Chapter 3 - The Night Everything Changed
At 1:18 a.m., Lena woke to a sharp pain wrapping around her lower back.
She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
For several seconds, she stayed still.
Then another pain came.
Stronger.
Longer.
“Oh no.”
Rachel appeared in the doorway almost immediately.
“What happened?”
Lena pushed herself upright.
“I think it started.”
Rachel crossed the room.
“How far apart?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. Don’t panic.”
“I’m not panicking.”
“You look like you’re about to climb out the window.”
“I am considering it.”
Rachel grabbed her phone.
Another contraction hit.
Lena gripped the mattress.
Rachel watched the timer.
“Forty-eight seconds.”
Lena breathed through it.
When it passed, she whispered, “That didn’t feel like forty-eight seconds.”
“It rarely does.”
They had prepared for this.
Hospital bag by the door.
Medical records inside.
Emergency contacts written down.
Everything organized.
Everything except the one thing Lena had refused to discuss.
Dominic.
Rachel lifted the hospital bag.
“Come on.”
Lena stood slowly.
Then froze.
Warm liquid ran down her legs.
She looked at Rachel.
Rachel looked back.
“Well,” Rachel said.
“What?”
“Your water just broke.”
Lena closed her eyes.
“Wonderful.”
By 2:04 a.m., Lena was inside St. Catherine’s Medical Center.
The contractions were less than five minutes apart.
A nurse helped her into a hospital gown while Rachel answered questions.
“Thirty-nine weeks?”
“Thirty-nine and two days.”
“Any complications?”
“No.”
“Father involved?”
Lena answered before Rachel could.
“No.”
The nurse looked up.
“Do you want him notified?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
“Understood.”
Lena hated the relief she felt when the nurse moved on.
She had spent months telling herself she had made the right decision.
Tonight, with each contraction, certainty became harder to hold.
Not because she wanted Dominic near her.
At least that was what she kept telling herself.
But because somewhere out there, her son’s father had no idea his child was about to be born.
Another contraction tore through her.
Lena grabbed Rachel’s hand.
“Why does everyone keep saying breathe?”
Rachel winced as Lena crushed her fingers.
“Because apparently screaming at medical staff is discouraged.”
“I’m reconsidering that policy.”
Rachel laughed.
Then the door opened.
A doctor entered.
“Lena? I’m Dr. Henson.”
Lena nodded.
“We’re going to check your progress.”
Twenty minutes later, the doctor gave her the news.
“Five centimeters.”
Lena stared at her.
“Only five?”
Rachel smiled nervously.
“That’s good.”
“No, good would be ten.”
The doctor laughed.
“You’re progressing well.”
“Can I get the epidural?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re my favorite person.”
For the first time that night, Lena relaxed.
Only slightly.
Three hours later, Dominic Moretti was awakened by a phone call.
He answered on the second ring.
“What?”
Vincent’s voice came through.
“Get dressed.”
Dominic sat up.
“What happened?”
“We have a problem.”
That sentence had meant many things over the years.
A police raid.
A missing shipment.
A rival making a move.
A body discovered somewhere it should not have been.
Tonight, Vincent sounded different.
“Lena?”
Silence.
Dominic was already out of bed.
“Talk.”
“One of our people noticed Rachel Walker’s car leaving her house after one in the morning.”
“Where did they go?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Dominic stopped.
His pulse changed.
“Hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Was Lena with her?”
“Yes.”
Dominic grabbed his shirt.
“Labor?”
“Looks like it.”
Dominic buttoned the shirt with shaking fingers.
Vincent heard it.
“Dom.”
“What?”
“You promised to stay away.”
Dominic pulled on his jacket.
“I promised until she needed me.”
“She didn’t call.”
“She’s having my child.”
“That doesn’t mean she wants you there.”
Dominic stared toward the dark windows.
His son.
Tonight.
He had imagined this moment for months.
Not like this.
Never like this.
“I’m going.”
Vincent sighed.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Car downstairs?”
“Already waiting.”
At 5:47 a.m., Lena was resting between contractions when Rachel’s phone buzzed.
Rachel glanced at it.
Her expression immediately changed.
Lena noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Rachel.”
Rachel locked the phone.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Lena stared at her.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
Rachel hesitated.
That was enough.
Lena’s face went pale.
“He’s here.”
Rachel said nothing.
Lena pushed herself upright.
“He’s here?”
“He’s downstairs.”
Lena’s heart started pounding.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know exactly how.”
“He apparently had someone watching the house.”
Lena laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
Rachel moved closer.
“He hasn’t tried to come upstairs.”
“Yet.”
“He asked security to tell me he’s here.”
Lena looked toward the door.
Suddenly the hospital room felt smaller.
“Tell him to leave.”
Rachel nodded.
“I will.”
She walked out.
Lena leaned back against the pillow.
Her hands trembled.
Anger.
Fear.
Something else.
Something she refused to name.
Dominic stood in the hospital lobby surrounded by people who had no idea who he was.
To them, he was simply a large man in an expensive black suit with tattoos visible above his open collar.
