Surviving His Scars (Angels Halo MC Next Gen Book 4)

by Terri Anne Browning

  “I-it’s just a cramp,” I murmured weakly. “I-I’ll be okay.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have moved you from the hospital last night,” he said, but it was as if he was talking to himself. “Maybe I did more harm than I feared.”

  “I was only being held for observation,” I said, wanting to reassure him for some reason. “The doctor didn’t foresee anything happening overnight.”

  “That doctor barely made it through med school,” he growled, stabbing his fingers through his hair. “Dr. Khan will know what is wrong. Just stay calm, precious.”

  “I am calm,” I said, fighting a smile. “It’s you who seems to be ready to have a complete breakdown.”

  He stopped pacing and just stood there, staring down at me. “I’m terrified I’m going to lose you or the baby, Monroe. Of course I’m close to a fucking breakdown. I’ve been this way since I left you back in Rome.”

  That had the smile teasing at my lips fading completely. “Let’s wait for the doctor,” I mumbled, turning my gaze out the window so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

  Moments later, there was a knock on the door. Gian called out, and the doctor walked in with one of the gun-toting guys right behind him. Medical bag in hand, Dr. Khan crossed to the bed. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Masterson?”

  “No,” Gian barked, turning toward the man with the wicked-looking gun. “You don’t ever come in here. She’s unclothed, and I will blind you if you so much as see a single inch of my woman naked.”

  The guard hastily exited, shutting the door soundly behind him as he went.

  I rolled my eyes to the doctor behind Gian’s back, and Dr. Khan quickly had to hide a grin. Until Gian turned to face him with a menacing look on his face. “And you will address her as Mrs. Fontana. Are we clear?”

  “That’s not my name,” I snipped at him. “And it never will be.”

  “I will not argue with you on this subject, precious,” he gritted out. “Your name will be changed as soon as I make a few phone calls.”

  Tears filled my eyes so quickly, I was unable to blink them back. “So, what? You’re going to marry me without an actual wedding? No pretty white dress? My dad won’t walk me down the aisle? You steal me away from my family, knowing I didn’t want to come here, and now you’re going to deny me a wedding too?”

  “Monroe,” he groaned, falling to his knees beside the bed. “Don’t cry. I’ll make it all happen. I promise. Just let me make you mine first. Once everything is sorted out, we can have a wedding. As big or as small as you want, precious. I promise.”

  Scrubbing one hand over my face, I pointed a shaky finger at him. “Fuck your promises. I’m not marrying you.” Another cramp hit me, and I was so startled, I cried out and rolled into a ball, holding myself together.

  Clenching my eyes closed, I silently prayed that the baby was going to be okay.

  “Mr. Fontana, may I request you step out?” Dr. Khan’s voice was full of a strength I hadn’t heard from him before. “My patient is obviously distressed, and I need to do a thorough exam to make sure she and the baby are in no danger.”

  Through my tears, I saw Gian get unsteadily to his feet. He gazed down at me with torment-filled eyes for a long moment before leaning over to brush a kiss across my brow. Straightening, he walked to the door and stepped out into the hall.

  Dr. Khan pulled on a pair of gloves and began his exam, and I continued to pray that my baby was okay.

  Chapter 16

  Gian

  With my fingers tangled in my hair, I paced back and forth in front of our bedroom door. The guard was long gone, probably too scared I would make good on the threat to blind him. But I couldn’t move more than a few feet from the door before my heart started to pound so hard I couldn’t fucking breathe.

  All I knew was that Monroe was in pain and crying behind those closed doors. There was nothing I could do to stop her discomfort or reassure her that everything was going to be okay. The doctor thought it was better to have me on this side of the door, and to keep her from feeling more stress, I’d stepped out.

  That had been countless minutes ago, however, and with each passing second, it became harder and harder to keep my distance.

  Right when I didn’t think I could take it another moment, the door opened. “You may come in, Mr. Fontana,” he said with a grim twist of his lips.

