Page 67 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

With all that technology trained on me, she didn’t suspect for a moment that I had my own resources focused solely on her? I thought we were just pretending not to acknowledge the depths of the utter obsession we felt for each other. I figured once she trusted me enough, we wouldn’t have to play this game anymore.

But from the shock on her beautiful face, I could tell that I’d been wrong. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust me, although that was still an issue. She honestly didn’t know that I’d been stalking her.

For years.

Thirty-one months, nine days, and twenty-one hours.

From the moment I’d noticed her watching me in the club in Oakland. A dozen scenes of debauchery had been going on around us, but her eyes were on me. So lost in what I was doing, she hadn’t noticed when I’d started discreetly watching back.

At first, I hadn’t even realized that the knockout who had me hard as steel from just the sensation of her gaze on me was Samara. All I’d known was I’d felt like I’d been shot with a bolt of…something powerful. I couldn’t stop looking at her.

But then she’d changed locations so she could observe me better. Something in the way she moved had flashed home who she was. And still, I couldn’t stop watching her.

I’d been too stunned over realizing it was her to approach her that night. But later, after my dick had calmed down and my brain started working again, I’d called Nova to feel out if perhaps she might know if her sister-in-law had a possible crush on me.

That was only the first of many calls I’d made to Nova over the years regarding my baby girl. With Nova’s help, I was able to keep track of what Samara was doing. But soon, that wasn’t enough. I needed to have my eyes on her every minute of the day or I couldn’t focus. My work started to suffer; I couldn’t concentrate.

Nova helped me again. Her angelic laughter echoed through the phone as she told me about the cameras she’d set up for me. At first, I limited my viewing to only at night when I was in bed. Watching Samara studying in her room, lying on her bed bingeing some reality television show. Then I found myself checking in throughout the day. As soon as I woke up each morning. At lunch. All afternoon.

I. Was. Addicted.

It wasn’t long before that wasn’t enough either. Nova hadn’t even scoffed when I’d asked her to put the spyware on Samara’s phone so I could watch her—along with everything and everyone around her.

If anyone knew what I was feeling, it would be Nova. She wasn’t one to judge. No matter what anyone said, or assumed, I knew she was an angel.

But not even that was enough to fulfill my growing obsession to know every single detail about Samara’s days. I began to crave everything about her.

If I went to the club, she showed up as well. Always wearing makeup that was contoured to make her face different, sometimes with contacts to hide those blue gems, but I knew it was her. I’d spent too many hours watching her not to know who she was. But getting to breathe the same air as her had its drawbacks.

Men noticed her. Approached her. Tried to entice and lure her away. She never gave them a second glance, her focus solely on me. Her disinterest in them didn’t stop my jealousy from festering, however. After the third time, I stopped going completely.

Nothing about the club was thrilling any longer. I wasn’t there to watch anything but Samara at that point, to get my fix. And that only made me itch to break the neck of every motherfucker who looked twice at her.

Samara was mine.

When she’d played that little game with my brother, I’d wanted to kill Reid. If I hadn’t already known she was just as consumed by me as I was her, I fucking would have.

But I did know.

She wanted to play her games. Make us both seem normal to the outside world.

And as her Daddy, I’d allowed it.

All of that was over, though. I couldn’t. Not when I knew the truth now.

My beautiful little psychopath had no clue I was in love with her.

Grasping her bound wrists, I readjusted my belt, freeing one hand just long enough so I could secure her to the headboard. We both were all too aware that she could escape at any time if that was what she wanted.

Anya’s killing machine couldn’t be locked down by something as simple as a belt. A muscle ticked in my jaw as I fought back a spike of rage at her mother. Part of me understood where Anya was coming from by doing what she’d done. Not just to Samara, but Nova as well. There was a price for being in the Vitucci family, and she wanted to make sure those who might appear weaker never were.

But fuck, she’d nearly destroyed Samara in the process.

My baby girl’s lack of struggle told me loud and clear that, at the least, she was curious about what I was doing; the way she unconsciously licked her lips suggested it was more than that.

We had things to discuss. But first, I needed to prove to her that I didn’t make idle threats.

I was still reeling over her being shot. While I had known she was in Budapest, I hadn’t been aware of her being hurt. She’d left her phone behind that morning, so I’d had no way of knowing what had transpired. Nothing following the incident had led me to worry that she’d been injured. I’d had no clue she’d taken a bullet until I saw the scar the second day of her internship.

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