Page 152 of Secret Heir

I pull her into my arms, careful of her enormous belly. “You’re beautiful when you’re decorating,” I murmur into her neck.

She scoffs but wraps her arms around me. “I’m enormous and waddling like a duck.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I want to keep you pregnant forever? You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She melts into me, her head on my chest. “You’re so lucky I love you because that line should not work on me.”

“And I’m grateful every day that you love me too,” I tell her.

Daniel runs into the living room, wrinkling his nose at our embrace. “Mama, can I have a snack? I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving,” Aria teases, as she presses a quick kiss to my cheek before heading toward the kitchen. “Come on, let’s see what we have.”

I follow them, watching my son climb onto a kitchen stool while Aria pulls out fruit and crackers. Daniel is chattering about Colt’s birthday party and how he’s already thinking of what toy to get his friend. Aria reminds him to do his homework, which makes our son pull a face and groan.

The baby kicks hard enough that I can see movement through Aria’s shirt. She pauses, her hand going to her belly.

“They’re active this afternoon,” she comments.

“Can I feel?” Daniel asks eagerly.

“Of course.” Aria guides his hand to where the baby’s moving and Daniel’s face lights up with wonder.

“Whoa. That’s so weird. But cool weird.”

I stand there in our kitchen, watching my fiancée and my son, and I’m overwhelmed by how much everything has changed. This is everything I searched for during those eight years. Not just Aria or finding them. But these ordinary moments. The snacks and birthday parties and fabric swatches.

A life beyond the violence. My wife. My children. A home.

Aria catches my eye and smiles, and in that smile I see our past, our present, and our future.

This is peace. This is home.

For the first time in my life, I’m not just surviving.

I’m living.

EPILOGUE: ARIA

In the end, I change my mind and decide to marry Maksim before the baby arrives. The ceremony is simple—just us, Nikolai, Daniel, and a judge in a courthouse in White Plains. There’s no elaborate wedding, or hundreds of guests. It’s just the people who matter most, bearing witness as Maksim and I exchange vows.

“I, Maksim Dmitrievich Sokolov, take you, Ariana Marie Delano, to be my lawfully wedded wife…”

His voice is steady, his gray eyes never leave mine. The ring he slides onto my finger—a simple platinum band to match my engagement ring—feels like a promise and a claim all at once.

When it’s my turn, my voice shakes slightly. “I, Ariana Marie Delano, take you, Maksim Dmitrievich Sokolov, to be my lawfully wedded husband…”

I’m a million years pregnant, enormous and uncomfortable in the simple cream dress I bought specifically because it was the only thing that fit. But I’ve never felt more beautiful than I do right now, standing before this man who loves me with a ferocity that still takes my breath away.

“You may kiss your bride.”

Maksim kisses me softly, one hand on my face and the other resting protectively on my swollen belly where our daughter or son is already making their presence known with strong kicks.

Daniel cheers beside us while even Nikolai manages a small smile.

“Mama and Papa are married!” Daniel yells, jumping into the air with joy.

We’ll have a big wedding later, once the baby arrives and I can actually fit into a wedding dress. But this quiet ceremony making everything legal and official is what matters. Our children will have their parents’ names. Our family will be legitimate in every way that counts.