Novels by NABIIE

LENA Chaos. Niccolò was out of bed before I had fully processed the words still hanging in the air. Clothes, keys. His voice already raised for the staff down the hall. “Get the car ready. Now.” He was back at my side in seconds, hands steady under my arms helping me up. “Breathe,” he said. “You’re all right. Everything is going to be fine. I’ve got you.” The pain came in waves on the way to the hospital. I gripped his hand so tightly I was sure it must have hurt, but he never pulled away. His other hand stayed at the back of my neck, grounding. “Look at me,” he murmured when a particularly sharp contraction stole my breath. “You’re doing so well. Almost there. Stay with me.” Neither of us knew how much longer it would be. He said it anyway. At the hospital everything moved fast. Doctors checking, speaking in calm clipped sentences I only half heard. The pain grew stronger with each wave. During one especially hard contraction I screamed, fingers locked around Niccolò’s hand

LENA I shut myself away from everyone. Meals sat untouched until someone quietly cleared them. The house felt too big and too empty at the same time, every room carrying the weight of a truth I still didn’t know how to hold. I thought about the baby more than anything else now. The small, impossible life growing under my ribs while the rest of my world cracked open around it. For a brief, terrible moment, I even wondered if it would be easier to walk away from all of it. From Niccolò. From the Santoro name. From everything tied to this life. I hated myself for the thought the second it crossed my mind. To avoid being in the same space as him, I started spending most of my time at the foundation. Arriving early, staying late. Letting the work fill the hours so I wouldn’t have to walk into a house that still smelled like him and felt like a lie. Mia noticed. Of course she did. She didn’t push, she just appeared at my desk with tea she hadn’t been asked to bring and left me alone

LENA A small cake sat between us on the table in our room. Niccolò handed me the knife. “You should cut it.” My hands shook a little as I pressed the blade through the soft layers. For a second the centre stayed hidden. Then pink spilled into view. A girl. My eyes filled before I could stop them. I looked up at Niccolò. He was already staring at me, smiling in that rare, unguarded way that still undid me. He pulled me into a hug, arms tight around my shoulders. “I already knew it would be a girl.” I laughed through the tears against his chest. “You’re just saying that now.” “I’m not.” He kissed my forehead, then rested his hand carefully on my stomach. His voice dropped, soft enough that it felt like it belonged only to the three of us. “Your father already loves you. You hear me? Already.” I covered his hand with mine and held on. We called Alessia next. She barely got out a hello before I blurted the news. There was half a second of silence, then a full scream through the

LENA I woke up the next morning and got dressed for work like it was any other day. Downstairs, the kitchen smelled like actual cooking instead of the usual quiet efficiency of the staff. Niccolò stood at the stove, sleeves rolled up, moving with the kind of focused care he usually reserved for far more dangerous tasks. I stopped in the doorway and raised an eyebrow. “We have people for this exact reason. Why are you doing it yourself?” He glanced over his shoulder. “Because I want to be careful about what you eat now. After everything the doctor said, I’d rather know exactly what’s going into your food.” “You’re going to become one of those overprotective husbands who won’t even let me breathe on my own.” “I already am one.” He plated the eggs without looking particularly apologetic. “You should get used to it.” I sat at the counter, still half smiling. “You’re enjoying this.” “I’m being responsible.” “You’re hovering with extra steps.” He set a plate in front of me and lea

LENAI woke up disoriented.The ceiling above me wasn’t the one from Alessia’s house. The light was softer. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic. For a few seconds I couldn’t place where I was or how I had gotten there. Then the chair beside the bed came into focus, and Niccolò in it.He looked exhausted. The moment he saw my eyes open, some of the tension left his face. “Hey,” he said quietly.“Hey.” My voice came out rough. “How long was I—”“A few hours.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “How are you feeling?”“My head still feels heavy. But I’m okay.” I tried to sit up a little. “What happened?”Before he could answer, the door opened and a doctor walked in with a folder and a calm, practiced smile.“Good. You’re awake.” She checked the monitor briefly, then looked between us. “You fainted because of low blood sugar and low blood pressure. Both are fairly common in early pregnancy.”I stared at her.The words reached me, but I barely understood them.The doctor’s smile so

LENAWe had only been home from the trip for a day when Alessia called.“Please tell me you’re both free this weekend,” she said the moment I answered. Her voice was brighter than usual. “My birthday. I’m having a proper gathering and I want you and Niccolò there. No excuses,okay?”I smiled despite the tiredness that still clung to me from the coastal days. “We’ll be there.”“You promise?”“I promise. I still feel a little off from the travel, but nothing that will stop me from showing up.”“Good. Dress nicely. There will be far too many relatives and I need at least one person on my side who isn’t trying to introduce me to someone’s son.”“I’ll do my best.”The days before the party passed in a blur of foundation work and quiet evenings at home. I almost forgot about the tiredness and the occasional nausea from the trip.It still returned most mornings, light enough to ignore and easy to blame on irregular sleep and too much coffee. I pushed it aside and focused on the weekend instea