Chapter 1 The Birth

Amara Romano POV 

I wake up to crushing pain. It’s not just in my stomach anymore, it rattles the bones of my entire body. I touch my hand between my legs and when I feel how wet the floor beneath me is, I know I’m in real trouble. I look around the room hoping he’s not here anymore, if he isn’t I can take my chance and try to escape, in between the contractions I'm having. However, there doesn’t seem much hope of that when I see him from the corner of my eye and feel another pain starting to build, already. “Daniel!” I clutch my belly, shifting myself so my back is against the wall. I tense my body when another contraction paralyzes me. “Please.” I’ve forgotten all the different ways to breathe all I can think about now, are the things Dr. Jonathan Ferrero told me could go wrong if I were to deliver without medical help. “Please, Daniel. I need a hospital.”

“I told you, Amara, my mother gave birth to me in this cabin. The heir to all the Russo fortune, and reputation, was pushed into the world from a dirty mattress on a rusty bed. I think it’s fitting that your son comes into the world the same way.” He chuckles to himself. “Let’s just get me safe. It's not too late. Manfred will forgive you, he loves you.”

I sob, because I know I’m going to end up having this baby here, with this unstable bastard. “You think I want his forgiveness?”

Daniel laughs even more hysterically. “Amara, I want his destruction. When your son is born, I will take him. Manfred will never find him, the only way he will get him back is to admit that everything is mine. He will have to stand down and give me the power or I will kill his son.”

 “Fuck!” I curse when another contraction punishes my body, the pressure between my legs is becoming unbearable, I feel an overwhelming urge to push but I know I can’t. I can’t deliver my son here, straight into the arms of a monster.

“Does it hurt?” The smug son of a bitch crouches down in front of me. I don’t answer him, just stare into his eyes and let the hate I feel for him distract me from the pain I’m in. “It’s a shame the seed you filled your belly with wasn’t mine, you could have had yourself a real little prince.”

He strokes his hand over my clenched, tight stomach, and I wish I had the energy to shove it away. Right now, I feel like I’m in too much pain to even keep my eyes open. Light from outside shines through the cabin window and I wonder if it’s daylight and we’ve been here all night.

My chest sags with relief when I hear the heavy pounding on the door and Manfred screams my name. Daniel stands up and grips his gun tighter in his hand. I scream when he snatches my hair and uses it to drag me across the floor, away from the door that rattles as Manfred tries to break it down. It crashes open, and the fear I see on Manfred’s face tells me everything I need to know. I focus on the pain that feels like it’s splitting me in two, rather than the hard metal I can feel pressing into the top of my skull.

“Daniel, put the gun down.” Manfred shocks me when he reaches down to the floor and lays his gun flat. “You don’t want to hurt her, to get to me.”

 “See, that’s where you're wrong Manfred. I’ve come to learn that, me hurting her, is the only thing that will get to you.” Daniel sounds so casual, and when I notice my father step in slowly behind Manfred, he looks just as fearful.

“The baby’s coming,” I whimper, throwing my head back and growling deeply when I can’t hold off the resistance to push, any longer. “I have to push.”

“It’s okay, Princess. I’m here now.” Manfred’s petrified, but he’s doing his best to hide it from me. “Daniel, your issue is with me, not with her. I have Anna outside, let me call her in here so she can help.”

“What I want, is you dead. It was never meant to be Tamara, that day.” I hear the shake in Daniel’s voice, and when the pain I’m in becomes too much to bear, I decide I have to fight for the son I’m about to push into this world.

Twisting my head, I take the risk of a bullet when I sink my teeth deep into Daniel’s leg. Manfred uses the distraction to dive onto him, struggling with him on the ground and smashing the hand, he’s gripping the gun with, on the floor. I quickly scurry out of the way, placing myself back in the corner of the room so I can finally give in to my body's demands.

“Help her!” My father calls out, and Anna rushes through the door. It's a relief to see her, but my relief is short-lived when the gun goes off with an ear-splitting bang. 

Manfred Russo POV 

Seeing him holding a gun to her head was enough to make my heart stop beating, and when Amara fought back, I knew her distraction would be my only chance. Daniel is bigger than me, he always has been. But I fight a thousand armies inside me, as I attack him. The grip he has on the gun is too tight, it doesn’t matter how many times I slam his hand into the ground, he’s not giving it up; so I keep his wrist pinned while I smash my fist into his head, over and over, again. He manages to catch me with a left hook that sets me a little off guard, and when he lifts the gun, to point it at my face, I'm surprised when Amara’s father comes in from my right and kicks Daniel’s head like it’s a football.

