Page 102 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Anya’s gaze snapped to mine. “Professor Vaughn.”

I nodded and rechecked the clip in my gun as the driver floored the gas. The gate to the compound was already open, dead bodies littering the ground.

“Those aren’t our men,” Ryan announced. “Or Adrian’s.”

Anya did a quick appraisal outside around the car. “Ryan, out the side. Go north. Find your sister and then your father. In that order. Knowing Samara, she already locked him in one of the panic rooms if she was able to get free. Elias, cover me.” She grabbed Polina by her short gray hair. “Time for a little reunion with our dear Daria.”

Kicking open the door, Anya shoved the other woman’s head out first. “Human shields are more effective if the enemy is emotionally attached to the shield. How invested do you think Daria is in you, Polina?”

Her reply was something explicit in Russian, but I got the gist of it. Anya’s manic laugh reminded me of Samara, which had my lips twitching even as my heart felt like lead in my chest while I looked for any signs of my baby girl through the windows.

“Call out to her,” Anya commanded, twisting her fingers in Polina’s hair, pulling chunks free. “Let Daria know I’m here for the chat she seems so excited to have with me.”

“Daria,” she said weakly.

Anya pulled a knife, stabbing it into Polina’s shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. “Louder!”

“Daria!” she screamed.

Some of the gunfire paused.

“Again,” Anya snarled, twisting the blade. “Beg her to help you.”

“Daria! Please. I need you.”

Kicking Polina’s legs out of the car, Anya stayed crouched as she followed. “Daria darling,” she singsonged. “Polina is in distress again. Won’t you come rescue her?”

Once she was out, I had my gun up as I checked for any immediate threats.

“Elias,” Anya hissed without looking back at me. “No matter what happens, you get my daughter the fuck out of here. Alive.”

“Anya,” I growled back, putting two bullets in a guy dressed in military fatigues. “That was my only goal to begin with.”

She huffed a laugh. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“So sweet,” Polina sneered. “And pathetic.”

Jerking her head back so hard Polina’s neck popped, Anya pressed her nose to her cheek. “Don’t be jealous, Polina. Just because you’ll never know the joys of having your own child doesn’t mean you should shit all over my happiness.”

Polina snorted. “I may not have birthed Vaughn, but I raised him. He was mine. Daria gave him to me.” She turned her head, a twisted smirk on her bloody and bruised face. “Like you took my legs from me, we took your son from you.”

“I must have broken something important in your brain. You aren’t making sense.” Pressing the gun barrel to the back of Polina’s head, Anya sighed. “Oh well, you’ll be dead soon, so it won’t matter for much longer.”

“Anya, pet.” I turned, my gun already aimed in the direction of the heavily accented female voice. A woman with short, short hair that was a mixture of gray and black walked out of a group of trees. She was at least six feet tall, with the combat boots she wore giving her a few extra inches.

She had Ryan in a headlock with a semiautomatic pressed to his temple. “Look at us. One big, happy family reunion. I was telling Polina just the other week that we should have a little get-together with everyone we graduated from the academy with. You know, the ones still alive and all.”

“And look at us now,” Anya gushed.

I couldn’t tell by her voice how pissed she was, but Ryan was her world. If anything happened to him, no one would walk away from this. Not Daria or Polina. Not even Samara. The Vitucci compound would be nothing but a crater when she was done.

But she didn’t give away so much as a hint of emotion. “The three of us are having a lovely little party. You’ve gone all out, decorating my lawn and blowing shit up. Aw, you shouldn’t have, Daria.”

“Daria, let Vaughn go,” Polina cried. “Please. He’s a good boy.”

“Darling, this isn’t Vaughn. It’s Anya’s boy wonder. Ryan.” She tightened her hold around his neck. “And we talked about this. Vaughn made his choice. He picked his little college tart and that half-baked sister of his.”

“He didn’t mean it!” Polina screamed, spit and blood flying from her mouth. “The girl just confused him. Once we take care of her, he will fall in line again. Everything…will be…fine. After I kill her. Just wait. You’ll see. I’ll kill her, and he will be ours again.”

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