Page 53 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Mom grabbed my wrist, lifting my arm to inspect the wet red spot on my sleeve just below my elbow. “Why is there blood on you?”

Jerking away from her touch, I shrugged. “I guess Number Two needs stitches.”

Ryan released a heavy sigh. “What did you do?”

Inwardly, I flinched, but on the surface, I didn’t even blink. “Maybe you should ask what he did to warrant my reaction.”

Madness, similar to what I fought in my own mind every day, brewed in my brother’s eyes. “I’m asking you, Samara.”

“Sounded more like you were accusing me.” I held his gaze, daring him to deny it.

Mom snapped her fingers between us, forcing us to look away at the same time. “Stop acting childish. Both of you. We have bigger issues at hand than the two of you squabbling. Kovak is a storm cloud on the horizon, and your father is barely coherent.”

“Fuck Kovak,” I hissed to myself.

“Not the time to be showing your ignorance,myshka,” Mom warned.

Summoning the last of my patience, I nodded. I wasn’t there to argue with anyone. My only concern was my papa’s well-being. Once he was out of danger, I would go back to Creswell Springs and leave them to handle their own bullshit. With Kovak and everything else. This life wasn’t my future. I could barely tolerate it, even for Papa.

“What do the doctors say?”

There was a long pause while Mom and Ryan shared a silent conversation with just a look. It wasn’t that their closeness made me jealous. I was glad they were able to read each other so effortlessly. What bothered me was being left out.

Like I was a fucking outsider.

It burned just as badly as Number Two questioning my loyalty by wanting to pat me down for weapons.

Mom took my hands in both of hers, squeezing my fingers. Her being gentle was the scariest thing I’d ever had to withstand. My throat closed up, and all I could think was,I want my Daddy.

But I’d left Elias back in California.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

samara

My phone vibratedwith a text alert almost at the same time Papa groaned in pain. Blinking the tears from my eyes, I turned to watch him struggle against his restraints.

Confusion and rage clouded his eyes, making me ache in ways I didn’t know were possible as he began shouting for us to release him.

“What have you done with my daughter, you fucking impostor?”

“Papa.” I rushed forward, brushing past my brother as I tried to get to him.

Papa’s entire body seemed to jolt. “Annie?”

Ryan caught me around the waist and lifted me away, putting himself between our father and me. Whether to protect me or to hide me, I wasn’t sure.

“You fucking bastards are playing with me!” Papa shouted, sounding completely awake for someone who was sedated only moments before. “You’ll pay for this. I won’t let a drop of your blood survive. By the time I’m done, there won’t be a single strand of your DNA to pollute the population.”

I tried to move around Ryan, to explain—even though I knew when he was lost like he currently was that there would be no getting through to him. But Mom took my arm and pulled me closer to the window while Ryan stood blocking Papa’s view of us both.

“Samara, the doctor thinks he has reached the severe cognitive decline stage. He doesn’t even recognize your brother at the moment. Ever since he saw Ryan when we found him, your father has been adamant Ryan is an impostor.” My tears began to pour down my face, and in a rare show of emotion from her, she cupped my cheeks in both her hands. “I know,myshka. I know. My heart aches too. But he needs us to be strong right now. If he sees your tears, it will only upset him more.”

“I shouldn’t be here,” I whispered, fighting a sob. “I just make everything worse.”

“You’re the only one he’s still holding on to,” she soothed. “Even now, he’s trying to protect you. He needs you here for when he does have a moment of clarity.”

Papa’s shouts grew louder, his bed shaking as he tried to get free of his restraints. Closing my eyes, I tried to gather my courage. He needed me to be brave, but I’d never felt less so in my life.

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