by Loretta Lost
The men grumble as they begin to head to the elevator, but when Levi approaches, Cole places a hand on his chest. “Not you, brother.”
His voice is cold as steel.
I am shaking as I watch the men depart in the elevator, and grateful that they will not bear witness to what is about to happen.
“Levi,” Cole says softly. “You killed my parents.”
The man’s body stiffens, and be backs away. “How did you find out. They said no one would ever find out.”
“I met Savannah today.”
“Savvy?” Levi says, moving toward me with outstretched hands. “Is that you?”
“She’s gone,” I tell Levi. “She only came out for a few seconds to tell us what you did. She said she loved you so much, until she found out what you did to Cole’s family. And then she wanted to die.”
“No,” Levi says, stepping toward me. “No. Please. I did everything for Savannah—everything. I found the Brown siblings, and hired them to poison Cole, and kill him with a sniper rifle, just to get your attention, Scar. Just so I could get you back.”
My eyes grow wide. “What?”
“I thought they’d do a good job, since they had a personal vendetta. But they were idiots. When that failed, I hired a shitty, jealous architect to try and kill Cole, just so I could try to have you all to myself.”
“Oh my god.”
Levi is touching my face and acting insane.
“Most importantly, when Savannah wasn’t coming out, I told Benjamin everything about Scarlett. I told him where she was going to be, and when, knowing that if Savannah only came out during times of great stress—maybe Benjamin torturing you could bring Savvy back to me.”
I can only stare. I can only stare, until the world spins, and I feel strong. I am no longer weak. I am Snow. I scream as I dive onto Levi and begin to pummel him with punches. But Cole steps forward, and reaches down to push me aside. He clamps both hands around Levi’s neck, and begins to choke him.
“No, Cole,” I say. “Let me do it. Please. Let me do it.”
Cole looks up at me. “Tell Savannah that if she wants to say goodbye, this is her last chance.”
I nod, and feel the darkness taking over my body.
I black out, temporarily.
When I regain consciousness, We are standing at the edge of the unfinished tower, and Cole is still holding Levi by the neck.
“You were a stain on this earth,” Cole says. “You not only destroyed our lives and caused us endless pain, but you pretended to be our friend while you did it. That is the ultimate betrayal, Levi.”
Levi is gasping and struggling against Cole’s hand on his neck.
“I love you, Cole. I love you, too, Scar. You were my friends. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do better. This is just who I am. I’ve always been weak.”
Cole releases his neck.
“Thank you,” Levi says. “Thank you, brother, for sparing my life—”
Cole slams his leg out, kicking Levi squarely in the gut and sending him flying off the edge of the tower.
“Cole!” I scream.
The night is quiet then, as Cole stares into the darkness. The tower is so tall, that we can’t even be sure whether we hear the crash of Levi’s body. Neither of us go to look.
Cole crumples into a heap on the floor crying. I move to his side, and wrap my arms around his shoulders, holding him.
“He was responsible for everything,” Cole says. “Absolutely everything.”
“I know. I know.” Kissing his face, I run my hands through his hair and try to soothe him. “I’m so sorry, Cole. It’s over now. It’s all over. He was the last bad guy, okay? The last bad guy we’ll ever meet, for the rest of our lives. It’s only good things from now on.”
“You sound exactly like when you were lying to your mother.”
“No, I mean it. Here, let me show you how certain I am,” I tell him, standing up and grasping his hand. “We just have to go and tell everyone that Levi had a horrible accident and fell and died, and then I want us to go home and I want you to get me pregnant again. No more later—just right now.”
“Are you sure? I just killed a man in front of you, and you want to make a baby?”
“Yes. I’m feeling healthier than ever, even with this. Actually, because of this. There were so many loose ends, so many confusing things that bothered me, and we just solved them all. Levi was the last monster. And this time, when you put a baby in me, there is no one who can steal any of our time with it. We’ll just live happily ever after, okay? Just like in the story I told my mother.”
