Chapter 7 - The Night My Daughter Came Early
Nadine barely had time to read the first sentence.
Pain tore through her abdomen.
She gasped.
Dante caught her.
“Nadine?”
Another contraction came.
“No.”
She looked down.
Fluid spread across the floor.
Dante’s face drained of color.
“The baby.”
Gunfire continued below.
Adrian appeared at the nursery door.
“We need to go.”
“She’s in labor,” Dante said.
Adrian stared.
For once, the two brothers had exactly the same expression.
Fear.
They got Nadine out through the service corridor.
A doctor was waiting at Adrian’s safe house.
Labor progressed too quickly for a hospital transfer.
Nadine screamed through contractions while the world outside continued tearing itself apart.
Celeste held her hand.
Dante remained outside the room because Nadine had not invited him in.
Adrian stood guard.
At 4:17 a.m., Nadine gave birth to a daughter.
Seven pounds.
Healthy lungs.
Dark hair.
Nadine cried when the baby was placed against her chest.
Everything else disappeared.
For ten minutes, there was no crime family.
No betrayal.
No Vittorio.
Only her daughter.
Celeste cried beside her.
“What are you naming her?”
Nadine looked down.
“Lucia.”
Dante’s mother’s name.
Celeste understood.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Dante had betrayed her.
But his mother had been kind.
And Nadine would not let hatred decide everything.
Hours later, she read her father’s letter.
The betrayal mentioned in the first line was not the kiss.
Her father had predicted something else.
Dante would betray Nadine by hiding the truth about their families.
He had known Dante would eventually discover Vittorio’s crimes.
He had also believed Dante might choose silence to protect the Castellano name.
He had been right.
Dante had known for years that Vittorio might have caused Nadine’s father’s death.
And he had never told her.
Nadine felt something inside her break cleanly.
Not violently.
Cleanly.
When Dante asked to see her, she refused.
On the second day, he asked again.
She refused.
On the third morning, Adrian entered carrying a phone.
“We have a problem.”
Nadine held Lucia closer.
“What?”
“Vittorio escaped.”
Her blood chilled.
“And?”
“Dante’s people intercepted a call.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“He knows the region where you’re hiding.”
Nadine sat upright.
“How long?”
“Hours. Maybe less.”
Celeste locked the door.
Adrian looked at the newborn.
“We have to move.”
Nadine shook her head.
“I’m three days postpartum.”
“I know.”
“I’m not running again.”
“Nadine.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Make him come to me.”
Adrian studied her.
Then slowly nodded.
An hour later, cars approached.
Not Vittorio’s.
Dante’s.
Nadine went still.
Adrian looked through the window.
“He came alone.”
Dante stepped from the vehicle.
He approached the house.
Adrian opened the door.
Dante looked past him.
“Where is my wife?”
Adrian’s expression became unreadable.
Then he answered:
“Which wife?”
Dante froze.
May you like
Adrian glanced back at Nadine.
And said, “Because the woman inside is under my name now…”
