Created in Chaos (Corrupt Credence Book 2), page 1
CREATED IN CHAOS
BY ALBANY WALKER
CORRUPT CREDENCE
BOOK TWO
ALBANY WALKER
Copyright © 2023 by Albany Walker
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems such as AI, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
Albany Walker
Cover Opulent Design
Editing done by Elemental Editing and Proofreading
Proofreading done by Bookish Dreams Editing
Proofreading done by Cassie Hurst
Created with Vellum
ALSO BY ALBANY WALKER
Coming Soon
Honed in Havoc Book 3 of Corrupt Credence Series
Available Now
Corrupt Credence
Made in Malice
Created in Chaos
Completed Series Tasting Madness Series
Seeing Sound
Touching Oblivion
Feeling Forever
Completed Series Monsters Series
Friends With the Monsters
Some Kind of Monster
Completed Series Havenfall Harbor
Havenfall Harbor Book One
Havenfall Harbor Book Two
Completed Series Infinity Chronicles
Infinity Chronicles Book One
Infinity Chronicles Book Two
Infinity Chronicles Book three
Infinity Chronicles Book Four
Completed Series Magical Bureau of Investigation
Homecoming Homicide
Creeping it Real
Perfectly Wicked
Completed Series Dollhouse World
can be read as standalone novels
Amusement
Diversion
Novelty
Standalone Novels
Beautiful Deceit
Becoming His
Stone Will Obsidian Angels MC
Disassembled Creatures
Map of Cadieux Island
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
About the Author
Also by Albany Walker
NOX
I shove Lucian to get his ass moving, so we can make it out to the ambulance before they leave with Nova.
“This is your fault. I let her come, but you put the nail in her coffin,” Rory snarls.
“Fuck you.” Lucian lunges toward him, reaching for the current president. If he gets his hands on him, he’ll probably kill him and we’ll lose everything in the process, including Nova.
“We’re going to the hospital. She needs us,” I grit out through my teeth, trying to hold him back and talk some sense into him at the same time.
He goes rigid, but it’s a different kind of tension filling him now. He allows me to pull him out of the building, just as the doors to the ambulance close.
“Are you taking her to Trinity?” I question the driver.
“No, the trauma unit at Saint Joe’s is already on standby.” He doesn’t waste another minute before hustling around to climb into the vehicle.
Lucian and I both jog over to our car parked at the curb. We speed after the ambulance. The lights are flashing, but it still feels like we’re going too slow. “One of us should have rode with her,” he says, speaking for the first time since screaming at Rory. “Call Amboni. Make sure he’s in touch with the hospital so we’ll know what’s going on.”
At least he seems to be thinking clearly now. I do as he asks, but I have to leave a message when the doctor doesn’t answer.
“What the fuck do you think happened?” I voice my thoughts out loud, not really expecting an answer, since he knows as much as I do.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out.” He takes his eyes off the ambulance for the first time to meet my gaze. “Then we’ll kill whoever hurt her.”
I wouldn’t need to see him to know he’s deadly serious, but the ice in his eyes is more proof of his determination.
“They said she was unresponsive. What if she doesn’t make it?” I can feel myself spiraling. I don’t think I can handle losing someone else, especially when we haven’t even gotten to know her yet and assumed that we would have all the time in the world for that.
“She’s fine. I won’t accept any other outcome.” I’m not going to be the one to tell him it doesn’t work like that. I have a feeling he would lose his shit, especially after the garbage Rory said about it being our fault.
The doctor calls me back as we’re pulling up to the hospital, and I’m tempted to ignore the call, but no one here will give us information, so I can’t. I pick up and hurriedly tell him where we are and what we need from him while I’m climbing out of the car.
“I don’t work out of St. Joe’s,” he says, but I shut that shit down.
“I don’t give a fuck. Find a way to get me what I need.” I hang up.
Lucian is standing near the rear doors of the ambulance as the EMTs and nurses from the hospital push Nova through a set of automatic doors.
“You can’t park here. This is for emergency vehicles only,” a security guard says from the sidewalk.
“Then move it.” Lucian doesn’t even spare the man a glance as he follows the stretcher.
“I’m not—” The guy begins to argue, but when he sees Lucian is serious about leaving the car, he tries to step in his way to block the entrance. Lucian looks down at the man. His face is icy cold, but that’s nothing compared to his posture.
