Chapter 1

My water broke in the basement where my mafia husband had locked me up.

Upstairs, doctors were waiting on his brother's widow.

I begged him over the guard's phone to let me go to a hospital.

He heard me crying.

Then he told the guard to keep the door shut until her baby was born.

I pressed a hand against my belly. Our daughter was still moving.

When footsteps stopped outside the cell, I called for help again.

The man at the door was carrying a medical bag.

The guard didn't reach for the key. He told the man to keep me quiet.

——————

Leah's POV

The first contraction drove me to my knees in front of the locked door.

Water ran down my legs. I caught the handle before I fell, pulled it twice, then struck the wood with my palm.

“Remo. My water broke.”

His chair scraped on the other side.

“Did you hear me? I need a hospital.”

A key turned. Remo opened the door just far enough to look at the floor beneath me. His gaze moved from the water to my face. He kept one hand on the frame, blocking the opening.

I was thirty-six weeks pregnant. My hospital bag was in the bedroom I shared with Damian. My phone was in Remo's pocket because my husband had ordered him to take it.

“Get my bag,” I said. “Please. We have to go now.”

“Bianca's still upstairs.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You know what tonight is.”

I could hear furniture moving overhead. They were setting tables for the dinner Damian had promised his brother's widow. Once her baby arrived, he would announce that the child would eventually take his place at the head of the family.

He had explained it while Remo stood behind him at our bedroom door.

“My brother is dead. This is the only child he left. Her family needs my word.”

I hadn't asked him to break it. I'd asked what would happen if I went into labor during the celebration.

He had taken my question as a threat.

Now I put my hand on the doorframe and tried to pull myself upright.

“I don't want his announcement. I want a doctor.”

Remo caught my wrist.

“Back inside.”

“Call him.”

“He gave me instructions.”

“Then let him hear me.”

For a moment Remo looked down at my hand. My wedding ring had slipped sideways on my finger. I still wore it even though the man who had put it there had watched me being brought down these stairs.

Another contraction came. I bent over and held the bottom of my belly, waiting until I could speak without gasping.

“Tell Damian there's blood.”

Remo looked at the stain spreading across my dress. Then he took out his own phone.

He didn't help me stand. He held the door open with his shoe while I leaned against the wall and listened to it ring.

“What?” Damian answered.

“Your wife says she's having the baby.”

“Damian.” I reached toward the phone. Remo kept it out of reach. “My water broke. There's bleeding. Please send a car.”

A woman spoke in the background.

“Damian, where are you going? The doctor said you should stay.”

Bianca. She sounded close enough to be beside him.

“I'll be right there,” he told her.

Then he spoke to Remo.

“She knows what we agreed.”

“We didn't agree to this,” I said. “You locked me down here.”

“You were threatening to ruin tonight.”

“I asked about a hospital.”

“You asked me to go back on my word.”

I pressed my forehead against the cold wall. I needed him to understand one thing. Not our argument. Not Bianca. Just the blood on the floor.

“Our baby is coming. Whether you believe me or not, she's coming.”

Remo glanced at the phone when I said she. Damian didn't ask.

He hadn't come to the appointment when I'd learned we were having a girl. I'd kept the little photograph in my bag, waiting for an evening when he wasn't busy.

“Let me leave,” I said. “You don't have to come. Just let me leave.”

“After Bianca delivers.”

“How long?”

“Stop making this harder than it needs to be.”

The call ended.

I stared at the dark screen while Remo slipped it into his pocket.

“You heard him.”

I pushed past his arm.

I got one foot into the hallway before he grabbed the back of my dress and pulled me off balance. My knee struck the threshold. I curled around my stomach before his boot caught my thigh.

“Stay down.”

“Don't touch the baby.”

“Then stop fighting me.”

I covered my belly with both arms. He hauled me away from the door and let go. My shoulder hit the wall.

Something small pressed against my skin beneath the neckline of my dress. The contact card I'd kept there had stayed in place. Remo hadn't found it when he took my phone.

I left it hidden.

A tiny movement brushed my palm. I spread my fingers over it and stayed still until I felt it again.

“All right,” I whispered to my daughter. “I'm here.”

A medical bag bumped against the door outside.

I lifted my head. A man in pale scrubs stood behind Remo. I couldn't see a hospital badge on his chest.

“Please,” I said. “I need to go in.”

I pointed toward the stairs, but the man set his bag down inside the cell.

Remo stepped aside to let him enter.

“Keep her quiet,” he said. “We've got guests upstairs.”