Whipping my head to the entrance of the house, I saw Shelly practically sprinting down the stairs in my direction.

All the blood in my body seemed to drain away as she approached me, panicked and hysterical, her face laced with tears.

I began to run and, grabbing her, asked, “Where’s Mol?”

“She’s… we didn’t know… the library… She’s… Oh my God, Rome…” was all she could get out.

Throwing her to the side, I ran into the hallway, tens of my teammates staring at me with a mix of sadness or shock. I had no idea why, but it only served to scare me further.

I could vaguely make out our friends following behind me, and seeing the heavy crowd blocking the entrance to the library, I shouted, “Move the f**k out of my way! MOVE!!!”

Scattering at my command, the doorway cleared and I almost collapsed at the sight of what I found, my legs buckling with instant terror: Molly curled on the floor, covered in blood, screaming and writhing in pain.

No…

In seconds, I was by her side. “Mol! Fuck! Baby, I’m here! I’m here!” I didn’t know where to hold her, how to stop her pain.

Golden eyes, dulled with pain and sadness, looked my way, and she whispered, “Romeo, our baby, our baby… I-I think I’m losing it. Help me… Please…” and she wailed in pain again, clenching her legs together and hugging her stomach before crying so hard into the carpet she could barely breathe.

Lifting my head, I saw our friends staring at us in horror, and I shouted, “Somebody call 9-1-1. She’s losing our baby!”

Fuck. She was losing our baby… Questions of how and why were circling my mind, but I couldn’t tear my attention from Mol, who looked like she was dying—fuck! Was she dying?

I flinched as someone touched my shoulder—Jimmy-Don telling me the ambulance was on the way.

Desperately needing to hold my girl, I picked her up, having no idea whether it was a good thing or not, and brought her to my lap. Rocking back and forth, I tried to soothe her, but her jerks of agony were tearing me apart. “Shh, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” I cried out, my tears like never-ending torrents.

Her skin slowly paled to a deathly white, and she touched my cheek, her weak hand like a feather against my skin. “I think our baby’s gone. It hurts so much. I think our baby’s gone…” She tried to finish, but her eyes widened, body stiffened, and she screamed, the most haunting f**king scream I’d ever heard, as I felt a sudden wetness on my legs and, looking down, saw blood trickling down her thighs onto our intertwined bodies.

I didn’t know what to do. Hell… I didn’t know what to do!

Molly’s eyes began to flutter closed, her clutch on my shirt slackening, and a fresh bolt of panic felt like open blades shredding my chest. “Where’s the f**king ambulance? She’s pregnant, goddamn it… She’s pregnant… Our little angel…” I trailed off, helpless to do anything.

Searching Molly’s body, wading through the mass of white fabric of her dress now coated in blood, I tried to find something I could do. I couldn’t. I wasn’t a damn doctor. I wasn’t prepared for this shit.

Her breath shallowed, and, whipping my attention back to her face, I spotted a gash on her lip. Using my thumb to take a closer look, I frowned. “Baby? Why’s your lip bleeding? What the hell happened to you?”

I was losing her. Her eyes were glazing and her body was no longer reacting to the pain. I sent prayer after prayer to God, begging him to save my girl. I couldn’t lose her. She was my everything.

“Mol?” I asked, and my body stilled as her eyes began to close. “Mol! Stay with me, Mol!” I screamed, holding her closer in my arms.

“Y-your mother hit her and she fell against the table. W-we… I d-didn’t know she was pregnant… We were just trying to scare her off. Things got out of control…”

Shelly. Shelly stood shaking beside me.

Rage like never before surged through my body like pure octane at Shelly’s confession. She went on to inform me that my momma had snuck away, and, acting on pure instinct, I made to move, to go after her. I wanted to end all this shit once and for all, but when Molly’s trembling hand laid on mine and she begged me to stay with her, I could do nothing else but break down in sadness, whispering, “Baby, I’m so sorry… Our angel… Our angel…”

But she’d gone. Molly had gone still in my arms, her breath almost nonexistent as her blood continued to pour out.

“Rome,” Ally’s broken voice sounded beside me. “The EMTs are here. They need to take Molly to the hospital now. Come on, darlin’, let them do their job.”

Looking up, two men were moving frantically into the room and took Molly immediately from my arms. Standing, completely numb, I registered the mass of eyes watching the scene, and gripping Molly’s limp hand on the gurney, I followed her out to the ambulance, ignoring the flash of cameras and whispers from the horrified guests.

The EMTs pushed the gurney into the ambulance and began firing questions at me.

“How far along is she?”

“Nearly three months.”

“What happened?”

“Apparently she was hit and fell against a table edge… I wasn’t there… I couldn’t help her…”

The paramedic worked nonstop on my girl, attaching IVs and Christ knows what else. The ambulance flew through the city, but I never let go of my girl’s hand. She’d asked me not to leave her; it was one promise I wouldn’t break.