Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 513

Chapter 513

Madeline’s POV

When I saw Vivian raise the gun to her own head, it took only a fraction of a second for me to understand

what she was about to do.

Just a fraction of a second for my brain to register the image. The cold metal against her temple. Her finger on the trigger. The resignation in her eyes.

And then my body reacted before my mind could catch up.

“No!” I screamed, launching myself forward.

I didn’t think. I just threw myself at her with everything I had, my hand slamming into her arm and knocking the gun aside at the very last possible second.

The gun went off.

The sound exploded in the air-so loud, so close-that my ears rang. I felt the heat of the shot pass near my face. Saw the flash.

But the bullet didn’t hit Vivian.

It went nowhere. Into the sky. Into nothing.

We crashed to the ground together in the garden. Me on top of her. Hands fighting for control of the gun. Vivian trying to turn the barrel back toward herself. Me fighting with everything in me to keep it pointed anywhere but at her.

“Let me go!” she screamed, her voice breaking. “Let me go, Madeline! Let me do this!”

“No!” I screamed back, gripping her wrist so hard my fingers ached. “I won’t let you!”

And then I heard lots of running footsteps, and shouts.

“Police! Drop the weapon! Hands where we can see them!”

I turned my head and saw armed officers flooding into the garden from every direction ready to shoot.

From the outside, the scene must have looked completely surreal.

A garden carefully decorated for a wedding. String lights hanging from the trees. Chairs arranged in perfect rows. Flowers everywhere. A romantic altar at the back.

The groom lying dead at the altar, his blood pooling.

And me, dressed in a wedding gown. The white fabric was filthy with dirt and blood, torn in places. My hair was wild as I kneeled on the ground over another woman.

Vivian was beneath me, pinned but still fighting to turn the gun.

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The gun was pointed upward now. Her fingers were off the trigger, but her hand was still clenched around the grip.

And a newborn baby, quiet-who hadn’t even really cried despite the chaos, despite the gunshot-was lying in a little basket on one of the wedding chairs.

Aurora. My Aurora. So tiny. So fragile. So terrifyingly calm in the middle of all that madness.

“Why?” Vivian whispered beneath me, her voice shattered. “Why didn’t you let me do it?”

Tears streamed down her face, mixing with dirt and blood.

“You said it yourself,” she went on, her voice rising, tipping into hysteria. “You said I have to pay for everything I did. You said I’m a monster. So why did you stop me? Why didn’t you let me pay in my own way?”

It took me a moment to answer. I was still gasping for breath. Heart pounding. Adrenaline burning through my veins.

“Because you do need to pay,” I said finally, my voice rough. “But the right way.”

I held her gaze.

“Do you think that would be fair to your sister?” I asked, feeling my own tears start to fall. “Do you really think it would be fair for her to live knowing Dominic took another person she loves away forever?”

I saw something break in Vivian’s face. A crack in the rage, in the desperation-revealing raw pain

underneath.

“No, Vivian,” I continued. “If you did all of this for her, then you have to think about her now too. You have to live. You have to face the consequences. You have to be there for her. For your niece. Because that’s what they’re going to need. Not another death. Not another loss.”

“Drop the weapon!” a police officer shouted, louder now, more urgent. “NOW!”

Vivian looked at me for a long moment.

Then, finally, her fingers loosened.

The gun hit the garden ground with a dull thud.

I shoved her away immediately, toward the nearest officer.

Vivian didn’t resist when they moved in. She didn’t fight when they flipped her onto her stomach. She didn’t protest when the handcuffs closed around her wrists.

She just lay there on the ground, crying silently.

I rolled onto my side, then onto my back, staring up at the dark sky above. My chest rose and fell too fast, my lungs struggling to pull in enough air.

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It was over.

The thought came suddenly-clear and sharp in the middle of the chaos.

It was over.

Dominic was dead. Aurora was safe. Marcus was… hurt, yes-but alive. Alive. And Vivian…

Vivian would pay. But she would live to do it.

“Madeline!”

Olivia’s voice cut through my thoughts. And then she was there, her face filling my vision, eyes wide and shining with tears.

“Madeline, oh my God. Are you okay?”

She helped me sit up, then pulled me to my feet-and the moment I was standing, she wrapped me in an embrace so tight I could barely breathe.

And I broke.

Everything I’d been holding in. All the strength I’d forced myself to have. The terror, the despair, the fear- it all came rushing out at once. I sobbed against my cousin’s shoulder, my whole body shaking.

She was crying too. I could feel her tears soaking into my shoulder, hear her whispering, “Thank God, thank God, thank God,” over and over.

Around us, the police moved. Securing the scene. Taking photos. Collecting evidence. Covering Dominic’s body. Leading Vivian-handcuffed-out of the garden.

But none of that mattered in that moment.

Only Olivia’s arms around me. Only knowing I was alive. That I’d survived.

That I’d won.

Eventually, we pulled apart, wiping our faces, trying to breathe again.

And then I heard it.

A soft, fussy cry.

Aurora.

I turned so fast my head spun. I saw Christian standing a few feet away, carefully holding the basket. Aurora was awake now, her tiny fists waving, her little mouth forming that pout that came right before real crying.

I ran to them.

Christian smiled gently as I approached and carefully lifted Aurora from the basket, placing her into my

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arms.

And the moment I felt her weight, her warmth-everything else disappeared.

“Hi, my love,” I whispered, pulling her close, rocking her gently. “Mommy’s here. It’s okay now. Everything’s okay.”

Aurora made that soft baby sound-somewhere between a sigh and a murmur-and snuggled against

“She was so brave,” I said, looking at Christian through the tears that came back-but these were different now. Relief. Love. Gratitude. “She barely cried, even with all that chaos.”

Christian smiled, something tender in his eyes.

“She definitely takes after her parents, then.”

“Marcus,” I said immediately, my heart racing again. “He really is okay? Vivian showed me the footage, but … but…”

I couldn’t finish. The fear was still there.

Christian placed a firm, steady hand on my shoulder.

“He’s in surgery right now,” he said calmly. “Mia’s with him at the hospital. But he’s going to be fine, Madeline. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital. He was rescued quickly. The surgery is just to clean and repair the tissue. He’ll make a full recovery.”

I closed my eyes, letting the words sink in. Letting reality finally settle.

“It’s over, Madeline,” Olivia said softly beside me, her hand finding mine and squeezing. “Let’s go home.”

And for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I believed her.

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