Chapter 23 - Cohen

Emerald gasps and her head falls back against my shoulder again as her cunt starts spasming around me. I have to fight to keep from groaning out loud when I follow her over the edge. My cock jerks and my cum fills her pussy. The relief from coming after being hard for her for so long is almost overwhelming.

I press a kiss to her neck, and she smiles as her eyes drift open. She looks out into the crowd, her gaze hazy and content. "They can't see, right? Nobody's staring at us," she whispers to me after looking around the room and seeing that no one gives a fuck.

"No, little one. They can't see. They're too busy worrying about what everyone else thinks of them to notice anything we're doing."

We sit for a while, catching our breath while my cock softens inside of her. Eventually, I slip out and I shove two fingers inside her pussy to make sure she doesn't lose a drop of my gift. Once I'm satisfied, I tug her panties back into place and catch Madeline's eye as I suck my fingers into my mouth.

Everything's been set into motion and there's no going back. Madeline's powerless to stop it now.

"I love you," Emerald whispers against my skin, her face buried in my neck. "So much it terrifies me sometimes."

"Don't be afraid." I tilt her face up to mine while tucking myself back into my pants. "Anyone who tries to touch you or our child will cease to exist. Starting tonight."

Right on cue, the first phone chimes. Then another. And another, until the sound fills the ballroom like a symphony of destruction. The link has gone out.

Let the show begin.

Madeline's barely held it together since Emmitt cut ties last week. I've watched her spiral, firing staff and making threats as her carefully planned holiday season imploded. The charity auction's cancellation alone cost her millions in lost contracts and social capital. But looking at her tonight, you’d never know. She’s wearing her CEO mask, every crack plastered over with bullshit as she plays perfect hostess to the very people who've been whispering about her downfall.

Her desperation is a tangible thing, almost like a bad smell she’s giving off as she makes her rounds. She still thinks she has cards left to play. Still thinks she can salvage her control.

She has no idea what's coming.

Madeline's head snaps up from across the room, her perfect hostess smile faltering as she registers the wave of notifications. Her eyes narrow as she watches her guests reaching for their phones, that calculating look I've been waiting for crossing her face. She starts moving through the crowd, trying to assess the threat to her control, but she's too late.

I hold Emerald closer as chaos erupts in elegant whispers and sharp inhales. Watching everything Madeline built crumble around us is almost as satisfying as the way Emerald curls into me, seeking protection even as her mother's reign ends.

Richard Whitaker moves first, exactly as I knew he would. His face goes from red to purple as he reads, designer glass shattering in his grip. "You manipulative bitch," he snarls, turning on her. "You've been blackmailing my entire family for a decade."

Madeline's plastic smile doesn't waver, but her fingers tighten around her champagne flute until her knuckles go white. "Richard, I'm sure there's been some mistake—"

"No mistake." Katherine Ashworth steps forward, generations of old money social power radiating from her rigid posture as she grips her phone. "The proof is right here. How you used my grandson's accident to force our merger. How you've been stealing from your own charitable foundation."

Madeline stalks through the crowd, which parts before her like she's contagious, as her guests continue scrolling through the evidence of her crimes.

"You said you'd protect my daughter," Elizabeth Caldwell's voice shakes with rage. "Instead, you helped Emmitt hide what he did to her. Helped him do it to others."

Emerald tenses in my arms, no doubt thinking about how close she came to becoming one of Emmitt’s victims. I press my lips to her temple. "I've got you," I murmur against her skin. "No one will ever hurt you like that."

The accusations continue mounting, each revelation stripping away another layer of Madeline's power. The Pierces revealing how she sabotaged their family business. The Bradfords exposing how she manipulated their daughter's social media empire to destroy it. Every prominent family in Emerald Hills uncovering decades of betrayal.

I watch it all from my throne, Emerald safe in my arms, as the woman who dared cage my phoenix finally faces justice.

