was an attack.

Did Atlas do it? she wondered, her eyes lighting up.

Lola whipped her head toward the trio and stepped in front of them.

"It seems a battle just broke out," she said. "We’re going to take advantage of that—"

Before she could finish, a sharp ringing noise screeched across the territory, like a microphone being slammed on. The volume was loud enough to make everyone clamp their hands over their ears.

"Ahem! Ahem!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?!"

Deep lines formed on Lola’s face. Even Amala furrowed her brows as the voice boomed through the compound after that piercing feedback.

"What the..." Derek looked up, trying to locate the source. "Who was that?"

Lola and Amala exchanged a look before Lola slowly shook her head.

"There’s no way that psycho..."

"FARAH! You fucking bitch—hah!" the voice roared again, almost shaking the walls. "I, Vito, the magnificent king of the underworld, am here to deliver you to hell! Don’t make me look for you! This place is so damn weird and confusing! Just come here! Let’s try killing each other!"

The more they listened, the more certain Lola and Amala became.

Actually, they didn’t even need confirmation—the man had introduced himself.

Lola’s face twitched as she spotted a speaker mounted in the upper corner of the room.

"What in the world is that bastard doing here?" She muttered, shaking her head. "Was he the reason those guys outside were running?"

Her face twisted at the thought of a psycho like Vito being here.

But then...

"Hah." She snapped her gaze back to them. "He finally proved useful."

Her eyes sharpened.

"Let’s use this to our advantage."

******

[Holy Grounds: Meeting Room]

Iris jolted from her seat for reasons she couldn’t explain. Her complexion paled under the sharp look Atlas gave her.

When her gaze shifted to Marceline and Draken, her heart began to race as she instinctively stepped back.

When did they... start feeling so big?

She had been in this very room with them before. She had even argued with Draken. Yet she had never felt intimidated, not even when he cursed at her. Marceline had struck a few nerves, yes, but she hadn’t been overwhelming.

But now...

With Marceline and Draken merely side-eyeing her, and Atlas finally giving her his full attention, her body wouldn’t stop trembling.

"Pfft—"

Marceline suddenly stifled a laugh, the back of her hand covering her lips.

"This is so fun," she intoned, glancing at Draken. "Say, Draken, I didn’t know until now that you had such a talent."

"Hahaha!" Draken laughed gleefully, slamming his hands on the table. "I knew I had it in me. The last chief once told me it was a shame I’m his heir. Otherwise, I’d be a superstar taking the world by storm!"

He hooked a thumb toward Atlas while pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his face.

"I’d be more popular than his brother."

"That’s too much now." Disgust flickered across Marceline’s eyes as Draken continued wiping his face.

"What’s... going on?" one of the elders asked, confused by their sudden shift in demeanor.

Marceline and Draken turned toward the seated elders. Marceline nodded lightly.

"Oh, right? You weren’t in on the loop," she said with a smile. "We’re sorry, elders. We couldn’t trust you before, considering your past ties to the church. But now that we know you’re not part of this scheme they’ve been pulling, I hope you understand."

Then she shifted her attention to the cardinals.

"Oh? You don’t look surprised at all, Cardinal." She narrowed her eyes as her lips curled. "Or is that your surprised face? It’s quite cute."

"Haha!" Draken barked with laughter, now facing the cardinal. "Surprise, surprise! What? Didn’t think we’d play along with your little scheme?"

The cardinal held his breath, maintaining a composed exterior. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Inside, however, he was trembling.

He no longer spared Marceline and Draken a glance. His eyes locked onto Atlas.

And as he studied him more carefully, he realized something.

Atlas’s gaze had never changed—not from the beginning until now. There was no mockery in his eyes.

It was worse than that.

It was the look one gives someone who was never worth touching.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.

Farah entered quietly. She approached the cardinal without a word, leaned down, and whispered something in his ear.

This time, the cardinal’s eyes widened as he whipped his head toward her.

What did she say? Lola disappeared from her cell?

"Oh?" Marceline cooed, smirking. "It seems the cardinal just received some bad news. I wonder what it is?"

The cardinal drew a breath and turned toward the others at the table. But before he could speak, Atlas finally broke his silence.

"Your trick was good," he said evenly. "But you could have tried harder, Cardinal. After all, the war you wanted was... against the rest of the founding families. You shouldn’t have looked down on these two."