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Chapter 196

Author: Billie Patsy
last update Last Updated: 2025-12-30 21:23:48

LENA

When I got home, the house felt different.

Not empty—Roman was there, Isabella’s laughter drifting from the living room—but heavy, like the walls were listening, like every corner knew something I didn’t.

Roman looked up the moment I stepped inside.

“Where were you?” he asked, not sharply, not accusingly, but carefully, as if he was afraid the answer might hurt.

I slipped off my shoes and set my bag down. “I met a friend,” I said.

It was the truth, just not the whole truth. I didn’t want to be cold with him, but I couldn’t bring myself to be warm either. Every word felt like it needed to be measured now. Every smile felt dangerous.

Roman nodded slowly, like he was trying not to ask the next question. “Did you eat?”

“Yes.”

Another nod.

I walked further in and found Isabella curled up beside him on the couch, her legs tucked under her, her teddy bear pressed against her chest. Roman had one arm around her, his hand absently stroking her hair.

For a second, my chest ached so badly I
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  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 203

    LENAThat night, I didn’t answer Roman. I stared at my phone until the screen dimmed, his name still burned into my vision like an afterimage. Ava had offered to take it from me, but I shook my head. This wasn’t about avoiding him forever. I just needed a moment. One quiet, fragile moment where my thoughts weren’t tangled with his voice, his explanations, his guilt, or his promises. But quiet never came. I lay on the mattress in Ava’s guest room, the lights turned off, the curtains half-open. The moonlight spilled across the floor in pale strips, illuminating the shapes of my children as they slept. Benjamin had kicked his blanket off again. Nataniel was curled up on his side, thumb tucked into his mouth like he used to do as a baby. Isabella lay between them, awake, her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. I shifted closer to them, careful not to wake the twins, and brushed Isabella’s hair back gently. “Mommy?” she whispered. “Yes, sweetheart.” “Why are we sleeping here?” I hes

  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 202

    LENAI closed the guest room door as quietly as I could.Benjamin and Nataniel were finally asleep, sprawled across the bed Ava had prepared for them, their small chests rising and falling in that steady rhythm that always calmed me. Isabella had insisted on sleeping beside them, one arm protectively draped over her brothers like she was their shield against the world. I stood there for a moment longer than necessary, watching them, memorizing the sight as if I was afraid it might disappear.They were my anchor.If it weren’t for them, I wasn’t sure I’d still be standing.When I turned around, Ava was there in the hallway, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She didn’t ask anything. She didn’t rush me. She just opened her arms.The moment I stepped into them, everything I’d been holding back shattered.I cried into her shoulder, hard and ugly, my body shaking so badly my knees almost gave out. Ava tightened her grip on me, steady and warm, like she was physically holding m

  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 201

    LENAThat night, I woke up without knowing why.It wasn’t a sound. It wasn’t a dream. It was that strange instinct women get, the one that tugs you out of sleep before your mind can catch up. My eyes opened to darkness, the room quiet except for Roman’s steady breathing beside me.Then I saw the light.A faint glow pulsing on the nightstand.Roman’s phone.He had put it on silent, I knew that. He always did. But the screen lit up anyway, soft and insistent, like it was calling only to me. Roman didn’t stir. He was sleeping deeply, his face turned slightly toward me, peaceful in a way that felt cruel.For a moment, I just stared.I told myself not to look.I told myself that if I reached for that phone, whatever I saw would change something forever. And I was so tired of things changing without my consent. I had promised myself I wouldn’t search for pain anymore. I had promised I would wait for honesty instead of digging for it.My hand still moved.Slowly. Carefully. Like I was afraid

  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 200

    LENAOther people wouldn’t understand what I felt.They would expect screaming. Crying. Breaking things. They would expect me to lose my mind after discovering my husband was doing something behind my back. And if it had been another woman, maybe I would have. Maybe I would have shattered into pieces so sharp I wouldn’t recognize myself.But it wasn’t another woman.It was my mother.Vivian.That was the part no one could wrap their head around. Not Ava. Not Billy. Not even Roman, if I was being honest. Betrayal has many faces, but betrayal that shares your blood feels different. It doesn’t stab you in the chest. It hollows you out slowly, until you reach inside yourself and realize there’s nothing left to grab onto.The night I finally put everything together, I didn’t cry.That scared me more than anything.I sat alone in the living room long after everyone had gone to bed. The house was quiet in that deep, heavy way that only happens past midnight. Roman was asleep upstairs. The ch

  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 199

    LENAA month passed faster than I expected, yet slower than my heart could keep up with.If I had to describe Roman now, I would say he looked… lighter and heavier at the same time. Lighter because the weight of power was gone from his shoulders. He no longer had men in black suits trailing him everywhere, no hushed phone calls in the middle of the night, no assistants waiting outside his door. He dressed simply now. Plain shirts. Worn jeans. His watch was gone. The house felt quieter, emptier, almost like it was breathing again.He really did start from zero.One by one, the guards were dismissed. Not fired in anger or humiliation, but thanked, paid, and sent away. Roman personally walked some of them to the gate. I watched from the window the first time it happened, confused by the sight of my husband shaking hands with men who once bowed their heads to him.“I don’t need protection anymore,” he told me that night when I asked. “There’s nothing left to protect.”The words stayed wit

  • Stepdaughter by Day, Wife by Night   Chapter 198 – Roman POV

    The phone kept vibrating in my hand like it was alive.Billy.That name sat on the screen between Lena and me, heavy, loaded, louder than any argument we’d had so far.I looked at Lena. She looked back at me, unsure, cautious, like every movement now had consequences.“Let me answer it,” I said.Her fingers tightened around the phone. I could see the hesitation in her eyes. Not guilt. Fear. Fear that whatever I did next would become another crack in something already fragile.“Roman…” she started.“I just want to talk,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “You said there’s nothing between you and him. I believe you. Let me handle this.”Refusing me would only confirm the doubts clawing at my chest. I could see that she knew it too.Slowly, reluctantly, Lena placed the phone in my palm.The moment felt symbolic. Too symbolic. Like she was handing me more than a device. Like she was handing me trust I wasn’t sure I deserved anymore.I stepped a few feet away, toward the window, putting space

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