I’d gottento the hospital before Jon and the old man went in to examine Isla. I wanted an update on her memory loss. Jon had sent me a few texts through the night regarding my beautiful woman. Thankfully, she’d slept most of the time I was gone and had only woken an hour ago.
So much shit had happened since I’d left Isla during the night. Wolf obeyed my order and brought his brother to California. They were being guarded at one of Fabio’s shipping docks.
There was no word on the paternity of Cosimo Clemente yet, but in my gut, I knew he wasn’t my half-brother. I couldn’t explain it; I just knew the same way I knew when to dump a stock before the market took a tumble and when to buy. I just knew.
And nothing yet on Vera Antonova. Fabio’s man was following a trail that I hoped led to Wolf’s mother, but again, my instinct told me my brother-in-law had been lied to by Kira. And for that, I felt bad for getting the ball rolling on verifying his mother’s proof of life, which would show she was not alive.
The newest and most pertinent information was about Zotov having my baby.
I’d spoken to Zotov on a video call where he showed me Pippa. Jesus, I nearly lost it but managed to remain calm. Murderously calm. He told me she was a beautiful baby, but she missed her mother, so I’d better hurry up to do the exchange. He also assured me that she was well taken care of and that he had no intention of creating an enemy out of me. He only wanted Kira and unfortunately, couldn’t use Isla for the exchange. He apologized for his men not being able to tell which woman was Isla, so they took the baby.
Zotov had five children and was experienced with babies. As if having five kids would ease my mind. I wanted my daughter back ASAP. Preferably before Isla realized she was missing.
“Where’s Pippa?”she screamed, snapping me out of my thoughts. Tears were pouring out of her eyes.
Dammit. I ran to the door and opened it. My brothers were right there. “Get Jon, now!”
“Ciro! Ciro, where’s Pippa?” Isla screamed a blood curdling scream.
I ran back to her, Luca following behind me.
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetheart. Calm down.” I tried to hold her down, worried she would make her injuries worse.
“Pippaaa!” she screamed. “They took her! I know theytook her!” She thrashed in the bed, trying to get off the bed, but I wouldn’t let her.
Luca held her legs down.
Where the fuck was Jon.
Isla’s screaming was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was like she was possessed.
Jon appeared and immediately stuck a needle into Isla’s IV. “It’s okay, Isla. Everything is going to be okay.” He talked softly to her.
The sight of her distress shook me to the core. I was responsible for her suffering, and I would never forgive myself for hurting her this way.
She whipped her head back and forth, sobbing…My lovebug. My lovebug. My lovebug.
Goddamn, my heart broke seeing her suffering.
Within a minute, maybe less, Isla started to calm down and fell into a medically induced coma.
“Fuck, that was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Roman said from behind me.
“The loss of a child causes severe trauma and distress to mothers.” Jon faced me. “What are you doing to get the baby back?”
“Figlio di puttana,” I hissed motherfucker in Italian. How dare he call me out like that? “I will get my daughter back.”
“Before Isla wakes up? We can’t keep her sedated for weeks until the baby is returned to her. Look.” He pointed at Isla’s chest, where there were wet spots. “When she remembered the baby, letdown happened. If she does pump to keep her milk production up, it will dry up.”
I grabbed the back of my head and stared at Isla’s chest as I tried to devise a plan. It reminded me of the morning I’dwoken up with her, and she had similar wet spots on her T-shirt.
“How long before her milk dries up?” Roman asked.
Jon’s jaw twitched. “It varies from woman to woman. A few days to three weeks. If she doesn’t pump, she’ll experience pain and engorgement.”
“Do we have time to get her out of the country before she comes out of it?” I wanted to get her to Barbados where I had a full staff and guards to protect her. We needed time alone without my family around to work through our issues, but I had a hunch I would have to take her to Canada.
“Again, it varies from person to person. A couple of hours up to maybe twenty-four hours, but that’s pushing it,” Jon replied.
