Taking Vega (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Kane

VEGA’S EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY

Ryder drove us to a part of the city where his SUV was glaringly conspicuous.

The rims on the damn thing cost more than the majority of the run-down houses.

If my friend was slumming it with someone on this side of town, then he needed to get better at sneaking in and out.

Not only because his prick of a father would lose his shit, but Aurelio Bianchi would be pissed.

Bianchi didn’t care who Ryder or I fucked until we married his spoiled little princess daughters, but he demanded discretion. Can’t have the head of la famiglia being shamed because his future sons-in-law were hitting dirty pussy.

“See that basketball court?” He tipped his chin toward where a dozen kids were playing ball.

“Fractured my hand on an asshole’s face when I was sixteen.

Couldn’t tell the home’s director. Already had two strikes against me, and they would have kicked me out, shipped me upstate to an all-male camp for violent juvies in the system.

Vega wrapped my hand, told the old crone some compelling, bullshit story that explained why I had a splint on. Saved my ass, as always.”

“Why’d you break your hand on some loser’s face, man?

” I knew Ryder had been in the foster system until he was eighteen.

Then when he aged out, Cullum O’Machain had reached out to his son.

His only heir. I asked my old man why Cullum had left his kid in a group home if he knew he existed, letting him think he was a freaking orphan.

Da had only shrugged and said the fucker probably didn’t want to have to deal with him until he absolutely had to.

That sounded like Cullum. Bastard never took responsibility for anything, but he sure as fuck enjoyed the rewards for others’ hard work.

Ryder’s face darkened, his blue eyes narrowing on the court before returning his attention to the road. “Motherfucker put his hands on Vega.”

“Who the fuck is Vega? You’ve never talked about him before.”

“Vega is my best friend, man. I wouldn’t have survived that hellhole if it weren’t for Vay.”

“I’m your best friend now, dickhead,” I grumbled. “We’re gonna be family in a few years. Fucking brothers by marriage.”

Whether we liked it or not, we’d be freaking trauma bonded.

I was not looking forward to a lifetime of being Raffaella Bianchi’s husband.

I couldn’t stand that cold-ass bitch. How did Da expect me to fuck an heir into her when my dick practically got frostbite simply standing beside her?

It was going to have to be one of those artificial insemination things, because I couldn’t even get hard for that stuck-up cunt.

No one expected us to have a real marriage, though.

Just pretend. Produce an heir for the Brennan family, maybe a spare—which was pushing it.

Attend the occasional event together, let her walk around holding my arm at charity galas or some other noble, supposedly worthwhile events that would tell the public we were respectable.

What utter bullshit.

Da didn’t give a fuck if I had someone on the side.

He had more than one to warm his bed, and my ma didn’t care as long as her allowance kept coming and he didn’t embarrass her.

His money kept her malleable. Making her look like the cuckquean she was, however, was the quickest way to get Dónal Brennan’s car set on fire.

That’s what Ma had done when I was nine and his favorite mistress got upset that Dónal wasn’t showing her enough attention. The bitch sold a video of herself sucking his cock to some porn site and then forwarded the link to Ma.

It wouldn’t have been nearly as messy if the mistress hadn’t been in the car at the time Ma had set it on fire. Da’s favorite mistress got cooked right in front of me, and he’d been extra diligent about his other women not repeating that mistake.

I sure as hell wouldn’t be so reckless. Ma was a little unhinged when her temper took over. According to my man watching Bianchi’s daughters, Raffaella and Amadea were glorified mean girls, but they were too brain-dead to do more than stomp their feet and whine until Aurelio gave them their way.

Which wasn’t anything Ryder and I weren’t aware of already.

We’d had to show up to a few family dinners and play nice with our intendeds.

Their scope of small-talk topics was shopping, favorite TikTok makeup influencers, and their yappy little designer dogs that they kept in their laps at all times. Including dinner.

Aurelio’s daughters might have been nothing more than simpering little brats. Him, not so much.

Not that he would be a problem for anyone once Ryder and I officially married his daughters.

Since he had no male heirs, and he was smart enough not to turn over his power to either of his idiot daughters, we would merge all three territories.

And then I would put a bullet in Aurelio’s head, make it look like he’d eaten the business end of his own gun, and drop Raffaella in some villa in Italy.

Killing her would have been the better option in my opinion, but Ryder still had a little soul left. He wanted to lock our wives away in another country. Divorce wasn’t an option, but what did that matter? It wasn’t as if I ever wanted to tie myself to anyone else.

If Cullum kept pissing me off, I’d shove a barrel down his throat as well. That fucking idiot didn’t know how to quit when he was ahead. If he kept fucking around with my best friend, I’d end him before this stupid wedding.

Da wasn’t doing himself any favors either.

He pushed me a little closer to committing patricide every time I heard him speak.

If I lacked compassion, or any other human emotion, it was my father’s fault.

Maybe a little of my ma’s as well. If nothing else, I’d inherited my temper from her—slow to ignite, but burned hotter than the core of the sun once it was sparked.

What I knew was loyalty and trust, and the only person who deserved both from me was Ryder. Practically from the moment he’d been pulled into the “family business” by Cullum, we’d been thrown together. It had been my job to give Ryder a crash course in the darkest sides of mob life.