The gun goes off, grazing through my shoulder instead of my skull; when I look up at the man who just saved my life, he nods his head, as he drags a dazed Daniel up off the floor and holds him upright with his arms behind his back.

“Manfred!”

I hear Amara screaming from the corner of the room, and when I glance over my shoulder and see her with her knees braced up to her chest, panting, I know I have to make this quick “You're lucky she needs me. I’d have liked to have made this much slower.”

I reach down for the knife that I always keep strapped to my ankle, and just as he goes to say something, I slice the blade across his throat. Blood flows from the gash like a river, and when Amara’s father lets his body slump to the floor, I look down at my best friend and feel an unexpected pang of sadness.

“Go be with her.” Steven’s voice shakes me out of the trance I’m in, as he looks across the room at his daughter. And I waste no more time, rushing over to my wife and dropping to my knees beside her.

 “Is he dead?” she manages, in between the breaths she’s making.

“He’s dead,” I assure her, taking her hand and letting her squeeze it. “Did you love her?”

She forces her words out, as her face screws up with pain. “Love who?”

“The woman you were having a child with. You told me you only ever….Holy fuck, this hurts!”

Her hand shakes as her nails dig into my palm. “No, I didn’t love her. The child wasn’t planned, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t grieve it,”

I tell her, swiping away the hair that’s stuck to her forehead and fallen into her eyes. “But none of that matters, now. What matters, is this.”

“He’s coming, Manfred, it’s too early and he’s coming. What if something goes wrong?” She starts sobbing and I feel completely fucking helpless. “Nothing’s going to go wrong. He’s gonna be fine, just concentrate and listen to what Anna tells you. She’s delivered lots of babies, she knows what she’s doing.” Anna looks up at me and raises her brow because she knows, as well as I do, that I’m lying, and when I throw her a stern look of warning, she strokes the shaking leg that Amara has balanced over her shoulder.

“What if he’s coming out the wrong way, or if he’s too big?” Amara continues to freak out and I realize I have to put all my fears aside and take some control of the situation.

“Listen to me.” I grab her face in my hands and force her eyes onto mine. “You are doing great, you are going to push as hard as you can and our son is going to be fine,” I tell her firmly, and when she nods back at me, through her tears, I quickly release her and take hold of her hand, again. “He’s definitely not coming out the wrong way, I can see his head.” Anna looks up at Amara with a reassuring smile on her face. Hearing that seems to give Amara a new strength, she presses the back of her head against the wall behind her, tensing her whole body as she pushes.

“I can’t deliver my baby in the same room as a dead man,” she tells me through her gritted teeth. “I’m on it.”

Her father quickly grabs Daniel by his ankles and starts dragging him out of the cabin, leaving a thick trail of blood in his path, while Amara continues to push.

“The head’s out. He’s almost here!” Anna’s voice comes out excited.

“You hear that? It’s almost over, you're gonna have our little boy in your arms any minute, Amara,” I tell her, shrugging out my jacket and passing it to Anna so she’ll have something to wrap him in. “It hurts. I wanted drugs,” she cries, taking a breath before the next contraction hits her. “We’ll get you drugs for the next one, I promise” I assure her, and when both her, and Anna, give me the same shocked look, I wonder which one of them is going to punch me first. I smile back at my wife, awkwardly, and she proves she isn’t mad when she makes that cute, little laugh. It only lasts until her next contraction hits, and her face suddenly turns serious, again. She growls like a tiger, pushing so hard that her skin turns red and her whole body shakes. “Shoulders are out… and tummy… and legs and…he’s here!” Anna yells, over the sound of crying. “And another one, she’s beautiful!”

When I look down into her arms and see my son and daughter, wailing, and wiggling his limbs, I glance back to Amara and see joy on her face, too. “He’s here, she’s here.” I can hardly believe my own words, as I stare at the two tiny persons we made, who are finally with us. “And they’re perfect.” Anna wraps them up in my suit jacket and places them in the mother’s arms, and Amara kisses their tiny, little head despite all the blood and shit that’s stuck to them.

“You did it.” I kiss her hard on her lips before looking at my son and daughter again. They are still screaming, their lungs out, but it’s the sweetest sound I ever heard, and when I wrap them both up in my arms, for the first time in my life I feel like I did something good.

A twin - boy and girl.

XXX