I gave it all up.

Everything.

The guns. The lifestyle. The mansion. My security team and employees. Everything.

It’s gone.

None of that mattered anyway. The only thing that mattered was Eden. I was addicted to her from the moment I took her. I thought I was obsessed with Nina, but it was nothing compared to what I feel now for Eden.

The only thing I kept is money, but Eden will hardly let me spend it. We moved into her condo in Los Angeles, which is beautiful, light, and airy, but it’s not very big. Not when we are about to bring another life into this world.

“Matteo?” she moans on all fours, her gorgeous ass in the air, begging me to enter her.

I grab her hips and press my cock to her entrance. Eden is due to have our baby any day. But she’s insatiable. I didn’t think we should, but Eden begged for my cock, and I’m always happy to oblige.

“I love you, baby,” I say, kissing down her back.

“That doesn’t sound like fucking,” she snaps back sassily.

I laugh as I begin to push my cock inside her.

“Wait…ow…” she moans.

I stop and move to her head.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I think that was a contraction.”

I grin. Yes. Finally. I don’t think I can take much more of a pregnant Eden. I love her. I want to spend my life with her forever. But her mood swings are killing me.

I help her off the bed and put a T-shirt and sweats on so we can go to the hospital in a few hours, since her contractions just started.

“Matteo, I think we need to get to the hospital. Now,” she says, gripping my hand tightly at a contraction.

It shouldn’t be this painful this early, should it? I think.

“Um… are you sure?”

Her look tells me she will kill me if I don’t get her to the hospital ASAP.

“Okay,” I say, as I grab the bag she packed, and then take her hand and lead her out of the condo, with her stopping every few feet to rest as another contraction hits her.

It takes us twenty minutes to make it to the elevator, and our car is parked in a garage three blocks away. I’m afraid we won’t make it.

We step into the elevator, while I try to figure out how to call an Uber.

“The baby is coming!” she screams. “The baby is coming, now!”

Shit, shit, shit.

“Okay, stay calm.”

She lies down on the floor, and I see the baby’s head crowning.

“This baby’s coming!” I shout.

She half laughs, half screams.

“Breathe baby. You got this. You are a fighter. You have survived much worse. Push our baby out.”

I’ve never helped deliver a baby before, but I know enough. As long as nothing goes wrong, I just need to catch the baby and keep it warm. If nothing goes wrong.

This is us. Everything bad will go wrong. But we didn’t survive everything we’ve been through for Eden to die in childbirth. Not going to happen.

“Push, baby,” I say.

Eden pushes and our daughter lands in my arms. I wrap the baby in my shirt, and hold her up to Eden’s chest.

My heart stops until I hear her cry. It’s a magnificent sound.

Eden cries, as well, as she holds our daughter. I wrap my arms around both of them, knowing I need to call an ambulance soon, but right now I can’t. I just want to be happy with Eden.

“That was one of the scariest moments of my life,” I say.

Eden smiles. “Me too. But we’re fine. And we have a daughter.”

I stroke our daughter’s cheek.

“What should we name her?”

She thinks for a moment. “Nora.”

“It’s beautiful.”

I reach into my pocket, pull out my phone, and call an ambulance. Then I call Arlo to tell Nina and Gia to meet us at the hospital to meet their new niece.

Everyone is living in LA now. None of us have jobs at the moment, but we will figure all of that out soon enough. We have each other, and we are safe.

I look down at my daughter and the woman I love. They are safe. I ensured their safety by giving up my life as a criminal, and by making Clive and Erick happy, giving them my empire. I knew they would always be running after us if I didn’t. We would never be safe. This was the only way.

I did everything I could to protect my family and today was still the scariest day of my life. Because I realized that sometimes we can’t save people. Sometimes they die anyway.

Today we beat the odds. Eden lived. We get to keep being a family for another day.

I was afraid to love Eden because I knew what it meant. Especially after loving Nina. I loved her, and she was taken from me. Eden could be taken from me just as easily. But it is still worth it to love her.

I may live my life afraid of losing her, but that is what love is. Love is fear. But that fear can’t keep us from living.