  Unable to stop my feet from moving, I quickly reentered the bedroom and moved straight for the bed. Monroe sat in the middle of the bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows behind her. Eyes closed, she had her tangled, still-wet hair spread out around her, and the covers were pulled up to her waist. I noticed she’d put on a nightgown, and I had to grit my teeth at the thought of the doctor seeing her naked.

  When I reached her, I grasped one of her hands and brought it to my lips, causing her eyes to snap open. “How are you feeling now, precious?” I asked in a voice still choked with emotion.

  “Still cramping,” she said with a sigh. “But Dr. Khan has reassured me everything is fine.”

  “The heartbeats are strong,” Khan said from the other side of the bed as he began packing up his medical bag. “And she is no longer spotting. It is my opinion that her uterus is expanding to make room and causing all of her discomfort. I do recommend utilizing the office of the local doctor and getting another ultrasound in the next few days. It seems the tech back in Oregon missed something.”

  I glared at the man. “What did they miss?” I snarled, ready to tear the staff back at that damned hospital apart.

  “The second baby,” Monroe murmured softly. “The ultrasound only showed one baby and one heartbeat on the scan. Maybe she wasn’t looking hard enough. Or perhaps one baby was hiding behind the other undetected, but Dr. Khan found two different heartbeats.”

  “Twins?” I wheezed out, falling to my knees beside the bed when my legs would no longer support me. “Two miracles?”

  The other man gave me a nod, a slight smile tilting his lips. “Congratulations, Mr. Fontana.” But his mouth quickly turned into a grim line once more. “Twins will put Mrs. Fontana’s pregnancy at higher risk. That will have to be taken into account when we find a replacement to take over her care.”

  “No,” I said, already shaking my head before he’d even finished speaking. No way was I going to let the most important people in my life be tended to by anything but the absolute best. This man would stay with Monroe the entire pregnancy—one way or another. “You will stay until she delivers our babies.”

  “But—”

  “Four million dollars, Doctor,” I interrupted before he could argue, and his eyes widened. “On top of the two million we already agreed on. Will that cover their care?”

  The doctor’s throat bobbed a few times, but then he nodded. “That is more than sufficient, sir.” He glanced at Monroe. “I will be back in to see you first thing in the morning, Mrs. Fontana. For now, get as much rest as you can. You appear to have had a very eventful few days, and you yourself confessed to not getting enough sleep in recent weeks. I think a light meal and an early night will do you some good.”

  She nodded weakly, folding her hands over her stomach. “Thank you, Dr. Khan.”

  We both remained quiet until the door shut behind the doctor, and then she reached out a hand, touching my face. The caress of her fingertips over my jaw calmed my pounding heart, and I leaned into it, greedy for more.

  “I don’t want to fight,” she said in a voice that was wobbly with exhaustion. “So let’s not talk right now, okay?”

  I gave an affirmative nod and turned my head to kiss her palm.

  “Could you…hold me?”

  I hated the hesitancy I heard in her tone, and I promised myself I would find a way to correct every doubt she had of me—us. Standing, I kicked off my shoes and took off my holster and tossed everything that was in my pockets onto the nightstand. It only took a matter of seconds, and then I was pulling back the covers and climbing in beside her.

 
One of her arms went over my stomach, and she pillowed her head on my chest. The perfection of holding her, the sheer peace that made everything inside me sigh in contentment, caused a lump to fill my throat. I was thankful she didn’t want us to speak because I wasn’t sure I could have at that moment.

  We lay like that for a long, long while. I rubbed my fingertips up and down her back in the way I knew she loved, and I was rewarded with the feel of goose bumps popping up along her skin. From her breathing, I could tell she was close to nodding off, but I remembered the doctor saying she needed to eat something before going to sleep.

  Clearing my throat, I lifted my head to look down at her. “What would you like to eat, precious?”

  Her brows scrunched together for a moment in thought. “I can’t remember the last time I ate,” she said, touching her stomach. “You asked me to eat on the plane, but my stomach was tossing at the time. I feel like I’m starving now, though.”

