Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

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. 1/4 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.

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.

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

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

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

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