Chapter 80

NOLAN’S POV

“I can take a walk down the fucking street by myself, Nolan!” Anna snapped, already halfway to the door, her hand pressed against the arch of her back.

I followed, stopping just behind her. “I can't let you go alone. You know that.”

She turned slightly, her eyes a familiar blend of fire and frustration that had made me fall for her in the first place. “Nolan, I’m pregnant, not disabled.”

“You know what? Maybe when my mother gets back from the store with Ivan, she can follow you for the walk. How does that sound?” I asked. 

She turned fully, with one hand dramatically pointing to her belly. “Nolan, if you don't let me go for this walk, I swear, I will fall face-first to the floor right here in this house. Your choice.”

I stared at her, my lips parted slightly. I folded my arms, trying to gauge whether she was just venting or genuinely serious. She sounded exhausted.

“Okay,” I said finally, raising my hands in surrender. “Okay. You can go. Just... be careful.”

She gave me a quick nod, then opened the door and stepped out. I watched her from the front porch, my hand resting on the doorframe. A part of me wanted to grab the keys and follow her with the car. But the other part knew she just needed some air from being cooped up in this house. 

So I let her go.

I closed the door quietly and turned towards the living room to distract myself with work. 

Dimitri had dropped off some documents when he came around this morning and three different burner phones. I picked up the one with the encrypted line and dialed.

“Dimitri.” I greeted him as he picked up. 

“Damn, look who remembers we have work to do,” Dimitri's voice said.

“Shut the hell up. How are things over there?”

He sighed. “I’m still holding down the fort,” Dimitri's voice crackled through. “But you might need to step in soon.”

I ran a hand down my face. “What’s going on?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Two of our warehouses got blown up. Back-to-back.”

I cursed under my breath. “In the same state?”

“Nah, different locations.”

“Any leads on Raul’s sponsor, have we tracked him down yet?” I asked, pacing around the room. 

“We’re close. We have some surveillance videos of him, but we’re narrowing down his exact location,” Dimitri said.

I let out a deep breath. “I just want Anna to have the baby first. I can’t bring this chaos anywhere near her right now.” 

Dimitri’s tone softened. “I get it, Nolan. I do. But if we get a lock on Raul’s sponsor—“

“—Then I have to come in,” I cut in. “I’ll step in when the time comes. Until then, keep us out of trouble.”

“Copy that.”

“Okay, talk—“

“Wait.” he cut me off. “How’s my baby?”

I raised a brow. “Your baby?” 

“Yes. you know, the one Anna is nurturing for me.” I could hear the smirk in his tone. 

“You really do have a death wish," I said.

“You threaten me with that all the time and I’ve managed to stay alive," Dimitri replied.

“Must be your luck, Dimitri. Get the fuck off my phone.” I said ending the call. 

As I ended the call, I heard the front door creak open.

I peeked out of the living room to see who was coming in. I saw Ivan carrying three oversized shopping bags, with bright colors and baby cartoon animals printed on them. My mother followed behind him, holding a folded stroller under one arm and a bag of diapers in the other.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," I muttered as I stepped into the hallway.

"This is only the first batch," my mother said with a wide grin. 

I turned to my mom. "There’s barely any space to walk around here. Where do you plan to put all these things?"

She shrugged with a sheepish smile. "Well, I thought we could use the closet in your room until you two figure out a proper nursery."

"The closet? Mom, where would we put our clothes?"

"I don’t care, my grandbaby is more important," she said with a shrug.  

Ivan chimed in. "I can get someone to try to open and clear out the locked room, sir."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, you do that before this woman turns the whole house upside down."

My mother patted my shoulder. "You’ll be just fine, son."

“Yeah, sure.”

“By the way, where is Anna? Is she sleeping?” 

Just as she said that it hit me.

Anna wasn’t back yet.

I checked the time. She’d been gone long enough.

“She went for a walk,” I said.

“Alone?” my mother asked, her eyes widening. 

“Trust me, it wasn’t an easy decision,” I replied.

“Now, that I can imagine,” my mother said.

“I can go fetch her, boss,” Ivan offered. 

"Nah, I’ll take a walk down the road. Just to check," I told them as I grabbed my hoodie and headed out.

The air was crisp, and the early evening light cast long shadows over the sidewalk. I walked quickly at first, scanning the empty streets. Then I saw her.

Anna was coming around the bend, walking slowly with one hand supporting her back. When her eyes met mine, a smile stretched across her lips, so warm and wide that it made something in my chest ache in the best way.

I smiled too and spread my arms as I walked towards her.

She walked into my arms without hesitation, and I wrapped them around her. I held her gently, trying not to press too hard against her belly.

"I wish time would stop right here. Just us. Just this."I whispered against her hair. 

She pulled back slightly, looking up at me. "Why’d you come out? I said I wanted some alone time."

"I know," I said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "But I was missing you and the baby."

She laughed softly. "You saw me like thirty minutes ago."

"That’s thirty minutes too long," I said, kissing her forehead.

We turned and began walking back together, hand in hand.

After a few quiet steps, I said, “I think it might be time to start looking at those properties I mentioned.”

“Why?” she asked, looking up at me. “I thought we could still make do for now till the stress reduces.”

“I agree with you, Princess, but at this rate, my mother’s going to buy out the entire baby store,” I said.

Anna laughed. "You’re right. How the hell does she even know what to buy? We’re not even finding out the gender until delivery."

"She’s buying neutral colors, but I swear half of that stuff is pink," I said.

"And glittery. Did you see the glittery onesies last week?"

"I still have glitter on my car seat from them."

We both laughed and for a moment, all the worries about Raul and the empire I was trying to keep from collapsing didn’t exist.

Just us.