Page 104 of Reign

“The freezer?” Luciano asks.

I pause with my hand on the handle. “Yes. The freezer.”

“For the berries?”

“No, Luciano. For my emotional stability.”

Silence fills quickly.

Then, “How long?”

I look over my shoulder. “What?”

“How long do they stay in the freezer?”

I should tell him it’s none of his business. I should tell him to stop interrogating me about fruit like this is a cartel deposition. I should put my berries away and leave.

Instead, for some horrifying reason, I answer him.

“Thirty minutes. Maybe a little longer. I like them almost solid.” I put the bowl inside the freezer and hate every word leaving my mouth. “Then I pour the coconut water over them, and it gets a little slushy.”

He quietly watches me.

I close the freezer harder than necessary.

Great. Wonderful. Perfect. He asks one sincere question and suddenly I’m giving him my signature breakfast recipe.

I grab my notebook off the counter. “I’m going to the living room.”

“Do you know where it is?”

I turn slowly.

He stands there with his coffee cup in one hand, looking too composed for a man who is currently seconds away from being murdered in his own beautiful kitchen.

“I can figure out a house, Luciano.”

“I’m sure you can. Straight ahead, to your left.”

“I would have found it.”

“Eventually.”

Then he chuckles so quietly, but I hear it.

Worse, I feel it. My stomach does something embarrassing and traitorous, a little flip like it has no loyalty at all.

I leave before he can see my face heating up.

The living room is exactly where he said it would be, which is irritating because now I can’t even get lost out of spite. It opens wide and bright, glass doors overlooking the back of the property and morning light spilling across pale floors and low furniture that looks comfortable instead of decorative.

I stop in the doorway.

Because this room is beautiful too.

Not cold-beautiful like Angelo’s penthouse or museum-beautiful like Santo’s house, where breathing around the furniture earns a disapproving glare. This is warm: soft leather, dark wood, deep textures, glossy plants tucked into the corners, and a woven purple throw folded over the couch like someone actually lives here.

I hate that I understand the room.