Page 184 of Uprising

He nods helping her tear the paper off when in truth she doesn’t need any help.

“What is it Daddy?” She asks frowning.

He looks at the side then across at Ben. “A watch winder?” He teases.

“You have enough watches to put it to use.” Ben replies.

“Christ, you are getting old.” Sofia says and we both snigger.

“Open the next.” Roman says to Lara before getting up and moving to sit beside me.

This is the first birthday any of us have had together. It feels like another turning point. Another memory we can store away. A happy one. A one we can think back on when we’re old and decrepit and can smile.

We have this. We have our happy ending.

“Stop looking like that.” Roman murmurs into my ear.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re thinking this can’t be real.”

“But it is.”

He cups my face, kissing me lightly. Too lightly. “One day you’ll actually believe it.”

Lara lets out a whine and Ben goes to help her, clearly seeing me and Roman are now distracted.

I lean back into him as he wraps his arm around me, giving me another heart melting kiss.

It’s been almost six months since everything ended. Since Darius died. Since every arsehole who tried to break us up got their rightly deserved comeuppance.

Hastings is still Governor. Although he’s no longer an interim. He decided to stay, to make Verona Bay his home and I’ll admit I was relieved when he told us he was running in the elections.

I know he supports us, that he has our back. But he’s also made it more than clear everything from now on has to be above board. No more vigilante tactics, no more talk of revenge.

I guess for me everyone who wronged us has been held accountable but for Sofia that’s not the case. Sure Otto is dead, just as Darius is, but there were others.

Hastings came to us a month after everything settled and showed us the video evidence of what happened to Nicholas Austin-Reed. Sofia watched it without saying a word and then she got up, left, and never mentioned it.

I don’t know if it helped. I don’t know if it gave her peace but I hope it did.

The two of us have grown so close, I guess our shared trauma has bonded us. I’m as protective of her as I am of Roman and Lara. To me, she’s just as much my family as they are.

She’s doing okay. She’s still staying at the Four Seasons. But she comes over every Sunday for lunch, putting on a big bright smile when she visits and this entire city thinks she’s good but I know better, and I think deep down Roman does too.

What she needs is time. What she needs is space. And as a family we will do whatever we can to support her.

Koen came to our house two days after Darius’s demise was publicly announced. He told Roman that his debt was paid, that he owed him nothing, and then he walked out leaving us both dumbfounded. Afterall who turns down twenty million?

We haven’t spoken about him. Not one of us have. We haven’t even mentioned his name to her.

I still don’t know what is going on between Sofia and him. Or Sofia and Ben for that matter. We don’t discuss it. We make it clear it’s none of our business.

But he’s stayed away from Sofia, just as we asked, though I know he’s still looking out for her, making sure she’s safe from a distance.

Roman and I got married just before Christmas. Only Ben, Sofia, and Lara were there. We didn’t want anyone else there. We didn’t need anyone else.

I’m now Rose Montague and to say I couldn’t be happier is an understatement.

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