"This is ridiculous," Madeline snaps, but her voice has lost its commanding edge. "These are obviously fabrications—"

"Like how you fabricated my entire childhood?" Emerald's voice rings out clear and strong, silencing the room. My chest swells with pride as she stands, though she keeps her hand in mine. "Like how you starved me? Isolated me? Tried to break me?"

"Everything I did was for your own good—"

"No." Emerald's fingers tighten around mine. "Everything you did was for yourself. Your image. Your brand. Your perfect little doll to dress up and control."

Madeline's eyes dart around the room, finding no allies among the faces she once commanded. "You ungrateful little—" She stops, that calculating look I've been waiting for crossing her face. "You think you've won? You and Cohen with your disgusting affair?" A cruel smile twists her lips. "Did he tell you about Charlotte? About what really happened to her? About all the other girls who—"

"I know everything." Emerald's voice doesn't waver. "Every dark truth. Every shadow. And I choose him. I will always choose him."

"You think I haven't prepared for this?" Madeline's laugh holds an edge of hysteria as she pulls out her phone. "You think I'd let you destroy everything I've built?"

Her fingers fly across the screen while more accusations fill the air.

"My daughter's college fund—"

"Our merger documents—"

"All those charity donations—"

"Shut up!" Madeline screams, all pretense of control shattering. "None of you would be anything without me. I made this town what it is!"

"You're delusional," Katherine Ashworth says, stepping forward. "You're nothing but a social climber who clawed her way up by destroying anyone in your path."

Madeline's fingers still on her phone. "Destroying?" That broken laugh again. "Oh, I'll show you destruction."

The lights flicker, then surge bright enough to pop. Sparks shower from the crystal chandeliers as the electrical system overloads. One of her precious ice sculptures explodes from the sudden heat, sending shards flying.

"Mother," Emerald starts, but I pull her behind me.

"Stay back," I murmur, already scanning for the safest exit. Romeo's fighters are moving through the crowd, but this is escalating faster than even I anticipated.

"You want to see what real power looks like?" Madeline's voice rises over the panicked murmurs as she backs toward the control panel on the wall. "Let me show you what happens when you try to take everything from me."

She slams her hand on the panel and every display screen in the ballroom lights up with her face, multiplied dozen of times. "If I'm going down, I'm taking all of you with me." Her fingers fly across the keypad. "Every account, every document, every dirty little secret—it all burns."

"Step away from the panel," Richard Whitaker demands, but she just laughs.

"Or what? You'll call the police? Go ahead. Let them come see how Emerald Hills' finest all burn together."

The electrical system surges again, and this time actual flames spark along the wiring. The ice sculptures start melting, sending rivers of water across the marble floor as smoke begins filling the room.

"You're insane," someone shouts, but Madeline's eyes are fixed on me and Emerald.

"I should have known," she says, her voice dropping to something almost conversational. "The way you looked at her." Her smile is terrible to behold. "But she'll never be free of me. None of you will."

She pulls something else from her clutch—not a lighter, but a small remote. "You think you're so clever, Cohen? You think you've won?" Her thumb hovers over the button. "I had this whole place rigged months ago. A failsafe. In case anyone ever tried to take what's mine."

"Mother, please," Emerald steps forward despite my attempt to hold her back. "This isn't the answer."

"Oh, but it is." Madeline's eyes are fever-bright. "You're just like me, darling. You'll see. When everything burns, you'll understand what it means to have real power."

The sprinklers activate, but it's not enough to combat the electrical fires now spreading through the wiring in the walls. Smoke pours from the vents as the climate control system fails.

What the fuck did she do to fuck with the electrical system?

"Get everyone out," I order Cole, who's already moving. But Madeline blocks the main exit, that remote still raised.

"Nobody leaves," she says as the room descends into chaos. "We all go down together."

"I can end this right now," Cole says quietly beside me, his hand already reaching for the gun I know he carries. "One clean shot."

"No." I grab his arm, my eyes fixed on that remote. "She's got a dead man's switch. The moment her hand releases it, everything blows. She planned for someone trying to take her out."