  “Mrs. Borsa will make you anything you ask for. Whatever you want, any time of day, she will be happy to serve you.”

  Her lips turned up in a slight smirk. “I’m sure she would be all too happy to poison my soup if I wake her up in the middle of the night, Gian. And I do know how to cook.”

  “I think Mrs. Borsa is more likely to poison you if you dare step foot in her kitchen with the intent of cooking for yourself than if you wake in the early hours of the morning, my love.” Unable to stop myself, I kissed the tip of her nose. “Tell me what you would like to eat. I need to feed you and those little angels causing you so much trouble before you fall asleep.”

  “I’ve been craving sweets lately,” she said with a twist of her lips. “My ass is already showing all the decadency I’ve indulged in this past week.”

  I cupped one luscious globe in my hand through her nightgown and squeezed. “Still perfect,” I murmured, kissing her nose again.

  “Remember that dessert we had one night in Rome that I couldn’t get enough of?”

  “Vividly,” I confirmed, my hand continuing to massage her hip.

  “I’ve craved it so much and even tried to recreate it…with disappointing results.” Her bottom lip pouted out for a moment before she gave a small shrug. “I should probably eat something other than sweets. Too much sugar isn’t good for the babies.”

  I lay there patiently with her in my arms until she decided what she wanted for dinner. After choosing soup and a sandwich, I got up to call Mrs. Borsa. But after I spoke to her, I texted my second-in-command and told Ugo to oversee the transport of Monroe’s favorite dessert to the villa. He would have to fly to Rome personally and bring it back packed in dry ice, and I told him to get extra, along with the exact recipe so Mrs. Borsa could make it for Monroe whenever she happened to have a craving in the future.

  It only took a few extra moments to get that sorted, and when I turned back to face Monroe, she was sitting up in bed, trying to untangle her damp hair with her fingers. Without a word, I walked into the bathroom and found a hairbrush and the bottle of detangling spray I knew she used, before returning to her.

  “Thanks,” she said when she saw what I had in my hands, but I didn’t relinquish the items.

  Instead, I sat and then lifted her so she was in front of me. After spraying her hair with the sweet, floral-scented detangler, I carefully worked the brush through her thick hair. That she didn’t protest and allowed me to take care of her soothed something deep inside of me that had been scraped raw during the weeks we were apart.

  “If we have daughters, you will need to teach me how to braid,” I murmured as I continued to stroke the brush through her hair long after all the tangles were gone.

  She glanced at me curiously over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t mind if we have girls?”

  I paused with the brush halfway through her hair. “I would feel like the luckiest man alive if we have nothing but girls.”

  Her eyes brightened, and then she released a small laugh. “Mila and Lyric are both hoping for boys. It would be hilarious if they had twin girls.”

  Placing the brush on the nightstand, I turned Monroe to face me and cupped her face. “I would like girls, but all I really want is for you and the babies to be safe and healthy. I will love them, regardless.”

  Her chin began to tremble. “Gian…”

  “Shh,” I murmured and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t argue with me right now, precious. Your food will be here soon, and I don’t want to upset your stomach.”

  Picking her up, I positioned her back against the pillows once more and then tucked the covers in around her. Getting out of bed, I grabbed the television remote where it lay on the entertainment center and returned to sit beside her. After a little channel-surfing, I found one of her favorite sitcoms and stretched out to get comfortable.

  After a few moments of silence, Monroe released a soft breath. “What was your mom’s name?”

  “Gianna,” I answered while keeping my gaze on the television.

  “That’s pretty.” She grew pensive for a few minutes before breaking the quiet. “Would you like to name one of the babies Gianna if we do have girls?”

  I snapped my head around to look at her. “You would be okay with that?”

  She lifted her brows. “You are their father, Gian. They aren’t just mine. If you really want to be a part of their lives, then I’m not going to stop you.”

  If? She was more insane than I was with this “if” bullshit. But I wasn’t going to argue with her—about this or anything else. Simply telling her I loved her and wanted to be a part of her and the babies’ lives every day for the rest of eternity wasn’t enough. I had to show her.

