Page 6 of Controlled Chaos

Chapter 4

Clara

I restedthe phone between my shoulder and my ear as I folded one of the shirts I’d pulled from the closet. My empty suitcase lay open on the lumpy mattress. I always packed light when I went on trips, and today that was going to pay off.

“How was the wedding?” my brother, Walker, asked.

“It went off without a hitch,” I answered. “You really do need to meet this side of the family. I think they’re more like us than we could have imagined.”

“That says a lot considering the glimpses and knowledge you get.”

“I agree.” I tossed the shirt into the suitcase and yanked the next one off the hanger with a bit more gusto. “But it’s time I come home.”

“For good?” he asked.

“For now,” I answered. That was the best I could do. Just knowing that I’d met the catalyst to my downfall had me debating my next steps. Was it possible my final resting place would be a dirt hole back home and not in this town? Was trouble going to follow me back to my family?

“What’s wrong, Clara?” Walker asked. “I can hear the wheels turning over here.”

I sat down on the bed and tossed the unfolded shirt into my suitcase. I sighed. “I met him.”

“Him, who?” Walker asked.

“The man who watches me die. He’s an FBI agent.”

There was a long silence over the line before my brother’s voice shifted to the lecturing tone he’d used when he’d tried to school me growing up. “You’re on the first flight out, right?”

A sad smile curved my lips. “There’s more.”

“Goddamn it,” my brother cursed. “Okay, lay it all out for me so we can devise a plan.”

“I kissed him.”

“And?” he asked.

“What do you meanand? I did the one thing I swore I’d never do.”

“You kissed him. It’s fine. We’ll deal with it. Now get home. Our other brothers and I know how to keep this son of a bitch away from you.”

“I don’t think it works like that.” There was no stopping what was coming. I’d tried to outrun my fate before and help others do the same thing, and yet here I was in a strange town and George Fillpot had found me again.

“He can’t watch you die if he can’t find you. Get your ass home,” Walker growled.

A knock sounded on my hotel room door. I hadn’t told anyone but my brother where I was staying, but our cousin Bennetts could have found me. They were gifted like that. “I’ll call you back. Someone is at the door.”

“It could be him. Don’t answer it.”

“I’m sure it’s just one of our relatives here to say goodbye; besides, I don’t die in a hotel room.”

“Clara….”

“I’m fine. I’ll call you back later,” I said. Without telling him goodbye, I disconnected the call.

I didn’t have to be psychic to know that a woman was at my door.

I released the locks and pulled open the door. A sigh escaped my lips. “You’re the sister. Fillpot’s wife.” The melted-caramel eyes, so like Porter’s smiled back at me.

She arched her brow, clutching her purse against her body. “And you’re Clara Bennett, my husband’s prized agent.”

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