He had come without armed guards inside the building.
Vincent waited near the entrance.
Rachel emerged from the elevator.
Dominic recognized her immediately from photographs.
She walked straight toward him.
“You need to leave.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Is she okay?”
“She said leave.”
“Is the baby okay?”
Rachel folded her arms.
“Dominic.”
“Please.”
That word surprised her.
Maybe because men like Dominic Moretti did not look like they said please very often.
Rachel exhaled.
“She’s okay.”
“And the baby?”
“So far, everything is normal.”
Dominic looked away for a second.
Relief crossed his face.
Rachel noticed.
“Now leave.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. There’s a door ten feet behind you.”
“I’m not asking to go into her room.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“My son.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You know it’s a boy?”
Dominic looked back.
The question answered itself.
Rachel’s expression hardened.
“You really have been watching her.”
“I had people making sure she was safe.”
“She asked you to stay away.”
“And I did.”
“You sent men to watch her house.”
“I never approached her.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
At least he admitted it.
Rachel lowered her voice.
“She is terrified that you’re going to take that child.”
Dominic went completely still.
“Take him?”
“Yes.”
“From her?”
“Yes.”
His expression darkened.
“I would never do that.”
“She doesn’t know that.”
Dominic looked toward the elevators.
“Then tell her.”
“No. You tell her if she chooses to speak to you.”
He looked back at Rachel.
“Will she?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic nodded once.
“I’ll wait.”
Rachel studied him for a few seconds.
Then returned upstairs.
The sun was rising when the delivery room became urgent.
Lena’s labor had progressed rapidly.
Dr. Henson stood near the end of the bed.
“Lena, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“Your baby’s heart rate is dropping during contractions.”
Fear erased everything else.
“What does that mean?”
“We’re watching him closely.”
“Is he okay?”
“We need you to stay calm.”
Rachel took Lena’s hand.
Lena looked at the monitor.
The numbers meant nothing to her.
The doctor’s expression meant everything.
Another contraction.
The heart rate dipped again.
“Doctor?”
“We may need to move quickly.”
Lena’s breathing became shallow.
“No.”
“Lena.”
“Something’s wrong.”
“We’re handling it.”
Rachel leaned close.
“Look at me.”
Lena did.
“You’re not alone.”
But suddenly, Lena felt completely alone.
And one name entered her mind.
Dominic.
She hated herself for it.
She hated him.
She loved him.
She feared him.
And right now, she wanted him.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
Lena swallowed.
“Is he still downstairs?”
Rachel understood immediately.
“Yes.”
Lena closed her eyes.
Another contraction began.
The monitor changed again.
Dr. Henson spoke sharply to the nurses.
“We need to prepare for an emergency C-section.”
Lena’s eyes flew open.
“No.”
Rachel squeezed her hand.
“Lena.”
“Get him.”
Rachel stared at her.
“What?”
“Get Dominic.”
“Are you sure?”
Lena started crying.
“I don’t know.”
That was the most truthful answer she had given in months.
“Just get him.”
Rachel ran.
Dominic was standing the moment the elevator opened.
Rachel stepped out.
“Come with me.”
Every muscle in his body tightened.
“What happened?”
“The baby’s heart rate dropped.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“Is Lena okay?”
“They’re preparing surgery.”
He was already moving.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Dominic turned.
“She asked for you.”
For the first time since Lena had disappeared, Dominic Moretti looked completely unprepared.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
The elevator doors opened.
Rachel pointed inside.
“Don’t make her regret it.”
Dominic stepped in.
“I won’t.”
When he entered the delivery room, Lena looked smaller than he remembered.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
Beautiful.
Alive.
Dominic stopped just inside the door.
For months, he had imagined what he would say when he finally saw her.
Now every prepared sentence disappeared.
Lena looked at him.
His eyes went immediately to her stomach.
Then back to her face.
“Hi,” she whispered.
Dominic almost laughed.
After nine months of silence, betrayal, fear, and searching, she said hi.
“Hi.”
A nurse approached him with surgical clothing.
“Are you the father?”
Dominic looked at Lena.
He did not answer for her.
Lena swallowed.
“Yes.”
The word hit him like a bullet.
The nurse handed him the clothing.
“Put these on.”
Dominic obeyed.
Lena watched him.
“You look terrible.”
He glanced down at himself.
“I came quickly.”
“You always wear three-thousand-dollar suits when you rush to hospitals?”
“Usually four.”
Despite everything, Lena laughed.
Then immediately winced.
Dominic moved toward her.
“Can I?”
He indicated her hand.
Lena hesitated.
Then nodded.
His fingers closed around hers.
The contact nearly broke them both.
Dominic leaned closer.
“I’m here.”
Lena’s eyes filled.
“Don’t make promises.”
“I won’t.”
“If something happens—”
“Nothing is happening to you.”
“Dominic.”
“Nothing.”
The doctor interrupted.
“We need to go.”
May you like
Dominic squeezed Lena’s hand.
For the first time since the parking garage, Lena did not pull away.
