Chapter 8 - THE HEIR IN THE ASHES
Panic, true, unadulterated panic, flashed across the mafia king's face. The man who had just executed a coup and dismantled a rebellion in twenty-four hours was entirely helpless against the primal force of nature.
"We need a hospital," Gabriel shouted to his surviving guards, sweeping me into his arms.
"No!" I screamed, a contraction tearing the breath from my lungs. "The streets aren't safe. The hospitals will be crawling with police looking for the shootout victims. We do it here!"
"Here? Clara, the place is a warzone!"
"I am a nurse, Gabriel! Put me on the table!"
Gabriel laid me on the only unbroken surgical cot in the room, frantically clearing away shattered glass and bloodied debris. The bunker was a nightmare of smoke and corpses, but my world narrowed down to the blinding pain and the desperate grip of Gabriel's hand holding mine.
"Tell me what to do," he begged, shedding his ruined suit jacket, his hands hovering over me, trembling violently.
"Support my head. When I tell you to push down on my knees, you do it. Do not let go of me," I commanded, gritting my teeth as another wave of agony washed over me.
For two agonizing hours, the most feared man in Chicago acted as a midwife in a destroyed underground bunker. He wiped the sweat from my brow, whispered desperate prayers to a God he had long ignored, and poured every ounce of his unyielding strength into keeping me tethered to the earth.
With one final, earth-shattering scream, the pain peaked and then suddenly vanished, replaced by the most beautiful, miraculous sound in the universe. A sharp, loud cry pierced the smoky air.
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Gabriel fell to his knees beside the cot, weeping openly. In his large, bloodstained hands, he held a tiny, wriggling boy. He wrapped the infant in a clean white sheet salvaged from the cabinets, pressing his forehead against the baby's tiny chest before bringing him up to my arms.
"He's perfect," Gabriel choked out, kissing my sweat-drenched forehead. "He's absolutely perfect. Just like his mother."
