Chapter 8 - WAS SHE RIGHT?
ELIAS POV
I couldn't stop staring at Nova.
She was sitting across from Callum and me in his office, her arms crossed over her chest, her jaw set in that stubborn way that meant she was about two seconds from exploding.
Her lazy bun was starting to come loose and there was a smudge of something—maybe dirt from the garden—on her jeans. She looked small in the big leather chair but somehow still defiant.
"You left without me," she said again, her voice tight.
"We explained that already." Callum leaned back in his chair, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers drummed against the armrest. "We went to see the lawyers about Dad's estate. It wasn't about the storage unit."
"You still should have told me." Her eyes flicked to me, and I saw the hurt there underneath the anger. "Both of you."
I ran a hand through my hair, guilt settling heavy in my chest. "You're right. We should have woken you up. We just thought—"
"You thought I couldn't handle it." She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor. "That's what Vanessa said too. That I don't understand your world anymore. That I don't belong here."
"Vanessa doesn't know what the hell she's talking about," I said, my voice coming out harsher than I intended.
"Doesn't she?" Nova's voice was getting louder now, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "She seems pretty comfortable here. Showing up unannounced, ordering people around like she owns the place, kissing you both like she has every right to—"
"She doesn't have any right to," Callum interrupted, his voice sharp.
"But you didn't tell her to leave either," Nova shot back.
She had a point there. We'd been too shocked by her appearance, too worried about what she'd said to Nova, to actually kick her out the way we should have.
"Nova." I stood up and moved closer to her slowly, like she was a wild animal that might bolt. "Vanessa means nothing to us. She's a business obligation our father forced on us. That's it."
"A business obligation who wants to marry one of you," she said, her voice breaking slightly on the last word.
"She can want whatever she wants. Doesn't mean she's getting it." I reached for her hand but she pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself instead. "Come on. Don't do this."
"Do what?" She looked up at me, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
"Pull away from us because you're scared."
Her eyes flashed with anger. "I'm not scared."
"Yes you are." Callum stood up too, walking around his desk to stand on her other side. "You're scared that Vanessa's right. That you don't fit here anymore. That we're better off with someone like her."
"Aren't you?" The question came out small, vulnerable, so different from the defiant girl who'd been yelling at us a minute ago.
"No." Callum moved closer and suddenly she was boxed in between us, her back almost touching my chest. "Not even close."
Nova looked between us, her breathing getting faster. I could see her pulse racing in her throat. "This is crazy. All of this. I shouldn't be here. I should just leave and—"
"Where should you be then?" I asked quietly, cutting off her spiral.
"I don't know. Anywhere but here. Anywhere that's not putting you both in danger." Her voice was shaking now.
"We can handle danger," Callum said firmly.
"Can you handle someone trying to kill you?" Her voice broke completely and tears started streaming down her face.
"Nothing's going to happen to us," I said into her hair, breathing in the smell of her cheap shampoo and underneath it, something that was just Nova.
"You don't know that." Her voice was muffled against my chest. "You can't promise that."
"Watch me." I looked at Callum over her head and saw my own rage reflected in his eyes.
She pulled back just enough to look up at me, her eyes red and swollen. "What if you don't find who sent the message? What if they're too powerful or too connected or—"
"Then we die trying," Callum said flatly, and the certainty in his voice made even me believe him. "But you're not leaving again. I don't care what threats someone makes. You stay here where we can protect you."
"You can't protect me twenty-four hours a day," Nova protested weakly.
"Yes we can," I said, tightening my arms around her. "One of us stays with you at all times. When you sleep, when you eat, when you shower—"
"That's insane—"
"So is letting you get hurt." I cupped her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "This isn't negotiable, Nova. Either you agree or we will lock you in your room and post guards outside."
She stared at me for a long moment, searching my face for something. Then she looked at Callum. Then back at me.
"Fine," she whispered. "But I'm picking who stays with me first."
"Deal," Callum and I said at the same time.
"Elias."
I tried not to smile but failed. "Why me?"
"Because Callum bosses me around every five seconds and you're slightly less annoying," she said, but there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her tear-stained face.
Callum made a noise that might have been a laugh. "I'm standing right here."
"I know." Nova pulled away from me and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing her tears across her cheeks. "When are we going to the storage unit?"
"Tomorrow morning," Callum said. "First thing. All three of us."
"Promise?" She looked between us, needing that reassurance.
"Promise," we said together.
She nodded and walked to the door, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. Then she stopped with her hand on the doorknob and looked back at us.
"What Vanessa said earlier. About me not understanding your world." Her voice was quiet, almost too quiet to hear. "Was she right?”