Page 98 of Savage Bratva King

“Sorry, that last flight of stairs killed my legs.” I flash her an apologetic smile. “I might just sit here for a while.”

I’ve been on site every day since Leo and I signed the deed to the red-stone mansion. I’ve knocked down walls with a sledgehammer, scraped multiple layers of paint from walls, climbed ladders to catch spiders and de-mold ceilings, and sat on the floor to eat sandwiches picked up from the deli around the corner. And I wouldn’t change a single moment of it. Apart from meeting Leo, this has been the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me.

But now that we’re ready to open, my body is yelling at me to give myself a break. I feel bone-weary but deliriously happy.

As if reading my thoughts, Mika jumps onto her feet and backs away. “You’re not going into labor, are you? I mean, I’m excited to meet our girls too. But man, I don’t fancy our chances of cleaning this carpet before our guests arrive if you decide to spill your waters all over it.”

I laugh out loud. “Firstly, we don’t know that they’re girls.”

“Yeah.” Cartier stares at me from the other side of the room while she untangles the wires. “Why didn’t you find out what gender the babies are?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise. And I read somewhere that the final stage of labor goes faster if you don’t know what to expect.”

“Well, hopefully they’ll both be babies and not two-headed aliens.” Mika can’t help chuckling at her own joke. “Although I’m still on the fence about whether Leo is human, or a creature created from the genes of every hot movie star in the history of time.”

While on honeymoon, Leo surprised me with a trip to Montenegro so that I could ask my friends face to face to come and run the refuge with me. They said they’d be sorry to leave behind the women we’d gotten to know so well, but coming to Chicago was a no-brainer.

Part of me still wonders if they agreed so that the three musketeers could be reunited, or if they’re here because they couldn’t resist Leo. The three stress grooves on the bridge of his nose have smoothed out since we got married, and I still wake up beside him every morning reassuring myself that this sex-god is all mine. Besides, I’ve seen the way they follow him around with their eyes whenever he comes to the refuge.

But having them here has made my world complete. The grand opening is planned for tomorrow. Our families will be here, and the dogs, who successfully managed to christen every room during renovations. The mayor will give a speech to commemorate the opening, and then we hope to start taking women in immediately.

Mika, Cartier, and I all feel strongly that the women who need us the most will be the women who find us. Our aim is to ultimately help them find themselves. To help them become the strongest versions of themselves, women who will take no shit off anyone, women who will walk back out into the world with their heads held high and a middle finger up to the men who tried to destroy them.

I just need my babies to stay safely cocooned inside me until after I’ve welcomed our first residents.

“Fair enough.” Mika shrugs. “I still think they’re both girls though. I can picture Leo with silver hair and a grandaddy beard surrounded by women in his old age.”

“God help him,” Cartier mutters. “Anyway, what’s secondly? The suspense is literally killing me, not to mention these lights might just end up being tossed out of the window if they don’t cut me some slack within the next sixty seconds.”

“Secondly, I still have three weeks till my due date.”

“Which is nothing in twin terms, I might add.” Cartier stops untangling wires and stares at me with the same expression as Mika is wearing.

I ignore them. “Thirdly, if my waters break—which doesn’t always happen—it’s literally impossible for me to choose when this might be.”

“Do you feel like this is about to happen?” Mika keeps her distance in case her boots get splashed.

“No.”

Cartier tilts her head to one side as if I’m a painting that hasn’t been hung correctly on the wall. “You’re not moving though. I haven’t seen you this still since the night you got hammered on Tequila in our apartment and ended up sleeping with your head out of the window.”

“That was a great night,” Mika adds.

“I’m pretty sure you said it was the worst night of your life,” I remind her.

“That was the next day. The night before was mwah.” She kisses her fingers to demonstrate.

“Why aren’t you moving, Gi?” Cartier isn’t letting it go. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

Mika crouches on the floor and peers underneath the rocking chair. “Nope. No puddle on the carpet.”

“I’m fine.” Gripping the arms of the chair, I haul myself onto my feet.

Before I can straighten, something seems to click inside my belly, and it drops, causing me to catch my breath and reach out for my friends. Mika and Cartier grab a hand each, gap-mouthed, their eyes wide. I wait for my waters to trickle down my legs, and when nothing happens, I let go of their hands and smile.

“False alarm. Don’t panic.”

Then, my belly grows rock hard, solidifying into a mountain peak protruding through my T-shirt as pain grabs hold of my body and twists violently. I reach out for them blindly and remember to breathe, in through my nose and out through my mouth, eyes squeezed shut to avoid the look of sheer horror on my friends’ faces.

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