Page 73 of The Chaos She Brings

Kai

Thesteadybeep,beep,beep, of a heart monitor pulls me to consciousness.

Soft, warm, lighting greets me as I force my eyes open.

I move my head left, noting the brace is gone.

I expected to find myself in a hospital, but this is very clearly the guest room at Nate and Carina’s. I recognise the horrific pink wallpaper.

Turning to my right I find three sets of eyes on me. Nate, who looks like he’s ready to fight someone, Carina, whose face is tinged in sadness, and Enzo, who is looking at me from over the top of his laptop.

“You’re awake.”

“Points to you for having eyes,” I wheeze, sittingup slightly. It’s a hard task and I look down the bed to see my leg covered with a walking boot. Not the kind used for hiking. “Who let Carina pick the colour?” I groan at the hot pink adorning my right limb.

Nate’s lip twitches and he wraps his arms around me. “You scared the shit out of me, man.”

“Why am I not in a hospital?”

Enzo grunts. “You were. I had you moved as soon as I could. Doc’s been looking after you.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two days.” Nate’s expression sobers.

“Tess?” I ask with equal parts hope and dread.

Carina shakes her head just slightly and my stomach heaves.No.

“They took her.” Enzo’s voice is devoid of emotion.

Wait. “She’s not,” I swallow, “she’s not dead?” There’s an audible crack to my voice at the last word.

“Not that we’re aware of.” Enzo looks back down at this laptop to type something before continuing. “She’s in a secure facility owned by the Russians.”

A rush of relief cuts through me before it’s gone as quickly as it came. She’s alive. That counts for something.

“What do they want?”

Enzo scrapes a hand over his face, the dark circles under his eyes becoming even more prominent the longer I look at him. “My dad killed one of their higher ups. They set up the original kill order in retaliation. Somehow, they knew she was related to us, but didn’t realise we didn’t know.”

We already knew some of that, but there’s one part of this that doesn’t make sense.

“Why didn’t they go after you?”

“She was the easier target. And mafia women are seen as commodities most of the time.”

“That’s bullshit,” I spit out.

Enzo nods in agreement. “Not denying that. Just stating facts.”

“What do they want now? Are they still planning to kill her?” Just saying the words makes my heart ache.

Enzo hesitates. “They’re not planning to kill her. Yet.”

I swallow hard. “Then what do they want?”

He meets my gaze, unreadable. “They want her to marry Petrov. Form an alliance through marriage.”