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“You need to see a doctor,” I muttered, closing the door.
“I’ll do what I need to after I’ve checked on Cali and Justice,” she said as I took the front passenger seat. “And I’m warning you now, Garret. Keep yourself in check, or I’ll kick your ass out of the hospital faster than you can blink.”
“You gonna throw me out a window, Nova?” I found myself teasing, glancing back at her over my shoulder.
Without even blinking, she shrugged. “If I have to.”
It took a while to get to the hospital, but as soon as Guzman pulled up in front of the entrance, another member of the Ramirez security team was there to park the car for him. Nova stepped out, but after two steps, I couldn’t handle the sight of her limping and lifted her into my arms once again.
Guzman led the way to the elevators. When we reached the floor he’d picked, he took a right but stopped after only a few steps. Turning his head, he glared at the woman dressed in scrubs sitting behind the nurses station. “Where are my men?”
She nibbled her lip for a moment before answering. “Miss Ramirez went up to the NICU.”
“My mother?” Nova asked.
“She went with the guards,” the nurse informed us, before going back to biting at her bottom lip nervously.
“Something isn’t right,” Nova muttered as I followed Guzman back to the elevators. The doors opened as soon as he hit the up button. “She was way too twitchy.”
The head of security nodded, pressing the floor button over and over again as if that would get the elevator to move any faster. As it began to rise, I felt my heart rate increase.
Lis was so close. I would see her again soon.
Her and our daughter.
Nova lightly tapped me on the cheek, forcing my attention on her. “Relax, bro. It’s going to be an uphill battle, but as long as you don’t fuck it up again, you’ll be fine.”
My eyes closed just as the elevator stopped. “I don’t know how not to fuck it up, Nova.”
“Try,” she gritted out. “Don’t make me have to kill you, Garret. Because I will if you hurt her again.”
I almost laughed at the idea that my little sister would or even could make me bleed, let alone kill me. But then I remembered how fast she’d been, putting Guzman and me on our knees like it was nothing—all with a foot four times bigger than it should have been. A voice in the back of my head told me that the little blond angel who barely weighed as much as my left leg wouldn’t hesitate to cut my throat if I hurt Lis or our daughter.
“I swear to you, I won’t hurt either of them,” I vowed. “I love Lis and our daughter, Nova. Even though I haven’t met her yet, Justice is already in my heart, and I’ll give my own life for hers if I have to.”
The elevator doors were slow to open, but as they did and Guzman stepped out, Nova gave a sharp nod. “Good.”
Walking out into the corridor, I saw the NICU ward was just a few feet away. Two guards stood on either side of the double doors, but it was my mother, standing by a window trying to peek inside, that caught and held my attention.
“Mom?” I choked out, so happy to see her that I nearly dropped Nova.
Her head was slow to turn, but when she spotted me, her face lit up for a moment with a bright smile. “Hi, honey,” she greeted. But then she realized I was carrying Nova for a reason and not for fun, and she jumped into mom-mode. “What happened?”
“Just rolled my ankle,” my sister said with a careless shrug. “How are Cali and Justice?”
Mom pushed her hair back from her face with a heavy sigh. “She kicked me out of her room last night. But about an hour ago, she suddenly got out of bed and walked up here.”
“What?” Nova half shouted. “She shouldn’t be walking. She had a C-section and then the hysterectomy. The doctor said she needed to take things slow.”
“She pulled out her IV and unhooked all her monitors,” Mom explained. “There was a trail of blood droplets from her room, down the hall to the elevator, and all the way up here. They cleaned it up a while ago, but I can still see it in my head.”
“Where is she now?” I demanded, shifting Nova in my arms.
“One of the NICU nurses took her in to see Justice. She’s been in there ever since.” Mom touched my arm tenderly. “Garret, sweetheart, I need you to be prepared when you go in there. Justice is…”
“Has something happened since I left?” Nova asked with concern.
“The baby has already lost a little weight. She’s got more tubes and wires attached to her than when you saw her right after the birth.” Mom took a slow breath, steadying herself, and everything inside me clenched as I prepared myself for whatever she was about to tell us.
