Paco has the nurse who brought in Kadyn’s bottle pinned against the wall, his forearm pressing into her throat as he roars, “Where’s my baby?!”

Abe reaches them first, ripping Paco back by the shoulder with so much force he crashes into the opposite side of the corridor. Momentarily stunned, Paco shakes his head once, then refocuses his rage on Abe, who’s checking on the nurse. I intercept his fist right before it connects with the back of Abe’s head. Locking my hand around his fist, I squeeze.

“Stop!”

Paco’s crazed eyes lock on me and his anger amplifies. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He gets up in my face, spit spraying on me as he yells, “You shouldn’t even be here.” He tugs his arm, trying to break his fist free from my grip.

Abe joins me, and our much larger frames crowd Paco back against the wall. “Calm your shit, they’re not going to tell you a goddam thing when you come at them like this,” I say, gesturing to him with my chin, “You’re so fucking jacked up, you’re scaring them.”

“Fuck you, Zak. Where’s my fucking baby?”

Closing my eyes, I know I need to tone this situation down before I can talk to him reasonably, but all I want to do is tell him he’s the one who needs to fuck off. Kadyn is mine.

“She’s safe,” is all I say, but it’s enough for him to relax a fraction. “She’s healthy, and perfect,” I tell him, each detail calming him more. “Can we talk now?”

He swallows hard and gives me a stiff nod as the fight drains from his body. I can’t really blame him for his reaction, I know that. If our roles were reversed, I’d probably be acting the same way. Releasing his fist, I take a step back. “There’s a sitting room around the corner,” I tell him then lead the way. Paco follows me and Abe trails us.

There’s no way I’m taking him into Kadyn’s room, I don’t want him to even see her, but I know that wouldn’t be right. I won’t do that to him. Entering a room designed for parents to take a break in, I sit in a chair by the window. Paco takes the one across from me while Abe leans against the doorframe his arms crossed and focus solely on Paco.

“How much do you know?” I ask him. Now that I’m really looking at him, I can see the visible effect the news has had on him. His eyes are bloodshot, red smudges circle them and his normally tanned complexion is washed out and pale.

He leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees, hands laced tightly between them, “A woman came to the house a couple hours ago, said Louisa had been in a bad car accident and…” His jaw locks, and I understand exactly what he’s going through.

I finish for him, “Lu didn’t make it.”

Paco nods, “Yeah, she said the doctors where going to try save the baby but she didn’t know if it would work or not. I came here straight away, but no one would tell me shit. I’ve been here for three fucking hours.”

Shit, that’s all he knows, that’s fucked up. Shaking my head, I offer to fill in the blanks. “I can tell you whatever you need to know, man. I’m the one they called when she was bought in after the accident. I’m down as Lu’s next of kin.”

“Why the fuck are you still down on that shit? We’ve been together for over two years, you aren’t shit to her now,” he says, resentment radiating off him in waves.

Abe straightens from his post, about to step forward but I shake my head, stopping him. “Man, nothing in this world would come between me and Lu, not even you. You understand? We were everything to each other for a long fucking time, you never accepted it, so she didn’t talk to you about me anymore. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been a part of her life while you’ve been together.”

His jaw locks, I can see him grinding his teeth together. He knows what I’m saying is true.

I’m not trying to rub our relationship in his face but he’s kidding himself if he thinks she cut me out of her life for him. “Paco,” I say and wait for him to look at me, “You want to know what happened, or you going sit there stewing on me and Lu still being friends?”

His knees bounce and agitation rolls off him in waves. “Talk. Did she suffer? Was she…was she in pain?” his voice cracks.

Agony splinters through me, because fuck, reliving it hurts. “No.” I swallow the emotions trying to force their way into this moment. I can’t handle them and Paco at the same time. “Instant brain death is what the doctor told me. She didn’t feel a thing. She must have hit her head really fucking hard. It was messed up bad, she was barely recognisable.”

Paco’s eyes glaze. He can’t hold back his emotions any more than I can, but we both try. He whispers in Latin as he performs the cross symbol, “In nominee Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Santi.” Paco is a staunch Catholic.

“So,” he clears his throat after a prolonged silence, “You saw her?”

I nod, “Yes, I’ll never forget it. She was hooked up to a breathing machine, bandages soaked in blood wrapped around her head, tubes and cords everywhere. She wasn’t our Lu. She was already gone. They were just keeping her body alive until I got here, then they asked me if they should attempt to save the baby, or…” My throat closes and I struggle to finish telling Paco what he needs to know, “Or to let her go with Lu.”

He’s rocking now, my words sinking soul deep just as they did me when the doctors told me what was happening. I have never felt so utterly helpless and alone in my life.

My entire life I’ve worked on making myself strong, formidable, and proficient. I work my ass off training until I master whatever skill I need to better myself. All so I can protect the people important to me. But I couldn’t protect Lu. I couldn’t even help her. I was useless.

I think about Red…there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. But if this can happen to Lu, that means it can happen to Red too. To Kadyn. Fuck, what good is all the training in the world if I’m not there when shit goes down?

Paco and I sit in silence for god knows how long. Lost in our memories, our thoughts, our failings.

My head jerks up when he speaks, “You said she’s safe. My baby is a girl?”

I nod, biting back my retort that she’s not his. “Yeah, a healthy little girl. Real little, five pounds eight ounces. She’s tiny.”

“Where is she? I want to see her,” he says, tapping his fingers on his leg and turmoil clouding his tone.

