by Kyndall, Kit
I frowned in confusion, trying to place the name. “I don’t know Emil Mancuso.” I’d had no idea I had an attorney, and I’d certainly never met with him.
He gave me a satisfied smirk. “That’s because I sent you away before he could make contact, and fortuitously enough, he died in a mugging less than a month before you were due to return to New York after you graduated from college. Such a sad case.” His eyes sparkled with mirth that was a marked contrast to the fake sympathy in his voice. It seemed obvious he’d been responsible for Mr. Mancuso’s death too.
“If only he had let it go, he would probably still be alive today. Instead, he kept sending you letters on a weekly basis and trying to make phone calls. He even got through to the Dean of your university once, demanding Jasper put you on the phone. It’s a good thing I’d planned ahead for such a contingency by making a large donation.”
He smirked. “But he’s out of the way now, so there’s just you to deal with. I knew I couldn’t let you live, because I refuse to let you own the company and everything I worked so hard for.”
I snorted. “You worked for? The only work you did was arranging murders and stealing my mother away from my father by killing him.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Be that as it may, I consider it all mine, and I’m not going to share with you. If you’d stayed nearby and easily watchable, I would have given you more time, but since you had to run off and fornicate with that man and get knocked up…well, you’ve accelerated the timeline, Gabriella.”
I glared at him as my stomach tightened again, and I did my best to hide the reaction. I didn’t want him to know I was possibly in labor, though I knew I would have to scream for help soon. Still, I wanted to hear as much as I could of his incriminating speech beforehand. “What do you gain by killing me?”
“Besides personal satisfaction, there’s another reason. Sophie couldn’t do anything about the setup of the trust from Gabriel, but she was able to assign all shares in her will if something happened to you as well. In the event you both die, everything goes to me unless I’m dead. In that case, it goes to a governing board that will democratically control the company and dispense profits to charity.” He spat out the last word, as though it was the foulest thing he’d ever heard.
I felt betrayed by my mother, though I supposed she thought she’d been doing the right thing. When it came to Wayne, she’d always had a gigantic blind spot, so it would have seemed like best way to protect my inheritance. She would have wanted to protect the company in the event something happened to both of us, and she had been naïve enough to think Wayne would do that.
A disquieting possibility occurred to me, prompting me to ask, “Is this the first time you tried to kill me, aside from the drowning incident?” Somehow, I doubted it and racked my brain for events that would now stand out in a different light.
He grinned. “Have very perceptive of you. Rich attempted to see to your early demise shortly after you came back. Unfortunately, some good Samaritan kept you from falling off the subway platform.”
I remembered the incident, recalling someone had pushed against me and sent me stumbling toward the edge. A strong woman had pulled me back, and we had bonded over disparagement of the people who were in such a hurry that they didn’t pay attention to anyone around them. We had spent a good ten minutes chatting about the rudeness of our fellow New Yorkers after boarding the subway, before I got off at my stop. At the time, I had assumed it was just someone who was careless and running late, and not Rich Sewall trying to kill me.
“After Rich and Louis failed me, and Craig is too valuable to the day-to-day operations of GreenTech, you can see why I’ve come to the conclusion if I want it done, I have to do it myself?”
He reached for a pillow stacked neatly on the chair Mykael had used earlier. He had put them there for me in case I needed to get comfortable, knowing the baby often made my back hurt after a short time. I opened my mouth to scream, and he lifted the pillow to slam down on my face at the same time. I blocked him with my arms, shouting as he attempted to force the pillow over my face and quiet me down.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my abdomen, and I cried out as I sagged forward. He had punched me right in the stomach, and my changed position, prompted by the instinct to curl forward to protect my belly, pushed my face directly into the pillow he had been trying to force over it.
Clutching my belly with my hands, I tried to turn my head away from the fabric suddenly blocking my airway. One of his hands clamped on the back of my head, and I think I could feel his other one pressing the pillow hard against my face. I strained and tried to escape, hoping I had managed to scream loudly enough to catch someone’s attention.
I was starting to gray out when the door slammed open, and I heard an angry shout. Even in my current state, I recognized Mykael’s voice. I didn’t stop fighting, but a surge of relief went through me. I knew Mykael would save me.
Less than a second later, the pillow was gone, as was Wayne’s hand on the back of my head. I sagged back against the bed, gasping for air as I continued to hold my stomach, while watching my fiancé pummel the man who had killed my father. I wished I had the ability to get in a few swings myself, but I wasn’t up for that at the moment. Another contraction gripped my stomach, and this was more intense than the last. “Mykael, I think the baby’s coming.”
He stiffened, taking an extra second to punch Wayne’s face as hard as he could as the door burst open again, this time revealing two nurses and three security guards. One of the guards held a gun and pointed it at Mykael as Wayne collapsed to the floor. “Not him,” I shrieked before making a conscious effort to calm down and soften my tone.
“He’s fine. My stepfather was trying to hurt me and the baby, but Mykael saved us.” I started panting as another pain shot through me, panicking that they were coming so close together. Would they be able to stop my labor at this point? Had Wayne’s punch to my stomach irreparably damaged Connor? Tears slid down my face as Mykael came to the bed, embracing me in the chaos of security guards and nurses flooding into the room.