"Fuck." Cole's jaw tightens. "Romeo's guys could—"

"Same problem. She falls, we all die. She's made sure of it."

The marble floor becomes treacherous as melting ice sculptures create rivers that reflect the growing flames. Smoke curls through the room like a living thing, turning Madeline's winter wonderland into something from a nightmare.

"You should see your faces," she taunts as the crowd draws back. "All your precious wealth, your centuries of status, your careful breeding—none of it matters now. You're all just rats in my trap."

"The only rat here is you," Elizabeth Caldwell shouts over the panicked crowd, rage threading through every word. "You sold our children to predators. Used them as bargaining chips."

Something dark flashes in Madeline's eyes. "Used them? I improved them. Made them worthy of our world. Just like I did with Emerald." Her gaze fixes on her daughter. "Everything I did was to make you perfect. And how do you repay me? By spreading your legs for your stepfather?"

The words hit like a whip, but Emerald doesn't flinch. "No," she says, her voice steady even as smoke fills the air. "Everything you did was to control me. To own me. To make me as hollow as you are."

"Hollow?" Madeline's laugh sounds like breaking glass. "I built an empire. Created a dynasty. And you think fucking Cohen makes you special?" She takes a step forward, remote still raised. "You're nothing without me. Nothing but damaged goods now—"

"That's enough." My voice cuts through her tirade. "You've lost, Madeline. It's over."

"Over?" She hits another button and explosions rock the foundation. The massive chandeliers swing like pendulums, crystals breaking free to shatter across the marble floor as women in designer gowns scramble back. The impact sends decorative columns toppling into ice sculptures while hairline fractures race across the ceiling. Someone screams as a piece of molding crashes down inches from their head. "I'm just getting started."

The crowd surges toward the exits, but Romeo's fighters hold them back—the doors are too hot to touch now, the electrical fires having spread through the walls.

"Cohen." Emerald's voice is soft but certain. "Let me talk to her."

"No." The word tears from my throat. "I won't risk you."

"Trust me." She squeezes my hand. "Please."

Everything in me rebels against letting her step forward, but I see something in her eyes—strength I helped unlock, power that was always there beneath Madeline's conditioning.

"Mother," Emerald says, moving closer despite the heat and smoke. "You don't have to do this."

"Don't I?" Madeline's voice cracks. "They're trying to take everything. Just like your father tried—"

She stops, that calculating look returning. "You want to know what happened to him? Your precious daddy who abandoned you?" Her smile is cruel. "I took care of him. Because he tried to take you from me. Just like Cohen's trying to take you now."

"What did you do to him?" Emerald's voice shakes for the first time.

"What I had to. What I'll do to anyone who tries to steal from me." Madeline's finger moves on the remote. "Including you, my perfect little disappointment."

The sound system crackles with feedback as more electrical surges pulse through the walls. The smoke is getting thicker, the heat more intense. We're running out of time.

Through the smoke and chaos, I watch my entire world step closer to the monster who gave her life. Emerald's ivory dress glows in the firelight, the gold tulle catching embers like stars. She looks like an avenging angel as she faces her mother, and pride wars with terror in my chest.

"What did you do to my father?" Emerald's voice carries over the crackle of flames.

"Does it matter?" Madeline's smile is all teeth. "He's been in the ground for fifteen years. Just like you'll be when I'm done." She hits another button and part of the ceiling caves in, sending guests scrambling. "It's almost poetic, isn't it? The whole family, together again."

The Savage Six react instinctively to the chaos. Cole and Lucas position themselves near Emerald and me, ready to move if needed, while Romeo directs his fighters toward the kitchen exit. Tristen's eyes stay locked on Madeline, his hand hovering near where I know he keeps a weapon. And Xander darts through the panicked crowd like some demented jack-in-the-box, his heterochromatic eyes wild with glee as he turns rich people's terror into his own personal entertainment.

"This is better than Christmas morning!" Xander shouts, making Richard Whitaker stumble backward into a melting ice sculpture. "Look how they run when you play with them!"

