Chapter 13 Vega
Vega
With each step I took, I could feel them more strongly. Goose bumps popped up along my skin. My heart beat harder and faster until it felt like I was running, but I was lagging behind Anya as she led the way to the library.
Pausing outside a door, she glanced back at me, one brow raised. I sucked in a breath, lied to myself that I was ready, and gave her a nod.
Opening the thick, mahogany door, she stepped inside, and I faltered. Reaching for the frame to steady myself, to use as a shield, I closed my eyes, straining my ears for any sound of my men.
“Vega,” Anya greeted in a neutral tone. “Brennan. O’Machain.”
I gasped, pressing a hand to my chest, confirmation of their presence causing my heart to leap. A person’s heart skipping a beat was not a good thing. That was a freaking sign of cardiac distress, and fuck, my heart was already beat-up enough.
“Anya.” I didn’t recognize that voice, yet it caused another pang in the center of my chest. “Where is she?”
“Give her a moment, Ernesto,” she admonished. “She wasn’t expecting a full audience for this meeting. You said this was for you. The fact that you ambushed me with these two is very…distressing to me.”
That sounded like a warning.
“My apologies. The last twenty-four hours have been eventful. I didn’t think to forewarn you after I received your call last night.
” His voice was rough, deep, and something floated through my mind.
Like smoke, barely an image, a memory out of reach.
I tried to focus on it, but it kept fading before it fully formed.
“All I could think about was getting to her. I see now that this may be a bit overwhelming.”
Each word that reached my ears felt like a drum beating in my chest. I kept anticipating other voices, yearning for them, eager to hear Kane or Ryder.
Yet I needed to hear more of his voice. Tears stung the backs of my eyes.
I could almost picture his face. The way his brows pulled together when he was trying so hard to be serious, but I was his bright little star.
He couldn’t tell me no, not ever…
“Papa?” I whispered, longing and hope warring inside me, while my mind told me it wasn’t possible. My parents were dead. I was an orphan, a ward of the state of Pennsylvania from the age of five because I had had no other family.
Yes, Anya had said Ernesto was looking for his daughter, but I didn’t believe it was actually me. Estrella Vega and Vega Estrella were two different people. A mistake of identity, or a mistake of a comma?
Needing to know, to prove to myself I wasn’t losing my mind, I stomped into the library.
And stumbled again when I saw them. They were standing by the fireplace, the flames glowing behind them, their faces and clothes covered in a substance I was familiar with.
Kane’s hair had more gray than the last time I’d seen him, as if years had passed instead of mere months.
His eyes looked at me with a hauntedness that hadn’t been there before.
Ryder stood completely still, something that I thought was impossible.
He was always moving, always. Yet he seemed like a statue, not even appearing to breathe as his blue eyes stared straight at me.
I had to clench my hands into tight fists to keep from reaching for them, the need to check them for injuries so strong, I found it nearly impossible to contain myself.
“Why are you covered in blood?” I wasn’t sure if I whispered it or shouted it.
“Wars get messy, mo réiltín.”
War.
My men stood before me, covered in blood, looking like they hadn’t slept in days, leaner, eyes traveling over me like they were starved for the sight of me.
Kane’s eyes stopped at my belly, his breath hitching at the evidence of my pregnancy.
Ryder never made it past my face, his gaze glued to me, his chest rising and falling like he was struggling to get oxygen.
They both practically vibrated with energy, the struggle to hold themselves back showing in the strain on their faces.
War?
The world began to spin around me, and I felt myself sway.
What did he mean, war?
Strong arms wrapped around me from either side, and I dropped my head forward, pressing my face into Kane’s chest while Ryder’s heat soaked into my back.
“Easy, Vay,” Ryder murmured, stroking my hair back from my face with fingers that trembled. “We’ve got you, little star.”
The metallic smell of dried blood blended with sweat and what I could only guess was gunpowder was overpowering. I pressed my face deeper into Kane’s shirt, needing to find his scent. As soon as it hit my nose, faint but enough to remind me of all the best memories, I was lost.
With a sob, I clung to him.
It was a relief to be between them. To hear Kane’s heartbeat beneath my ear, to feel Ryder’s breath against my neck.
I could close my eyes and almost forget that they had broken me in the worst possible way, pretend like the last few months had never happened, that our little world was still standing.
Almost.
But some things couldn’t be forgotten—or forgiven.
They’d been at war.
With whom and for what, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. What mattered was that they were here, alive. As if in agreement, the baby gave a sharp kick. Ryder, who had his hands on my belly, tightened his hold. “Was that…?”
Hearing the wonder in his voice, I struggled to pull myself together in a hurry.
Swallowing my tears, I pushed away from them, scrubbing at the wet trails on my cheeks.
A glass of water was shoved into my hands as Anya guided me to a chair and urged me to sit, placing herself between my men and me like a shield.
Taking a sip of the water to gather myself, I caught sight of the other person in the room and dropped the glass.
It shattered at my feet, the water splashing everywhere, but I couldn’t tear my gaze off the man seated mere feet away.
His brows were pulled together, almost exactly how I’d imagined earlier, familiar yet not.
A stranger, but someone I knew deep in my heart I loved like nothing else.
A flicker of a memory hit me. Carl, the security guard at the hospital, told me two men had been looking for me.
He’d shown me pictures. An older man in an expensive suit, a mean vibe.
I’d been distracted that night, had barely looked at the photo on Carl’s phone before dismissing the man and his younger associate.
We’d literally missed each other by a matter of minutes that night.
My heart cracked open at that realization. I could have found him that night, and I didn’t even know it.
“P-papa?” Hands shaking, I lifted one toward him.
He caught it and brought it to his chest, holding it against his heart. “Hello, my bright little star.”