“Okay,” Cole says, rising to his feet, shakily. “But I’m going to need to borrow your therapist for a while.”
I laugh to myself softly, and it echoes in the empty atrium, as we walk toward the elevators.
I feel like I am waking up from a bad dream.
It’s finally really over.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Cole!” I shout into his sleeping face. “Cole! Wake up!”
He groans and squints at me. Then he sees the item I am waving . A positive pregnancy test. “Really?” he says, sitting up. “Already?”
“I guess it’s not that hard, when you really put your back into it.”
He laughs and throws his arms around me, squeezing the life out of me.
“Okay, ouch, ouch, careful! Babies on board.”
“Babies?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Probably just one, right? I just got so used to the twins, I was sort of thinking maybe we’re just so clever and skilled that we only make multiples.”
“Crossing my fingers for triplets this time,” Cole says with a grin.
I smile at him. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. Since my biological mother is doing a bit better with her own treatment, maybe she can come live with us?”
Cole hesitates. “That woman tried to kill you, and you want her to live with us?”
“I don’t know. I mean, maybe it could be nice for her to spend some time with her grandchildren before she dies. Joy and Josh would really like to meet her.”
“But can you really forgive her for everything? We tried to forgive Levi, and look what happened.”
“I really think her heart was in the right place. She was right to try to kill me. She knew what I would suffer if I lived—she tried to save me from that, from people like Levi and Benjamin. But she didn’t know that dumping me in the snow would give me magical superpowers.”
“You do have superpowers,” Cole says, kissing my fingers.
“If I hadn’t been strong enough to survive the snow, I wouldn’t have been strong enough for any of this. The snow saved me, and she always will.”
“Okay, fine. We can test out having your mother come live with us. See how she gets along with the kids. But for now, let’s go wake up the twins and tell them the good news, that they have a new sibling, or hopefully two or three, on the way!”
I laugh, as I head for the door, but Cole intercepts me and picks me up.
“You shouldn’t walk,” he says. “You’re pregnant.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I tell him.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Then we grow quiet for a second.
“Did you ever think,” I muse, “that we’d be this happy? After everything?”
“I mean, I’m still a little jealous that you had robbed a Vegas casino for some other guy. But after killing him and taking his palace and all his servants—yeah. I do feel pretty happy.”
“I can try to rob something even bigger for you, if you prefer.”
“Just cook me up a batch of cute quadruplets, and we’ll call it even.”
“One order of quadruplets coming right up. Would you like fries with that?”
When he carries me into the room with the twins, the kids are already awake and playing with their new toys—3D puzzle sets and Legos, and a Nickelodeon kit for making slime. I never thought I would enjoy making slime u
ntil Joshua raided the kitchen for ingredients and held a giant slime-making competition for all the servants. We think he might make a good research scientist.
“Mommy!” Joy squeals, when she sees us. “Why is daddy carrying you? Did you hurt your leg?”
“Nope!” Cole answers, as he puts me down very carefully. “We just found out there’s a new baby growing inside your mom.”
Both of the kids run over with excitement, to press their ears against my completely flat stomach and ask questions.
“Can I teach him to make slime?” Joshua demands.
“Can I also get a puppy?” Joy asks. “And a kitten?”
“If you eat ice cream, will the baby get to eat some?” Joshua asks. “Can we all go for ice cream? Can I pick a flavor for the baby to try?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say, “one question at a time. But to answer that last one—yes, we should all get our favorite ice cream, and watch Frozen together.”
Cole looks at me in surprise, that I remembered, and he leans over the kids to kiss me. There are tears in his eyes, as they shine at me. After everything we’ve been through, it’s hard to believe that we’re really here. We really got through it all, and came out on the other side. I reach for his hand, and interlace my fingers with his.
“Mommy,” Joy says, tugging my sleeve. “I want to get the cotton candy ice cream!”
“I choose bubblegum.” Joshua declares.
“I’ll have cookie dough,” Cole says, before leaning close to me. “And later on, I’ll have you.”
The End