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Except now she’d seen, and she knew, and would she ever forgive him? A hidden cellphone was nothing compared to this. Dornan knew this.
He watched wordlessly as she knelt down beside the woman and scooped the baby up. The baby wasn’t moving. Wasn’t crying. It was blue. She stuck her fingers in its mouth and made a scooping motion, then turned it over and hit it lightly on the back a couple of times. The baby started to pink up almost immediately, making a little mewling sound.
‘Pocketknife,’ Mariana said. ‘Sterilise it first.’
Moving on a mixture of autopilot and awe, Dornan unclipped his knife from his belt and clicked it open, taking his lighter and heating the blade for a few seconds to kill any germs. Luckily, he was obsessive about keeping it clean. It had seen its fair share of death and destruction, and you could never be too careful with pesky things like DNA. The knife was clean enough to eat your steak dinner with.
He handed it over to Mariana, pocketing his lighter as he watched her work. She balanced the wrapped baby on her knees and grasped the long, coiled cord that attached baby to mother, cutting through it in one swift motion. Dropping the knife, she stood and turned, thrusting the baby into Dornan’s arms. ‘Hold him,’ she said, and Dornan did. He was struggling to keep up with this. It was a him? This was already getting way too fucking personal.
Viper appeared with a large woollen blanket he’d retrieved from the cab of the truck. Mariana made a crude knot in the baby’s umbilical cord with bloodied fingers.
‘We need to get them to a hospital,’ Mariana said, addressing Dornan and Viper.
Viper looked between Dornan and Mariana with a mixture of shock and brutality on his features. ‘We ain’t taking anyone to a fucking hospital,’ he said. ‘This is a one-way ticket.’
Mariana ignored him. ‘Dornan,’ she said, stepping closer to him and peering at the tiny baby, nestled safely in her cashmere coat. ‘We have to help this woman. The baby needs to go get checked out, he’s cold. He needs warming up.’
Dornan fixed his gaze down at her, frustrated and ready to fucking explode. ‘How about I decide?’
Mariana’s face twisted into a look of disgust as she reached for the baby and nestled him against her own chest protectively. Dornan was relieved to be free of the baby, who felt like a ticking time bomb in his arms, a burden that was going to be dire no matter which way he played this shitty set of cards he’d been dealt.
‘Maybe decide before they both die,’ she said pointedly, turning to look at the woman. The mother. The dying woman. Dornan made a mental note to chat to Mariana after he’d sorted this situation. She was getting far too mouthy for his liking. He thought of the hidden phone again and his gut twisted uncomfortably.
The bleeding woman, the product that was holding this entire gig up, was still slumped in the corner. She looked completely fucked. Dornan had to move her, couldn’t deal with her in this tiny, confined space. And this truck needed to move, now, before the goddamn highway patrol drove past or something.
‘Viper, help me move her into my car.’ Mariana looked visibly relieved. Viper opened his mouth to protest and Dornan shook his head emphatically.
‘Wait in my truck,’ he said, offering his car keys to Mariana. She looked at them for a long moment before taking them. ‘Put the heat on,’ he added. She didn’t answer, just made for the truck’s cab and slid into the driver’s seat, holding the baby close to her the entire time. A moment later he heard the engine of his truck turn over. Fuck. This was the worst situation he could have imagined.
‘Dee, why the fuck are we putting this broad in your truck? She’s made us both, and the accountant,’ Viper said, pointing towards the truck where Mariana waited. ‘And you know Daddy Dearest would never let a live one go, even if we could help the bitch.’
Dornan levelled his gaze at Viper. ‘Shut the fuck-up,’ he hissed. ‘Do not question me. I will handle this. Now. Help me pick this woman up, and for fuck’s sake wrap her up first so we don’t get blood all over us.’
They got blood all over them anyway, despite the carefully wrapped blanket. Lucky they both wore black almost all the time. It came in handy when you didn’t have time to change your clothes in between all the bloodshed and chaos.
A few minutes later Dornan was in the backseat, holding the woman who’d just birthed her baby and who was now dying in his lap in the back of his truck. She’d started to wail as soon as they moved her. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain and her noise was affecting the baby. He was bellowing as well, and it was enough to make Dornan want to eat his own gun just to get some fucking peace and quiet for five seconds.
‘You want me to come back there so you can drive?’ Mariana asked quietly, twisting in her seat to address him. ‘Or I can drive them to the hospital.’
Dornan smiled at her, at his beautiful Mariana. This could be her in his arms, if things had played out differently. He’d saved her, but he’d learned a long time ago that you couldn’t save them all. In fact, she was the one and only he’d ever managed to grip tight and raise out of the vicious fate she’d been careening towards, and there had been thousands.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. He saw the recognition on her face as she clutched the baby tighter.
‘Dornan,’ she whispered. Pleaded. He felt his heart shatter and burst under the pressure of her horrified gaze.
Her horror would have to wait. The woman in his arms was bleeding to death, and she was dying in pain, and he just wanted to take some of her suffering away.
He put a hand to her neck and felt her pulse. It was erratic, all over the place. She cried out again and her back arched off his lap. Her eyes were full of anguish and the shock was starting to wear off. The woman was suffering.
‘Will you help my baby?’ she asked, looking up at Dornan with eyes that wouldn’t be seeing this world for much longer. How did she even have the energy to form words? It was the strength of a mother’s love, he reasoned. She wouldn’t let go until she was sure her child would be safe.
Dornan nodded, feeling tears prick in his eyes. Goddamn, why did this have to happen now? Why had Viper called him? Why was it always his fucking problem when anything went wrong?
And why had he chosen this night, of all nights, to bring Mariana with him on a run, knowing she might be exposed to something like this, something that had the power to ruin everything between them. She’d never look at him the same way after this, and that realisation broke him inside. He’d done everything to protect her and she was probably going to end up hating him like every other woman he’d ever let in.
The woman’s eyes fluttered shut and she relaxed a little. ‘Promise me you’ll take him some place safe,’ she whispered. Dornan wiped a tear from his cheek, and another. He shouldn’t be upset. He didn’t have the right to be upset and he certainly didn’t deserve to get fucking emotional about this woman and her kid.
‘I promise,’ he said and he wasn’t lying. In that moment he made a decision. He didn’t know if it was wrong or right, but he did it because nobody deserved to suffer that much. He couldn’t take her to a hospital, couldn’t get her medical attention, because if she spoke – and they all spoke if they escaped, even the ones who promised they wouldn’t – she’d be able to lead the police right to them. She’d seen Dornan’s face, and Mariana’s and Viper’s. She’s seen the interior of the truck, knew there were more like her.
