Chapter 65

"Move! Move! Move!" Maria's voice cut through all the noise as her guards rushed me toward the big black car. Rain pounded against the windows, and thunder crashed across the dark countryside like the sky was angry.

"The pains are getting closer together," I gasped, holding Alejandro's hand so tight I thought I might break his fingers. "Only two minutes apart now."

"Dr. Vega is meeting us at Saint Mary's Hospital," he said, helping me into the backseat. "It's only fifteen minutes away."

"Fifteen minutes in this storm?" I looked out at the sheets of rain that made everything look gray and blurry. "We'll be lucky if we make it in thirty."

Mateo climbed in next to me, his face white but brave. "I'm staying with you."

"Mateo, maybe you should—"

"No." His ten-year-old voice was hard as stone. "Families stick together. You taught me that."

Another pain hit as we drove away from the safe house. I bent over, breathing through it the way Dr. Vega had shown me. But these weren't the easy practi