Not one word is spoken, but the guy steps to the side, allowing my brother into the building. Someone else yells once he’s inside, but the sound cuts off when the doors close behind him.
I pull a bill from my pocket and hand it to the security guard. “You can move it or call a valet.” He examines the bills when I remove my hand from slapping the cash in his palm, but I don’t stick around to see what he’s going to do. He can have it towed for all I care.
Lucian is in a stare off with a bulldog of a nurse, who looks like she will have to be forcibly moved, and I’m surprised he hasn’t done it yet. “You’ll get an update when they have one to give you. Now go sit down before I have you removed from the hospital.”
Lucian snarls down at the woman. “You could try, or you could keep your job and go get your fucking boss.”
Her eyes narrow even more as her lips pinch in a pissed off scowl. “Listen, young man—”
“Don’t do that,” I interrupt her, and she drops her bottom jaw as she lets out a heavy sigh before even looking at me. “I promise you will regret it.”
She doesn’t gawk at us standing side by side like some people do, but she does plant her hands on her hips and tries to look down on us, even though we have several inches on her.
“I’ve been here twenty-three years and counting. You think you can get me fired? Then by all means…” She smirks condescendingly.
Lucian pulls his phone from his pocket and makes a call while she’s watching. “Morozov, find out who runs St. Joe’s hospital and get me their direct number,” he states in a cold voice. The nurse looks over at the front desk as if to ask, Can you believe this? but no one offers her advice or help.
We don’t have to wait long before Lucian dials another number. “This is Lucian Morningstar, I’m standing in your ER.” There’s a short pause before he continues. “You have someone on your staff who fucked with me on the wrong day. I’ve shown restraint, but my patience is gone. You can instruct her to personally provide me with updates about Nova Devlin’s condition every ten minutes, or you can fire her and have someone else do it. I’ll let you decide which. You have five minutes.” He hangs up the phone without a change in his demeanor.
The nurse widens her eyes and tilts her head back like she can’t believe his arrogance. Even now, it seems she doesn’t put much stock into his threats. I tried to warn her.
I wouldn’t say I’m shocked about how Lucian handled this, but I don’t know if I can remember another time when my brother used his name in such a manner. The people we’re used to dealing with know who we are, so there isn’t a need for it, and if they don’t, I’m much more accustomed to him handling any issues that arise with actions, not words. It’s further proof that something in him has changed, but I’m not certain when that happened.
The sealed double doors to the back open, and a woman exits, heading straight for us. She’s not wearin
The nurse huffs as if she can’t believe what’s happening, but she continues to be ignored when I interject, “How is she?”
“Would you like to speak privately?” the woman offers.
“Answer him,” Lucian demands.
“She’s not out of the woods, but her heart rate and blood pressure are showing signs of improvement.”
I don’t know if I can trust this woman. Is Nova really improving, or is she looking for something positive to tell us? “Is she awake?”
“No. If you’ll come with me, we can go over everything I know.” She lifts her hand in a get moving gesture. The moment we head toward the doors to the back, she turns toward Nurse Ratched. “Someone will be waiting for you in HR.” She hurries her steps to beat us to the door and waves a badge in front of a sensor.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” the nurse complains, but she’s already forgotten.
LUCIAN
“I need to see her,” I tell the woman leading us down a long hall and straight toward an elevator.
She breathes heavily through her nose but nods her head once as if she expected as much. “I haven’t seen her myself yet, but I want to warn you, the reports on her condition are pretty grim.” Wisely, she doesn’t ask if I’m sure or try to talk me out of it.
“Do you know what happened to her or the extent of her injuries?” I question, nervous now that we’ve changed directions and seem to be heading right where I asked—to see Nova.
She stops in her tracks and turns to assess me. “She was beaten.” Clearly, it caught her off guard that I didn’t know this.
“Were there weapons involved?”
“I could ask if you would like, but that information wasn’t provided to me,” she replies softly.
I nod my head in acceptance as we begin walking again, but I can’t look at her when I ask the final question. “Was she… She wasn’t… She was found in the bathroom,” I finally manage to say, because I can’t force out my real question.
“There was no mention of sexual assault, if that’s what you’re asking about,” she whispers, but the relief I feel allows me to take a deeper breath.
“Thank you,” Nox tells her when I don’t have the words to speak.
“Please don’t thank me. The only thing I can confirm is that it wasn’t noted in her report. Her treatment so far has been about stabilizing her.”
