Page 90 of Mafia and Protector

I’ve got you. Those were the words he’d said to me when he gave me the engagement ring and I’d wobbled in my heels.

“I can walk. The blood…your suit…” I babbled despite the pain tearing my insides and the fear assaulting my mind.

“Fuck my suit! The only thing that matters right now is you and the baby.”

I wanted to insist that I could walk by myself to the car, though in all honesty I wasn’t sure if I could.

My stomach was cramping badly, and I thought I was going to throw up. A sweat had broken out on my forehead and fear filled my veins.

“Get in,” shouted Gabriel as we reached one of the SUVs parked out front of the house.

Rafael carefully laid me on the back seat and got in next to me while Gabriel took the driver’s seat, all the time issuing commands via his cell phone and directing his soldiers to follow us in additional vehicles.

“Christ, there’s too much blood.” Rafael was worried, and that terrified me.

“I’m scared, Rafael,” I said in a small voice, forcing the words out because I was afraid to voice the thoughts running through my mind. What if the baby didn’t make it? What if this had all been my fault? Maybe the baby could feel all my stress.

“Once we get to the hospital, the doctors will know what to do,” soothed Rafael. “Don’t worry—just try to relax.”

I could see a black SUV in front of us and I knew that there would be at least one more behind us to provide the necessary security.

Rafael was on the phone with Dr. Chiara, telling her what had happened and instructing her to meet us at the hospital.

The minutes had never moved as slowly as they did now. I willed the car to hurry up, for Gabriel to hurry up, and for my baby to hold on.

I looked down at my shorts. “There’s so much blood,” I said. I didn’t know if it was because my shorts were a light color, but it seemed like way too much blood for the doctor to be able to do anything.Oh please God, please save my baby, I whispered in my head.

I was gripping Rafael’s hand tight as Gabriel drove at breakneck speed to the hospital. He didn’t have to worry about the cops stopping us—they all knew who he was, and they recognized the Società’s vehicles. He probably got me to the hospital faster than an ambulance would have.

Rafael’s eyes kept darting from my face to my stomach. It was getting hard to keep my eyes open, and even then, the only thing I could look at was all the blood.

I felt like letting my eyes close so that I could be taken into oblivion and away from the pain, but I knew I had to try to stay conscious. “Oh God, there’s too much blood,” I sobbed.

“Hold on, Jess, just hold on,” murmured Rafael, as he smoothed my hair away from my sweaty forehead.

The car lurched as Gabriel slammed on the brakes at the entrance to the hospital and the car doors were ripped open by our soldiers before the vehicle had even stopped.

I clumsily tried to get out of the car, however Rafael swiftly lifted me up in his arms and held me tightly to his chest. “I’ve got you, Jess. It’s okay.”

Each time he said those words, I felt reassurance and a warmth wash over me.

A doctor and nurse came running out with a wheelchair, but he ignored them and refused to let me go. “Where’s Dr. Chiara?” he demanded.

He was quickly shown the way to her. His presence was commanding—this was a man used to telling people what he wanted and being obeyed. This was one of the few times in my life I was glad to be part of this Mafia life.

After that, everything happened through a disorientating muddle of pain stabbing at my stomach, voices talking over me, and tears blurring my eyes.

I couldn’t make sense of much, but the one thing I was sure of was Rafael being at my side and holding my hand tightly, never letting me go.

“I’ve got you, Jess, just hold on. You and the baby just have to hold on.”

I wanted to hold on for him. Not just for the baby, but also for him—for my husband, for the man I loved.

We could make things work with this baby. We just had to get through today, I thought, as everything blurred and went black.

***

Later, when I woke up, I knew the baby was no longer inside me. And I felt an overwhelming sense of loss.