Page 114 of The Chaos She Brings

The gun slips from his grip as he staggers. He lunges for it—I lunge for him.

Carina sprints to my side.

I propel upright from my crouchedposition. My hand slots over the handle of the knife in Carina’s outstretched hand. The blade sinks into his shoulder. He lets out a strangled cry, jerking back.

A shadow falls over us.

“Need a hand?” The voice is calm, almost too calm. I glance up, my stomach twisting at the sight of Nate. He stands over the carnage, a spectator to a slaughter, grinning like he’s enjoying the show. His eyes gleam with something that makes my skin crawl.

He’s looking at all the blood like it’s an award-winning, show-stopping masterpiece.

“Nah, I’ve got it,” I say, waving a hand dismissively. This is my mess.

Nikolai clutches his shoulder where the blade dug into his flesh. He lunges. I pivot, sending him sprawling.

I drive the knife into his back.

Once.

Twice.

His body jerks under me, blood spilling across the floor like a river of red.

I don’t stop.

I can’t.

He deserves this—deserves worse. The blade sinks in again, and only when his body goes still do I stop, my breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

Movement catches my eye.

A few feet away, Enzo helps someone up.

Kai.

Time seems to stretch, the blood-stained world narrowing down to just him.

Then my legs move on instinct, and I’m running.

I collide into him with a force that steals the breath from my lungs, and if it weren’t for Enzo’s hand on his shoulder, we’d have hit the ground hard. My heart is racing, and my hands are trembling as I cling to him, my face pressed against his chest.

Kai grunts, wincing in pain, as I wrap myself around him, tears falling from my eyes onto my blood-soaked cheeks. “You’re here.”

His arms around me ground me, his chest rumbling againstme as he speaks. “Who do you think shot him, Hurricane?”

I pull back just enough to look at his face, keeping my arms locked around his waist. “You’re a terrible shot.”

He laughs, dragging me back into him. “Not all of us are accidently good at murder,” he grumbles, kissing the top of my head. “At least I hit him.”

“Good point.”

“Alright, lovebirds,” Nate calls. “What’s the plan for the body?”

Kai and I exchange a look.

“Pigs?” I ask.

Kai’s lips twitch.