Page 98 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Abi’s breath hitched at the emotion in his voice. “What did he say?” Her brow scrunched. “Wait, what didIsay?

“You told him to chill out,” I lied. “And he promised he would. Right, Vaughn?”

“I promise to try.”

“Good.” She gave a cute little huff. “Teach me more, Sammy.”

* * *

“Keep your window up and let me talk,” I instructed Vaughn when he pulled up outside the compound. “You don’t talk. You don’t even breathe threateningly. Am I clear?”

“More Russian,” Abi muttered to herself. “But seriously, you live here?” Her eyes were huge as she took in the twenty-foot-high wall that surrounded the property, the steel gate that was reinforced, and the twin guard shacks on each side.

“I grew up here.” I shrugged.

“Jesus,” she breathed.

Powering down my window when two guards, both of them dressed in suits, came out of their sheds, I gave them a bored once-over. “Open the gate. I’m tired and hungry.”

“Miss Vitucci.” The guard on the right stood up a little straighter. “We weren’t expecting you.”

“Obviously,” I sneered. “Open the gate.”

He nervously licked his lips. “Your brother has given strict orders not to allow anyone through until he returns home.”

“Including me?” I reached through the window and grabbed his tie. Jerking him toward me, I was rewarded with the satisfying sound of his head connecting with metal. “Open the gate, or I will do it myself. And then I will tell my mother how you refused to allow me into my own home.”

He gulped. “But—”

“Last time I was here, Number Two was…fired after the way he treated me.” I smirked when I heard his choked inhale. Number Two, the previous head of security, was now swimming in the Hudson with all the other liquefied bodies my family disposed of. Something the guard would know all too well. “Open the fucking gate, or you’ll be joining him.”

Sweat beading on his brow, he motioned to the guard still in the shack to open the gate. I released his tie with a bright smile. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed before he shook his head.

“Thanks for being cooperative.” Giving him a finger wave, I powered the window back up.

“You were kind of rude to him,” Abi said with a frown as the gates opened and Vaughn drove through.

“That wasn’t rude. It was merely me showing them they can’t treat me like shit. I refuse to roll over and take whatever rules my brother left in place. Just because he’s in charge of the business doesn’t mean he can dictate what I do.”

“You can win them over more with a smile than a glare,” she suggested.

“Not in this world, sweetness.”

Vaughn guided the SUV to the front of the mansion, and Abi gasped when she finally looked up at the house I’d been raised in. Trees hid the wall that went around the entire property—and thankfully the men with guns who walked the perimeter.

“The gate and the wall and the guards should have prepared me for this,” she mused. “This place is insane.”

“Meh. It always felt more like a museum than a home. But it did have its perks for playing hide-and-seek.”

“I bet,” she laughed.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Vaughn opened my door. He held my hand while Abi attempted to keep me steady from behind until my feet were on the ground. My bag of IV fluids had already finished, and I’d taken the line out before we’d gotten to the gate. All that was left was a small bandage over the site. Which was a good thing because as black-and-blue as my face was, I figured I was going to scare Papa enough.

Keeping one arm around me, Vaughn offered Abi his hand to assist her down as well. “Don’t be nervous,” I told her with a smile as my brother walked with us up the front steps.

Two guards with earpieces stood on either side of the double doors, their jackets hiding the guns in their holsters. Abi eyed them suspiciously, but their eyes were hidden behind their sunglasses.

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