He looked at her.
“No what?”
“No disappearing to handle Victor yourself.”
His expression flattened.
Clare knew that look.
“The police have him. The company has the financial records. Let the case handle him. You stay here.”
Adrien’s jaw flexed.
Nick waited silently.
Eventually, Adrien sat back down.
“I’m staying.”
Clare smiled tiredly.
“Good answer.”
Nick left them.
Shortly after two in the morning, Clare’s water broke.
Labor accelerated.
The room filled with medical staff.
Adrien stayed by her shoulder, trying to appear useful and failing to disguise how worried he was.
Every time Clare cried out, his face tightened.
“Stop looking like you’re about to interrogate the doctor,” she gasped.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m evaluating him.”
Dr. Cole glanced up.
“Mr. Romano, I promise we have the same objective.”
Clare laughed once before another contraction erased it.
Adrien leaned closer.
“Breathe with me.”
“I hate you.”
“Temporary condition.”
“This is your fault.”
“That part is fair.”
She squeezed his hand hard enough for his ring to dig into his finger.
An hour later, Dr. Cole told her the baby was close.
Clare shook her head.
“I can’t do another one.”
Adrien moved where she could see him clearly.
“You can.”
“Don’t give me a speech.”
He almost smiled.
“Then I’ll keep it short.”
Clare glared through damp strands of hair.
“You found the first security breach before anyone else did. You stood up to Victor in a room full of people who wanted you quiet. Today you kept a locked door between our son and danger until help arrived.”
Her eyes filled.
Adrien pressed his forehead against hers.
“One more, Clare.”
She nodded.
Then she pushed.
Their son’s cry came less than a minute later.
Everything narrowed to that sound.
Dr. Cole smiled.
“Baby boy.”
Clare began crying before she saw him.
Because he was early, the neonatal team checked him immediately.
His breathing was strong. His color improved quickly. The pediatrician explained that his gestational age meant he would need observation.
Then a nurse brought him to Clare.
He was tiny, red-faced, furious, and perfect.
Clare held him against her chest and laughed through tears.
“Hi.”
Adrien stood beside the bed without moving.
Clare looked up.
“Come here.”
He stepped closer.
“Meet your son.”
The hardness vanished from Adrien’s face so quickly that Clare almost laughed again.
His eyes filled.
“You’re crying,” she whispered.
“I’m tired.”
“Of course.”
The baby shifted beneath the blanket.
Adrien’s tattooed hand hovered nearby.
He looked at Clare for permission.
She nodded.
He touched one finger to the baby’s palm.
The tiny hand closed around it.
That broke whatever remained of Adrien’s composure.
He bent over Clare, kissed her forehead, and stayed there with his eyes closed.
Clare rested her cheek against his beard.
For months she had worried that carrying Adrien’s child would turn her into a weakness others could use.
Victor had tried.
Instead, Clare had been the person who noticed the first security breach, helped expose the fraud, and held the line when the danger finally reached her.
Later that morning, their son slept beside them under neonatal observation.
Clare looked at Adrien.
“We still need a name.”
“You choose.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That’s suspiciously agreeable.”
“I’ve had a difficult night.”
“You?”
Adrien nodded toward her.
“You had the more difficult one.”
Clare smiled.
“What about Noah?”
Adrien repeated it quietly.
“Noah Romano.”
“You like it?”
“I do.”
“Then Noah.”
Adrien looked down at his son.
“Noah Romano.”
The baby stirred.
Clare leaned back against the pillows.
“One rule.”
Adrien looked at her.
“No calling him the future king of New York.”
His expression remained serious half a second too long.
Clare pointed at him.
“You were thinking it.”
“I was not.”
“Adrien.”
He finally laughed.
Quietly.
Genuinely.
Outside that room, Victor remained in custody. The financial investigation would continue. Lawyers would argue. Romano Holdings would still have enemies when Clare and Noah went home.
A baby had not erased any of that.
But the months of danger had changed Clare and Adrien in ways neither had expected.
Clare had stopped trying to disappear inside Adrien’s world.
Adrien, who once answered fear by tightening his grip on everything around him, now sat beside her and waited for Clare to tell him what came next.
Noah was simply their son.
For Adrien Romano, that was enough to make everything else wait.
Disclaimer: This story is fictional and created for entertainment purposes only. Any names, characters, places, or events are fictitious or used fictitiously. No real person or organization is intended to be portrayed.
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