Page 159 of Baby Surprise for my Brother's Best Friend

“Sophie, what—?”

He follows my gaze.

Blood. Dark and spreading.

His eyes go wide.

“The baby…” My voice breaks, a bolt of pain slicing through my abdomen.

I gasp, clutching at Alessio’s shirt as a dull pressure builds low in my belly, wrong, heavy, terrifying. My thighs are slick with blood, and panic claws at my throat like I’m drowning in it.

He’s already lifting me into his arms, cradling me like I’m made of glass. “Hold on,dolcezza.Just hold on.”

“I’m scared,” I whisper against his chest, tears falling freely now.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

Nikolai’s voice rings out behind us, while on the phone with one of his men.

“Get the damn car. Now!”

Alessio’s grip tightens. My world tilts.

And everything fades to darkness.

38

ALESSIO

The baby… Sophie… please don’t let me lose them.

The words loop through my head like a goddamn prayer I don’t remember how to finish.

I pace the corridor like a caged animal, fists clenching and unclenching at my sides.

Blood,herblood, is still on my shirt, dried in streaks across the cotton, and my hands won’t stop shaking.

I keep replaying the moment I held her in my arms.

The way her eyes locked with mine, full of pain, of fear. The tremble in her lips when she tried to speak. How I could have prevented this. How I stood there, useless, as I held her body in my arms. How it was almost too late to fix any of it, to hold onto the future that was slipping through my fingers.

I can’t sit. I tried, but my legs wouldn’t stop bouncing, and the second I closed my eyes, I saw her pale face and the red staining her thighs.

Fuck.

I scrub a hand down my jaw. There’s nothing I can do. No enemy to punch. No threat to hunt down. No deal I can make to trade my life for theirs. I’ve never felt this powerless.

A nurse walks past.

I freeze. "Is she—"

She offers a soft, sympathetic smile. "The doctor will be out shortly. They’re doing everything they can."

Everything they can.It’s not enough.

Nikolai’s down the hall, on the phone with someone, speaking Russian too fast for me to track. Probably locking down Natalia’s transport to wherever the Bratva plans to bury her in, metaphorically or otherwise.

But I can’t think about her right now. If I do, I’ll lose it.

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