Page 185 of Uprising

As I stare down at the simple gold band beside my vintage engagement ring my heart does a leap. It turns out Darius didn’t toss the ring Roman gave me, he stashed it away, no doubt as some sort of trophy. Guess the jokes on him because this ring to me is worth so much more than the awful diamond he forced on my hand.

In so many ways Verona hasn’t changed. It’s still golden on the outside, filled with people who seek fame and fortune, but for me everything has changed. I have changed.

I’ve learnt how to fight, how to stand up for myself, how to stop allowing my circumstances to force me into situations I don’t want to be in.

And my mother is finally learning a few things too. They had a big trial. She managed to get some hot-shot lawyer to defend her but nothing could explain the things she’d done. The people she’d murdered, all the ways she aided and abetted Darius.

Of course no one knows their real relationship. Hastings was as good as his word on that front. No one knows what Darius really was to me either. But I took the stand, I testified, telling the world all the twisted things she did in pursuit of money and power.

She’s now locked away in a high security prison. Locked away in solitary confinement because all the other prisoners have already tried to gut her more times than I can count.

She’ll never get parole.

She’ll never get released.

And that thought alone puts a smile on my face every night I go to bed.

We bought this house, we made it our home, and now that everyone knows Roman and I are married, nothing can ever separate us. Lara has started therapy, she also attends a school a few days a week. We’re easing her in but every day she seems to blossom more. She’s not shy, she’s no longer afraid. My daughter is growing into the happy person she deserves to become.

Beside me Roman checks his phone.

“Are you late for something?” I tease.

He grins back at me. “She’s got at least another dozen presents to unwrap.”

“And?”

He takes my hand. “Even once she’s unwrapped them I say we’ll have a good half hour.”

“Half hour for what?”

He just grins.

“You mean..?”

“It’s my birthday Rose.” He murmurs getting silently to his feet. “How about you give me a birthday treat.”

I bite back the shocked laugh but I’ll admit his words have already made me flush with need.

“What treat is my husband thinking of?” I ask as we sneak away, out of the room, though I know both Sofia and Ben will take note of our sudden absence.

He runs his fingers over my lips. “We don’t have much time.”

“We have half an hour by your reckoning.”

“Not enough to satisfy my wife.” He states.

I smirk at those words because we both know that’s not exactly true. He knows exactly how to make me come almost on command, he just likes to take his time, to drag it out, to torture me in the most delicious ways possible.

“I want your mouth on me, Rose. I want you showing me how much you love me.”

I wrap his finger around my tongue, staring back at him and then I pull off with a pop. “Take what you want Roman. Use your wife the way she wants you too.”

He undoes his belt and trousers as I sink to my knees.

“I love you so much.” He says cupping my cheek.

I smile back at him. “I love you too, Roman.” And then I slide him into my mouth, hearing that way he always groans, feeling the way my body always responds to him.