Page 37 of The Chaos She Brings

“You’re not going to work,” Enzo says like his word is law.

“You’re not the boss of me.”

Enzo opens his mouth, his expression thunderous, but Kai beats him to it. “I will tie you to a chair if I have to, Hurricane, but you are not leaving this house.”

Now is not the time for my vagina to be doing flip-flops at the thought of Kai tying me up and doing very dirty things to me. My cheeks heat and Enzo’s scowl deepens as if he can read my thoughts.

“Why can’t I go to work?”

“Do you not remember what happened yesterday?” Kai snaps.

“I remember. But some of us require money.”

Kai’s voice softens. “Please, Tess. At least take today off.”

Goddamn him and his beautiful face.

“Fine,” I grumble, shoving past them both. “But that means I’ll be in my room. You two can spoon each other. Let me know when you want to fill me in on my life.”

With that I stomp up the stairs and, for good measure, slam my door shut behind me. Grabbing my phone from its place on the bedside table I fire off a text to my manager telling her I’m sick then sink down onto the bed.

Kai

“What did you want to talk about?” I ask Enzo after I’ve eaten my toast and drank my coffee.

Enzo sits across from me on the sofa, one leg resting on the other—a picture of casual indifference.

“She’s in danger. I found her birth certificate. Her real one. She’s my half-sister. Which means the Russians have somehow found that out and are going after her as revenge for my papa.”

“Revenge?”

“He killed someone's brother.” He waves his hand dismissively like it’s no big deal.

I groan. “Fuck.”

“Papa is ecstatic to find out he has a daughter—seriously, I’ve never seen him so happy. It’s weird. He’s already looking into the threat, determined to eliminate anyone who would hurt her.

“I had to convince him that meeting her right now might not be the best idea. There’s already so much going on. Better for her to meet him when things are settled.”

I nod. He’s right. Tess’s state of mind is likely already fragile, everything from the past week has been a whirlwind that’s bound to catch up to her soon.

“How did you manage to find her birth certificate?” I’ve been trying to uncover the missing pieces, but it felt like I was being stonewalled.

Enzo taps his nose, smirking. “I have connections.”

“Fine, keep your secrets.”

“So…” Enzo begins, grinning at me. “You and my sister?”

I scowl at him. “There’s no me and Tess.”

He raises an arched brow.

I scrub my hand over my face. “We got carried away. It won’t be happening again.”

Enzo scoffs. “Yeah right.”

“I’m serious.”