I was vaguely aware of two of the security guards handcuffing Wayne and dragging him from the room as he moaned in his half-conscious state. I was far more consumed with the pain inside me and trying to focus on the nurse’s instructions as the other one left to find a doctor. I probably wasn’t going to be delivering with Amber as I had planned, but right then all that mattered was making sure Connor arrived as safely as possible.
The next hour was a blur, and I vaguely remembered the obstetrician, a Dr. Reynolds, ordering some kind of medication to stop my contractions. They eased down but didn’t stop for at least two hours beyond that.
He also ordered an ultrasound once he learned Wayne had hit me, and he was concerned the placenta had partially detached. I gripped Mykael’s hand, and we both breathed a sigh of relief when Dr. Reynolds said, “Other than a minor bleed, I see no damage to the placenta. He’s still wiggling and moving around, and his stats are good.”
When the medication started working to end my contractions, the doctor made the call that I probably wasn’t going to go into labor that night. After the crisis had passed, Mykael laid beside me in the hospital bed, glaring at any nurse that came in and silently daring her to kick him out. So far, none had accepted the challenge. They simply took my vitals and scurried out again. I didn’t blame them, because he could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be. He was feeling protective of me and Connor, and that made him fierce.
Except with me. He was as gentle as ever as he held me against him, and we spoke about nothing in particular as we enjoyed the silence and the reassurance that Connor had settled down, at least for now. I had told Mykael about Wayne’s motivations, and he had made a few phone calls to start an investigation into the matter. I hadn’t even begun to process the idea that I might own my father’s company.
***
After four days in the hospital, Amber and Dr. Reynolds decided
it was safe to send me home, though I was supposed to rest as much as possible and call Amber immediately if I had contractions. I also had to go in every few days for fetal monitoring and stress tests to ensure Connor was doing well. I didn’t resent the interventions, and I would have done anything required to ensure our son was healthy, but it was a relief to be home.
I had a surprise visitor on the third afternoon after I had gotten home. Annika had been by my side a good portion of the day, because Mykael had been unable to take off the last two days due to a complicated trial that had been months in the planning. He had been reluctant to leave me, but I had assured him it was safe.
With Wayne and his cronies in jail, having been arraigned and now awaiting indictment for murder and attempted murder, I had little to fear. Mykael had told me the FBI was involved, having found evidence that Wayne and his buddies were moving illegal weapons, ensuring they got into the hands of the worst zealots of the neo-Nazi movement.
It didn’t look like I would ever see Wayne again, other than at his trial, and he seemed equally unlikely to see light of day, because thus far his judge had denied bail. Assuming he was convicted, and we had no reason to think he wouldn’t be, he would be sentenced and shipped off to prison at the end of the trial. Even if he somehow managed to make a deal, he would still serve time in prison.
Annika had left earlier to take an online exam for one of her classes. I wasn’t expecting her back for a few hours, so I looked up from my e-reader with surprise at the sound of the bedroom door opening. For a second, I thought it was Annika returning, since they shared a similar build. It was only when Nila stepped into the room that I recognized her. My heart stuttered, and I briefly wondered if I had entered some kind of crazy telenovella, and there would be yet another attempt on my life.
“Is it all right if I speak with you for a moment?” Her voice was full of doubt, and her manner was hesitant.
Reluctantly, I nodded and indicated the comfortable chair beside the bed that Mykael had brought in for his and Annika’s use when they kept me company. As she moved closer, I was concerned by the changes in her. She had lost weight and looked fragile, and the first streaks of gray were shining through her previously jet-black hair. I didn’t know if she had used dye before, or sheer strength of will had kept the strands black, but whatever had been her secret, it had failed.
Nila sat cautiously, her hands clutching the armrests of the wingback chair as she turned it slightly to face me completely. “I owe you an apology, young lady.”
I blinked, stunned to ever hear those words coming from her mouth. “Um, okay?” I wasn’t questioning her assertion that she owed me an apology. She certainly did, but I was shocked that she had come to that realization.
“I behaved badly when I found out about you and Mykael. In my vision for him, he always settled down with a nice black girl and had a respectable family, all while pursuing his political career. I had it all planned out for him, and you derailed everything.”
She said it with an air of resignation, not accusation. “I was resistant to letting go of the dream I had for him, and it took me a while to realize my son is his own person, which is as it should be. I can’t control him or Annika for the rest of their lives, and I don’t always know best.”
“I see.” What else could I say? I didn’t know how to respond to this side of Nila, and it must have cost her a great deal of pride to humble herself and admit these things.
“I apologize for trying to convince you to abort the child. At the time, I was so enraged and opposed to the idea of him ending up with a white girl, especially Wayne Chastain’s daughter, and I was desperate. I didn’t even spare a thought for the fact that you’re carrying my grandchild. I just wanted to eliminate the obstacle and push Mykael back to the path I had set for him.”
I nodded slowly, having already figured that out for myself months ago. “What changed your mind, Nila? I mean, why the change of heart?”
