30
Bain
I waiteduntil the car taking Ryan back to the gate was out of sight before following Ciana into the house. One of my men told me where she’d gone, and I started climbing the stairs, Vitucci’s warning echoing in my ears.
“Ciana will find a way to leave you, and when she does, we will be waiting for her. All she has to do is say the word, and her family will be here, ready to fight for her. Every last one of us would willingly die for her.”
Balling my hands into fists, I pressed them to each side of my head, fighting the sound of his voice.
“She might love you, but she will never trust you. And for Ciana, once you’ve lost her trust, you’ve lost her too. It’s only a matter of time before she comes to her senses. Once she does, you should probably sleep with one eye open.”
The latter part of his warning was laughable. If my beauty wanted to kill me, I would give her the loaded gun so she could put a bullet through my skull. The rest, however…
Those were my own fears being verbalized by a man who’d been my enemy for decades. By his own admission, he knew Ciana best, and she herself had said much the same thing.
She might still love me deep down, but she didn’t trust me.
How soon before she wanted to leave me? How long did I have before the threat to Ryan wasn’t enough to keep her at my side? Would the babies be enough for us to bond and mend what I’d broken?
I didn’t know, and that was eating me alive.
Reaching the master bedroom, I turned the knob, only to find it locked. The faint sound of her sobs on the other side of the door reached me, and my knees went weak. When Ryan had made her cry so hard outside, blaming Ciana for Nova’s death, I’d nearly followed through with my threat and shot him in the head myself. If she hadn’t been so distraught and clung to me as she had, needing my comfort, I probably would have.
That fucker didn’t know it, but she had saved his miserable life down there.
“Mo chroí,” I called out. “Open the door.”
“G-go a-away!” she yelled through her sobs. “L-leave me alone!”
Groaning, I pressed my forehead to the door. “Not while you are hurting like this. Please, Ciana. I need to make sure you are okay.”
“Well, I’m not!” she cried. “I-I think I’m having contractions. Bain! Help!”
Fear choked me, and I didn’t pause to think. It took two hard kicks to get the door open, and then I was calling Dr. Rose even as I ran toward the bed. Ciana was lying on her back on the far side of the bed, her hands rubbing her stomach agitatedly as she wept. Her brow was dotted with sweat, and her entire body shook—with pain or fear, I wasn’t sure.
Dr. Rose picked up on the second ring. “Mr. Kennedy,” she greeted. “What can I do for you?”
“She says she thinks she’s having contractions,” I relayed, my voice quavering as I fell to my knees beside the bed. “What do I do?”
“Okay, stay calm.” Her voice was crisp and direct, but that did jack shit for my anxiety. “Has anything out of the ordinary happened today to cause her or the babies stress?”
“She hasn’t been getting much sleep. And this morning, she was ill. Then we had a family issue that upset her.”
“She was ill? Did she vomit?”
“Yes.” I stroked my hand over Ciana’s cheek, wiping away a few of her tears. Her brown eyes pleaded with me to help her, protect her and the babies, but I was helpless to do anything more than speak to the fucking doctor.
“Has she been able to eat or drink anything since?”
My mind went blank as I tried to remember. “Ciana, my love, have you drunk anything since this morning?”
Pain clouded her face as she shook her head. “N-no. I was too nauseated.”
“Okay, she may just be dehydrated. I’m going to bring her some fluids and something for the nausea. Cramps from dehydration can feel like contractions. I’ll be with you in about thirty minutes. Call me if she gets worse.”
After she disconnected, I dropped the phone on the floor and then crawled into the bed beside her. “I’m so scared,” she said, shaking so badly her teeth chattered as she pressed her head to my chest. “I can’t lose them. They’re all I have left now.”
I kissed her sweat-dampened brow. “We aren’t going to lose them,” I promised. “Everything is going to be just fine, mo chroí. Y-you are just dehydrated, like the doctor said.”
“Oh God,” she sobbed. “I hope so.”
“Shh, don’t cry anymore. You will only dehydrate yourself more.” I pulled her closer, kissing her brow over and over again as I stroked my hand over her belly. If I could absorb this pain for her so she didn’t have to feel it, I would. “Don’t be upset, my beauty. I’m sorry I put you through that today. I won’t do it again.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she gritted out as another pain made her middle tighten. I could actually feel it, and it scared the living hell out of me.
Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer, begging for mercy for her and our babies. When her stomach muscles relaxed, she released a heavy sigh.
“I didn’t put a sniper on Ryan,” I confessed, hoping to comfort her. “I regretted saying I would as soon as the words left my mouth and I saw how badly it upset you.”
“Really?” she asked hopefully.