Page 69 of Rafael Pagani

“Mommy is…” I trailed off, my gaze turning to Ace as he walked out of his house with Reed in his arms, babbling away. “I…” Fuck, I didn’t know what to say. How was I supposed to explain that his mom was in the hospital. Well, technically, by the time we got home, she wouldn’t be there anymore, but right now, she was.

“We’re taking you to see Mommy,” Ace said, his tone off.

Kian frowned, turning in my arms but not letting go of me. I held him a little tighter, promising in that moment that I would never allow anyone to hurt him or his mom again. I’d take my last breath on this earth before I allowed either of them to be caused any more pain.

“Is Mommy okay?” He tilted his head, and I could just imagine the look he was giving Ace. That boy had a way of seeing down into your very soul.

“I…” Ace’s eyes widened, turning their attention to me. He didn’t know what to say, but neither did I. The problem was, there was no way we could keep it secret, not once he’d seen his mom.

So I inhaled a deep breath, cleared my throat, and murmured, “Mommy is in the hospital at the moment. She got a little hurt—”

“Was it Daddy again?” Kian interrupted, blinking several times, waiting for an answer, but when I didn’t say anything right away, he continued, “Daddy always hurts Mommy.” He shook his head so fiercely. “I don’t like when he’s mean.”

My stomach dropped; my heart racing a mile a minute in my chest. I couldn’t stop staring into Kian’s eyes, but it was Ace’s words that finally gained my attention. “I’m sorry, Kian.” He stepped toward us, reaching out and touching his back. “If Uncle Ace would have known what Daddy was doing…” He trailed off, the unspoken words not needing to be said in this moment. “I’m so sorry.”

Kian smiled at Ace, forgiving him instantly. “Can we go back to Mommy now?”

“Yeah, bud.” I turned, walking back to Ace’s car, done with being here for a minute longer than we needed to be. “Let’s go home to Mommy.”

* * *

PEYTON

My gaze flicked around the room, my nerves taking me over and consuming every part of me. It wasn’t just because I was about to leave the safety of the hospital, or the fact that Rafael’s dad and older brother were standing in the room guarding me—literally. No, it was the idea that Travis was still out there. He wasn’t going to let this drop, not now that everyone knew the truth.

Murmurs of him running away were rampant among my brother’s crew, but I knew deep down that Travis wouldn’t run, not for long anyway. His craving for control would be too much for him to contain. It was just a matter of time until he was back. But this time I’d be prepared—wewould be prepared.

It didn’t make me any less on edge though because when someone knocked on the door, I snapped my head to the right, panicking when it started to open. But Raf’s dad was straight over there, jerking it closed and stopping whoever it was in their tracks.

“I have the discharge paperwork,” a small voice said followed by ruffling of papers.

“I’ll take it,” Raf’s dad—Antonio—replied, taking the papers from her, then closing the door. He glanced down at them quickly, then made his way over to me where I was sitting in the corner of the room on a chair. “Ready to go?” he asked me, his eyes softening as I met his stare.

I pulled in a breath, trying to center myself and get my shaking hands under control, but it was hard when all I could think about was me being out in the open, the perfect target for my husband. We’d been waiting for two hours to get these papers so we could leave, so it wasn’t like it had come as a surprise to me, yet it felt all the more real now.

“You’ll be safe,” Romeo said, stepping forward, clearly able to see how apprehensive I was. His usual blank expression was on his face as well as a don’t-fuck-with-me kind of attitude. “There’s me and Dad, then we have two soldiers and Mateo waiting at the entrance for us.” He smiled awkwardly. “He won’t get to you.”

I pushed my shoulders back, standing up slowly and wincing at the move. “I’m not worried,” I told them, my voice croaky. Neither of them said a word, but I could tell by their raised brows that they didn’t believe me. But I had to present a front because if I didn’t, then I’d allow the thoughts to take over, and once they had, there would be no going back.

I’d started over once, and right now, even though I knew I had support all around me, it felt exactly the same. Like I was running, just waiting for him to catch me and hurt me even more. I was a ticking time bomb.

Neither of them said anything as I limped over to the waiting wheelchair, then closed my eyes as Antonio pushed me out of the hospital. I tried to keep all of my thoughts at bay as they loaded me into a black SUV, then all piled in with me apart from two men who got into the car behind us.

No one spoke a word as we drove away from the place that had saved my life.

He’d nearly killed me. There was no doubt in my mind that if Ace wouldn’t have gotten there when he did, I would have taken my last breath on that floor, surrounded by my own blood, just like Travis wanted me to. That had been his goal that night, to take everything away from me, including my own life.

And even though I was still breathing and I had my two boys on their way back to me, there would always be a missing part now. A what-if hanging over my entire life. Travis may not have killed me, but he’d murdered part of me that would never come back.

“We’ll be there in an hour,” Antonio said, patting my hand that was resting on my lap. I slowly turned my attention to him, keeping deathly still as I attempted to keep all of my broken parts together, just long enough until I was on my own again. But I was also thankful for the interruption of my own brain because the more I was left to think, the more the darkness took hold, threatening to never let go. “We’ve got you now, bella. You don’t have to worry anymore.” He paused, his lips lifting into the barest of smiles. “You’re one of us now.”

One of us.

I grasped his hand, silently thanking him because I just couldn’t find the words, not in that moment, not when I was sure I was going to shatter into a thousand pieces in front of them all. My head pounded, the pain in my ribs stabbing me over and over again, but all of the physical aches were nothing compared to the agony in my heart.

My hand hovered over my stomach, a sob bubbling up. He’d killed my baby. He’d taken away what me and Raf had created.

How could I love an unborn baby so incredibly much when it wasn’t any bigger than a peanut? The grief was debilitating. I couldn’t look past it, not when we pulled up outside a huge house in a quiet neighborhood, and not when Antonio helped me to the front door and it opened.

---