My stomach churns, my eyes dart to Abe and he returns my stare. It’s about to get messy. I clasp my hands together in front of me. “You can see her, but we need to talk more first.”

Paco’s eyes narrow, his shoulders stiffen and his lip curls in a sneer, “Why?”

I don’t want to crush the dude but I can’t let him keep thinking Kadyn is his. “She’s mine. The baby, she’s not your baby, she’s mine.”

Red hot rage sears me. Paco launches for me the second the words leave my mouth. “The fuck she is!” he booms, “No fucking way! That baby is mine! You keep your fucking hands off her!”

Abe’s hands wrap around Paco’s biceps, pulling his arms behind his back and yanking him away from me.

“I’m sorry, Paco. It only happened once, after you guys got into a fight one night. It was just over eight months ago, it fits with Lu’s medical records,” I tell him, getting to my feet.

I’m a good foot taller than Paco, but he’s a strong little fucker. He reefs an arm out of Abe’s hold, delivering a killer right hook to my jaw. I stumble back a step, not expecting the hit. Blood pools inside my cheek, and I automatically return the blow, my knuckles coming into contact with the underside of his chin.

Abe steps back, letting us get this shit over with. Paco comes at me, his shoulder lowered as he charges into my chest temporarily winding me, he wrapping his arms around my torso as he drives us back. We topple over the chair I was sitting in, crashing to the ground. A fist slams into my ribs then another to my temple before I can flip us. Reversing our position so I’m straddling him, I rain down punch after punch into his face.

He bucks his hips throwing me off and we scramble to our feet. “I knew you wanted her, I fucking knew it!” he seethes, “Fuck you, Zak! That baby is mine!”

I shake my head. “She’s not,” I yell back. I’ve had enough of this shit. It’s too much to go through in one day. I wrap my fingers around his throat and walk him backwards, slamming him into the wall with so much force his head is thrown back, cracking against the brick. “She’s mine,” I say again, my eyes boring into his. “The paternity test will be back tomorrow, you’ll have it in writing. She’s. Mine!”

His body struggles under the crushing pressure of my hand around his throat. “Fuck—you,” he grits out.

Bringing myself even closer to him I press my body against his, forcing the air from his lungs with the wait of me. “If you don’t stop this shit right now, I’ll make sure you never lay eyes on that baby girl. You get me?” I whisper darkly, “Never.”

He breathes hard, his face changing from red to purple the longer I hold him. Abe’s hand on my shoulder lets me know I need to let go, and I do, dropping Paco to crumple on the floor.

Rubbing the marks my hand left around his neck, he glares up at me with all the hate and malice I know he’s always felt towards me. But I don’t care. I’m done here. My fists ache from the scuffle and I flex my fingers as I tell Abe, “Bring him in when you’re ready.” Turning my glare back down to the piece of shit on the floor, I crouch in front of him. “Clean yourself up. You and I aren’t going to talk again until the results of the paternity test come back tomorrow. And when you know she’s mine, you’re going to leave. And never come back.”

Returning to Kadyn’s room, I slip into the bathroom, keeping my face averted from Red’s view and close the door behind me. Blood seeps from a cut on my bottom lip and another that splits my right brow. That one’s probably going to need a butterfly stitch. I soak a couple of hand towels in cold water, cleaning the excess blood away. Red’s will be pissed, but it had to happen. Better to get it over with now.

Looking at my reflection, I shrug, because that’s as good as I’m going to get it. I wash my hands with soap then exit the bathroom. “I’ve gotta talk to the nurse for a sec,” I tell Red over my shoulder as I dart out of the room again. I find three women milling around behind the nurse station, one is rocking a baby to sleep, and the other two are filling out charts. I clear my throat, “Uh, ladies, could I get something for this please?” I ask, motioning to my busted eyebrow.

They balk. “What happened?” the head nurse asks.

“It’s nothing. I just need to put something on it, it’s a bit deep,” I tell her.

She raises an unimpressed brow, “Yeah, that’s not good enough,” she says, getting to her feet and rounding the desk. She gets in my face, poking the bruises blooming on my jaw and chin. “Is this what was happening in the parent’s room?”

I nod, “Yes, but it won’t happen again. I’ll pay for any damages,” I assure her.

“Damn right you will. This is a maternity ward in a hospital. People don’t come here to get injuries, they come to get them fixed,” she says. “Where’s the other man who was out here harassing Juanita earlier?”

“He won’t be bothering the staff again, but he will likely be around until that paternity test is finalised,” I tell her.

Nodding once she turns on her heal, “Come with me,” she calls over her shoulder, taking me to a storage room and pointing to a chair in the corner. “Sit.”

I do as I’m told and she wastes no time patching me up.

“All done,” she says two minutes later, “Will the other man need attention?”

I shrug, “Don’t know, maybe you should check? His name is Paco, and I think he’s in the parent’s room still. He’s not alone, my friend Abe is in there keeping an eye on him, so you’ll be safe.”

“Thank you,” she nods and gathers some supplies to go tend to him, “Will your friend Abe be staying the duration of Paco’s stay?”

I understand her wanting to have someone around to keep Paco in check, especially after the way he roughed up her nurse Juanita earlier. “If not him, then I’ll arrange someone else. I work for a private security firm, I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you, that would be appreciated. The hospital security is shorthanded as it is, and they have their hands full with a situation involving a celebrity in another wing of the hospital right now,” she explains.

“It’s the least I can do, I’m sorry about all this,” I tell her, she gives me a slight smile and a small nod, then leaves to attend to Paco and I brace myself to face Red.