Page 104 of The Chaos She Brings

Plotting Murder Is Totally Normal

Tess to Enzo: Tell Kai I’m sorry. I hope you can both forgive me. [unsent]

Kai

Iholdtheletterin my fist, trying, and failing, to makesense of the words.

She’s… gone.

I know exactly what she’s done. She’s handed herself over tohim. To Nikolai.

“Enzo!” I bellow as I steady myself against the counter, my knees threatening to buckle.

I want to scream and cry; I want to throw something.

And something else simmers beneath the surface. Something I’ve never truly felt before. An undeniable desire to murder someone. And not in an ironic ‘I couldkill you’ jokey way. No… this is… real. I am going to kill Nikolai Ivanov if it’s the last thing I do.

Then I might just kill Tess for being so damn stupid.

Enzo comes running into the kitchen at the sound of my shout. It’s five in the morning but he’s already dressed impeccably in a suit while I’m still in pyjamas. “What’s wrong?”

I throw the letter at him. “Tess is gone. She’s left.”

He reads it quickly, eyes scanning over the words. His expression darkens the more he reads. “Fuck.”

I start patting my pockets, freezing when I don’t feel my phone. Hobbling to the bedroom I scan the room before heading back out to the kitchen. “She’s taken my phone,” I growl at Enzo who’s pacing, pulling at strands of his hair.

The intercom buzzes. Enzo strides over to the hall and presses the talk button. “Mr Russo, there’s a red-headed woman down here to see you.”

“Tess?” I ask hopefully, coming to stand next to him.

“Say's her name is Anastasia Volkova,” the receptionist states.

“Send her up,” Enzo demands.

He starts pacing and I… well I can’t yet walk that well, so I stand frozen as we wait by the lift doors.

The doors slide open, revealing a woman who is unmistakably Tess’s mother. Before she can take a single step, Enzo slams her against the wall, his hand tightening around her throat. She doesn’t fight back. Doesn’t even try.

“You,” she gasps, struggling for air, “might… want to listen… to me.”

Enzo holds her there for a second longer, eyes burning into hers, before shoving her away with a sharp jerk. “Speak.”

She straightens, rubbing her throat, but her voice remains steady. “I’m sorry,” she says, a flicker of vulnerability breaking through an otherwise impenetrable mask. “I had no choice.”

Enzo doesn’t respond, his glare demanding more.

She exhales sharply. “When I was pregnant with Tessa, I was young and terrified. My father disowned me for carrying an Italian’s child. The Ivanov’s took me in—but there was a price. My daughter. Promised to their son, Nikolai. He was five at the time. I agreed. On one condition: that she be given thirty years of freedom before she was pulled into this world. Theyaccepted.” Her expression tightens. “I never wanted this life for her. That’s why I hid her from Max.”

She pauses, as if bracing for the next part. “But I always knew it would catch up to her. And it did.”

A muscle ticks in Enzo’s jaw, but he stays silent.

“Mikhail found out about Max’s illegitimate child not long after his brother Sergei was murdered. He saw an opportunity. Revenge. Power. He sent Jake to seduce her, gain her trust, then make her death look like a domestic gone wrong. A tragic accident.” Her lips press into a hard line. “But they underestimated her. She fought back.”

Her voice drops. “That’s when everything changed. Mikhail became obsessed with her—wanted her for himself. He planned to use her to get close to Max, kill him, and then claim her as his own, uniting your organisation with his through marriage. I killed him for that”—her expression hardens—“for planning her assassination.”

She looks between them, eyes dark with conviction. “Hate me all you want, but I love my daughter. I’ve been watching over her for years, making sure she was safe, keeping her off their radar as long as I could.” She shakes her head. “But there was always going to be a price. If I had thought that betraying Nikolai meant only my death, I would have done it without hesitation. But he wouldn’t stop with me. He would hunt her to the ends of the earth.”