“It’s not funny.”
She held her hands up. “I know. Trust me. I know. This isn’t fun for me either. My classes have stopped. I can’t do anything. Being around the kids is awesome though. They’re a good distraction.”
“Do you love kids?”
“Yeah, I do. Do you?”
“This is the first time I’ve been around them.”
“Don’t you have siblings?”
“I do, but I didn’t spend any time with them. Since I’m the eldest son, Dad focused on me and told me I didn’t need any distractions when it came to learning what I needed to take over. There was no time to get close to anyone. It was just me.”
“That’s sad.”
“I never missed what I didn’t have.”
“I always wanted a brother or sister,” Alex said. “When I got too lonely and Millie was too busy and Dad was as well, I’d put all of my teddy bears around this small table I had. I’d name them all. I even had a chart that told me their name, what they did, if they were good or bad.”
“And if you had a brother or sister, you would’ve been able to boss them around.”
“I was never bossy. Even teddy bears can be so bossy when they want to be.” She tilted her head back and smiled up at him, which he found utterly adorable.
The grounds were beautiful. Liam had outdone himself in picking the perfect location for the kids. From what he heard, an orphanage in the city, on Liam’s turf, had burnt down. All the kids had been saved, including their guardians. As a boy on the streets, and building up his reputation, Liam developed a soft spot and created an opportunity for these kids. The house was stunning. The people vetted and constantly checked. Liam put a lot of anonymous funds into this place.
He also figured this was Liam’s way of apologizing to Alex. If he wouldn’t allow her to adopt or take on these kids, then he was at least going to make sure they were cared for. Liam truly only had one weakness, and it was the woman in front of him. They came to a stop at some benches, and Roman put the brakes on the chair to take a seat opposite her.
“I thought we were going for a stroll?” she asked.
“We are, and we’re going to enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet.”
“Not handling being cooped up in one place?”
“It’s not that. I’m trying to scramble my brain for people who’d want to see you dead.”
“Why not expand the search to all people that would like to see you and my dad suffer? You’ve got a lot of enemies.”
Roman leaned forward, staring into her beautiful brown eyes. “I’ve thought about that, but there are so many different ways of hitting back at us.”
“I know you’re right. I have to wonder if this is an attack on my dad, more than it is on you.”
“How do you figure that?”
She tilted her head to the side and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Roman. I mean absolutely nothing to you. We don’t have that kind of marriage. Outsiders can see it. We’re not close. You wouldn’t care if I died. I mean nothing to you. My dad, I know I’m his whole world. If I die, it would send him on a warpath.”
Roman stared at her as she looked away, closing her eyes and tilting her head back toward the sun.
“I would care,” Roman said.
“Why?”
“You’re my wife.”
“And?”
“I have a duty to protect you, and regardless of what you think, I don’t hate you.” He wanted to take her hand, but he also didn’t want her rejection, not right now. “We haven’t given this a real shot. For all you know, we could be amazing together.”
“Even though you’ve said you don’t do love.”