Page 77 of Created in Chaos

When he reaches out a hand to offer his assistance, I snarl, “Don’t fucking touch me,” then shove his hand away.

“I see they taught you well.” He shakes his head and gives me his back, allowing me to struggle to pull myself up.

“We’ll see how well,” I mumble under my breath. Astrid may think she trapped me, but Lucian and Nox made sure I know my worth. If she thinks ruling me will be easy, she’s dead wrong.

LUCIAN

Nova is nowhere to be seen when we reach the dock. I check my phone again just to make sure she’s not on her way back to the house, but her little red dot hasn’t moved.

“Where is she?” Nox steps out of the UTV and looks around. “Nova!” There’s an edge of panic in his voice I try not to pay attention to.

I call her phone, willing her to answer the damn thing. “Pick up.” When the automated voicemail instructs me to leave a message, I hang up and use the Find My Phone app. It leads me to the tree line, where I find her abandoned phone sitting on a rock.

“What is this?” Nox looks down but doesn’t touch the thing.

“I don’t fucking know. What did she say when she left?”

“I told you, she said she was going for a walk. Do you think she got hurt or something?” Nox continues to look around before shouting her name again.

“This looks intentional. Why the hell would she leave her phone here? There’s no way she went swimming, right? The water is too deep here, and she said she isn’t a strong swimmer.”

“No way,” Nox replies.

I bring my phone back up to my ear and call Lev. “I need someone on the cameras now. Get eyes on the dock. Nova’s phone is here, but she’s not.”

“I’m on it. How far back should I go?”

“No more than two hours.” I finally pick up her phone. Her screen is the generic swirls and shit, asking me to give the passcode. I type in the numbers I memorized after watching her do it over her shoulder several times, and a note app is up with a brief message.

I’m sorry.

??

“What the fuck does this mean?” I shove the phone in Nox’s face.

He scans the tiny message at least twice before he runs right into the water and starts yelling again.

“Here she is. Roll that back. She’s on the phone,” Lev tells me between talking to someone else.

“How long and who? I want her phone records.”

“Five minutes maybe. She looks…devastated,” he says softly. “I’ll have to sign into the cell carrier. It would be faster for you to check the call log.” I should have known that. I’m not thinking clearly. “Motherfucker,” he curses.

“What?” The pit in my stomach drops to my balls.

“Alden. He was in a boat.”

“She went with him willingly?”

“He made her swim over. She… Shit, she slapped his hand away when he tried to help her up, but he didn’t force her.”

I don’t bother hanging up before I chuck my phone at the rocky beach. “Nox, get your ass over here. She’s not in the fucking water.”

“Where is she?” He jogs over, soaked from the waist down from his jaunt into the ocean.

“She left with Alden.” If it were possible for me to spit venom, I would have when I snarled his name.

“No way, she wouldn’t do that,” he denies.

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