Page 63 of Born Chaos

It was Sebastian.

This is proof. Proof thatSebastianis responsible for what has been happening to Sigrid and Warren. Tabitha and Elena.

I file through the pages faster, my eyes skimming the information, the research pages, the handwritten notes. He tested a dozen different methods on how to immobilize a vampire and freeze a gifted. And it seems he was successful.

And it hits me. All those days Sebastian said he had to work extra hours on a year-end review, he was lying. All those days, he was here, in this lab, creating whatever it was he used to numb the gifted and put the vampires into a coma.

No gifted. No vampires. No threat to Juliet.

A curse slips from my lips.

And he did this because of me. To protect me.

A hand comes to cover my mouth, and angry tears well. Why? Why? Why did it have to come to this? Why wasthisthe only solution in Sebastian’s mind? How did he justify putting dozens of his kind in a coma, and cutting off such a huge part of the identity of the gifted?

Love.

The word echoes in the back of my brain.

He did it for love.

At least, that’s how he justified it. And I realize now that when people say they’d do anything for the one they love, it isn’t necessarily romantic or a good thing.

I see that now. Sebastian would do anything tokeepme.

But this isn’t love. This is complete and utter obsession. This is about control.

A noise from downstairs pulls my attention to the door. I stand there, frozen, for a solid thirty seconds, listening. Whatever it was, it’s now moving outside.

I need to get out of here. Every moment I linger, I’m in danger of Sebastian showing up. He could be down in the emergency room.

I comb through the last remaining files in the cabinet, finding four more files that look relevant. I stack all of the evidence into a pile and put two large rubber bands around them, holding them all together.

I feel like a damned coward, but I don’t dare go back out the way I come in. I don’t know how I could face Sebastian right now, knowing what he’s done and how far he’s gone. So, I look around the lab and settle on the large window.

The wind is blowing strong when I pop it open. I look down, seeing the plunge down all eight floors. I look up and see I’m barely down from the ledge. Shimmying my body through the window, I catch hold of the trim of it. I’ve barely got a grip at all, but with the new strength in my body, it’s enough for me to hoist myself up and catch the ledge of the roof.

I’m really not that high up right now. But even from the roof of the eighth floor, I still feel like I’m exposed to all of Chicago. It’s as if every vampiric set of eyes and every gifted has looked upon me. Guilty. They’re in the predicament they’re in now because I fell for someone who wasn’t who I thought he was.

And suddenly, I remember something someone said to me.

Echo, one of Sebastian’s blood dealers, always acted like she didn’t like me. I thought it was because she had feelings for him. But one day she dropped a blood delivery at my apartment, and she’d tried to warn me.

I just think you need to open your eyes a little bit. Sebastian isn’t just the do-good doctor he looks like. You should stay away from him.

Did she know? It’s impossible, she couldn’t have known what he was going to do, because he hadn’t done it yet.

But what if there’s more? What if there’s something else I don’t know about?

I wrap my arms around my waist, suddenly feeling like I can’t trust anyone, or myself.

I thought I saw Sebastian. I thought I understood him. Because it seemed like he understood me. But no one is what they seem. We all hide parts of ourselves.

And in the end, Archer King was right.

Love would have been your downfall. For yourself and the one you love. You hide in lies, Juliet. And so long as you would have held onto them, you never would have gotten what you want most.

He was right.

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