The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 317

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Chapter 317 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

Chapter 317 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

Mia’s POV

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I called Scarlett at eight in the morning because I did not sleep last night. The phone rang twice before her groggy voice answered.

“Jesus, Mia. What time is it?”

“Thomas knew.” The words came out flat. Empty. “He’s known Kyle was there this whole time.”

A pause. The sound of rustling sheets.

“Shit,” Scarlett said. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“And you don’t sound surprised.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“Mia-”

“You knew too.”

“Not exactly. I…suspected.”

I was sitting on my kitchen floor. The tiles were cold against my legs. Gas lay beside me.

“How long?” I asked.

“How long what?”

“How long have you suspected?”

Scarlett sighed. The sound carried through the phone like smoke. “Remember that fight Morton and

I had? The big one, before our divorce?”

I remembered. Scarlett had called me crying.

“It was about Kyle,” I said.

“I kept asking Morton questions. It didn’t make sense to me.”

The twins were still asleep. I could hear Alexander’s breathing through the baby monitor, that soft whistle he made when his nose was stuffy.

I pressed my palm against the cold tile.

“Why didn’t you tell me this, Scar?”

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Chapter 317 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

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“Because I didn’t have proof. And because every time I pressed Morton for more information, he shut down.”

I could hear the guilt in her voice. The weight of secrets she’d been carrying

“Scarlett, did Morton tell you anything? Anything at all?”

A long pause. “He told me Kyle was sick.”

The words hit me like cold water. “Sick how?”

“He wouldn’t say. Just that Kyle had… health issues. That it was complicated. That Kyle was trying to protect you and the boys from something.”

“From what?”

“Morton wouldn’t say. But Mia…” Scarlett’s voice got softer. “I think that’s when I knew our marriage was over.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I realized I’m getting too caught up in him. I’ve taken him too seriously. That hurt me.”

I felt sick. My problems with Kyle had infected Scarlett’s marriage like a virus.

“Scar, I’m so sorry—”

“Stop.” Her voice was sharp. “Don’t you dare apologize for this.”

“Mia, listen to me. The problem wasn’t you. That’s on him, not you.”

I was quiet.

But it didn’t feel that way. It felt like everything I touched turned to ash.

“I ruined your marriage.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. It’s Morton and I ruined our marriage.”

“Because of me.”

“Because of choices we made. Adult choices. You’re not responsible for other people’s relationships,

Mia,”

I wasn’t convinced. The twins were awake now. I could hear them chattering in their room, probably arguing about who got to feed Gas first.

“I feel like everything’s falling apart,” I said.

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Chapter 317 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

“What do you mean?”

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“I mean Kyle’s been lying to me for four years. Thomas has been lying to me for four years. You and Morton got divorced because of secrets about Kyle. Victoria’s abusing her daughter and no one will do anything about it. Catherine’s dead and I never got to say goodbye. And my children are asking questions I can’t answer because everyone around me thinks I’m too fragile to handle the truth.”

The words tumbled out like water from a broken dam.

“I’m thirty years old, Scarlett. I have a successful business. I’ve survived an abusive marriage, a miscarriage, attempted murder, and single motherhood. I’m not made of glass.”

“I know that, Mia.”

“Then why is everyone treating me like I am? Why does everyone think they need to protect me from information about my own life?”

Scarlett was quiet for a moment. “Maybe because you’ve been through so much trauma that people are afraid of adding to it.”

“But that’s not their choice to make.”

“No. It’s not.”

The twins appeared in the kitchen doorway. Alexander was dragging his stuffed elephant behind him. Ethan had put his shirt on backwards.

“Mama, we’re hungry,” Alexander announced.

“And Gas needs to go potty,” Ethan added seriously.

I held up one finger. Wait.

“Scarlett, what do you think I should do?”

“I think you should ask them directly.”

“Ask them what?”

“Ask them everything. Where Kyle’s been. Why he left. What Thomas’s role has been. What this supposed health issue is. All of it. Like you come and ask me.”

I watched the twins pet Gas, their small hands gentle on his brown fur.

“And if they won’t tell me?”

“Then they’re not worth your time. I don’t care how good their intentions are. I don’t care how much they love you. If they can’t respect you enough to be honest with you, then they’re not the men you

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Chapter 317 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

deserve.”

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After I hung up with Scarlett, I made the twins breakfast. Scrambled eggs and toast cut into dinosaur shapes. They ate with the focused intensity of small children, discussing important matters like whether brontosauruses ate toast and why Gas wasn’t allowed to have bacon.

“Mama, is Uncle Thomas coming over today?” Alexander asked, using his fork to push eggs around his plate into a pattern that apparently resembled a triceratops.

“I don’t think so, baby.”

“Is he still disappointed?”

I’d forgotten that I’d used that word last night. Disappointed.

“It’s complicated,” I said.

“Everything’s always complicated with grown–ups,” Ethan observed.

Out of the mouths of babes.

After breakfast, I called my mother.

“Darling, how are you feeling? How’s your ankle?”

“Better. Mom, I need you to watch the boys today.”

“Of course. Is everything alright?”

I looked at my sons, who were now feeding Gas tiny pieces of toast under the table despite my repeated instructions not to.

“I need to have some difficult conversations.”

“With Thomas?”

“Among others.”

My mother was quiet for a moment. She had a way of hearing the things I didn’t say.

“I’ll be there in an hour,” she said.

An hour later, I was driving through the tree–lined streets of my old neighborhood. The house Kyle and I had shared looked exactly the same from the outside. Same manicured lawn. Same black shutters. Same sense of controlled perfection that had always made me feel like I was living in someone else’s life,

I rang the doorbell and waited. Footsteps approached. The door opened.

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Chapter 307 Everything’s complicated with grown–ups

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Mrs. Chen looked older. Much older. Her hair was completely gray now, pulled back in the same neat bum she’d always worn, but her face was lined with new wrinkles

“Mi,” she said

“Hello, Mrs. Chen.”

We stood looking at each other for a moment. Years of silence stretched between us like a bridge neither of us knew how to cross

“You want to come in?” she asked finally.

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