57. Caden
Caden
The glass doors shattered outward in an explosion of shards as I rushed outside, finding Aeris and Selene standing too close.
Two guards lunged at me from the side, but I moved quickly, slamming my elbow into the first man’s throat, crushing his windpipe with a sickening crunch while the second swung a knife.
I caught his wrist, twisted hard, and then drove the blade back into the man’s own chest before lifting my gun and shooting him in the head.
Selene glared, eyes darting around as more of my men stepped out onto the decking to my right.
Others, along with Sebastian, were already taking care of everything else while Langdon worked through every single explosive he’d planted in Selene’s properties, making sure their timers went off without error.
Which meant the ones beneath our feet were getting ready to pop.
My watch ticked loudly, the sound like a heartbeat as we slowly ran out of time.
“You really think you had the advantage?” I snarled, consciously aware of how close Aeris was standing to the edge, a gun pressed to her back.
She’d demanded to be here, to tell Selene everything she’d planned, every trick and deceit Aeris had orchestrated over the years.
I’d wanted her to have that closure, that fucking satisfaction of watching her tormentor fall from her pedestal.
But my chest still tightened, eyes darting between them, because this entire house was moments away from collapsing into the raging sea below.
“It’s too late, Selene,” I shouted over the howl of the wind. “Your pathetic excuse for an empire is finished. Every secret. Every asset. Every penny hidden away in your offshore accounts.”
Selene clicked her fingers, and the guard turned the gun towards me. But I was waiting, ready for when he no longer aimed at Aeris. My bullet pierced him before he could even pull the trigger.
“It’s all gone.”
Selene’s face twisted with fury, but beneath it I saw the first real flicker of desperation. She had nothing left. No guards. No leverage. No escape.
And she knew it.
“You have three minutes,” Sebastian buzzed in my ear.
Selene’s hand shot out and grabbed Aeris by the arm, yanking her closer to the railing. Aeris stumbled, the wind tearing at her hair as Selene used her as a shield, the raging sea crashing hungrily below.
“Selene …” I warned, taking a step closer.
“Back off,” she sneered, even as Aeris remained calm. “You let me walk out of here, and I won’t throw Aeris off the side to be with her father.”
My watch ticked relentlessly against my wrist.
“Well?” she demanded. “Do we have a deal?”
A low rumble beneath my feet—the lower levels already destabilising. Langdon’s charges were tearing through the foundations one controlled collapse at a time.
“Get the fuck out of there, Cade!” Sebastian snarled through the earpiece.
I stepped farther onto the deck anyway, raising my gun to Selene who laughed wild and unhinged.
“Let her go,” I said calmly.
Selene’s smile was manic now, rain streaming down her face. “Or what? You’ll kill me? You’ll lose her anyway.”
“Selene, is this really how you want this to end?” Aeris asked, her husky voice taunting. “I thought you’d go out with more of a fight.”
“Okay, new deal … Aeris, if you kill Caden, I’ll let you go. Your sisters will be safe, and I’ll take you to where Mira’s buried so you can finally lay her to rest.”
Aeris’s expression shifted.
“I’ll give you every name that was involved, everyone you haven’t been able to find,” Selene continued, her voice growing more desperate, more frantic. “Every man who used your sister, who hurt her. I have it all, just kill him!”
For a heartbeat, Aeris didn’t move. Her eyes collided with mine, and I saw the conflict there—the years of pain, the desperate need for closure about Mira, and the burning desire for revenge.
“Come on, Aeris,” Selene cooed, her tone forcibly sweet and coaxing. “Take that gun. One bullet, that’s all it takes. End him, and you’re free. Your family is free. You can finally bury your sister properly. No more games. No more pain.”
Aeris pursed her lips, seeming to debate it.
“Tempting.”
Slamming her elbow back into Selene’s ribs, she twisted violently. Selene staggered, losing her grip just enough for Aeris to wrench free.
I fired, but the shot didn’t hit Selene in the head as planned, the heaviness of the rain toying with my aim. Instead, she screamed as the bullet hit her in the shoulder, grabbing Aeris once more and backing them up.
“It’s over,” I said, voice low as I aimed once more. “You lose.”
Selene laughed through the pain, blood mixing with the rain as lightning split the rapidly darkening sky. She looked broken, desperate, hair plastered to her pale skin and eyes glowing with fury.
But still, she smiled. “I don’t lose.”
She lunged sideways, taking Aeris with her as if she could still escape. But Aeris fought, twisting and clawing until Selene caught her throat, fingers tangling in the thin, gold necklace that immediately snapped. I threw myself forward, everything rumbling violently as a series of pops echoed.
With a carnivorous howl the house exploded at my back, the decking shuddering violently, splitting down the centre with a deafening crack. The section where Selene and Aeris stood tilted sharply, slanting towards the raging sea like a sinking ship.
The jolt sent Selene over the edge, dangling dangerously, one hand desperately gripping the broken railing, the other clamped viciously around Aeris.
My heart raced, blood a roar in my ears. Aeris looked up then, our gaze colliding. There was no fear there, only a heartbreaking, quiet acceptance.
“No …”
“Thank you,” she mouthed, her words lost against the chaos. “For everything.”
She blew me a kiss just as the decking gave another violent groan, her section separating to drop entirely.
“Aeris!” I screamed as she fell, tensing, ready to jump after her.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Sebastian tackled me, forcing me back. “You won’t survive the fall!”
Shoving him off I scrambled to the jagged edge, flames licking the skin at my back, fighting against the rain slashing at me from the front.
Far below, Selene’s broken body was impaled on a spike of splintered wood and rock.
But there was no sign of Aeris, nothing but the angry, dark sea that was hungrily grasping to claim the dead.
“Over there!” Sebastian shouted through the crash of thunder. He pointed to some stone steps carved into the side of the cliff. I didn’t hesitate to rush down them, my boots slipping on the rain-slicked rock.
The sea was still violent, the salt stinging my eyes and skin as I scanned the dark water, looking for a flash of red.
“Caden!”
I dived straight in, a wave immediately trying to pull me deeper. It was like swimming in a void, the current hitting me from all directions, while trying to find something in the dark.
My lungs burned as I fought against the pull, eyes straining uselessly in the black. I had to resurface, only to dive down again. And again.
“CADEN!” came Sebastian’s increasingly frantic shouts, but then my hand caught something soft, warm.
Grabbing Aeris with everything I had, I kicked upward, breaking the surface with a desperate gasp.
I locked one arm around her waist and fought the storm, dragging us both towards the thin strip of rocky shore where Sebastian and a few of our men were already waiting.
“Back up!” I screamed, laying her down gently on the wet sand. Waves crashed against us, trying to pull her back to the sea.
“Caden …” Sebastian started, but I was already tipping her head back.
I breathed for her, my hands pressing down on her chest in steady, forceful compressions. “Come on,” I whispered, voice cracking. “Come on, Tempest. You don’t get to leave me. Not now. Not ever.”
She didn’t respond, her lips turning blue.
But still, I kept going.