Page 13 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

“One more,” I rasp.

The whole world has shrunk down to this.

Her groan builds up. Morphs into an agonized cry.

She writhes.

Tenses.

Screams...

And then the baby emerges into my waiting hands.

The woman sags at once in pure relief. “Thank God,” she murmurs. “Thank fucking God…”

But it’s not over yet.

Because the newborn’s body is still and motionless. Eyes closed. Hands limp. Chest unmoving.

“Is he okay?” she whispers when I don’t say anything. She doesn’t look at me. Her head is still sagging back on the car seat and she’s looking up at the ceiling. She’s been through hell and back.

I stare at the unmoving baby and swallow back the words on the tip of my tongue.I don’t know.

“Is he okay?” she asks again when I still don’t answer. Her voice more frantic than a second ago. “What’s going on?”

The baby is ominously silent.

I flip him over onto his stomach and pat his back. I’m just making all this shit up as I go and hoping I don’t kill an innocent woman and her child.

Thwack.

Nothing.

I try again.Thwack.

Still nothing. I’m worried I’m about to have to give this woman the worst news anyone can hear.

And then…

Miraculously, he coughs.

A cough turns into a splutter. A splutter turns into a whimper. From there, he begins to wail.

The woman collapses in relief. “Thank God,” she sighs again, laying her head back against the window, exhausted.

I wrap the baby up in my jacket, too focused on making sure the little guy is okay to care about the cold anymore, and hand him to his mom.

Immediately, her entire posture changes. Before, she was limp, spent, on the verge of sinking into sleep.

Now, she’s love incarnate. Her green eyes shine with happy tears, the sweat on her face makes her look luminescent, and she’s smiling as she murmurs sweet things to her screaming baby.

Something about her is tugging at my memory, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.

Then she lifts her baby to her breast. I turn away.

“You can drive us to the hospital now,” she whispers.

Usually, I’d make it clear I don’t take orders from anyone, but something about this woman is different. Like I knew her in a former life or something.

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