Page 131 of Burn It Down

Before they can continue their conversation, there’s a knock at the front door.

I sigh in relief, thinking the officer has finally arrived, but then I hear my father shout, “What the fuck are you doing here and why is Jacob’s Range Rover in my driveway?”

The unmistakable sound of Dylan’s rasp reaches my ears next.

“Where the fuck is he?”

Chapter 36

Dylan

I’m prepared to shout at the top of whatever lung capacity I can find, when a door in the kitchen opens, drawing all of our attention as Jake and Martin Cosey step out from a staircase.

“You two have a lot of fucking explaining to do,” Jake whispers, shooting daggers at Cora and his father before striding to me and whispering my ear. “I told you to stay at the hospital.” Despite the current tension and present company in the room, Jake pulls me into his arms and gives me three quick kisses, his lips and tongue gently sucking my bottom lip each time before stepping in front of me as if to shield me from sight.

The front door remains open and somewhere in the distance, sirens wail.

Cora’s dad is the first to speak and I can honestly say I’m not prepared for the words that come out of his mouth as he directs them at Steve Ellington.

“How long have you been sleeping with my daughter?”

Exactly how much did I miss?

Steve runs a hand down his face, shaking his head.

“I’m not sleeping with her. Not anymore. It was a lapse in judgment. That’s all.”

Martin cocks the pistol he’s holding. “Everything is a fucking power play to you, isn’t it? Do you have a single real relationship in your life? Everyone is just a pawn to be used for your pleasure and I’m sick of it!”

Jake places his hand over the barrel of the gun, speaking gently.

“Martin, he isn’t worth giving up everything you’ve worked so hard for. You’ve done nothing wrong. Your hands are clean. Don’t ruin that.” Martin allows Jake to step closer to him and eventually lets him pull the gun from his hands. Jake immediately releases the clip and racks the slide to dispel the bullet in the chamber. There was a time in my life, not so long ago, when it would have shocked me that Jake knew how to do that…but nothing about Jake shocks me anymore.

“I love him,” Cora says out loud to no one in particular. At this point I’m not sure if she’s talking about Jake or Steve.

Ignoring her, Martin continues to advance on Steve Ellington and I swear I hear one of Martin’s molars cracking.

“What was your plan here, Steve?” Martin asks his former best friend. “Were you going to divorce Lorainne for a twenty-four-year-oldgirl?Or were you really just using her? Planning on passing her off to your son so that you could still have access to her whenever you wanted without having to implode your whole life?” When Jake’s father stays quiet, Martin laughs. “Un-fucking-believable.” He turns to look at Cora. “And you? Where the hell did I go wrong with you?”

Standing her ground, Cora steps forward. “You taught me to be independent, to think for myself and to go after what I wanted. You always told me if life wasn’t going my way, I should pivot instead of whining or complaining. Well, as soon as I realized something was going on between Jacob and Dylan, that’s exactly what I did. Steve seemed like my best option, considering Lorainne certainly isn’t keeping him fulfilled. I’dhave access to their empire, the freedom to live my life how I want and while Jacob had his affairs,” she laces her fingers with Jake’s father’s, “we’d have ours. Everyone would be happy. I’d have secured your campaign funding, and Ellington Wealth Management would continue to grow. Isn’t that what you two have always wanted? How am I being painted as the bad guy when almost everyone in this room has used me for their own gain?”

Next to me, Jake stands stunned while Steve stays silent just shaking his head and trying to pull his hand from Cora’s grasp.

The sirens are blaring loudly now, and I can just see the first car turn the corner. Before we’re out of time, I ask the one question I want to know.

“Was it worth it? Was burning my family’s legacy to the ground and almost ending my life worth everything you’re about to face?”

Cora turns her gaze toward me as if she’s just now noticing I’m in the same room as her, her features completely devoid of emotion now that she isn’t playing a role, and shrugs a shoulder.

“As long as you were alive, Jacob would fight to be with you…and that ruined my whole future. I had to try.” The look is foreign on her and I believe it’s the first time I’ve ever witnessed the true face of a sociopath.

An officer approaches on the sidewalk to the house. He’s tall, athletically built, and is currently wearing a look that saysfuck around and find out.

I squeeze Jake’s hand to stay tethered to the moment. I’m exhausted and I just want to lay in bed with him wrapped in my arms and lock the rest of the world out.

Before the officer gets to the door, Jake kicks the dispensed magazine from the gun under a chair in the foyer and drops the weapon behind the cushion, trying to protect Martin.

“I’m officer Patterson,” the imposing man says, coming across the threshold into the foyer where the rest of us are standing. “Jacob Ellington?” he asks the group.

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