Page 35 of Born Chaos

“Um,” I struggle to get words out. “There’s… there’s only one thing I actually care about in my apartment. Could you… do you think you could, or someone else you trust, get it for me?”

“Yes.” He says it so final, so confident.

“The necklace we bound my mother’s gift to,” I say. Secrets. Lies. Complicated truth. They’ve all lead me right to this place. “It’s the only thing I have that matters. I just… I just need to keep it safe.”

Roman nods. “I’ll get it.”

I offer a weak smile. “Thanks. It’s in my desk drawer, in a box, pushed to the very back.”

I don’t even have my keys, yet somehow, I’m not too worried about Roman’s ability to get inside.

“I’ll get it, Juliet.”

I nod, and it feels so weird to feel a sense of gratitude toward Roman De Luca.

“Can I borrow your phone?” I move on. “I need to call Sigrid and let her know I’m okay.”

Roman nods and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out an old-style flip phone. “It’s a burner. Sebastian obviously has my number. I didn’t want to risk the possibility he’d track my phone too.”

I nod, completely humbled that he’s going to all these lengths to keep me out of Sebastian’s reach. “Thank you. I’ll bring this back in just a bit.”

Roman simply dips his chin in a quick nod and strides off to one of the desks. He drops down at the computer, settling right in to work.

I wander back into the bowels of the church. I find a spiral set of stairs and follow it up. It leads to a bell tower that no longer has a bell. But it looks out at the city from this lower level. The air is cold, still the dead of winter, but it feels fitting for everything that’s happening right now.

My fingers know Sigrid’s number by heart, and dial them in, barely shaking. I press it to my ear, and it rings four times.

“Hello?” her Norwegian accented voice comes through the line.

“Sigrid, it’s me,” I say softly.

“Juliet! Would you please tell me what in Odin’s name is going on?” Her tone is completely panicked, and I don’t blame her one bit.

“I’m really sorry for all of this,” I say. My stomach clenches. My palms feel slick. “I heard Roman had you taken to a safe house.”

“Yes, after you walked out on your own engagement party and Roman De Luca came in to tell your fiancé you were not coming back, looking like he’d tear every one of his limbs from his body.”

My eyes slide closed, and an exasperated sigh slips out of me. I need to know how that night played out, but I so do not want to know. “I think maybe you could tell something was off that night.”

“You think?” she questions. “I think everyone in the entire city of Chicago knew something was not right between you and Sebastian.”

I pause, letting it all sink in, letting it all digest. “You told me once that there was a darkness in Sebastian no one would understand. I thought I did. And to some degree, I do. But… things went too far. And I’m not sure how they can get fixed.”

“Juliet, what happened?” she nearly demands, though her tone is flat and calm.

One deep, steadying breath in and out. I need to ground myself, to stay put in the present and not let the past suffocate me. “Sebastian followed me one night,” I begin. “I went to Roman Nights because I just needed something fresh. I didn’t tell him I was going there, but he knew almost immediately. He showed up, and he completely freaked out. I realized he’d been tracking my phone. He admitted he’d screwed up, and we were trying to move forward.”

It hurts reliving it, retelling it. Because it pulls up the feelings I had when I thought we were fixing things. The hope and the future shining before us. “But then I found out he’d been paying his bodyguard, Rick, to follow me. All the time. Everywhere I went. I confronted him right before we got to the party.”

A curse falls from her lips. “Juliet,” she barely breathes.

“Sebastian doesn’t know where I am, but he seems to know I’m with Roman. Apparently, he showed up at Roman’s club a little while ago and trashed the place. They had to close for the night.”

“Juliet, you cannot go back to that man,” Sigrid says, fear rising in her voice. “The first invasion of privacy, the first act of violence. Learn from my mistakes, my dear niece, from the mistake of thousands of other women. That kind of behavior must not be tolerated.”

Tears spring in my eyes. Because I know this. Maybe no one ever taught me this growing up. I witnessed the exact opposite too often. But I think we know. We know we shouldn’t stay. But being in the moment, it’s not so easy, not so simple. I cover my mouth with my hand, sucking in deep, rapid breaths.

“I know you love him, Juliet,” Sigrid says softly. “And I know how much this must hurt. But you are worth the world. And if he cannot see your value as your own individual, he does not deserve you.”

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