Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
ANNA
C radled in Nic’s lap, listening to him murmur sweet nothings in my ear, I let my eyes drift shut. I felt him shift my hair away from my face and kiss my forehead, but I kept them closed. His concern for me was evident in his voice and by the way he touched me. Knowing this strong man had no problem showing me a vulnerable side he kept hidden from everyone else was humbling. Even though I knew he’d come to my rescue, that I was safe, I started to tremble and sob.
“Shhh, bellissima . I’ve got you,” he whispered into my ear.
His soothing words only made me cry harder. I was having a delayed reaction to what I’d experienced and nothing was going to make it stop. I needed to cry it all out. Or at least, that’s what I thought until we pulled up in front of the hospital.
“W-w-what are we doing here?” I hiccupped on a sigh.
Nic’s thumb gently rubbed under my left eye, before hovering over my bottom lip. Even as lightly as he touched me, it hurt and I winced in pain.
“You need to be checked over, mia dolce .”
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “I just want to go home. Please. Everything will be better if I’m home with you.”
The sound of a soft cough from the driver’s seat drew our attention to Felix, who was staring back at us. “Doc made it to the pub shortly after we left. He’s on his way here, but I can let him know to meet us at the house instead.”
I was nodding my head wildly, willing to go along with any plan that meant we could leave without anyone else seeing me. I was bruised and beaten, in pain, dirty and disheveled. I wanted nothing more than to go home and try to pretend this had never happened. If it made me a coward, so be it. But Nic wasn’t having it. His hand moved to my belly and he glanced down meaningfully, before looking me in the eyes again. “I need you to do this, Gianna. For me and for the baby you’re carrying.”
Tears streamed from my eyes once again, as I admitted my biggest fear aloud. “But what if they have horrible news? I tried to keep our baby safe, Nic. I really did, but what if I failed?”
“None of this is your fault, mia dolce .” He slid his hands upwards, gently cupping my face in his palms. “I won’t have you thinking you’re to blame for any of it.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he slid his thumb over my lips to stop the flow of words. I winced in pain, and his eyes lit with a mixture of sympathy and fury.
“If there’s something wrong with the pregnancy because of what you endured due to my failure at protecting you, then we’ll face it together.”
“It wouldn’t be your fault,” I protested.
“Then how can you possibly think it would be yours?”
As much as I wanted to do so, it was impossible to argue with his logic. I sighed and slumped against him in acceptance. Nic gently moved me off his lap, then he and Felix climbed out of the car. Felix opened my door and lingered while Nic lifted me out.
“Doc’s waiting inside. He said he’ll smooth the way, try to limit how many questions are asked. Make sure she gets VIP treatment,” Felix told Nic.
It turned out Doc was a miracle worker. We were ushered up to a private room the minute Nic carried me inside. A nurse followed behind us, turning down the bed, and placing a fluffy robe on top of the mattress.
“Can I take a shower?” I asked her.
“Not yet.” I frowned at her reply, and she rushed to explain further. “It won’t be long, though. The doctor will be in shortly to examine you. As soon as he says it’s okay, I’ll make sure you get a shower.”
Nic helped me out of my clothes, his eyes darkening when he noticed the scrapes and bruises underneath them.
“ Merda! ” he bit out.
“It’s just a couple scrapes,” I reassured him.
“They will pay for marking your beautiful skin,” he swore.
He had a murderous gleam in his eyes, but I wasn’t able to discuss it further because the doctor walked into the room. He was followed by a shorter, older man who moved quickly to Nic’s side and whispered in his ear. Nic nodded his head in agreement. “Stay, Doc.”
The portly man turned kind eyes to me. “As long as it’s okay with your lovely fiancée as well?”
I wasn’t about to argue after whatever he’d done to ensure I was so well taken care of by the hospital. “Yes, please do.”
The doctor performed his examination of me, taking my vitals and bringing someone in to take blood for lab tests. He also had me wheeled out of the room and taken for a wrist X-ray. Doc stayed with me to ensure a leaded apron and collar were placed over me during the test, to avoid possible radiation exposure in case I was pregnant. Once all the tests were run and my sprained wrist in a brace, they finally let me take a shower. Nic refused to allow one of the nurses to help me, insisting he do it himself.
Stripped down to his boxers, he washed every inch of me. Soft strokes of his hands across my skin wiped away the blood, dirt, and sweat. But it was the reverence with which he touched me that made me feel clean again.
As soon as my shower was done, Nic bundled me into a pair of emerald green silk pajamas, which had magically appeared in my room. Then he carried me out of the bathroom and gently placed me on the bed. My stomach growled, echoing loudly in the room and making me laugh. Nic didn’t join in, his face darkening once again.
“They didn’t feed you, did they?”
“No,” I admitted softly.
He strode towards the window, looking out while he jabbed at his phone to call someone and barked out orders for them to bring me food. An impossibly long list of my favorite dishes. When he was done, he disconnected the call but didn’t move.
“Don’t you think we should wait for the doctor to say it’s okay for me to eat?” I whispered, hesitant to upset him further.
“You’re hungry,” he replied as he walked back over to me, taking my hand and placing a soft kiss on the back. “It’s something I can fix.”
“No need to worry,” Doc said from the doorway. “Food will be good for her. Everything appears to be normal in the lab results, with the exception of a trace amount of sodium thiopental.”
I felt Nic stiffen next to me, his hand gripping mine more tightly. “They drugged you?”
“Yes.” The thought of it made me rub the spot on my arm where they’d injected me. “After they got me into the car, they shot me up with something.”
“Their choice of which drug to use is unusual, but it’s a lucky one considering you’re pregnant. There’s very little risk to the baby with the dose they gave you.”
“I’m pregnant?” I cried.
“You are,” Doc confirmed. “Your HCG levels are appropriate for someone four weeks pregnant.”
I shook my head, looking up at Nic with wide eyes and blushing wildly. “But that isn’t possible.”
“What isn’t, sweetie?”
Nic growled deep in his throat at Doc calling me sweetie. If I wasn’t so upset and embarrassed about what I needed to say, I might have found it sexy that he was even jealous of an old man.
“I can’t be four weeks pregnant because I only had sex for the first time about two weeks ago.”
“Ahhh,” Doc nodded his head, as though my concern was meaningless. “That actually lines up perfectly since the development of pregnancy is counted from the first day of the woman's last normal menstrual period, even though the development of the fetus doesn’t begin until conception, which is about two weeks later.”
“Oh,” I sighed, understanding dawning. “And the baby’s okay?”
“I’ll monitor you closely, but there’s nothing in the tests to indicate anything but a normal pregnancy,” he assured me.
“Thank you,” I whispered through tears, happy ones this time. The tension I’d been carrying inside eased, and I sagged in Nic’s arms.
“No, thank you,” he corrected.
I smiled up at him blearily. “We’re pregnant,” I whispered in awe.
“I never doubted it for a minute,” he answered arrogantly, turning my tears into laughter just in the nick of time.
“Mommy! You saved me and then Daddy saved you. I knew he would.” Sophia ran into the room and threw herself into my arms, Allegra following behind her, along with several of Nic’s men.
“I did, too,” I murmured into her hair.
My heart melted at hearing her call me “mommy” for the first time, as I listened to her chatter on about watching her favorite movies in a special room her daddy had locked her and Nonna in to make sure they were safe while he rescued me. I looked up at Nic and raised my brow, curious about her description. He smiled mysteriously and shrugged his shoulders. One of my hands stroked her hair as the other rested on my belly. It wouldn’t be long before I’d have two children to love. Nic had done more than save me—he’d given me the family I’d always longed to have.