Chapter 243 CHAPTER 0243

Chapter 243 CHAPTER 0243
LAUREN'S POV

“I'd like it if you didn’t bring Roman along with you.” 

My eyes gently moved upward, just for a second, to check if Roman noticed the small reaction I made when I read the message a few moments ago. I tried to keep my face as straight as possible, but I wasn’t completely sure if I pulled it off. Thankfully, he didn’t notice anything at all. He had already walked toward our closet, busy moving some shirts around and probably getting ready to change so we could head out. Roman never wasted time when it came to leaving the house together, so the fact that he didn’t look back worked perfectly in my favor for the moment.

I let my gaze drop back to my phone. Since Roman wasn’t close anymore, this was my chance to find out why Liz didn’t want me to bring Roman along. The text she sent earlier didn’t sit well with me. We always went anywhere and everywhere together. Roman was extremely protective of me — more than protective, honestly. He had every reason to be with everything that had happened in the past. After everything he walked into when he met me, everything I had survived, I understood why he didn’t take any chances with my safety.

And because of that, I knew very well that he wouldn’t like the idea of me going somewhere this late to meet someone I didn’t know, in a place I didn’t recognize, and on top of that, going completely alone. There was absolutely no way he would just let me step out casually without him following behind. So Liz telling me not to bring Roman… it didn’t add up at all.

I immediately typed a message, trying to keep my breathing steady so I wouldn’t accidentally change my expression and make Roman suspicious.

“Why shouldn’t I come with Roman? We go everywhere together. When I came to meet you for the first time, he followed me, remember?”

I sent the message quickly before I could overthink it.

Her reply came almost immediately, like she had been waiting with her phone in hand.

“I know you guys go everywhere together, but I don’t want him to see this. You know he doesn’t like me staying over. Imagine what he would think of me when he finds out about this.”

I read it twice, my brows pulling together.

“When he sees what? Aren’t we just coming to pay off someone you’re owing? What’s the harm in that?” I typed back, not wasting a second before pressing send.

Her response entered right away.

“It’s not what you think, okay? I’ll explain everything when you get here. I can’t explain now. This guy isn’t really patient, so can you just trust me and come with what I asked?”

I frowned at the screen, my grip tightening slightly around the phone. This was sounding more suspicious by the second. My mind jumped to different possibilities. Could someone be blackmailing her? Could someone else have taken her phone? Or maybe someone stole her phone entirely and was trying to use it to get money from me? I couldn’t rule anything out. I had seen too much and experienced too much to blindly trust anything written in a text message.

Either way, before I stepped foot outside this house, I needed to confirm that it was really Liz I was speaking to.

So I typed something only she could answer.

“Ok… before I start coming, what happened to you on the first day we met that got you really annoyed?”

I stared directly at my screen, waiting for the typing bubble to appear. A second later, it did.

“That waiter poured a drink all over my dress. Hold on, did you think I wasn’t the one you were speaking with?” Her message dropped.

I let out a small breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Well, with everything I’ve passed through, I have to be very cautious nowadays. But don’t worry, I believe it’s you. No one else knows what you just told me,” I typed and sent.

This time, the typing bubble didn’t appear. Instead, the small microphone icon flashed, showing she was recording a voice note. 

After a few more seconds of waiting, the voice note finally landed. I lifted my phone up to my ear to hear it clearly.

“I’m sure you know my voice very well by now. It’s me, Liz. And I’m waiting.”

Her voice sounded normal enough — no fear, no shaking, just a little bit of sarcasm, no sign of something being off either. I guess that was her way of reassuring me and making sure I believed she was the one sending the messages.

Now that my suspicion was confirmed, I had no excuse left. She wanted me to trust her, and that was exactly what I would have to do. The only challenge now was figuring out how to leave the house without Roman following behind me. I loved him, I respected him, but I knew he wouldn’t let me go alone if he had even the slightest clue.

I looked down at my dress. I hadn’t changed yet, which was actually a good thing. This outfit looked decent enough to step out in again, so I had the advantage. I didn’t need to waste any extra time dressing up.

I knew Roman would be mad about me leaving him behind, no matter how good my explanation was later. But I was sure he would also understand eventually. Or… at least I hoped he would.

“Aren’t you going to change? I thought she needed it urgently,” Roman said suddenly, glancing back at me from the closet.

His eyes lingered on me longer than usual, like he was trying to read something on my face.

“Of course I will,” I said with a small smile, keeping my tone light. “I just need to fix my makeup. Do you mind grabbing my wipes from the bathroom?”

He paused, the shirt he was about to put on frozen halfway through his movements. Then he slowly turned his head toward me. I could see the suspicion in his expression even if he didn’t say it out loud. That man could sense when something was off before anything even happened.

“Sure,” he finally said. “There’s something I’ll tell you in the car, since you can’t wait for me to tell you here. It’s gonna be painful, but you'll recover. Just don’t blame yourself for it.”

And with that, he turned and began walking toward the bathroom.

The moment he turned his back, my heart skipped. This was my chance.

My wipes weren’t in the bathroom at all, so he would take at least five minutes searching for them in that huge bathroom space. Roman’s bathroom wasn’t small, it was practically the size of a bedroom. He would definitely spend time looking for something that wasn’t even there.

I moved quickly. I went straight to the drawer, grabbed the five thousand dollars in cash, and picked up my bag. I didn’t waste a second. I rushed out of the room as quietly as possible, making sure not to alert him.

At least when he realized I was gone, I would already be too far for him to catch up with.

Liz better have a good explanation for this, because if not, she and I are going to have a serious problem. On my way back, I’d stop somewhere and pick up some flowers and chocolate for Roman. Hopefully, that would help soften his anger a little.