“Holy shit,” Sachi breathes. “You’re going to have a baby?”
Dani nods again. Our bodies have united to create a child that is now growing inside her.
Unadulterated joy spreads a wide grin across my face.
“We’re gonna have a baby,” I say in awe.
An anxiously optimistic smile teases my wife’s lips. “I’m pregnant.”
I surge forward and sweep her into a spinning hug. She squeals with delight, and Sachi dances around us with her arms waving in the air.
Once we settle into the news, I realize I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Even my sperm were desperate to claim Dani. I’m committed down to my DNA, and that’s a fact.
“Are you going to tell your mom and gran right away or wait?” Sachi asks.
Dani grins. “I could never keep a secret like that from them. They’d sniff it out of me the second I walk in the room.” The girls both giggle as my phone starts to ring. It’s my brother.
“Yeah?”
“Shae’s water just broke. We’re headed to the hospital. Need you to let the others know.” Every word is spoken with clipped military efficiency. Renzo has slipped into emergency management mode, which tells me, he’s freaking the fuck out.
“You want me to do that and not DiAngelo?”
“Called you first. You got this? The Russians will happily use an excuse like this to catch us off guard.”
Well, I’ll be damned. He’s leaving me in charge. “Yeah, I got you covered. Good luck, man.”
“Gotta go.”
Both Dani and Sachi stare at me expectantly.
“Everything okay?” Dani asks.
“I think so. Looks like today is baby day all around—Shae’s gone into labor.”
“That’s so exciting, but Renzo sure sounded serious. There’s nothing wrong, is there?”
“No, he just wants us to be on high alert for anything the Russians might try while he’s unavailable.” The oldest of Biba’s sons recently seized control, and from what we can tell, the youngest has been exiled from the organization. No one knows what he might do. There’s concern he could try to blame us for his loss of status since we were the catalyst to his father’s death. They can’t prove it was us who pulled the trigger, but they likelysuspect. The oldest won’t care since he’s now in power, but the youngest could be a problem.
“I’m going to go make some calls in my office. Holler if you need me.”
They both wave. I dial DiAngelo and head for the back hallway. The phone picks up, but no one answers.
“D, you there?” I ask into the phone.
No answer. Nothing audible, at least. I can hear muffled sounds in the background and am instantly on high alert. I put the phone on speaker, turn the volume all the way up, and raise the phone to my ear. I strain to make out whatever clues I can as to what might be going on when D’s voice registers in the background.
“Hands behind your back, and they better stay there. You hear me?”
I stop dead in my tracks. What the fuck is going on? Did the Russians come after him?
I listen even harder, trying to determine whether I need to get my gun or if he’s got the situation under control. Silence, then a quiet whimper.
“You can do it—I know you can,” DiAngelo says in a low murmur. “Fuck, yeah. Take me in all the way. I want to feel my cock against the back of your throat.”
I pull the phone away from me and stare at it as though it’s suddenly covered in shit.
What in the ever-loving fuck? That prick really must hate me to answer the phone and make me listen to his bullshit. I’m about to disconnect when I realize that asshole is supposed to be on protection duty for my sister. If he left Terina alone while he’s off getting his dick sucked, I’ll bury that motherfucker.
