Chapter 12 - A Son is BornElise collapsed back onto the sweat-soaked pillows, her entire body trembling violently with exhaustion and overwhelming relief.
Dr. Aris quickly cleared the infant's airway, wrapping the tiny, squalling newborn in a warm, sterile blanket.
“It’s a boy, Elise,” the doctor announced, his professional mask slipping to reveal a wide, genuine smile of profound relief.
“He is small, but his lungs sound incredibly strong.”
He gently laid the crying infant onto Elise’s bare chest, right over her furiously beating heart.
Elise wrapped her trembling arms around her son, pulling him close, tears of absolute joy streaming freely down her face.
He had a shock of dark hair, exactly like his father's, and his tiny fists waved angrily in the air.
“Hello, little one,” she whispered, kissing his incredibly soft, warm forehead.
“You are safe.”
Outside the locked steel doors, the chaotic staccato of gunfire abruptly ceased, leaving a heavy, ringing silence in its wake.
Elise froze, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at the heavy metal doors, terrified of who would walk through them.
If Elias’s men had won, those doors would be blown open, and her son’s first day in the world would be his last.
She clutched the baby tighter, her eyes wide with terror as she heard heavy, uneven footsteps approaching down the corridor.
Someone pounded heavily on the steel door.
“Aris!” Julian’s rough, exhausted voice boomed through the thick metal.
“Open the damn door!”
Elise let out a massive sob of relief, burying her face into her baby’s blanket.
Dr. Aris rushed to the control panel, punching in the override code to retract the heavy locking bolts.
The doors slid open, and Julian Sterling stepped into the room.
He looked like a man who had just walked through hell.
His expensive suit was ruined, covered in white plaster dust and dark, terrifying splashes of blood that did not belong to him.
He was bleeding from a shallow graze on his cheek, and his breathing was heavy and ragged.
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But when his silver eyes landed on the bed, seeing Elise holding a tiny, wrapped bundle, he stopped dead in his tracks.
His weapon slipped from his grip, clattering loudly onto the tile floor.
