The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 322

Chapter 322 Bring her here

Mia’s POV

The phone felt slick in my palm, like something that might slip away and shatter on the floor. Kyle’s breathing on the other end was shallow, mechanical–the sound of someone whose lungs had forgotten how to work properly.

“Do you know what?” The words scraped out of my throat, each syllable fighting against the swelling that made speaking feel like swallowing glass. “I hate you.”

Silence.

“I hate everything you’ve done to me,” I continued, my voice gaining strength like a gathering storm. “I hate that you left. I hate that you lied. I hate that you made me fall in love with someone who didn’t exist. I hate that you let me spend four years wondering if our children would ever know their father.”

Kyle’s breathing hitched.

“But I can’t-“My voice cracked, and I pressed my free hand against my mouth, trying to hold back the sob that was clawing its way up my throat. “I can’t accept that you’re going to die. I don’t want you to die.”

The admission hung between us like a bridge neither of us knew how to cross. Outside my window, the city hummed with its usual rhythm–cars passing, people walking dogs, life continuing its relentless forward motion. But inside this moment, everything had stopped.

“This might just be my fate,” Kyle said finally, “I’ve done a lot of things to hurt you, Mia. So you should hate me.”

Tears were streaming down my face, hot and unstoppable. They tasted like salt and four years of accumulated grief.

“Mia-”

“No.” I stood up abruptly, pacing to the window that overlooked the street where my children played every day. Where they rode their bikes and chased Gas and lived their beautiful, uncomplicated lives.

The line went quiet.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of the window. A woman across the street was hanging laundry, her movements methodical and soothing. Normal life. What I wanted for my children.

“Kyle,” I said.

“Mia, I have to go.”

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Chapter 322 Bring her here

+25 BONUS

And then the line went dead.

I stared at the phone in my hand, at the black screen that had just contained Kyle’s voice.

I found my children in Alexander’s room, building an elaborate city out of wooden blocks. They had pushed their beds together to create more floor space, and Gas was lying in the middle of their construction zone, occasionally moving when a building encroached on his territory.

“Mama!” Alexander looked up, his face lighting up with the uncomplicated joy that only four–year- olds possessed. “We’re building New York! Look, this is our apartment building.”

He pointed to a tower that leaned precariously to one side, held up by what appeared to be sheer determination and a strategically placed toy dinosaur.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, settling cross–legged on the floor beside them. Ethan immediately crawled into my lap, warm and solid and smelling like the apple juice he’d spilled on his shirt at lunch.

“Are you still sad, Mama?” Alexander asked, pressing his small hand against my cheek. His fingers were sticky with something–probably the remnants of the peanut butter sandwich he’d eaten for snack.

“A little bit,” I admitted.

I wrapped my arms around both of them, breathing in their warmth, their aliveness, their beautiful certainty that love was enough to fix anything.

“I love you both so much,” I whispered into Alexander’s hair. “More than all the stars.”

“More than all the dinosaurs?” Alexander asked, because this was our game.

“More than all the dinosaurs.”

“More than all the pizza in the world?” Ethan contributed.

“More than all the pizza in the world.”

They giggled, the sound bubbling up from their bellies like champagne foam. For a moment, all the complexities receded. There was just this: my children’s laughter, their small bodies pressed against mine, the smell of their shampoo and the sound of their breathing.

But then my phone rang.

“Don’t answer it,” Alexander said immediately, as if he could sense that the outside world was full of complications that might steal their mother’s attention.

I looked at the caller ID. Thomas.

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Chapter 322 Bring her here

+25 BONUS

For a moment, I considered letting it go to voicemail. I wasn’t ready to talk to Thomas.

But something made me answer.

“Hello?”

“Mia, thank God.” Thomas’s voice was tight with stress. “I need to ask you for a favor, and I know the timing is terrible, but I don’t have anyone else to call.”

I untangled myself from the boys, moving to the hallway where I could speak without them overhearing. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Madison. Victoria’s been arrested.”

The words hit me like cold water. “Arrested for what?”

“Financial fraud, initially. But they’re also investigating the abuse allegations. Madison’s been placed in temporary custody with social services, but she’s terrified. She won’t stop crying, and she keeps asking for me.”

I closed my eyes. Sweet, damaged Madison with her hollow cheeks and desperate hunger. “Where is she now?”

“At the precinct. They have a social worker with her, but she’s traumatized. Mia, I know I have no right to ask this, especially after everything that’s happened between us, but would you consider taking her temporarily? Just until they can find a proper foster placement?”

But I thought about Madison’s small face pressed against my apartment window, watching my family with hungry eyes. I thought about her devouring those sandwiches like someone who didn’t know when the next meal might come.

“Yes,” I said. “Bring her here.”

“Mia, are you sure? I know this is asking a lot-”

“Bring her here, Thomas.”