Chapter 39
ENZO
My world slows, and it feels like it completely stops when my wife tells me that she thinks something is wrong. She grabs onto my arm, her fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt just as she doubles over, a scream tearing from her throat.
“What’s happening, baby? Talk to me. Where does it hurt?” I say, my body and mind freezing for a second before jumping into action.
“Oh God,” she whispers, voice trembling, her face twisted in pain. “I-I think that m-maybe the baby’s coming, but I feel like something’s wrong.”
My hand was running along her body, frantically searching for any injury we might have missed. But when I pull it away and look down, I see that it’s covered in blood. I look at her pants to see that they’re soaked with her blood as well.
“Fuck! Something’s wrong! She’s bleeding,” I yell to Luca, fear coating my voice. “No! Fuck no! Nothing is happening to you or our baby! I promise you that.”
Without thinking about it too much, because if I do, I’ll get myself worked up and lose precious time, I lift her up into my arms bridal style and rush up the stairs, Luca following behind us.
We must have spent only about five minutes in that basement, but now it feels longer. But I wanted to make sure she wasn’t too badly injured before I moved her. A moment later, her body stiffens in my arms as she cries out from the pain.
“I’m so sorry for all the pain you’re going through, baby. So, fucking sorry. Daddy’s got you now, and I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you or our baby,” I say, talking to her, trying to ease some of her worries as I rush toward the helicopter.
The thump of the rotor blades fills the air, loud and violent, kicking up dust and debris from where it’s parked at the back of the property.
I don’t slow my steps. Instead, I run faster, my wife safely secured in my arms. I try to shield her body with mine as much as I can as we approach the helicopter. I have her face turned into my chest so that nothing will get into her face.
Aldo is ready and waiting for us. I get in and take a seat with her on my lap because there’s no way I’m letting go of her right now.
“Get us out of here and to the clinic now! And call the doc and tell him we’re on the way!” I yell to Aldo, so he can hear me over the sound of the whirring blades. Luca slides in next to me a second later, and one of my men shuts the door behind him from the outside.
“Already called him before I got here. He’s at the clinic waiting for us,” Aldo says as the helicopter lifts up into the air.
“Thanks, man,” I tell my second. Thank God one of us was using our brains. I turn back to my wife and talk to her, hoping that will help, at least a little. “You’re doing good so far, baby. So, fucking good. Just keep it up for me, okay.”
My heart is slamming so hard against my chest. The fear in me is so palpable. I’m really fucking worried about my wife, the labor, and everything else that will follow because she has a long road ahead of her when it comes to her healing.
I just hope that she can hold on until we make it to the doctor, and that my baby girl stays in there until we are at the clinic where it’s safe for her to come out.
I do not want her to make an appearance in this damn helicopter, where her tiny life could be in danger, since I have no idea or clue what I’d need to do.
“The men are taking Bernardo and Salvatore to the Bellucci mansion,” Aldo says through his headset.
“Yeah. That’s the order we gave them,” I reply.
“Aren’t you glad you made your presence known just in time before I burned your mansion to the ground?” Aldo asks Luca, chuckling.
“I think I might burn the fucking thing to the ground myself anyway, when we’re done with those two. Too many fucking bad memories for my sister there, to leave it standing,” Luca mutters.
I adjust my grip on my wife, holding her just a bit tighter as I cradle her closer against my chest. I’m so fucking scared out of my mind right now. I’m scared of losing my whole world.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper into her hair. “Just hold on for a few more minutes, please,” I beg. I don’t think I’ll ever stop apologizing to her for my royal fuck up and for not keeping her safe.
She doesn’t respond and when I look down at her face, that’s when I realize that she’s passed out in my arms. Fucking hell! I can also feel my pants getting wet from her blood soaking through her clothes onto mine.
“How much longer do we have until we get there?” I shout to Aldo. “She’s passed out!”
“Less than five minutes, boss!” his voice comes through the headpiece, breaking through my panic for a second.
“Stay with me, baby. We’re almost there.
We’re so close to getting help for you,” I whisper, gently rocking her limp body in my arms. “You’re going to be fine.
Everything’s going to be fine. The doctor will take care of you, and soon we’ll get to meet and hold our little girl in our arms. But I just need you to be strong for a little while longer… ”
I’m hoping and praying for a miracle here. I don’t know if any of what I just said is true, and that terrifies me.
