Page 171 of Barinov

“Bullshit,” she deadpans.

I huff a dry laugh. “What?”

She shrugs. “I know a troubled soul when I see one.”

“A troubled—” I shake my head. “That obvious?”

“Very.”

Luciana takes a slow sip, studying me over the rim for a moment before opening her mouth. “Did you or did you not just wake up from a terrible nightmare?”

I gape at her. “How’d you guess?”

“You have the same weary eyes Rome gets,” she answers with a shrug. “Ever since Izzy died, he wakes up drenched. Drowning in it and calling out for a woman who isn’t there.”

My chest tightens. “Roman gets nightmares?”

“He’s a man, Lex. Not a machine.” She sets the mug down with a soft clink. “So you want to talk about your nightmare?”

“Not really,” I huff.

“Fair enough,” she chuckles.

I look at her, a totally different question burning in my mind.

“What is it?” she says, brushing a loose strand behind her ear.

“How does all this work?” I ask, already regretting it. “You, him. Izzy. I’ve never met anyone who just accepted a deal like that.”

She doesn’t flinch. “You mean someone who didn’t choose their partner?”

I nod.

“It was hard,” she says plainly. “We were strangers at first. He was obsessed with another woman and finding out about the baby… it felt like a twist of the knife.” She traces the rim of her mug, her expression distant. “But we made it work. Better than most people in our situation. Over time, we became close.”

“Close?” I ask, my brow raised.

“Closer than either of us had ever expected. I even had my father’s men help him look for Bella when she was a baby.”

I blink. “You helped him look?”

“Wasn’t the child’s fault.” Her hand drifts to her stomach, resting there for a second. She catches my gaze and yanks it back.

“When I was sixteen, I was in a terrible car accident. Hours of surgery saved my life, but it left me…” She exhales, blinking fast to fight the moisture in her eyes. “It left me empty. Left me unable to ever have a child of my own. ”

I suck in a breath.

“Heirs matter in our world as I’m sure your mother has informed you,” she continues, her voice growing cold.

I nod slowly, clearing the sudden tightness in my throat.

“I couldn’t let Roman’s only bloodline disappear because I was hurting,” she finishes, swiping a tear from her eye.

There’s a beat of awkward silence between us. I have no clue what the hell to say to that so I grab the only lifeline she threw at me.

“Speaking of Mom.”

A small, broken laugh escapes her. “Your mother and I never saw eye to eye.”