Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
I rested my free hand low on my stomach. I hadn’t told him yet, but the words had circled in my head more times than I could count. I tried to find the right way to say it, something that felt big and momentous.
He was in front of me a second later, his focus on where my hand lay on my flat belly. My fingers pressed a little more firmly before my palm flattened there like I could already feel something that wasn’t visible yet.
The thought should have scared me… growing a baby inside of me. It should have made me question everything and wonder what kind of world I was bringing a child into. But it didn’t. I already knew the answer. It would be a world that was dangerous, but this little baby would forever be protected.
His attention sharpened when he noticed where my hand rested. “Lucia,” he said, his voice low and husky.
“I have something to tell you,” I whispered, keeping my hand where it was.
He watched me for a second longer, and then something in his expression shifted. A slow, deliberate smile formed, something possessive and certain settling into place like he was… happy.
He closed the distance between us, his hand coming to my waist, his thumb brushing just beneath where my palm rested like he was claiming it the same way he had claimed me.
“I love you. Skazhí mne, moya lyubimaya,” he said softly. Tell me, my love.
And I did, with no fear or hesitation, because I knew the love we had for each other—and this growing baby—was endless.
Epilogue
Lucia
Not only did the weight and size of my belly change drastically in the last couple of months, and the way I moved or how careful I had to be when I stood; but also the way I thought about what came next.
I rested both hands over the curve of it, feeling the steady movement beneath my palms as our son shifted. He was strong already. I could feel it in the way he pressed outward, like he wasn’t meant to be small or quiet in any part of his life.
I let a slow breath out, my fingers spreading over my belly as I thought about what that meant in a world like ours. Boys were raised with purpose, shaped early, and taught what they were expected to become before they were old enough to understand it. I thought about Alexei and what they’d done to him as a child, and how his father had taken a child and turned him into a weapon.
That wouldn’t happen to our son.
I knew it without hesitation. Alexei wouldn’t break him down to make him stronger. He would teach him, guide him, and make sure he understood the world he was born into without taking away who he was.
He was fiercely protective of me now that I carried his child. His hand was almost always on my belly or my lower back, a silent claim that no one dared challenge. He was attentive anytime I was in pain or uncomfortable. I’d never seen a man so focused on taking care of a woman so much in my life.
The guards gave us a wider berth when we walked the grounds. Even his most trusted men lowered their eyes when Alexei’s palm rested possessively over the swell of our son.
I was smiling as I thought of all of that when I heard the door open behind me and felt my husband before I saw him. His presence filled the room in a way I had grown used to. He was someone I leaned into without thinking.
“There she is,” he murmured in that thick Russian-accented voice. “My girl.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. He slid his palm around to rest over my stomach, and covered my hand.
“He’s moving,” I said softly and looked at Alexei. His smile was already in place when his gaze lifted to mine. “He’s going to be strong.”
“He will. But he’ll also know how to be kind and gentle when the time comes,” Alexei answered.
I studied his face, and the way his eyes held mine with so much gentleness that it landed right in the center of my heart. There was nothing uncertain in him, nothing that made me question what kind of father he would be.
I let out a breath slowly, because there was more to this than just what we would build here. “I’ve been thinking about what you told me,” I said. “About the Rossi operations. The routes and everything tied to it.”
His attention sharpened, but he didn’t stop me from continuing.
I had learned more than I ever thought I would. What my father had been connected to, what had been hidden through layers of men and money, the way it all worked without anyone ever seeing the full picture. It had made me sick the first time I understood what Alexei was telling me. Not uncomfortable, not uneasy, but absolutely sick in a way that didn’t go away once I knew it was real.