Chapter 44

The surgical waiting room was quiet again now, save for the occasional shuffle of a nurse’s sneakers passing by the open door. Keira was curled in a chair, cradling a cup of coffee. Luca figured it would be stone cold by now. Blair sat cross-legged by the window, thumbing through a magazine on her lap, but the way she wasn’t spending any time on each page, he doubted she was even reading it.

Roman sat beside her, his hand rubbing up and down her back as he checked his watch again.

Luca’s phone buzzed in his lap.

Nick De Santis’s name showed on the screen. Luca stared at it for a beat, thumb hesitating above the screen.

Of all the moments for his father to call!

For one brief second, he thought about letting it ring out, telling himself he would call back later. After Sutton woke up. After he saw the baby. After he knew they would both be okay.

But it wasn’t just Sutton lying unconscious in recovery. He still hadn’t been allowed to see her.

It was a