nervous is an understatement
1854 Words
IZABELLA.
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and, quite faintly, of my growing despair the moment I walked inside.
My heart raced as I pushed open the heavy glass doors, my hands trembling from a combination of nerves and the weight of the words Nicole had said over the phone.
Accidentally inseminated?
How did something like this even happen in real life?
Nicole stood near the reception desk, her face pale as a ghost.
Even if I wanted to hold on to it, a little bit of my anger melted at seeing her absolute distress. She spotted me immediately and hurried over. “Iza, you have no idea how sorry I am.”
My voice came out shaky. “What the hell is going on?”
She grabbed my arm. “Calm down. Let’s go to my office, and I’ll explain everything.”
“Calm down?!” I snapped, my voice louder than I intended. I looked around before letting my voice drop to an angry whisper. “You just told me I’ve been inseminated with someone else’s baby! How on earth can I be calm?”
Nicole looked over her shoulder like she was scared of someone hearing as she ushered me into her office and closed the door behind us. “I said might have been.” Her brows furrowed painfully. “We need to run a test to confirm if you are or not.”
My chest felt like it was about to explode. “So last week, during my checkup, someone’s sperm was put inside me?”
Nicole blinked rapidly, lifting her hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry, Iza. I should have made you reschedule for when I was free. It was such a busy day, and I had a lot on my mind. It was my fault.” Her eyes met mine. “I assigned you to the wrong room, and the patient for the room I sent you to was booked for an insemination. I’m so, so sorry, Iza.”
I needed to sit down.
Nicole walked over to the table, chewing on her fingernails as she paced back and forth. Then she stopped, and her eyes met mine. “There’s one more thing.”
Again, my heart sank.
“What?”
“The… donor.” I could almost hear her swallow as she looked down at the floor before whispering, “is Ignazio.”
Jesus Christ.
Ignazio.
There was only one man named Ignazio I’d ever come across.
There was only one Ignazio the both of us knew.
Only one person named Ignazio whom she felt I would know by just mentioning his first name.
There was no way this could be happening to me.
I stuttered out the words, my heart literally accelerating behind my ribcage. “I-Ignazio?” I whispered. “My boss, Ignazio?”
Slowly, she nodded her head.
A lump formed in my throat, too big for me to swallow past.
I clung to the only possible hope I could have. “Let’s do the test,” I said, clutching the armrests with shaky fingers. “Let’s do it right now.”
The room spun.
My vision blurred for a moment as her words sank in.
Ignazio. My boss. The most powerful alpha in New York City.
And there was a possibility I was carrying his baby?
“This has to be a joke,” I whispered.
“I wish it were,” Nicole said, her voice quiet. “I triple-checked. It’s him.”
By the time Nicole returned with news, my heart was already heavier than lead. And the moment she opened her mouth, all she did was add to the drowning weight.
The test came back positive.
My hand dropped to my stomach, pressing over the area like it could somehow make the thing growing inside me feel more real. But it didn’t.
Not even a little bit.
“What am I going to do?” I whispered, completely shaken.
“Iza,” Nicole came to stand at my side, “Ignazio has to know.”
My gaze snapped up to hers, and I felt my chest tighten. “He can’t. I’m getting… I’m not keeping it, so there’s no point.”
Her eyes squinted. “He already knows, Iza.”
I jumped to my feet. “How? When the hell was he informed?”
Nicole clasped her hands in front of her chest, looking torn. “This was completely out of my hands, Iza. As soon as the board found out about your situation, they had someone in the labs stay on top of the confirmation test.” She pointed at her chest. “I didn’t relay the information to him, but he’s so valued here that I’m not surprised someone else did.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m so sorry, Iza.”
Her entire frame was coiled with tension, and I knew my best friend more than anyone.
“There’s more,” I predicted.
She swallowed visibly. Thickly. Then said, “Last I heard, Ignazio was on his way here.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My head dropped into my hands as panic set in.
“I can’t do this, Nicole.”
The sound of a phone ringing cut through the air, one moment before Nicole reached into the pocket of her lab coat and answered the call.
Her eyes sliced to mine. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
“On our way where?” I asked her as she ended the call.