But Madeline just laughs.

"You think your pet criminals scare me?" She waves the remote. "I have enough explosives rigged to turn this whole estate into ash. One more step and we all burn."

"You killed him." Emerald's voice is steady even as tears cut tracks through the soot on her face. "Because he saw what you really are."

"I eliminated a threat." Madeline's mask finally cracks completely, decades of careful artifice shattering. "Just like I'll eliminate anyone who thinks they can steal my legacy. Including that bastard in your belly."

The words hit like bullets. Emerald's hand flies to her stomach as gasps echo through the smoke-filled room.

"That's right, darling." Madeline's eyes are wild now. "You think I didn't know? That I didn't have cameras everywhere? That I didn't watch every disgusting moment between you and him?" She gestures at me with the remote. "I saw it all. Every touch. Every kiss. Every time he fucked you in my house."

"Then you saw something real," Emerald says, her voice stronger. "You saw actual love. Not the twisted control you call love. Real, consuming, soul-deep love."

"Love?" Madeline spits the word like poison. "Love is weakness. Love is what gets you killed. Just ask your father—"

"No." Emerald takes another step forward. "Love is what gives me the strength to do this."

She moves faster than anyone expects, launching herself at her mother. They collide in a blur of white fabric and gold tulle. The remote goes flying as they hit the marble floor.

I'm moving before I can think, but Emerald is already rolling away. The remote skids across the floor toward Cole, who snatches it up.

"It's over, Mother." Emerald stands, blood running from a cut on her cheek. "You've lost. Everything."

The sight of her blood ignites something lethal in my chest, but watching Emerald rise, unflinching and unbroken, fills me with a savage pride that nearly drowns out my rage. That small cut is nothing compared to the years of invisible wounds Madeline inflicted, yet seeing it makes me want to tear her mother apart with my bare hands. But Emerald doesn't need me to fight this battle. She's magnificent in her defiance, stronger than Madeline ever imagined she could be.

My little phoenix is finally free.

Sweat trickles down my spine, my blood-red suit sticking to my skin as the temperature climbs. Each breath burns in my lungs, the smoke making my eyes water even as I refuse to look away from Emerald.

Behind us, the crowd surges against the exits, their panic growing as thick as the smoke that fills the ballroom. Expensive shoes slip on melting ice, silk dresses tear as people push past each other. The heat from the electrical fires makes the air shimmer, turning Madeline's winter wonderland into an inferno.

Someone screams as another piece of ceiling crashes down. The acrid smoke claws at my throat, making people cough and stumble. My eyes sting but I won't blink, won't look away from my goddess standing in the middle of her mother's burning empire. Romeo's fighters struggle to maintain order as the wealthy elite of Emerald Hills forget their careful breeding in their desperation to escape.

"Have I?" Madeline pulls herself up, that broken laugh bubbling from her throat. "Maybe. But so have you."

She reaches into the fabric of her dress and pulls out a gun.

The gun looks out of place in Madeline's manicured hand, but her aim is steady as she points it at her daughter's heart. At my heart, because that's what Emerald is to me.

"You want to know how I killed him?" Madeline's voice rasps through the smoke, her perfect makeup running in black streaks down her face. Somewhere behind her, another crystal chandelier crashes to the floor, sending screaming party guests scrambling. "Your father? With this exact gun." She coughs but keeps the weapon steady. "He thought he could take you, thought he could save you from what he called my 'obsession.'"

The heat is unbearable now, making the air shimmer between us. Madeline's designer dress clings to her body, dark with sweat and soot, but her eyes burn brighter than the flames consuming her empire. Romeo's fighters guide the last of the panicked guests toward the kitchen exit while glass continues to shatter in the inferno. "One bullet. That's all it took. And that's all it will take now."

I shift forward but Madeline swings the gun toward me. My lungs feel like they're filling with razor blades, but I won't look away from the weapon aimed at my heart. Emerald sways beside me, her breath coming in short gasps, the ivory silk of her dress now gray with ash. Her skin glows orange in the firelight, sweat plastering her dark hair to her neck.

