Chapter 135
Sutton drifted between layers of dim sound and raw pain. It was too much. It was like her body no longer belonged to her. It throbbed. It pulsed. It ached in strange places. Hands touched her everywhere… her stomach, her face, her arms. The back of her head. Voices moved over her like waves. She didn’t even know if she could answer if they asked her any questions.
“BP’s dropping… get fluids going, now!”
“The OB team is on their way.”
“She’s around twenty–eight weeks? Okay, prep for fetal distress protocol and call neonatal. Possible placental abruption on impact.”
The ER was manic. So much noise, so much rapid motion.
She felt herself slipping again… but then… a voice.
Deeper than the rest. “Where is she? Where is Sutton Warner?”
It penetrated the darkness in her head. Luca.
“I’m here,” he said. His hand found hers. It was warm. His lips touched her hairline. “I’m here, Sutton. I’ve got you, okay? I’ve got you. Just stay awake. Please, baby.”
She tried to blink. Her eyes wouldn’t cooperate, but her fingers twitched faintly against his palm.
A doctor spoke over her head. “Sir, are you family?”
Luca didn’t hesitate. “I’m her fiancé. I’m the father of the baby.”
“Okay, we need you to fill out some paperwork.”
“You save her,” Luca said, his voice hard now, cutting through the room like glass cracking. “If it comes to a choice… you save Sutton. Do you understand
me?”
“We may have to deliver the baby early. The baby is viable… The NICU team can prepare for a preterm birth, but if there are complications with the
mother…”
“You save her,” Luca repeated, quieter this time. Less forceful, but somehow more final. “Whatever it takes. Please.”
Sutton heard every word. Not clearly, not in full… but enough.
Enough for a sob to get caught in her throat, unspoken.
She wanted to tell him she’d be okay. That he didn’t have to choose. Because she would choose her baby, and it was her choice.
But she couldn’t speak. Her mind fuzzed over. Light faded.
And then nothing.
Luca stood rooted at Sutton’s bedside as they rushed her down the hall, the sound of wheels spinning over linoleum marking the fastest goodbye he’d never wanted to say.
She was whisked into an emergency surgical suite, the doors swinging shut behind them before he could breathe in or out.
One nurse had placed a hand on his chest when he’d tried to follow.
“Sir, please… you have to wait here.”
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Chapter 135
Now he was standing in an empty hall. He looked down at his hand, still feeling the imprint of her still one, even though she was no longer there.
A nurse had the decency to bring him a chair three minutes later. He didn’t sit.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He barely looked.
He answered. “Yeah.”
“Luca,” Roman’s voice was tight. Controlled. “Jake just told me. Is she-?”
Luca had tried to call Roman, but he had been in a meeting. He had left it to Jake as he rushed to Sutton’s side.
“She’s in emergency surgery,” Luca said, pacing. “They think there might be a placental abruption. Internal bleeding. They’re delivering the baby?
“Fuck. And the… the baby?”
“No idea yet.”
There was a pause on the other end, like Roman was trying to figure out what to say next. This was a shock to them all.
“Where are you?” Luca asked.
“Four blocks away. I’m with Keira and Blair. We’re coming.”
Luca swallowed hard. “Okay.”
Roman said, “We’ll be there in ten.”
Luca hung up and leaned against the wall. His knees buckled slightly and caught just shy of collapsing.
The emergency room sounds continued–buzzers, intermittent pages, the voice of a pediatric surgeon calling for extra hands. But Sutton was in danger and he couldn’t be there. He had also made a decision that she could hate him for. But he could not lose her again.
Sutton.
His Sutton.
He loved her more than his life. But after this, she could hate him and never want to see him again. If it saved her life, it was a risk he would take.
He’d told them to save her.
He knew what that meant. He knew what it could cost.
And he didn’t regret a single word.
Because what would the world even be without her breathing in it?
Still, part of him ached with guilt.
He’d wanted their child.
So damn much.
Had already imagined holding him in the crook of his right would matter anyway.
arm while
Sutton slept, whispering ridiculous things to him that would make no sense but
But today, when forced to choose, there had never really been a question.
His eyes burned.
IA
Chapter 135
Two doors down, a NICU team rolled an incubator out of storage into one of the prep bays. Luca saw the tiny tubes, the oxygen fines, the warmth lights already glowing.
They had said survivable. It was hard. But it was possible.
“De Santis?”
293
Luca turned like he’d been yanked out of a trance.
The ER nurse from earlier gestured toward the wall. “There’s a private family room down this way. You’ll want to wait there.”
“I need to know the second someone has news.”
“You will. I promise.”
“Can I see my child?”
“I’m sorry, sir. You’ll have to wait to see your son.”
His son. He had a little boy–very little boy.
He followed her to the room but didn’t sit. Instead, he stood by the window overlooking the street below and tried desperately not to think about the last time he was this afraid.
It had been years ago. His mother in surgery. He was fifteen. No one had told him his mother wouldn’t wake up. They’d let him believe she’d be fine. That she’d just need a little rest.
Now he was older and a woman he loved more than anything was on the other side of surgical doors, and all he had were fears that felt painfully familiar.
urgico comes firs
This time, he’d said the words: “You save her.” No matter what. If it comes down to it, Sutton comes first.
The door creaked open again behind him.
He turned.
Keira stood there first, eyes wild, scanning the room. Blair behind her, already pale. Roman had a hand near Blair’s arm, steadying her gently.
“I just talked to the nurse,” Roman said quickly. “They’re still in surgery.”
Keira’s voice cracked. “What happened?”
“Bicycle messenger. Hit her outside Cyber10. She fell on her side. Possible placental abruption. They were trying to stabilize her, but they said the baby’s heart rate was dipping.” When he got his hands on the stupid fucker for riding his bike on the footpath, he would kill him.
“Jesus,” Blair said, hand flying to her mouth.
“She was unconscious when I got there,” Luca added. His voice faltered.
Keira dropped into the chair. “She didn’t wake up at all?”
“No. But she squeezed my hand. Once.”
They all sat in silence, the strain of it getting to him.
Minutes turned to twenty. Then thirty. The silence grew impossibly heavier.
Finally, two hours later, a soft knock.
The door opened slowly.
16:07 Sun, 20 Jul
Chapter 135
OF
A woman in a surgical cap and navy scrubs stepped in, her eyes shadowed but focused.
“I’m Dr. Eddins,” she said. “OB surgical lead. Sutton is stable.”
They all froze.
“She lost some blood, but she’s conscious now. Weak. Sore. But stable.”
“And the baby?” Luca asked, voice low.
59%
“She delivered via emergency C–section at 6:58 p.m. A boy. Two and a half pounds. He’s in the NICU, being monitored for oxygen support and fluid levels, but so far… he’s doing well.”
Luca’s legs finally gave. He sat down hard, like his bones just gave up.
“Can I see her?” he asked after a moment.
Dr. Eddins nodded. “In a little while. Give us some time to move her to recovery. You’ll be the first.”
Keira began crying softly. Blair rubbed her back.
Roman looked straight at Luca. “She’s alive, man. And so’s your boy.”
Luca nodded.
But even then, he didn’t exhale.
Not yet.
Not until he saw her eyes open again. Not until he held her hand and whispered what he hadn’t said that day she told him she was pregnant.
That he loved her.
That she was it.
That nothing else even came close.
AD
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