Page 73 of Under His Embrace

“Iambreathing,” she snapped at Dante. As soon as she shouted, she pouted. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to yell, but it’s not helping. You’re not helping. I think you got the breathing things all messed up and I’m scared and panicking, and you’re just not helping right now.”

He stopped trying to shift her hand from my arm to his. “Okay. That’s fine. Yell at me all you want. I won’t leave your side.”

Both of them were suffering heightened senses of alarm.

“I’ve got your bag,” Tessa said as she ran back into the room.

“But where is Danicia?” Romeo asked again.

It was all commotion, everyone seeming to rush and talk over each other at once. I focused on calming Nina down while we got ready to leave.

“Vacation,” Dante replied.

“She thought she could fly to see her niece’s graduation with plenty of time before the baby would come.” Nina stood, clutching my arm.

“We’ll call her,” Dante said. “The doctors at the hospital already know her and have been in contact with her throughout your appointments and everything.”

Nina nodded, but she still seemed so damn scared. “Please, Chloe. Stay with me.”

“I’m right here.”

“I’ll hang back with Caleb,” Franco offered.

“No.” Nina shook her head as Dante and I tried to get her toward the door. She waddled, hissing with the contractions that kept coming. “No. I don’t want Chloe separated fromherbaby.”

“I’m okay with my dad,” Caleb piped up.

“No. She’s been so scared for so long and so—” She cried out in pain again, but once she caught her breath, walking slower, she shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to worry about where Caleb is,” she told me.

I looked at Franco, then Tessa and Romeo. Raising my brows, I cleared my throat. “Rule number one. What the pregnant woman giving birth wants, she gets. Am I right?”

“Let’s go,” Dante ordered. “All of you.”

“Yeah. Sure. Right, right.” Franco ushered us all to go with Nina. Guards and soldiers came in through the front door, alarmed but alert and ready to act.

“Let’s go. Let’s go.” Franco handled getting us out and into a car. Romeo and Tessa helped get things settled and saw to everyone in the cars and security arranged. While Romeo was on the phone sending guards to the hospital, Tessa and Caleb got into a car. Franco spoke with the men here, dictating a security formation for the trip.

More than once, he glanced at me. He didn’t look concerned for me, but Nina.

“There we go. In the back,” I coached her.

“The seats?—”

“Fuck the seats, Nina,” Dante growled. “We’ll buy a new damn car.”

She panted through another contraction and I frowned. “Time these,” I told him. “They’ll want to know how close the contractions are coming.”

He nodded, grabbing his phone to jot it down.

“And go,” I told the driver.

“Go!” Nina echoed as soon as the door was closed.

“Go before I have this baby in the car—ah!”

I winced, wondering whether she could be right. Typically, first babies took a while. First-time moms could be in labor for many hours, even days. She seemed to want to break that rule, rushing straight into labor.

“It’s too early. It’s too early,” she chanted between contractions. “I’m only thirty-seven weeks and one day.”

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