Page 33 of Created in Chaos

“None of those choices were yours to begin with, Nova. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can help yourself.”

Dread settles in my stomach like a lead ball. He’s speaking with so much conviction, I can’t help but believe him, and it terrifies me. I don’t bother mounting an argument or refusal, and instead, I turn and run as fast as I can, trudging through the sand until I have a stitch in my side and I can’t see the yellow house or Alden anymore…though I can’t shake the weight of his presence quite so easily.

NOX

The door slams, and I jump up, ready to give Lucian some more shit, but when I poke my head into the hall, I see Nova with her back against the door as if she just beat the devil across the threshold.

She’s breathing heavily, and her cheeks are all red. “What happened?” I demand, ready to kick my brother’s ass for whatever he did this time.

Her eyes snap open, and she stares at me owlishly. I start to approach her, but she pushes off the wall and heads straight for me instead. I reach out to her, but she speaks, causing me to freeze in my tracks. “Alden was just here.”

“What?” I look past her, imagining her near the gate and him harassing her to come out.

“At the yellow house. I was sitting on the porch, and he came out of the front door.” She’s speaking so fast, there’s no way I heard her correctly.

“Slow down and say that again.”

“He was in the yellow house.” She grabs my sleeve and shakes it.

“Lu!” I turn my head enough so I’m not hollering in her face. When I don’t get an immediate response, I grab her hand and tug her toward the stairs with me. There’s one place Lucian goes to sulk—his room.

The door is uncharacteristically unlocked when I turn the knob. Lucian is just coming out of the shower. He’s naked and doesn’t bother to cover up, but when he sees my face, he actually rocks back on his heels, as if he’s expecting me to yell at him some more.

I push Nova in front of me, only now realizing she’s holding her side. There’s no time to give her a real apology for dragging her up the stairs, but I do say, “Sorry if I rushed you. Tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Lucian’s brow is furrowed, but I don’t think that’s what Nova is looking at.

I give her another little nudge, and she spews, “Alden was at the yellow house.”

“The yellow house?” He looks at me with confusion.

“The beach house.”

“It’s yellow?”

“Did you hear what she said?” I try to rein in his errant thoughts.

“He said they have been tracking me with an app on my phone.” Nova didn’t tell me that, but I guess I didn’t give her much of a chance.

“Is that why your phone stopped pinging?” He’s completely calm, which is worrisome. Lucian is his most dangerous when he’s calm.

“I threw it in the ocean,” she admits, seemingly unbothered that he admitted to tracking her as well.

“I just realized when I got out of the shower. I was coming to find you,” he tells her.

“Alden was there,” she says again, slower this time.

“Did he touch or hurt you?” His eyes roam over her, looking for a hair out of place.

“No, he scared the crap out of me though. I didn’t think anyone else was allowed on the grounds.”

“They aren’t,” I confirm.

“Well, he was. He wouldn’t tell me how he got there, but he said he knows all your secrets and I should remind you of that.”

“Did he now?” Lucian asks softly. “What else did he say?”

“He told me you had a tracker on my car.”

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