"Don't." Madeline's voice cracks as she chokes on smoke, but her aim doesn't waver even as the ceiling groans ominously above us. "One move and I paint the walls with her blood."

"You won't shoot me." Emerald's voice is soft but certain. "You can't."

"Can't I?" The gun swings back to her. "You think you know me? Think carrying his child makes you special? Untouchable?" Her finger tightens on the trigger. "I brought you into this world. I can take you out of it."

The fire roars louder, drowning out the sounds of breaking glass and crumbling architecture. Through the thickening smoke, I catch glimpses of Cole and Lucas positioning themselves by the kitchen doors, waiting for my okay to take out my wife. But with that gun trained on Emerald, I don't dare risk it.

"Stop. Moving." The gun shakes in Madeline's grip.

"You want to know the difference between you and me?" Emerald keeps moving forward until the barrel touches her chest. "I know what real love feels like. What it means to belong to someone completely. To give yourself willingly instead of being forced."

"Shut up!" Madeline screams, but her hand trembles harder, sweat dripping down her arm.

"I'm going to have his baby." Emerald's voice rises above the roar of flames, steady despite the smoke burning her lungs. Sparks rain down around her like deadly fireflies, catching in her ash-streaked hair. "I'm going to know what it means to truly love a child. To protect them. To let them be exactly who they're meant to be." Her eyes lock with mine through the smoky haze, the green nearly glowing in the firelight. "I'm going to have everything you never could. Because I know how to love. And you only know how to destroy."

The gun drops a fraction of an inch as Madeline chokes on the toxic air—and that's all I need.

I move at the same moment Cole and Lucas do, the scorching marble burning through my tux as I tackle Madeline to the ground. The gun goes off, the sound deafening in the enclosed space, but Emerald is already diving to the side, rolling across the superheated floor. The gun skids away through puddles of melted ice as Madeline thrashes beneath me, her screams mixing with the crackle of flames and the groan of failing support beams. My skin blisters from the heat of the floor, but I don't let go, even as burning debris rains down around us.

"No!" she shrieks as Lucas and Cole drag her up, her designer dress smoking at the edges. "You can't—I won't let you—she's mine—"

But her words dissolve into broken sobs as a blast of cold winter air rushes in, making the flames dance wildly as uniformed officers and firefighters surge through the entrance. The sudden temperature change sends more crystals shattering from what remains of the chandeliers.

I don't care about any of it. My entire world narrows to Emerald as I pull her into my arms, my hands running over her body checking for injuries. The heat radiates off her skin, her pulse racing under my fingers where they press against her throat.

"I'm okay," she whispers against my chest, her voice raw from the smoke. "We're okay. All of us."

My hand slides to her stomach as I breathe her in, ignoring the sting in my lungs. Her ivory dress is ruined, scorched and stained with soot, but she's never looked more beautiful. "Don't ever do that to me again."

She looks up at me, those green eyes bright despite the ash smudged across her cheek where I'd kissed her earlier. Her skin burns hot against my palm. "I knew you'd catch me. You always catch me."

"Always." I kiss her forehead, tasting salt and smoke on her skin, not caring who sees. Not anymore. "Until the stars burn out, remember?"

Around us, the scene unfolds like a choreographed dance. Officers lead Madeline away in handcuffs while she screams about betrayal and revenge. The old money families of Emerald Hills watch with a mix of horror and satisfaction as their tormentor is finally brought down. The Savage Six stand off to the side like the rulers they are, watching as emergency crews begin assessing the damage.

But none of it matters. Nothing exists except the woman in my arms and the child she carries. My entire universe contained in her body, in the life we created, in this victory written in ash and blood.

"Take me home," Emerald whispers against my skin.

I tuck her closer as we walk through the destruction Madeline left behind. "Home" stopped being about places the moment she gave herself to me in that chapel.

Home is wherever we are together.

Just us. Just this. Forever.