Page 88 of The Tempted

“Vinny, that’s the baby’s father, he’s not…,” she took a deep breath gathering the courage she needed to explain her situation.

“He’s in rehab,” sh shook her head.

“We aren’t together. I’ll be raising this baby by myself.” Her lower lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears, but to her credit, she didn’t shed a single tear.

“Don’t do that,” she scolded, poking her index finger into my chest.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want your pity.”

“I don’t pity you.”

“Sure you do, it’s written all over your face,” she whisper-yelled, tilting her head to the side studying me intently. “And maybe there is a part of you that’s also happy thinking I got what I deserved.”

“Don’t say that,” I barked, shaking my head. “I never want to see you hurt.”

“Not by the hands of someone else—just you right?”

“You think I wanted any of this for you? For fuck’s sake, you were supposed to have a good life, and I was the one who was supposed to give it to you,” I yelled as I shook my head.

“Some good life.”

“Don’t talk about my baby like it’s a burden,” she retorted through clenched teeth, the dam breaking and the tears finally falling.

“That’s not what I meant,” I shouted. But the truth was I didn’t know what I meant. I didn’t want Adrianna in the situation she was in, pregnant and alone, not now and notthen. I glanced down at her belly and again I fought the urge to place my hand over it as I felt my eyes fill. I wanted to be the man who made all her dreams come true. I wanted to give her a family, a home, a good life—but due to my choices, all she got from me was heartache. It was hard not to blame myself for her situation. She would never have wound up pregnant and alone if I hadn’t agreed to Victor’s orders.

“Anthony!” She shouted, pulling me away from my thoughts, forcing me to stare at her blankly.

“Did you hear what I said?” she cried, clutching her stomach. Looking at her, my eyes travel down her body and that’s when I saw a pool of water on the floor between her legs.

“My water broke!” She shrieked.

I stared at her for a moment knowing I’d never forgotten that look of fear in her sad, brown eyes as long as I live.

“What’s that mean?” I asked, sounding like a complete imbecile.

“It means I’m having a baby and you need to get me to the hospital!” she replied with her jaw clenched and her body hunched over in pain.

“Kid’s got great timing,” I muttered before bending my knees and lifting Adrianna into my arms. I didn’t think twice about carrying her out of the apartment and hurrying down the stairs to my car. The only thing I focused on was getting her to the hospital as quickly as humanly possible. I had never been around a pregnant woman before, and I didn’t know the timeline and shit but I was fucking sure I didn’t want to get stuck delivering A’s kid.

I deposited her into the passenger seat of the car before jogging around to the driver’s seat. I started the car, peeling out of the garage as if I had just robbed a bank. I glanced at Adrianna out of the corner of my eye as she let out a shrill cry.

“Anthony, drive faster!” she begged me as she braced one hand on the dashboard. Her breath was coming in short pants and her face contorted with pain. I pressed down on the gas and grabbed her hand.

Everything faded away, all the pain, the heartache, the years lost, even the pretend hatred—it all just disappeared. The only thing that mattered was that this baby was coming, and it was my job to get Adrianna to the hospital so she could safely deliver her child.

She squeezed my hand tightly as tears slid down her cheeks. “Oh God, here comes another one,” she moaned in pain.

“Breathe baby,” I ground out as she mangled my hand.

“What do you think I’m doing?” she spat through gritted teeth.

Damn, maybe breathing wasn’t the answer. I tried to ponder another way to help through the pain.

“Do you have a name picked out?” I asked hoping that if I got her talking about the happiness of having a baby, maybe she wouldn’t harp too much on the pain factor. She didn’t answer me right away, so I thought I should quit while I was ahead and just get her to damn hospital.

“Francesca if it’s a girl and Luca if it’s a boy,” she said in between breaths.

“Nice Jewish names,” I responded with a smile. She turned around to look at me then, and I winked at her. “You always loved the name Francesca, still plan on calling her Frankie for short?”

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