Chapter 9 - What Elaine Hid
Norah underwent testing the next morning.
The wait felt endless.
Dante barely left her side.
Finally, the specialist entered.
“You are healthy.”
Norah exhaled.
“But you carry a rare hereditary mutation associated with elevated risk for a specific blood disorder.”
Dante immediately asked, “Can pregnancy trigger it?”
“Potentially, but her current tests are normal.”
Norah looked at Dr. Vale.
“Why did someone test me secretly?”
Vale finally revealed the last secret.
Elaine had arranged it.
Years before her death, Elaine discovered that Rachel Gibson’s genetic marker had 2 sides.
One protected against certain malignant blood-cell mutations.
Another could become dangerous under rare conditions.
Elaine had left instructions with Vale.
If Norah ever pursued fertility treatment, Vale was supposed to test her anonymously.
“Then Carmine appeared,” Vale said.
“He bribed the clinic and ordered Dante’s sample substituted.”
“You could have told me.”
“I should have.”
Vale cried.
“I convinced myself I was protecting you by following Elaine’s instructions.”
Norah’s anger remained.
But the conspiracy she imagined was different.
Not every secret had been designed to hurt her.
Some had been created by frightened people trying badly to protect her.
Dante asked the specialist the only question that mattered.
“What happens now?”
“We monitor Norah carefully.”
“And the baby?”
“Healthy.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Healthy.
That word became everything.
Months passed.
Carmine’s criminal trial began.
The evidence was overwhelming.
Elaine’s archive connected him to medical fraud, conspiracy, bribery, and multiple murders.
Dante testified.
That decision shocked everyone.
He admitted his own involvement in organized crime where required under an immunity agreement negotiated in exchange for dismantling operations and providing evidence against Carmine’s network.
It cost him pieces of his empire.
He accepted it.
Norah watched from the courtroom.
Carmine watched her instead.
During a recess, he was escorted past them.
“You think you won?” Carmine asked.
Dante stepped between him and Norah.
Norah touched Dante’s arm.
Then she faced Carmine herself.
“You chose my pregnancy because you thought creating a child would create a weakness.”
Carmine smiled.
“It did.”
Norah shook her head.
“No.”
Her hand rested over her 8-month belly.
“You accidentally gave both of us something worth becoming better for.”
Carmine’s smile disappeared.
That was the last conversation Norah ever had with him.
The jury found him guilty on every major count.
Outside the courthouse, reporters surrounded them.
Dante instinctively shielded Norah.
She pushed his arm down.
“I can walk.”
“I know.”
“You are doing it again.”
“I am protecting you.”
“You are blocking every camera.”
“That is also protection.”
She laughed.
That photograph appeared everywhere the following morning.
The feared Dante Lombardi trying to shield his heavily pregnant partner while she visibly scolded him.
Marco framed it.
Dante threatened to fire him.
“You cannot,” Marco said.
“Why?”
“You made me chief operating officer.”
“That sounds fireable.”
“Norah likes me.”
Dante considered this.
“Unfortunately relevant.”
Their new life was still complicated.
Dante received threats.
Some old enemies remained.
But the fortress slowly became a home.
Norah insisted on choosing the nursery.
Dante hired a security consultant.
She selected pale green walls.
He selected bullet-resistant windows.
She bought a wooden crib.
He installed biometric locks.
“Dante.”
“What?”
“It is a nursery, not a federal reserve.”
“Our child will be safe.”
“Our child will also eventually need friends.”
“Background checks.”
She stared at him.
“Joking.”
“You were not joking.”
“No.”
At 37 weeks, Norah woke at 1:16 a.m.
Her side of the bed was wet.
She looked down.
Then toward Dante.
“Dante.”
He woke instantly with a gun.
Norah stared at the weapon.
“Seriously?”
“What happened?”
“My water broke.”
The gun hit the floor.
Dante Lombardi—who had survived leukemia, shootings, explosions, betrayal, and a criminal war—panicked.
“Now?”
“No, next Thursday.”
He stared.
Norah laughed despite the contraction.
“Hospital.”
“Yes.”
He grabbed his pants.
Then put them on backward.
Norah laughed harder.
“Stop laughing.”
“I cannot.”
Another contraction hit.
Her laughter vanished.
Dante was beside her instantly.
The drive to the hospital took 18 minutes.
Dante made it in 9.
Norah threatened to kill him twice.
At the hospital entrance, he lifted her from the car.
“I can walk.”
“You are in labor.”
“I am pregnant, not paralyzed.”
Another contraction doubled her over.
Dante carried her anyway.
Seven hours later, complications began.
Norah’s blood pressure dropped.
Monitors sounded.
Doctors rushed in.
Dante was pushed into the hallway.
For the first time in his life, there was no enemy he could threaten.
No door he could kick down.
No amount of money that could guarantee the next minute.
May you like
He stood outside the delivery room with Norah’s blood on his hand.
And listened as an alarm began screaming inside.
