“How can you say that, though?” Douglas burst out. “He doesn’t deserve you!”
“No, he doesn’t,” Alyssia smiled ruefully. “That much is true, but it’s not about what he deserves. It’s about what he’s earned, what he’s given me and how he makes me feel. Even when I hate him, he’s still the man I’d walk through fire to get to. If it was him in a hospital bed and I didn’t know where he was, I’d move heaven and earth just to find him.”
Douglas shook his head in bemusement.
“You’d never catch me forgiving a cheat,” he muttered. “A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”
“That might be true, but people change.Antoniohas changed. He’s more … thoughtful, now. Not just flowers and expensive chocolates, either – he’s gone to as many appointments as he can, he’s bought all the furniture for the baby, he’s … he’s already put in for paternity leave … I can’t describe it, but he’s different.”
“What makes you think he won’t do it again, though?”
Alyssia shrugged, not really knowing how to answer the question. He was right; there waseverychance that it would happen again, but she had to trust that it wouldn’t. If Antonio abandoned her now, when she needed him the most … She didn’t let herself finish the thought, and instead plastered a smile on her face that she hoped looked convincing.
“I don’t know, Douglas. I just … something’s changed.”
“I hope so, for your sake.”
20
Antonio was speeding down the freeway when the phone rang again. This time, it was Damon’s phone, and he noticed his brother-in-law’s jaw tightening as he answered it. After a few moments, he hung up and took a breath.
“She’s definitely at Englewood Hospital That was a midwife there, who says Alyssia was brought in under the name of Emily Fountain. She’s in labour, but the baby isn’t doing well. Put your foot down, Blackwood!”
Without another thought, Antonio slammed on the accelerator, weaving in and out of traffic like a snake on steroids. The evening rush hour had finally begun, with people driving home from work, and it was all he could do to avoid an accident.
Horns blared as the car filtered its way through the streets of New Jersey until they pulled up at Englewood Hospital with a screech of brakes. He threw himself out of the car, tossing the keys to his father, and burst through the Emergency Room doors before grabbing the first nurse he saw.
“Sorry, I’m looking for a midwife? Where’s your labour and delivery department?” he all but shouted, towhich the terrified nurse pointed shakily at the wall. He ran his eyes down the wall and saw signs for labour and delivery, and felt his heart stop as he realised it was three floors up.
“Thank you!” he called, running full speed down the hallway. Damon followed closely behind him, a hand on his gun, as they made their way through the hospital to the labour and delivery department.
As soon as they got to labour and delivery, Antonio spotted the receptionist and strode towards her, trying not to appear too threatening, although he was fairly sure he looked like a man who’d gone mad. Not that it really mattered, because he felt like a man gone mad, but it wasn’t the greatest idea to walk in looking like some sort of serial killer.
“Hi, I’m looking for a woman in labour,” he panted. The receptionist indicated the entire ward, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Got a lot of women in labour here, sir. You’ll have to be specific.”
“Right, sorry, of course. She was brought in tonight, um … Emily? Emily Fountain?”
“Let me see ...” The receptionist tapped on her keyboard. “Is she your wife?”
“Yes.”
“OK, we have one Emily Fountain at the moment. She’s in Bay 4, bed 2.”
Antonio nodded his thanks and made his way through the ward, stopping dead when he spotted Douglas. Behind him, Damon let out a hiss of anger as he ran into his back, and he had to grab him before he shot the man on sight.
“No!” he whispered, putting a firm hand on Damon’s gun. “You can’t fire here, there’s women and children!”
“Let me drag him outside, Ibegyou,” Damon snarled, struggling against his brother-in-law’s grip. “I’ll shoot him dead in the parking lot, I swear to God!”
“Not now!” Antonio ordered. “If we kill him, we won’t find Maria, and she’ll just try again. Alyssia matters more. This is what we’ll do. When we go in there, you put the gun in his back and keep him quiet. Draw the curtain behind you so nobody else sees, and get the midwife in so that we can figure out what to do. When we have a plan for Alyssia, you can drag him out of here.”
“Fine,” Damon growled, before following his brother-in-law. “But you better not screw me over, Antonio. His ass ismine.”
Maria slammed on the brakes as she pulled up to the hospital parking lot, cursing as she did so. Her plan was beginning to unravel, and New Year’s Eve was drawing closer by the hour. Douglas had stopped answering her calls and texts, which was pissing her off even more, but she was determined to find out what was happening.
“That brat better not have got to him,” she muttered to herself, swiping her lipstick over her lips in a savage motion. “I swear, if he’s double crossed me, I’ll end that girl’s life quicker than he can blink.”
