219. A GIRL AND A BOY

219. A GIRL AND A BOY
KADE

For the first time in my life, I am afraid.

For the first time in my life, I feel so fucking helpless.

I have stood in front of guns. I have walked into wars knowing I might never walk back out.

I have watched men bleed to death in my arms. I have killed. I have been tortured.

I have survived things that should have buried me a long time ago.

None of it...

None of it came close to this.

Because this...

This is the first battle I cannot fight for her.

The operating theatre doors had closed almost two hours ago.

Two hours. One hundred and twenty-three minutes. Seven thousand three hundred and eighty seconds.

I counted every single one.

Every doctor who walked past made me stand. Every nurse who opened those doors made my heart stop.

Every time it wasn't them.

Every time.

"Kade."

I didn't respond.

"Kade."

It was Dante.

"Sit down before you punch another wall." I hadn't realised I'd broken the plaster.

Again.

Blood coated my knuckles. I couldn't remember hitting it.

Hana quietly walked over with a first-aid kit. She didn't ask for my permission.

She simply took my hand and started wrapping the cuts.

"You'll need your hands." She whispered.

"...when you hold them."

Them.

I looked toward the operating theatre.

Not the nursery. Not once. Another hour passed. Or maybe ten minutes.

Time had stopped making sense.

Then—

The doors opened.

Every person in the waiting room stood.

The doctor pulled down her mask.

"Congratulations." The word sounded foreign.

"You have healthy twins."

Healthy. My knees nearly gave way.

"A boy."

"A girl."

Both breathing.

Both crying.

Both perfect.

"And..."

She smiled.

"Your wife is safe."

Everything inside me collapsed.

Not outwardly.

Inside.

The air finally entered my lungs again.

"Can I see her?"

"She'll be in recovery for a little while."

"What about the babies?" Dante asked.

"They're in the nursery."

Everyone turned toward me.

Waiting.

Waiting for me to run.

To become the excited father.

I couldn't.

"I'll wait."

Nobody argued.

Not even Dante.



The recovery room was unnaturally quiet.

Machines beeped steadily beside the bed.

Seline looked impossibly pale beneath the white blankets.

Smaller somehow. Fragile.

I hated it.

I pulled the chair closer until my knees touched the bed.

Then took her hand.

Still warm. Thank God.

I brought it to my lips.

"I'm here." She couldn't hear me.

I knew that.

I said it anyway.

Hours passed.

Or maybe minutes.

The nurses came and went.

Someone brought coffee.

It grew cold.

"Kade."

Dante again.

"They're asking if you want to see the babies."

"No."

"They're your children."

"I know."

"They're waiting."

"No."

His sigh echoed through the room.

"You can be here afterwards."

"I'll be here now."

Another silence.

"She's asleep."

"I know."

"But she made it."

"I know."

"So go."

"No."

Dante rubbed his face. "I will be here with Seline. You go and look at the babies."

He doesn't understand. None of them could. I couldn't leave her.

He looked at Seline. Then at me. Then quietly left.

Hana stayed.

She walked over to the bed and gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind Seline's ear.

"She's going to be okay."

"I know."

"You don't sound like you believe it."

"I'll believe it..."

I swallowed. "...when she opens her eyes."

Hana squeezed my shoulder.

She didn't try to convince me again.

She simply sat beside me.

Waiting too.



The room became noisier sometime later.

Layla stormed inside first.

Not running.

Walking as fast as the nurses would allow.

Her eyes immediately found the bed.

Not me.

Not the babies.

Seline.

"Oh..."

Her voice broke.

"...look at you."

She leaned down and kissed Seline's forehead.

Zaley quietly disappeared toward the nursery without saying a word.

Of course he did.

Layla belonged beside Seline.

Zaley understood that.

He always did.

Dante returned carrying two tiny hospital blankets.

"Kade."

"No."

"You haven't even looked."

"I said no."

"They're beautiful."

"I'm sure they are."

"You'll regret—"

"I won't."

My voice came out harsher than intended.

The room fell silent.

I closed my eyes. "I just..."

I looked at Seline.

"...need her to come back first."



Her fingers moved first.

A tiny twitch against my palm.

I sat upright immediately.

"Slowly, her eyelashes fluttered.

Green eyes met mine.

Confused.

Heavy with exhaustion.

"Kade..."

The weakest whisper.

I had never heard anything more beautiful.

I laughed.

Actually laughed. "You scared me."

"I did?"

She sounded genuinely confused.

"You were asleep."

"I know."

She frowned slightly.

"The babies..."

"They're fine."

Her eyes searched mine.

"You looked?"

I smiled.

"No."

Her brows knitted together.

"You idiot."

The insult carried almost no strength behind it.

"I wanted to look at you first."

For a long second...

Neither of us spoke.

Then she smiled

"Go." She whispered.

"They're waiting."

I kissed her forehead. "A boy and a girl," I tell her.

"I'm so fucking proud of you."

She gave me a week smile. "We finally became parents."

"Yes, we did."

I close my eyes, kissing her forehead. "I never want to put you through this pain again.”



The nursery felt strangely intimidating.

Two transparent bassinets stood side by side.

Zaley was already there.

One tiny baby in each arm.

He looked ridiculously natural.

He noticed me.

Didn't speak.

Simply walked over.

"The boy."

He gently placed the little bundle into my arms.

He weighed nothing.

Yet somehow...

Everything.

He opened one eye. He has Seline's eyes. Sea green.

Then another.

Tiny fingers wrapped around my little finger with surprising determination.

I looked at him.

And immediately understood.

I would give this boy everything.

My name.

My empire.

My life.

If the world demanded mine in exchange for his...

It would have it.

Without hesitation.

Then...

My gaze drifted to the second bundle.

The little girl.

She was asleep.

Peacefully.

Completely unaware of the world she'd entered.

Zaley carefully transferred her into my arms.

She fit even more easily against my chest.

So small.

So impossibly delicate.

"She has your eyes," Zaley informed me.

My girl.

She yawned.

Something inside me snapped.

Not with love.

That had already happened.

With something darker.

Primal.

Violent.

Protective.

I looked at her tiny face...

And suddenly, every man who would ever look at her became an enemy.

Every danger.

Every monster.

Every nightmare.

Every person who might one day make her cry.

Every hand that might hurt her.

Every soul foolish enough to think they could touch what was mine.

The world had survived because I allowed it to.

For her...

I would burn it without losing a second of sleep.

The boy...

I would die for him.

The girl...

I would make the world die before it ever reached her.

Behind me...

Zaley quietly laughed.

"Told you."

I didn't ask what.

Because I already knew.

He'd had daughters before me.

He understood.

God help anyone...

Whoever gave my little girl a reason to cry.

"Have you decided on the names yet?" He asked me.

"She is Celia," I told him. "That's what Seline would want."

She never told me, but she believed that her sister would be born to her.