Chapter 256 EPILOGUE

Chapter 256 EPILOGUE
LAUREN'S POV

It had already been a month since Elizabeth was taken to rehab. After that day, after the screaming, the tears, the shock of her realizing she couldn’t move her own legs… I stopped thinking about her. I stopped wondering what she felt, or what she hated, or what she wanted. Whatever hell she was facing in that place was finally hers to deal with alone. And the truth was simple — she created every piece of it with her own hands.

For the first time, the reason she despised me so much had nowhere left to go. She couldn’t reach me, couldn’t reach Roman, couldn’t twist anything or cause chaos. She was locked in a place she couldn’t run from. A place where she would finally face herself without anyone to blame.

I didn’t need revenge. I didn’t need apologies.

Silence from her was enough.

We sat at the dinner table that evening, the warm lights giving everything in the dining room a soft glow. Roman’s mom had returned home yesterday. It had been months since she left, according to Roman and seeing her walk through the door felt like seeing a missing puzzle piece slide back into the picture.

At first, I honestly thought she wasn’t going to like me. I mean… what mother would hear everything that happened, her only son nearly dying twice because of me and still smile at the person who caused all the trouble? I expected her to look at me with disappointment or resentment, maybe even fear.

But when we finally sat her down and told her everything — everything I had been through, everything Roman went through to protect me, everything that happened with Elizabeth — she didn’t even hesitate. She reached out, touched my cheek like she had known me for years, and she said, “You’re safe now. That’s all that matters.”

I didn’t expect that. Acceptance. Warmth. Care. A mother’s love I didn’t even know I needed until it came.

And when she found out about Aria? God, she lit up. Like someone switched on a thousand lightbulbs inside her. She kept staring at Aria with this soft, emotional smile, as if she had been waiting her whole life to see a grandchild sitting in her dining room. She admitted she had wanted one for years, but Roman never gave her hope. And now here I was, placed in her son’s life when he least expected it, with a child who ended up becoming her joy the second she met her.

She held my hands that night and said, “You didn’t steal anything from my son… you brought something into his life. Something he didn’t even know he needed.”

I swear I almost cried right there.

Now, in the present moment, she stood at the head of the table serving dinner, insisting we all stay seated like we were children. Roman sat beside me with Aria on his lap, helping her hold her spoon properly. Watching them still made me feel warm inside in a way I couldn’t fully explain like peace after a long storm.

“Lauren, take more sauce,” Roman’s mom said as she placed a bigger portion on my plate before I could protest. “You’re too slim, you need to add small flesh.”

I laughed softly. “I’m fine like this.”

“You’re not,” she said without even looking up. “You’re a mother you know. You need strength.”

Roman chuckled quietly beside me and I nudged him with my elbow.

Aria giggled, swinging her tiny legs under the table, and Roman kissed the top of her head. Watching them together felt unreal sometimes. The way he had slid so easily into the father role — protective, gentle, patient — it made me fall for him even deeper.

He had changed so much since the first day we met. Softer but stronger. Still stubborn, still overprotective, but in a way that made me feel safe instead of suffocated. A month of peace had done something to him… something calming.

“So,” Roman’s mom said as she finally took her seat, “this house is too quiet. We need celebration. Something big. Maybe a small family vacation.”

Roman raised a brow. “Mom, they just finished repairing the backyard fence because of the last ‘celebration’ you planned.”

“That was not my fault,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You invited too many people.”

“You were the one who invited the live band,” Roman replied.

I smiled, shaking my head as they went back and forth. Their bickering wasn’t even real tension — it was funny, warm, the kind of family conversation that felt like home.

Home.

That word used to feel unfamiliar. But now… I was sitting in it.

After dinner, Roman helped me carry the plates to the kitchen while Aria ran around the living room with her new toy airplane.

“You okay?” Roman asked quietly once we were alone, his voice low and warm.

I nodded. “I am. I think this is the first time in a long time that everything feels… right.”

He leaned against the counter, watching me with that soft, knowing smile he reserved only for me. “It will stay right,” he said. “No more running. No more danger. Just us.”

I walked closer until I stood between his arms. “You say that like you’re promising me a forever.”

“I am,” he said without hesitation. “I want forever with you.”

My breath caught for a second.

Not because I doubted him.

But because this was the first time in my life that “forever” didn’t sound like a lie.

He brushed his thumb along my cheek. “Lauren… you and Aria are the best thing that ever happened to me.”

I placed my hand on his chest, feeling the slow, calm rhythm of his heartbeat. “And you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.”

From the living room, Aria yelled, “Mommy! Look!” and Roman and I both turned to see her spinning in a slow circle, the airplane raised above her head, her laughter filling the whole house.

I smiled, heart full.

This was my life now. Peaceful. Safe. Loved.

No running.

No fear.

No chaos.

Just family.

Just us.

🥰THE END🥰