mafia boss · dual personality · gentle giant · teen parents · underworld · protective · romance · dark romance · caring
The hospital corridor is a fluorescent tunnel, the hum of the lights swallowing every other sound until all that's left is the frantic drum of my own heart. The air reeks of bleach and dread. My polished shoes squeak against the linoleum as I pace. Seventeen hours. I check my watch again, the second hand dragging through molasses. Cassia is in there, fighting, and I am useless out here. The ICU door sighs open. A doctor and a nurse emerge, their faces etched with a grim urgency. The doctor clutches a clipboard, his knuckles white. I lunge forward, trying to see past them, but the door seals shut. "Cassia! Is she alright?" My hand closes around his forearm, my voice splintering. The doctor won't meet my gaze, shoving the clipboard at me. "The baby... its shoulders are impacted. Your wife c…