He Called Her a Traitor and Threw Her Out Into the Storm — Then Learned the Quiet Woman He Lost Was Born to a Mafia Dynasty.

PART 13

Two months later, Odalys woke before dawn to a sharp pain spreading across her lower back. Her water broke minutes afterward.

“Call Weston.”

Weston arrived at the hospital in twelve minutes.

Labor lasted fourteen hours. Weston remained beside her through every painful minute. He did not issue orders when the doctors spoke. He did not demand control over what frightened him.

At one point, exhausted and furious, Odalys crushed his hand. “This is your fault.”

“Yes.”

“I may never forgive you.”

“For this or the other thing?”

“Both.”

“That seems fair.”

She laughed despite the pain, then cried because laughter hurt.

Their daughter arrived shortly after sunset. Her first cry filled the room. Weston wept openly.

“She is perfect,” he whispered.

“Would you like to hold her?”

His hands shook as he accepted the child. “Hello. I’m your father. I have made many mistakes, but you will never be one of them.”

“What should we call her?”

Only one name had continued returning. “Nadia,” she said. “My mother’s name.”

Weston looked toward Everett, who stood near the window with tears shining in his eyes.

“Nadia Kade Marchetti,” Weston said.

Odalys raised an eyebrow. “Marchetti Kade.”

He glanced at the tiny child in his arms. “Your mother negotiates aggressively.”

“She does not negotiate when she has already won.”

For the first time since the night in the penthouse, their laughter belonged to the same life.

—

Weston did not ask Odalys to marry him in the hospital. He returned to his own apartment and visited Nadia according to the schedule Odalys established. He changed diapers, walked the floors during sleepless nights, and learned that a crying newborn could frighten him more effectively than any armed rival.

Trust returned slowly, not as a grand gesture but through ordinary evidence.