Alonzo felt like pounding his fist into something. Anything. The wall. The floor. A man. The man who had ordered the hit. He needed to find out just who had been that stupid. Evangeline was far too good for him. He wasn’t worthy of her, but he was taking her. Keeping her. And this would never happen again.

Another nurse entered, this one dressed from head to toe in surgical garb. “We’re ready for her now.”

He stood immediately and bent to press his mouth against hers in a final kiss. “Live for me, Evangeline,” he reminded.

Her lashes fluttered but didn’t lift. Still, that beautiful lower lip of hers curved into a half smile. He stepped back and watched them take her away. His heart accelerated and for a moment his lungs went back to barely being able to breathe. Shaking his head, he stalked down the hall, Sevastyan falling in beside him.

“Jake said to meet him at Emma’s room.”

Alonzo strode through the hospital, Sevastyan prowling close but giving himself enough room to fight if he had to. His cousin wasn’t taking any more chances with his life. Security would be tight for a while. Annoying, but necessary. No one stopped him as he approached Emma’s room.

There was a security detail at the entrance and end of the hall as well as on her door, but he recognized the men and they recognized him. Trey Sinclair had worked with Drake Donovan in the rain forest rescuing kidnap victims, and he’d come to help Drake with Jake Bannaconni’s security. Dash Boudreux was Drake’s brother-in-law, from a lair in the bayou, and he had recently come back from a brief stint working in Borneo.

They nodded at Alonzo as he stepped inside the open doorway. Sevastyan remained outside with the other two guards. Jake sat on the bed with Emma and he didn’t look in the least happy.

“You promise me you’ll never bring this up again, Emma. I mean it. I won’t have it. Not. Ever. Again. Am I making myself clear?”

“You haven’t even gone to see our baby, Jake.” Emma’s voice was very quiet.

With Evangeline in surgery, Alonzo didn’t blame Jake in the least for his fury. Terror did that to a man. Evangeline was going to survive because there was no other choice. None. And she was going to have to put up with his crazy protection for a while. At least until the terror faded a little.

“You promise me. We’re done with you carrying kids. You were lucky this time. You heard Doc. Whatever the hell happened in that accident made it too dangerous for you to give birth. We’re done.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I wanted a big family, Jake. You wanted that. I hate that I can’t give that to us.”