My chest constricts again, and I hear Rory’s words in my head about me putting the nail in her coffin. I insinuated she was a whore and made people think she propositioned me for sex to degrade her. If someone took advantage of her because of me… I could throw up now at the thought.
The woman leading us comes to a stop in the middle of a hallway and turns to face the wall. I glance around, wondering why she stopped, but it becomes clear in the next moment. My lamb is on a bed in the middle of the ER with nurses at her side. The thin curtains that usually separate the beds are all pulled back, exposing her to the other empty cots and not offering a lick of privacy.
Her hair is a dark matted mess on one side, and there are streaks of blood on her face that look like someone hastily tried to wipe them away, but they didn’t do a very good job. There’s an oxygen mask on her face, an IV in her arm, and some other shit attached to the beeping monitors next to her head.
“Jesus Christ,” Nox mutters.
“Make sure you check her kidneys. She sustained damage from a car accident a few years ago.”
“I’ll let the nurses know.” The woman steps away from us and speaks quietly to the nurse near Nova’s head. I don’t want to look at the bruises forming on her jaw and eye, but I force myself to.
Nox’s arm brushes mine as he moves to stand closer to me. I don’t know if he’s looking for support or giving it.
“Excuse me.” The female voice jolts me from my stupor, and I drag my eyes away from the bed to see a girl angling a cart down the hall toward her bed. I hate the way they are all talking in hushed whispers and peeking at us like we won’t notice their stares.
“I told the charge nurse about her history. She knew Nova had surgery from the scarring on her abdomen, but she’ll make sure the doctor knows about the issue with her kidneys, so he can check her scan thoroughly.”
The fact that I’m learning about scarring on her stomach from this woman pisses me off, but I don’t say shit to let on that I didn’t already know.
“Why isn’t she awake if she’s doing okay?” Nox questions.
The woman looks over her shoulder, back in Nova’s direction, and lets out a soft sigh before saying, “There are a lot of reasons. It could be as simple as her body went through a major trauma and it needs time to process and heal, or it could be the slight swelling in her brain. We won’t know until all the tests are back, but she’s stable right now, and that’s a good sign.” Her words are meant to be encouraging, but they don’t make me feel any better.
LUCIAN
The hours tick by so slowly, I’m convinced I’m losing my mind. I’ve been kicked out of the hallway in the ER twice, but the last time I tried to see her, they informed me they’d already moved her to a room, and as soon as she was settled, we could go up and be with her.
That was almost ninety minutes ago, and I still haven’t heard shit. “Chill out.” Nox thumps his head against the wall behind him.
“I’m not doing shit,” I snap.
“But driving us both crazy.”
“Hey, are you guys here for Nova Devlin?” a girl not much older than my lamb asks, leaning into the room.
“Yeah.” I get to my feet, anticipating her telling us where to go.
“I can take you up to her room if you’re ready.”
“Finally.” I don’t bother hiding my frustration, which causes the girl to duck her head. Nox smacks me on the shoulder as he comes to my side, telling me to chill.
“Is she awake yet?” I ask as we step into an elevator.
“Sorry, I don’t know. I’m just an aide. I was told to find you and take you up. Her nurses will be able to tell you what’s going on.”
We get off on the fourth floor and turn down a hall to see Rory and Astrid speaking to a doctor. I leave the girl in my wake as I get up close and personal with the doctor and, unavoidably, the Umbras. How the fuck did they get up here before us?
“Nice of you to finally show up,” I grate out.
The doctor furrows his brows and gets defensive on behalf of the Umbras. “Are you the patient’s family?”
“No,” Astrid answers.
My emphatic, “She’s with us,” is louder.
“You probably did this,” the Umbra matriarch accuses with disdain.
Her husband places his hand on her shoulder in what seems to be an effort to quiet her, then interjects, “Please finish what you were saying.”
I get a questioning side-eye from the doctor, but he takes the prompt. “As I was saying, your granddaughter sustained several injuries, the worst of which were several blows to the head and abdomen. We’re treating the slight swelling in her brain proactively because it can get worse before it gets better.”
Astrid lifts her hand up to her mouth. “Will she… How serious is that?”
“It’s my biggest concern right now.”
“Is that why she isn’t waking up?” I interrupt.
“Most likely. Her other injuries—the broken ribs, fingers, and heavy bruising we talked about—will heal with time.”