Right after your…accident,” She winced as she said the word, “Mykael confronted me, convinced I had been the one who tried to kill you, or at least had hired someone to do so. It destroyed me that he could think I could sink so low, and my first instinct was to be angry with his assumption, but I soon realized he had good reason to conclude such a horrible thing.
“I hadn’t shown him any reason not to, and I had tried to push you to abort. I had told him I wouldn’t accept your child under any circumstances, and I hadn’t intended to do so. Realizing how awful I had been was a wakeup call, but Mykael wasn’t ready to hear those words. I don’t think I was quite ready to say them yet anyway, but he went rushing out of my room to hurry back to the hospital when he realized I wasn’t the one who’d tried to hurt you.”
I had heard a variation of this from Mykael, but he had been sparse with the details, and he certainly hadn’t mentioned his mother’s remorse. Either she had hidden it that morning, or he had ignored it, assuming she was trying to manipulate him. As I stared at her, probing her expression and her body language, I found no reason to doubt her. I didn’t know the woman very well, but she seemed completely sincere.
We weren’t on the path to best friends or anything, and I didn’t know how well we would get along in the future, but I was willing to try for Mykael’s sake as long as she was. She had to make a genuine effort to accept me and Connor though, or her change of heart meant nothing in the long run. I knew it had to be wait-and-see, and her actions would have to back up her words if we were going to have a familial relationship.
“Thank you for coming to me. I think I understand your position, and I’m hoping we can move past that unpleasantness.” Unpleasantness seemed like too mild of a word, but if we were really going to move on, I had to try to let go of what she had done and relegate it to the past.
Her dark eyes shone with moisture as she blinked her eyelids a few times. She didn’t cry, and I would have been shocked if she had yielded to the impulse, but it was nice to see some signs of vulnerability in her, to know she wasn’t a complete cast-iron bitch. I was tentatively hopeful that someday I might get along with Mykael’s mother.
Epilogue
Gabriella
Connor entered the world at thirty-seven weeks, weighing a robust seven pounds, four ounces, and screaming with a healthy set of lungs. He had thick dark curls and his father’s obscenely long eyelashes. His features were a blend of ours, and his complexion was somewhere between my creamy paleness and Mykael’sdark brown.
He was a miracle, and we were surrounded by our family afterwardin the hospital room. The wedding had been pushed back because I was supposed to be on modified bed rest, so Mykael and I would officially be married in the next few weeks, after I had recovered from the birth. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, and I put my soon-to-be married name on the birth certificate alongside Mykael’s.
I wanted the Chastain name nowhere near Connor’s. If I hadn’t been about to marry Mykael and take the last name Watts, I would have started the paperwork to change my last name back to my father’s and completely drop Wayne from my life.
Not that I expected to have to deal with him again. He was currently awaiting trial for murder, attempted murder, illegal weapons distribution, and racketeering, along with his three friends. Once the FBI had begun digging, the evidence mounted and prompted the involvement of the ATF as well. The two agencies had worked together in a joint venture to bring down my stepfather and his cronies.
The IRS had seized each man’s bank accounts, and Zachary and Isabel had been evicted from the house where they had lived all their lives. If they had been different people, I would have felt sorry for them. As it was, I couldn’t help a touch of glee at their predicament. They might have to enter the real world, get jobs, and learn how to not be completely entitled asshats.
It didn’t bother me either way whatever happened to them, because I had no intention of welcoming them into my family, if they’d even considered such a notion, which seemed doubtful.
They had never done the same for me, and should they ever approach, I would send them packing happily. I was almost surprised they hadn’t tried to connect with me, because I was technically rich now that I had inherited my father’s company, though I was letting other people sort it out and fix Craig’s mismanagement.
They hadn’t come to me though, so I had no personal knowledge of their circumstances. What I knew had come from Mykael and his source working the investigation. That, and the scandals blowing up the newspapers for the first few weeks following Wayne’s arrest. Things had settled down somewhat now, though I expected another wave of gossip when his trial began. I didn’t intend to follow it other than in an abstract fashion. I wanted justice for my father, but I couldn’t dwell on what Wayne had done or live in the past.
I would much rather focus on the future with my fiancée and our baby, and his family who had become like mine. Nila wasn’t exactly my surrogate mother, but we had reached an understanding and seemed to get along well enough. I could envision a day when I might actually be able to love the other woman, assuming she maintained the openness and changes she had made.
At the moment, she and Annika were busy cooing to Connor in the corner of our birthing suite. I was lying against Mykael in the large bed the hospital provided, listening to the soothing sound of his steady heartbeat against my ear.
“How are you feeling?” he asked me.
I was still hurting from having given birth less than four hours before, and my breasts were starting to tingle with phantom letdown that probably wouldn’t actually occur for a couple of days yet. I was exhausted and worn out, and I hadn’t slept for almost an entire day, since labor had been a long, drawn-out affair, especially in light of how quickly Connor had seemed determined to enter the world just a few weeks ago. “I’m terrific.” And I was. Aches and pains aside, I had never felt better.
“I love you, Gabriella.”