  “I would love to name one of our babies after her, precious.” I clasped her hand and brought it to my lips, pressing a kiss to her open palm. When I felt how fast her heart rate was, I kissed her again. “And if we are blessed with two girls? What should we name the other one?”

  Pretty pink color filled her cheeks, and she cleared her throat. “When I was a little girl, I would always name my dolls Lillianna.”

  “Gianna and Lillianna.” I tried out the names and smiled. “Beautiful names for the beautiful babies my beautiful Monroe will give me.”

  “Stop,” she scolded, but there was no heat in her tone. “I’m still mad at you.”

  “As you should be,” I said with a nod. “And you can remain angry with me for as long as you want. It’s my job to earn back your trust and your love.”

  “I still love you.” She pressed her lips together as if trying to clamp down on the words she’d just blurted out, making me grin happily. With a heavy sigh, she rolled her eyes. “I still love you,” she repeated. “I’ll never stop. But I don’t trust you, and I honestly don’t know if I ever will again.”

  “You will, precious,” I vowed. “I promise you, I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to trust me again—trust in me again.”

  Chapter 17

  Monroe

  That evening, I slept through the entire night for the first time in weeks. After eating my amazingly delicious dinner, I fell asleep cuddled up to Gian and didn’t open my eyes again until he was placing a decadently scented treat under my nose the next morning.

  “Mmm,” I moaned as I blinked open my eyes, inhaling that heavenly scent.

  A fork was touched to my bottom lip, and I all too willingly opened my mouth. The explosion of flavors on my tongue had me moaning again, and I began to chew. “How?” I demanded with a laugh as Gian sat on the edge of the bed with a dish of the dessert I’d been talking about craving the night before.

  “Anything you want, I will make happen,” he said with a simple lift of one shoulder. But then his eyes darkened as he fed me another bite. “Unless it means that you leave me.”

  My heart melted at the first part, and I felt a chill at the second, but I pushed away the feeling and accepted a third bite. “Oh, dear lord. That is so good,” I sighed in contentment and licked my lips again. “You don’t happen to hav
e a glass of milk by any chance, do you?”

  He turned and picked up the glass of milk I hadn’t noticed sitting on the nightstand. Holding the glass, he touched it to my lips. Laughing at his continuing to baby me, I drank thirstily and then opened my mouth for another bite.

  “Ugo got extra, but he also acquired the recipe,” Gian told me as he finished feeding me the last of the orgasmic dessert. “Mrs. Borsa will make it for you whenever you get a craving.”

  “Gian…” I leaned back against the pillows and looked up at him through my lashes as he stood. “Thank you.”

  Bending, he touched his lips to my forehead. “Anything for my love,” he murmured. Straightening, he offered me the glass of milk. “Relax for a moment. I have a matter to take care of, and then I’ll be right back.”

  I watched as the door closed behind him and then released another sigh. It had to be the pregnancy hormones making me so damn giddy over a slice of cake. But I knew it was because I was with Gian. There was no other reason why I would feel so…at peace.

  Then I remembered Mila and Maverick and how worried they must be for me. And Mom and Daddy… Poor Daddy. He was probably still in the hospital, recovering from two gunshot wounds. I needed to call my sister, reassure her I was okay, and find out how he was doing.

  Finishing off the milk, I stood, intending to walk into the closet. But when I did, the world began to spin, and I let out a startled cry and quickly dropped down onto the edge of the bed.

  Damn. Was this what Mila had been talking about?

  “Precious?” Gian called out as the door opened. “Monroe!”

  When I opened my eyes, he was crouched in front of me, cupping my face in his hands. “You’re pale. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

  I grimaced. “I think I got up too fast. It’s nothing, just a little dizziness. Mila said she’s been having a lot of issues with her blood pressure dropping.”

  “Sit right here,” he commanded. “I mean it. Don’t move…please.” He kissed my brow and stepped back. “I’ll be right back.”