Page 99 of The Chaos She Brings

"Hurricane," he murmurs, his voice a low anchor in the chaos. "Breathe."

I suck in a shaky breath. Then another. When I step back, my spine straightens.

"Okay," I say, forcing the storm inside me to settle. "The why isn’t important right now. Do we think she’s coming after me?"

"Yes." Enzo doesn’t hesitate. "But I don’t think she was working with all the Russians who wanted you dead. I think she’s been having secret meetings with Petrov, but no one else is aware."

My stomach knots. "So, she and Petrov have some shady side deal? And she somehow found the safe house while you were dealing with everyone else. Coincidence?"

Enzo shakes his head. "Doubt it."

Max's phone rings. The room goes still.

He answers, then pulls the phone away and puts it on speaker, his jaw tight. "Hello?"

A woman’s voice purrs through the speaker. "Max, long time no see."

Ice slides down my spine.

Max's face hardens. "Anastasia."

She laughs, a sound devoid of warmth. "So, you’ve figured it out."

"What do you want?"

"I want my daughter."

The air in the room turns electric.

"Why now?"

"She turns thirty soon."

My brows knit.

"And?" Max says, his tone bored though his face betrays his worry.

"She is betrothed. It’s time for her to fulfil her legacy."

A sharp inhale lodges in my throat.

Max's voice drops to a dangerous pitch. "You’re not even on her birth certificate. You have no hold over her."

"Her adoptive parents were aware of the arrangement," Anastasia says smoothly. "They signed the papers agreeing to raise her outside of this world until it was the right time. That time is now. I had planned to tell her on her birthday, but fucking Mikhail got greedy when he found out you had another child. He’s dead now, by the way. You’re welcome."

There’s a wicked satisfaction in her tone that makes my skin crawl.

Max's expression is carved from stone. "You think you can just demand her back?"

"You can hand her over, and I’ll leave your organisation alone," Anastasia says, all honey and poison. "Or I will kill every last one of you until I have her."

A deadly silence.

Then Max speaks. "Why are you so desperate for her?"

The words that come next shatter everything.

"Because she was promised to Nikolai Ivanov."