Page 93 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Christ, she had caught whatever sickness Vaughn had.

Like Nova caught Ryan’s.

Like Elias caught mine.

Closing his eyes, Vaughn seemed to savor her words. Then with a heavy sigh, he turned his head to look straight at me. “Anya didn’t have a miscarriage,” he announced, going back to Russian. “She threw me away.”

My rage flared again. “Liar!”

He lifted his free hand, the other still holding on to Abi’s. “Calm yourself. I know that. Now. But it was the lie I was fed my entire life. From the time I could talk, they told me over and over again the story of how my mother abandoned me.”

“She was five months pregnant.” My heart still ached for the pain that my mother had felt when she’d lost her first child. A piece of her had died when he did. “That baby was the only thing she felt she still had, because Papa married Ryan’s mother. When she lost him, she nearly died too because she lost the will to live.”

“She wasn’t five months along,” Vaughn clarified. “She was seven and a half.”

Angrily, I rolled my eyes. “Sure. Whatever you say. My mother wouldn’t lie about that.”

“She didn’t lie. She simply did not know.” He leaned forward. “It was only very recently that I looked into what happened. None of what I had been told my entire life made sense after I began watching you after Budapest. I believed their lies, because I had no reason not to.”

“Then what’s the truth?” I demanded skeptically.

“When Anya found out she was pregnant, she was already being watched. They killed the doctor’s wife in front of him and then threatened to do the same to his daughter if he didn’t cooperate. He had no choice but to lie. When Anya found out she was pregnant, she was much further along than she was led to believe.”

I tapped my fingers impatiently on the armrest, but his story wasn’t completely implausible. “Go on.”

“When Anya was around seven and a half months pregnant, they drugged her. Made her think the baby stopped moving.” That much, I did know. Mom had gone to the hospital, desperate to find out what was wrong, terrified she was losing her child. It was a miracle she was even pregnant to begin with. When she’d “graduated” from the academy she had been pulled into as a kid, they’d sterilized all the girls to ensure they never risked the liability of children.

Mom hadn’t known she was pregnant when Papa ended their relationship to fulfill his own mother’s wish that he marry her childhood friend’s daughter, Sheena. But when Papa had found Ryan’s biological mother abusing him, he’d killed her on the spot. It wasn’t until my brother was four that my parents had gotten back together. They’d tried for years to conceive again and had nearly given up when Mom became pregnant with me.

“The doctor was the same man who had been taking care of Anya throughout her pregnancy. As soon as the baby was born, they rushed him out of the delivery room and told her that I was dead.” Vaughn’s face had grown tight, his eyes darkened with an emotion I couldn’t identify. “I spent three months in a NICU.”

If what he said was true, then my mother had spent over three decades suffering unnecessarily, agonizing over the child she’d lost. I wanted to make whoever had done that to her bleed. “Do you have proof of any of this?”

“Look at me, Samara. Tell me you don’t think I am their son.” He slapped a hand against his cheek.

Abi made a sound of distress. Taking his hand, she pressed it to her lips. “Please don’t do that.”

Gently, he brushed his finger over her cheek. His tone softened when he spoke to me again, still in Russian. “I have the DNA results. I’ll show them to you if you wish.”

“Let’s say I believe you.” I inwardly groaned, already calling myself a fool. “What does it matter, though?”

He tore his gaze from Abi, his brown eyes tortured. “Three months ago, it wouldn’t have. But my life changed the moment I saw Abi. You know what that’s like, don’t you, little sister? Ryan understands it just as much as we do. Your Elias. His Nova. My Abi.”

“It’s a sickness,” I muttered. “A twisted obsession that turns everything upside down.”

“No,” he denied vehemently. “No, it turns it right side up. Everything else in the world can crash and burn. I’ll light the match to set it all on fire. And I’m going to. For her.”

“By destroying Papa?” I twisted my wrist, tugging at the cuff harder. “Please don’t hurt him. Or Mom. They don’t deserve that.”

“Will you stop trying to break your fucking hand?” he suddenly thundered.

Abi flinched, making him groan in pain. Releasing her hand, he put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her head to his chest. “I’m sorry, wildfire. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Why are you so angry?” she mumbled against his shirt. “Whatever you two are discussing, can’t you just put the past behind you? Start fresh.”

“For you, I will do anything,” he vowed.

I wanted to get my friend as far away from him as possible. My skin prickled with the need to protect her. But seeing the way he held on to her, how tenderly he brushed his lips over her brow, I wasn’t so sure Abi would thank me if I tried.

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