Page 64 of Created in Chaos

I trail my fingers up Nova’s thigh. It’s hard not to climb on the bed and take her, but it would be to prove to myself that I could, that she wants me too, and I won’t give into the weakness to make her prove herself to me. Besides, I have never been insecure, and I don’t plan on starting that shit now.

“Did she reschedule?” Nox questions. I’m certain he’s just as curious about Bridget and Alden’s relationship as I am.

“Not yet, but Vera knows it’s important, so she won’t give up.”

“I’m assuming there have been no sightings of Alden then either?”

“No, and any video from the lower levels of the school from that night were completely wiped—unlike the night before the attack, when those cameras were just disabled—and it makes me think someone had to be aware of what was going to happen. If we lost the feed to any of our cameras, Morozov wouldn’t just ignore it.”

“Tell me exactly what you’re thinking.” Nox scoots back to lean against the headboard. He’s assessing me like he already knows how my wheels are turning and just wants confirmation. I haven’t shared the names Grace wrote down on the list with Nova, since I wasn’t sure they would mean anything to her, and I didn’t want her seeing one of them in school and kicking their ass or confronting them, drawing attention to any relationship between them, not when they are going to end up dead very soon. However, since school has been canceled, most likely for the rest of the week, and they won’t make it through the weekend, I don’t see any problem now.

“Do the names Meg Rogers, Hannah Tilly, Vincent Kensington, or Caleb Davenport mean anything to you?” I ask Nova before answering Nox’s question.

“No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“How about Mia Lancaster or Lucy Gibs?”

“No, why?”

“They were the names Grace wrote down,” my brother answers correctly.

“Yes, and William Astor, but you already said you don’t know him, right?” I ask.

“They brought guys? Why am I not surprised?” She looks up toward the ceiling before answering my question. “I don’t know those names, but it’s not like any of those jerks introduced themselves before harassing me. Do you have pictures I can look at?”

“I’ll get Morozov to get them for you,” I reply. “When I asked Grace about the robes, she couldn’t tell me whose idea they were, just that everyone agreed it was a good idea. She admitted it was an easy way to conceal their identity, and I’m sure she’s heard the rumors.”

“Rumors?” Nova questions, pulling the covers over her body.

“About the founders,” Nox supplies.

“Huh, I guess I always figured the people in the bathroom were connected to the cult crap, but I must not have connected all the dots. I know only founders go to the meetings, and she isn’t one.”

“Wasn’t one,” I correct, since Grace isn’t anything anymore. “I think it’s too coincidental though. The robes were more than a convenient way to hide their faces, which is why I’ve had Morozov looking into everyone involved. I want to know if any of them are connected to the founding families. Maybe I wasn’t the only one trying to cut the Umbras off at the knees. I’m certain they have made more enemies than us.”

“You think someone else was pulling the strings?” Nova nibbles on her inner lip, staring into the middle of the room, her eyes unfocused.

“It could be. Grace was fairly confident she was the one running the show, but it would be easy to make her think that. She always thought she was more important than she was.”

“How can we be sure about any of it then?” Nova looks to me for answers.

“I’ll get to the bottom of it, even if I have to kill everyone on this island to do it.”

Nova sighs. “Yeah, I’d rather you avoid mass murder on any scale please.”

“In my experience, people take dead bodies seriously. A little bloodshed goes a long way to loosen lips.”

“Has Morozov found any connections between the names and the families?” Nox changes the subject, and I don’t think it was an accident. Brutal honesty isn’t always the best policy because not everyone has the stomach for it.

“One of the girls dated an Omega at one point, but it was pretty short-lived. He’s still digging,” I admit, hating that we don’t have anything more solid to go on yet.

“Are you going to talk to them?” Nova asks, probably wondering if I’m going to talk to them the same way I talked to Grace before I killed her.

“I have something different planned for them, lamb. You don’t need to worry about it.” I lean forward and kiss her forehead, hoping she understands I’m ending the conversation to protect her. Despite her strength, Nova is softer than this life, and I plan to keep it that way at all costs. If this didn’t involve her, she wouldn’t know anything about it.

“Please be careful,” she murmurs softly with her eyes closed.

“I’ll be better than careful. I’ll be smart.”

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