AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The ride itself is all of five minutes. Basically a hop over the city’s airspace. But those five minutes feel like five eons passing by without me.
I’m unbuckled and hauling myself out of the helicopter before it fully touches the helipad. I don’t care what the pilot shouts after me; all I can think about is getting to Daphne’s room.
Please, let me get there in time.
She needs me there. I promised her I’d always be there. Every first, every moment, every milestone.
Please, God, let me get there…
I punch the elevator button to the delivery ward. The doors won’t shut fast enough—I swear the elevator moves slower just to spite me.
That’s how this whole fucking thing feels. Like the universe is moving at a snail’s pace just to punish me for my sins.
They reopen to a mostly empty waiting room. I shove past a waiting couple to get to the front of the desk and slam my hands on the counter. “Pasha Chekhov, for Daphne Covington. Room 117. Where is it?”
The nurse only takes a second to check the files. “Ms. Covington and family are spending time with the baby. Friends will be admitted later?—”
“I’m not her fucking friend! I’m the father!”
The father who missed it.
The father who missed everything.
The father who’s going to exact brutally slow, agonizing revenge on the people who made that happen.
I hear a familiar sigh right behind me. Mak materializes and rests his hand on my shoulder. It’s all he has to do for me to get the message.
“I missed it, didn’t I?” The words feel limp on my tongue. “I missed it.”
The nurse seems less than sympathetic. “I do see she has you listed here. I just need to see some identification, and then I’ll go check and make sure she’s open to visitors.”
“You fu?—”
Mak’s grip on my arm becomes surprisingly strong. “Give the nice lady your I.D.,” he mumbles in my ear. “Make sure she knows you’re not Conrad Ewing, or anyone else on the blacklist.”
The blacklist. Of course. Something I’d personally insisted on establishing for her own security.
“Sorry about my brother, here,” Mak chuckles to the nurse as I pass over my wallet. He claps his hand on my other shoulder. “It’s been one of those days.”
She arches a brow and offers me a small smile. “Can’t say this isn’t normal. Relax, Mr. Chekhov. Your kid isn’t going to run off anywhere.”
Mak shares a laugh at her little joke. I don’t. I’m too busy trying to not be devoured by the gaping maw of disappointment.
I’m gonna kill him. I’m going to actually murder a federal agent and feed him to the dogs I’m going to adopt just for the sake of killing him.
And then I’m going to give those dogs to my baby girl and tell her all about the time Daddy beat a man to death for keeping us apart.
With the nurse’s blessing, Mak guides me to the room. I’m surprisingly grateful for his presence. My legs feel like lead and I’m not in the best mind to navigate this fluorescent labyrinth on my own.
“Knock knock,” he softly calls into the room. Then, finally, he opens the door wider for me to pass through.
The first thing I see is Daphne, asleep on the bed. For a heart-stopping second, I actually think she might be dead—she’s so pale and worn. But then her chest moves and I shake myself from that dark thought. I need to shake myself free from all dark thoughts.
Which is difficult to do, when?—
A tiny squeak yanks my attention—and my heart—to the bundle in Jameson’s arms.
Fucking Jameson.