Ryder was a natural, which wasn’t all that surprising, considering who he shared DNA with. He went from a few street smarts learned from his time in a group home to one of the most feared enforcers in our syndicate under my tutelage.

Time after time, Ryder proved to me he had my back. He was a true friend, something I’d never had until him.

Slowing when he came to a school zone, Ryder carefully drove into a back parking lot of a high school and stopped at the far side. We didn’t blend in with the older-model junkers parked around us, but no one who came out appeared to pay us much attention as we sat there.

“You gonna tell me what we’re doing here?” I finally asked, slumped back in the passenger’s seat, ignoring the buzzing phone in my pocket.

There was some bullshit dinner I was supposed to attend with Da and Ma.

Raffaella and her sister would be there with their father.

Cullum was going, which meant Ryder should be there as well.

But if he wasn’t there, it was better for everyone that I wasn’t either.

I didn’t have the patience to deal with any of them on my own.

Lately, my temper had been closer to the surface than normal, easier to set off and leaving behind a larger blast zone.

I constantly felt restless, as if I were waiting on something—someone.

“It’s Vega’s birthday,” Ryder said with a shrug, his gaze on the double doors where people were coming out in clusters. Teachers and students left the school, none of them standing out past their cheap clothes and backpacks slung over their shoulders.

“Great,” I muttered, slouching a little more, irritation climbing my spine. Now I was going to be stuck with some little sidekick all evening. If I’d wanted to babysit some idiot, I would have gone to dinner with my parents.

Without taking his eyes off the exit, Ryder laughed low and deep. “It’s gonna be a good night, man. We’re going straight to dinner as soon as Vega comes out. I want tonight to be perfect.”

“Only the best for your BFF,” I sneered.

“Just wait. You’re gonna love Vay as much as I do,” he chortled.

“Doubtful.”

“Hundred large, you’re hooked before we even make it to the restaurant.” He stuck out his hand, ready to shake on it, gaze still glued to the high school.

“Easy money,” I groused, shaking.

His hand barely fell away when he sucked in a sharp breath. Before I could figure out which of the new group of kids had left the building, he was out the driver’s door and sprinting. “Vega!”

A feminine squeal hit my ears as I slowly opened my own door and stepped out in time to see a pair of legs wrap around Ryder’s waist. Golden-bronze hair was tossed around as he swung her in a circle, earning a happy giggle from the girl he’d just swept off her feet.

Frowning, I scanned the other people walking around.

A few teachers looking tired and fed up shifted paths to get around Ryder and the girl, but everyone else was headed in different directions, not sparing the couple more than rolled eyes and a huff.

Where the fuck was this Vega dude that Ryder couldn’t stop talking about today?

With the girl still wrapped around him, Ryder hugged her to his chest hard, rolling his forehead against hers. “Missed you, little star.”

“Missed you, Ry,” she whispered back as I reached them.

“Why the fuck did you let me think Vega was a guy all this time, asshole?” I grumbled.

Arms tightening around the girl, Ryder shifted his head to grin at me. “Figured once you knew I had such a beautiful best friend, you’d try to steal her away. Couldn’t let that happen too soon. I was greedy for a little more time keeping her just for myself.”

Adjusting his hold, he placed her on her feet then turned her to face me.

A set of green-gold eyes lifted to my face, and I suddenly felt gut punched.

Next to Ryder, who was a solid six-three, she was tiny.

A heart-shaped face with a curved jaw; small, upturned nose; full lips that had a rounded, defined Cupid’s bow.

Her eyes were large, with the thickest natural lashes I’d ever seen on anyone, the gold looking like an actual starburst in the middle of that magnetic green.

Unconsciously, I found myself taking a step closer, needing to erase the distance separating us.

Enchanted. Bewitched. Motherfucking enthralled.

A booming sensation filled my chest, like a goddamn bomb detonated where my heart should have been.

I almost pressed a hand to it but stopped myself before I could rub away the ache that settled there, not wanting it to fade.

She stood before me, eyes widening, mouth agape, just as stunned as I was.

Jesus Christ.

Ryder had been hiding this perfect little angel away from me, denying me access to the girl he knew would be my heaven and hell.

My bloody ruin. One look into those huge green-gold eyes and I knew she was it.

That boom wasn’t just an explosion. She was a thief, stealing my heart straight from my chest with nothing but a flutter of her lashes.

“Hello, mo réiltín,” I husked.

“Vay, this is my buddy Kane. We work together.”

I shot him a glance, his blue eyes shuttered, telling me without words that he was keeping more than a little about himself from her. Which meant I needed to as well. Fuck.

Did she not know who he really was?

Did she not know about Amadea?

Double fuck.

Thinking of Raffaella, my stomach soured.

No, I didn’t want Vega to know about my fiancée either.

I needed a new plan. There was no goddamn way I was going to be tied to another woman, not now that I’d found this beautiful little star.

Keeping secrets from her felt wrong, but I knew instantly that telling her more would cost Ryder and me too much

“Kane, this is Vega, my best friend and the birthday girl,” he finished the introduction.

“Hi,” she breathed, offering her hand.

Desperate for any reason to touch her, I clasped her hand, my heart—a fucking organ I hadn’t thought actually worked—suddenly in my throat. “Happy birthday, mo réiltín.”