Page 162 of Baby Surprise for my Brother's Best Friend

“But believing someone isn’t the same as trusting them. And I don’t know if I trust you not to run again.”

Her words hit harder than a gunshot. Clean, direct, lethal.

I nod slowly, swallowing against the tightness in my throat. “I won’t ask you to trust my words, but I will do my best to gain and earn your trust, one day at a time, by staying by your side. Never, ever, letting you go again.”

She doesn’t respond.

Just closes her eyes, her lashes fluttering like the weight of the moment is too much to bear.

Her jaw clenches, and for a second, a thousand unsaid things flicker behind her lids. Fear, exhaustion, and maybe even hope fighting to rise above it all.

And for the first time in my life, I’m terrified. Not of failing, not of losing everything I’ve built, but of losing her. Of losing the one thing that’s ever truly mattered.

39

SOPHIE

The echo of silence is louder than anything else in this room.

Alessio hasn’t left my side in two days.

He’s been here for every shudder of pain, every beep of the monitor, adjusting pillows, grabbing ice chips, even picking fights with nurses when the pain meds were late.

I can tell the staff is counting the hours until they can send me home.

But I’ve gone quiet.

Not because I don’t see him.

But I’m afraid to believe in him again.

He holds my hand like it’s the only thing tethering him to earth. Like if he lets go, I’ll vanish.

I pretend to sleep, just to avoid the way he looks at me. Like I’m breakable. Like I’m his.

There’s a stillness inside me I can’t shake. A numbness that settled deep the moment everything started bleeding out of me.

But all I can think about is her. Natalia.

The way she cornered me. The glint of something feral in her eyes. The cold metal of the knife pressed against my skin. Her voice, low and velvety, almost soothing if not for the venom laced beneath every word. Calm. Steady. Twisted.

I remember the smell of her perfume, the chill in the air, the certainty in her tone like she’d already decided how this would end. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. My body locked up, frozen between fear and helplessness.

Then he came. Alessio burst through the door like a storm. I don’t remember much after that, just the sound of boots hitting the floor, the chaos, the pressure in my belly, and the heat of blood down my thighs.

He held me like I was already gone. Whispered things I couldn’t process over the shock of it all.

And now… Now the adrenaline is gone, and all that’s left is me. This bed. The monitors. The silence. And him.

He’s trying. God, he’s trying. But the fear’s still here. So is the doubt.

Because love didn’t stop him from leaving. But he did come back. He came back when it counted. I just don’t know if that’s enough to let him in again. But I still want to believe he can fix it.

I don’t reach for him. I let my fingers rest limp in his palm.

My eyes drift toward the window when he talks. I can’t give him what he needs. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Still, he stays.

If silence is all I can manage, he’s willing to sit in it with me. And wait. For a sign. For a word. For anything that might mean we still have a chance.

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