Page 43 of The Chaos She Brings

“They’ll protect you both. But I don’t want her alone. And I don’t know how long this might take.”

“How long what will take?”

“Finding Petrov. The other Russians. She needs to stay hidden until it’s over.”

I lean back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling like it holds the answers. This can’t be happening. It’ll throw my already fragile routine into chaos. Too much time around her is a disaster waiting to happen.

But there’s no way I can say no. Not with Enzo staring at me like that.

“What about my work?” I ask, trying to find an escape hatch. Any excuse.

Nate, silent until now, finally speaks. “Don’t worry about Haven, man. We’ll figure it out.”

“You won’t have anyone to clean up your messes.”

He just shrugs, utterly unbothered. “So, we don’t kill anyone for a while. And let’s be real—if Carina finds out you refused to protect her best friend; you’d be the next dead body.”

“Fuck.”

“So, it’s settled, then.” Enzo’s voice is final. “You’ll go with Tess, watch out for her, keep her company. I’ll handle finding the Russians and eliminating the threat.”

He stares me down, waiting.

I nod, my throat too tight to respond.

“And Kai?” His voice hardens, his gaze sharp as a blade. “Don’t break my sister’s heart.”

His words hit like a punch to the chest. They echo in my head, bouncing off the walls of my mind for the rest of the day.Don’t break my sister’s heart.

This is my nightmare. This entire day has been a slow-motion train wreck.

Before Tess, the only person who’d stepped foot in my space was Nate. I don’t let people in—not into my home, not into my life. People are loud. They leave messes. They disturb the careful balance I cling to for control.

And now Tess is a whirlwind in the middle of all that. Her laugh, her energy, her presence. It’s too much. Too dangerous.

Everything feels like it’s spiralling out of control, slipping through my fingers, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it.

And that’s what terrifies me the most.

13

What Could Go Wrong?

Tess to Kai: You’re not as grouchy as you pretend to be. [delivered]

Tess

It’snotevenbeena week since Jake tried to kill me and instead became… a tragic victim of bad lighting.

Get it? Bad lighting? I killed him with a lamp?

No?

Just me?

How has my life imploded so much in so little time?

My new brother stormed in, gave his instructions, then left twelve hours later, and I’m now packing because I’m being shipped off to some safe house for the foreseeable future.