She pocketed her phone. “Ignazio is here.”
––*––
Nervous was an absolute understatement.
The moment the door opened, I felt like I was about to pass out. Nicole tightened her hold on my wrist—the comforting grip she’d had on me since we came to this office to wait for Ignazio.
But it barely calmed the nerves that skyrocketed as I listened to his entrance.
He didn’t know it was me.
He only knew he’d successfully inseminated someone.
And he was about to find out it was none other than his personal assistant.
“Have a seat, Mr. Narducci.” A male voice I didn’t recognize spoke, but Ignazio’s footsteps had stopped altogether.
The silence that permeated the room was what compelled me to turn my head and lift my gaze to his.
Dark eyes assessed me with a level of calm I was used to but hated being on the receiving end of.
Even though I knew Ignazio looked at everyone that way.
His eyes narrowed, ever so slightly, as he acknowledged me.
“Izabella.”
My name rolled off his tongue differently today. It was the first thing I noticed. Maybe it was because I currently had his seed growing inside me, but that Izabella didn’t sound as detached as it always did.
The other things I noticed came after.
As usual, he was dressed in another one of his tailored three-piece suits. Dark grey today, almost the same color as his eyes. His blond hair was pushed back and off his forehead, giving a full view of the sharp lines of his face, and a few days of fair stubble lined the angles of his jawline.
His clenched jawline.
I wasn’t keeping the baby.
He had nothing to worry about.
The man who brought him in scratched the back of his head. “Well, the situation is quite… unique, but we hope that we’re able to come to a reasonable conclusion for both parties involved.”
“I don’t want to keep it,” I said, keeping my voice strong. There was nothing to be ashamed of. It was a mistake, and I... I wasn’t ready to be a mother.
Silence slashed through the air.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I really wished I could be anywhere else, dealing with any other situation.
“I’ll take you home,” Ignazio suddenly said.
My back straightened slightly.
Did I just hear him right?
I turned to look at Nicole, and she glanced at me in question. Then, I glanced at Ignazio again.
He watched me, towering in the middle of the room and waiting for me to give him a response.
I was used to Ignazio.
I’d worked for him for four years, saw him five days a week most times, and even on some important weekends.
I knew he was a reasonable person.
I looked at Nicole, letting her know I’d be fine. I knew I didn’t need to think about it, but today… was starting to feel way above too much. I needed to talk to Violet. About more than just this.
I stood up on shaky legs and walked over to my boss, who was now holding the door open for me as I walked out of the office. The sound of his and the other man’s footsteps trailed after me as I made my way down the hall. I paid so much attention to the fact that, for the first time, he was the one walking behind me.
Outside, his driver held open the back door of of a sleek range rover for me, and Ignazio made his way to the other side.
Not that I had to, but as he filled the space next to me, I fiddled around with my seat-belt just to have something to do with my hands. Ignazio leaned forward and raised the partition between the front and back seats, giving us… privacy.
He leaned back against his seat, then clasped his hands and let them rest lazily between his spread legs. I found myself already studying his side profile before he turned to look at me.
“I don’t want to lose my job,” I blurted.
“You won’t.”
“I don’t want to keep it,” I whispered.
His gray eyes slid over my face slowly. “You don’t have to.”
I watched him—studied him. My chest tightened before I began, “I want to schedule an appointment for––”
“But,” he cut in, “would you be willing to reconsider?”
My brows furrowed.
His eyes tracked the motion. “If you were asked to reconsider, would you be willing to entertain a different outcome?”
What… did he mean by that?
He wanted me to have the baby?
“Mr. Ignazio, I––”
The car jerked forward, cutting me off sharply. My hands shot out to keep myself from slamming face-first into the back of the passenger seat. Ignazio lowered the partition, asking the driver what was wrong, but it was already too late.
The car swerved, sloppily running off the road, and Ignazio barked at me, “Your seat belt!”
I scrambled for it, but it was too late for that too.
The car skidded more, all before the entire vehicle toppled over.
My head dropped to the floor, and pain radiated through my skull before my vision began to blur.
Ignazio yelling out my name felt like an echo as the darkness pulled me under.
- Writer
