Page 72 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

She slapped my arm. “It’s Dax’s, you idiot. I haven’t slept with Luca! Or with Carlos!”

I slumped back in my seat. “I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. What the hell are you going to do? You might be hiding it well right now, but I think Carlos is going to notice when his wife has a baby in a few months’ time! And he’s not going to be too happy when he realizes it’s not his.”

She dug her fingernails into my arm. “Shh. I know, okay? I know! I’m going to say it’s his, just born early.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “How the fuck are you going to explain to Carlos Guerra that you’re pregnant when he hasn’t even fucked you?”

She shot me a dirty look. “Well, geez, Lynx, I don’t know. I thought I’d try telling him it’s an immaculate conception, or maybe that his sperm is so virile I got pregnant just walking past him in the hallway.”

“Neither are good options, Nyah!”

She rolled her eyes as she walked off to hand in the paperwork. But she was back within seconds to answer. “I’m going to get him to have sex with me. Soon. I hope.” But her hand hovered over her belly, and the fear came back into her expression. “Oh God, Lynx. What if I lose it? I thought I was fine. I didn’t have any pain until…”

“Until you came down off the rush of sneaking around with Dax.”

She nodded. “I want this baby so badly.”

I groaned. “Of course you do. Jesus fuck.” I couldn’t help but put my arm around her.

She looked so small and scared; it was an automatic reaction. I certainly wasn’t going to say that her life would be a whole lot easier if she did lose it. No mother wanted to hear that.

“It’s going to be okay,” I murmured over the top of her head.

She leaned against me heavily, but I could feel the tremble in her body.

It should have been Dax with his arms around her.

Fuck, this whole thing was so messed up.

“Nyah Matish,” a nurse called.

Nyah stood, then frantically looked at me. “Can you come with me? Please? If I’m losing it…”

I stood so fast I practically gave myself vertigo. “You aren’t losing it. Come on. Let’s go see your baby.”

We followed the nurse through to a cubicle in the triage area, and Nyah answered a host of questions. Eventually, the nurse had her lie on the bed, a portable ultrasound machine at its side. Nyah pulled up her shirt, and then the nurse had her undo her jeans. She tucked a piece of paper into the top of her underwear to protect them from the blue goop she squirted onto Nyah’s belly.

Nyah stared at the ceiling, barely blinking, but her hand reached for me.

I took it without a moment of hesitation.

“Let’s see what’s going on here with baby and put your mind at ease, and then we’ll get that head taken care of.” The nurse moved the wand around on Nyah’s belly, and a bunch of squiggles and lines came up on the screen.

I didn’t know what any of them meant. I just held Nyah’s hand, rubbing it because it suddenly felt so damn cold.

“Okay, here’s your uterus. And here…” She pressed down a little harder on Nyah’s belly. “Is your baby. With what appears to be a strong heartbeat. You guys want to hear it?”

“Yes,” I answered, because Nyah didn’t seem to be able to.

She just lay there, with tears streaming down her face.

The sound of galloping hooves filled the little room, and Nyah’s shoulders shook silently.

My heart fucking broke for her. I squeezed her hand and brushed her hair back off her face, dragging my chair in closer. “Hey. Look at the screen. He or she is all good.”

She finally twisted her head, her watery eyes meeting mine, and then sliding past me to the little blob on the screen.

The nurse clicked a few buttons and then said, “You’re a few months along. You’ll probably start showing soon. That’s always fun for first-time moms.”