The helicopter lands a second later, on the roof of the building where the clinic is. As soon as the doors open, they take her away from me, laying her down gently on a stretcher before rushing with her through the doors.
Luca gets out first, and I follow behind him, stumbling my way out of the helicopter. He grabs onto my shoulder to keep me from falling flat on my face because right now, everything is a blur of lights and voices that sound way too distorted and far away for me to make sense of anything.
“Enzo!” Luca snaps, lightly slapping me on the face to get my attention.
“Yeah?” I ask as he shakes me a bit since he’s standing in front of me with both of his hands on my shoulder.
“Stay with me and keep it together, man! We got her here, and the doc is going to take good care of her. But I need you to snap out of whatever the fuck trance you’ve gone into because you need to be strong for my sister and niece or nephew,” he says.
It takes a moment, but his words penetrate through my head.
“Girl. We’re having a girl. So, you’ll be getting a niece,” I murmur.
“That’s it. Stay with me, man. I can’t wait to meet her. Can you?” he asks, talking to me to try and get me out of whatever haze I’m under.
“Hell no! I’ve been waiting impatiently to meet my daughter.”
“Well, I hope it won’t be too much longer,” he says. I look him in the face since we’re the same height, my vision and mind snapping back into focus. “You here with me?”
“Yeah. I’m here. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. If the roles were reversed, I’d be the same as you right now,” he offers.
That’s when I look around and see that it’s just him, Aldo, and me, standing here.
“Where’s my wife?” I ask, desperation coating my voice, after finally coming back to my senses.
“They took her down. Come on, let’s go,” he tells me, heading for the elevator as I follow behind him. He presses the button for one of the floors, and the door closes as we begin descending.
I look down at my hands to see them covered in my wife’s dried blood. Fuck! I hope she’s okay. I could not find a worse time to space the fuck out! And now I’m mad at myself.
When the elevator doors open into the waiting room, I step right up to the nurse’s station.
“Where’s my wife?” I ask.
“One of the doctors will be here in just a moment, Mr. Andretti. If you can just have a seat and wait—” the nurse says, and I cut her off before she can even finish.
“I don’t want to wait!” I snap. “I want to know what’s going on with my wife!”
“Sir—”
“Sorry about him. We’re all just worried, but we’ve got him,” Luca says, pointing to himself and Aldo before he drags me away from the nurse’s station and pushes me down into one of the chairs.
“You know that this clinic is basically running because of us, right?”
“Yeah. What’s your point?”
“My point is that you need to trust that they’re doing everything they can for her, otherwise they all know they’d be dead.”
“You’re right. I’m glad we have highly trained medical professionals working for us.”
Before he can say anything else, I see one of the doctors walking our way, and I stand to greet him.
“Good morning, Mr. Andretti,” he says. Shit! I didn’t even realize it was already early morning.
“Where’s my wife? What’s happening?”
“Dr. Wilson had to take your wife into the operating room. Mrs. Andretti was unconscious and bleeding a lot when she was rushed in, which pointed toward a placental abruption. To avoid further fetal distress, especially with the other injuries she suffered, the doctor is performing an emergency C-section.”
The doctor’s words hit me like a fucking punch to the gut, and I collapse right back down onto my chair. His words are a jumbled mess in my brain that keeps repeating itself over and over again.
Placental abruption. Fetal distress. Emergency C-section.
Fuck!
“Make sure he does everything possible to save my wife and child, or I’ll fucking level this place to the damn ground!” I growl.
The man doesn’t bat an eye at my words. Everyone in here is probably used to being threatened at least once a day by someone in the Mafia. Though we do pay them more than they would ever dream of making at an actual hospital, so there’s that.
“I assure you that Dr. Wilson is doing everything possible to ensure that both your wife and baby are safe.
“B-but… If it comes to choosing, make sure you fucking save my wife!” I command.
I hate that I even said that because I want both of them, but if there’s a moment where they have to choose who to save, I want them to save my wife.
I can’t fucking lose her. She’s my entire world, and I don’t want to live a second without her in it.
“Understood,” the doctor says, nodding.
“Thanks, Doc,” I tell him as he turns to leave.
A moment after the door closes behind him, it opens again, revealing both my parents rushing in. Shit! I didn’t even remember to call them.