Chapter 2 Why Now

Oh no.

Why?

Why now?

Of all the times to go into labor, now was definitely the worst. Vera could already feel the first contractions coming on, sharp and unrelenting, demanding her full attention in a way that left room for nothing else.

The pain was more intense than she had expected, tearing through her with a force that made her grit her teeth and clutch at her belly.

She had prepared for this moment, rehearsed it a dozen times in her mind, but standing here in the middle of all this, none of that preparation felt like nearly enough.

Marco looked at her with raised eyebrows, his smug smile dissolving in an instant.

"Err... Vera?" he asked, and for the first time since she had walked into that room, he sounded less like a man in control and more like a man who very much was not.

She ignored him, breathing heavily as she tried to ride out the pain. She could not give birth in front of this man!

What if he used it against her somehow? She could feel the liquid seeping down her legs and onto his very expensive carpet.

Served him right for dragging her here in the first place.

"Is she... is she having the baby right now?" one of Marco's men stammered from somewhere behind her.

He looked pale and wide eyed, his gaze darting frantically between Vera and his boss. If she hadn't been in so much pain, she might have laughed at the sheer terror on his face.

Clearly, this man had never been anywhere near a woman in labor before. Marco shot to his feet, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.

"Get the car!" he roared, and one of his men vanished from the room as if he had never existed.

Samuel, her brother's man, was at her side in seconds. "I will call the Boss and get you out of here, Val."

"Yes, please. Get me out of here!" Vera said through her teeth.

"There is no time for that, you fool!" Marco snapped at him.

"I am taking her to the hospital. You ride with us so Foster doesn't think I am doing something to his sister."

Despite the pain gnawing through her, Vera managed a short, bitter laugh. His confident facade had cracked wide open, and what was left underneath looked startlingly, almost satisfyingly, helpless.

All that intimidating energy, completely evaporated.

But then she noticed just how tall he was as he stood over her, and the thought that crossed her mind was entirely involuntary. The man was an absolute giant.

She found herself wondering, absurdly, what his poor mother had gone through bringing him into the world.

"Ouch!" Another contraction wiped the thought clean out of her head. She could not afford to stand here entertaining herself.

"What is happening? Are you dying?" Marco said, his voice pitching higher than she imagined it ever went, his hands hovering over her like he had absolutely no idea what to do with them.

Good grief. He looked like he was one contraction away from passing out himself.

"Is this your first time witnessing childbirth?" she asked through gritted teeth. A fresh wave hit her then, hard enough to make her whole body tense.

Marco's eyes went wide and he nodded, oddly quiet for a man who had been so insufferable moments ago.

"I have seen death," he admitted, almost to himself.

"But never life."

"Well," Vera gasped between contractions, "you are in for a real treat."

He watched her for a moment, something unreadable moving across his face, before he stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm. It was a careful gesture, almost hesitant. Not enough to touch the pain, but enough to register.

Not that Vera had ever expected to find comfort in the hands of a murderous Italian giant.

"The car is ready, Capo," one of his men announced from the doorway.

Before Vera could say a word, Marco scooped her up into his arms and carried her toward the front door with long, purposeful strides.

"Breathe, Amore," he said, his voice dropping low as he settled her into the back seat.

She gripped the lapel of his suit jacket, her fingers digging in as another contraction blurred her vision. His usually composed exterior had come undone, dark eyes wide and the familiar arrogance wiped clean from his face.

She leaned against his chest without meaning to. He smelled good, or at least whatever he was wearing did, something warm with a hint of citrus, like bergamot or lemon. She had never thought of bergamot as a comforting scent before.

Funny, the things you learned about yourself in moments like this.

Nikolai had always smelled like cigarettes and cheap vodka.

"Drive faster!" Marco barked at the man behind the wheel.

As the car cut through the streets, Vera focused on her breathing the way her doctor had shown her. Marco's hand had been warm against her shoulder, steady in a way she hadn't expected from him.

But somewhere between the hospital entrance and being rushed into a room, that warmth disappeared. The absence felt strange. She told herself she was relieved.

A nurse leaned over her with a calm, practiced smile.

"Oh dear, you made it just in time."

"Just in time," Vera repeated through her teeth, her breath catching as another contraction rolled through her.

Everything moved fast after that. Doctors and nurses swarmed around her, voices overlapping, hands guiding her onto a gurney that wheeled her down the corridor at a pace that made the ceiling lights blur into one long, unbroken streak above her.

A doctor appeared in her line of sight, her eyes steady and kind.

"You are doing beautifully, Vera. Just keep breathing."

Vera nodded and clenched her jaw against the next wave.

Then the door swung open, and Marco was there.

His face was flushed, his eyes bright in a way she couldn't quite name.

Why was he still here?

"You will need to gown up," the doctor told him, holding out a sterile set without missing a beat.

Marco blinked at her, something flickering across his face. Then he squared his shoulders and nodded once.

"Okay," he said, stepping behind a curtain.

"Wait, wait, no—" Vera started, but another contraction swallowed her words whole. By the time she surfaced from the pain, Marco had already stepped back into the room, fully dressed in sterile scrubs, looking far too composed for a man who had been on the verge of fainting ten minutes ago.

He was seriously planning to stay for this.

"Fuckkkkk", Vera cursed out loud.

Vera let out a string of words she would later blame entirely on the contractions. This could not be happening to her.