Against All Odds

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Eventually, I have to pull Milo to bed. He spent the entire evening pacing in the living room, waiting to hear from his brother, but no call had come. All the walking was making his back ache, the winces giving him away, no matter how many times he told me that he was fine.

The clock on the nightstand reads a little after two in the morning. Milo had only fallen asleep a couple of hours ago, the uncomfortableness of being pregnant and the worry for Janette making it nearly impossible for him to doze. But once I massaged some of the tension from his lower back, he had drifted into a restless slumber.

But my mind is to awake for me to even get close to falling asleep. To think that Aaron had managed to get into our house is terrifying. But Janette is all alone, with only a baby. Aaron has always been a control freak, snapping when things don't go his way. While Milo says that the alpha never hurt him physically, I know that Aaron is spiraling out of control. Who knows what he may do to Janette and her baby.

A rustling has me looking over at the nightstand again. My phone is lit up, and as quickly as I can without disturbing Milo, I reach over to grab it. Squinting my eyes against the brightly lit screen, I see a picture of Nico and Maya.

My heart speeds up as I swipe my phone across the screen and bring the device up to my ear.

"Are Janette and the baby okay?" I ask, words barely a whisper. Milo moves against me, and I quickly get out of the bed, leaving the room so as not to disturb him.

Nico is silent for a few seconds, before he finally speaks, his words grinding. "The baby is okay."

"And Janette?" I ask, dread building in my stomach. "She's okay too, right?"

"No," he says, words rasped. "No, she's not."

"Oh, god." Leaning against the wall, I slide down until I am sitting on the carpeted floor. "What- What happened?"

"It seems as if she let someone inside, since there are no broken locks or windows. And she was strangled. It was staged to look like a suicide, but the pieces aren't adding up. She was definitely attacked."

"Shit," I murmur, eyes closing as images of what must have happened flash across my mind. "Fucking shit, Nico."

"I know."

"Who's going to take the baby?"

"She's in the hospital right now. We wanted to make sure she wasn't injured in any way. But Janette has no family that we can find. Her emergency contact was Aaron, but seeing as he is the number one suspect for her murder and is dangerous, there is no way the baby is going with him."

"Milo and I can take her in," I say, no hesitation in my voice. "She shouldn't have to go into foster care."

Nico sighs. "You guys have two of your own little ones on the way. You don't need a newborn, too. I already talked to Maya, and we agreed to take her in once she is out of the hospital."

"You guys have Adalia. Are you sure you want to take on another baby?"

"We have been discussing having another baby soon anyways. But it was so difficult the first time around, Maya wasn't sure she could handle it again. And the courts are so lazy when it comes to the foster care system. They won't mind placing her with us in order having to pay for another child."

"That's our fucked up society for you," I murmur. "Sides with alphas and doesn't care for children after they are born."

Nico lets out a humorless chuckle. "Truer words have never been said."

We are both silent for a minute. "Are you guys going to arrest Aaron?"

"There is a warrant out for his arrest. One of the neighbors was able to point out his picture out of a lineup, stating that she saw him around the neighborhood a few times before tonight, and saw him again tonight."