The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 355

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Chapter 355 After the Storm

Mia

The air in my chest had turned to concrete. Each breath since then felt like swallowing glass, sharp and impossible.

1 sat in my car outside the school, phone pressed against my ear so hard it left marks, listening to Detective Rivera explain about false documents and sophisticated impersonation while my world tilted sideways.

“Mrs. Williams, we have units searching the area,” Detective Rivera was saying, but his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. “We’ve issued an amber alert. We have the license plate from the school’s security footage.”

My phone buzzed against my cheek. Kyle’s name appeared on the screen.

I almost didn’t answer. Kyle shouldn’t call now.

“Mia.” His voice was rough, strained, but there was something in it I hadn’t heard in years. “I have them. I have all three of them. They’re safe.”

The concrete in my chest cracked, and suddenly I could breathe again.

“Where?”

“County Road 47, about two miles north of the highway. Police are already here. Victoria’s been arrested.” Kyle paused, and I could hear him breathing carefully, like it took effort. “Madison’s hurt, but not badly. Cut on her arm. Alexander and Ethan are shaken up but okay.”

“I’m coming.”

“Mia, drive carefully. They’re safe now. They’re with me.”

The drive to County Road 47 felt like swimming through honey. Every red light lasted forever, every turn took too long, every mile stretched like taffy between me and my children. I called my mother, then Scarlett, then Thomas, my hands shaking as I tried to explain what had happened.

The scene when I arrived looked like controlled chaos. Police cars with flashing lights, an ambulance, and Kyle’s dark sedan parked at an angle like he’d stopped in a hurry.

But all I could see were three small figures pressed against the back window of Kyle’s car, Gas’s furry head visible between them. Alive. Safe. There.

Alexander was out of the car before I’d fully stopped, running toward me with his arms outstretched and his face streaked with dirt and tears. The impact when he hit me nearly knocked me over, but I caught him, lifting him up and spinning him around right there on the dark road while he sobbed

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Chapter 355 After the Storm

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into my shoulder.

“Mama, Mama, we were so scared, but we were brave, and Gas found us, and Kyle came, and

“Shh,” I whispered, holding him tight enough to convince myself he was real. “You’re safe now. You’re all safe.”

Ethan approached, when I reached out my free arm, he melted into the embrace with all the relief. Madison followed, clutching her injured arm but gathering into our family huddle.

Over their heads, I saw Kyle leaning against his car, watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read. He looked terrible. But there was something peace in his face.

“Thanks.” I looked at him, mouthing the word.

Madison’s arm required stitches, but the paramedic said it would heal cleanly. When Alexander asked where Gas was, Kyle brought our dog from his car, and Gas positioned himself in the middle of our little group like a furry anchor point. 1

“We should go home,” I said finally, when Officer Santos finished taking statements. “They need rest, and food, and their own beds.”

“Actually,” the paramedic said, glancing at her clipboard, “I’d like Dr. Martinez to take another look at them. Just as a precaution. Sometimes delayed reactions to trauma can show up hours later.”

She was right. By the time we reached the hospital, Alexander was running a fever that spiked to 103 degrees despite the children’s Tylenol I’d given him in the car. His small body shook with chills, and he kept asking for water in the thin voice that meant he felt terrible.

“It’s stress,” Dr. Martinez explained, checking Alexander’s ears and throat in the pediatric examination room. “His body’s finally processing everything that happened today. The fever, the

chills–it’s not uncommon after severe emotional trauma.”

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked, smoothing Alexander’s damp hair away from his flushed forehead.

“He should be fine, but I want to admit him overnight for observation. Keep his fever down, make sure he stays hydrated.” Dr. Martinez made notes on his tablet. “What about the other two?”

“I’m okay,” Ethan said when Dr. Martinez asked him how he felt. “My tummy feels funny, but I’m

okay.”

“Funny how?”

“Like it’s full of butterflies, but not the good kind.”

Dr. Martinez nodded. “That’s normal too. Your body’s been working very hard to keep you safe today. It’s tired.”

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They admitted Alexander to the pediatric ward, settling him into a room with cartoon animals painted on the walls and a window that looked out over the hospital’s small garden. The IV in his small arm made him look impossibly fragile, but he was more alert once the fever–reducing medication took effect.

“Mama,” he said, his voice still scratchy but more like himself, “where’s Kyle? He said he wouldn’t leave us again.”

I looked around the room, realizing I hadn’t seen Kyle since we’d arrived at the hospital. “He’s probably talking to the doctors, sweetheart. He’s very sick, remember? He might have to go back to his own hospital room.”

“But he came to save us,” Alexander said, as if this somehow negated Kyle’s terminal illness. “Gas brought him to us.”

“Yes, he did.” I adjusted Alexander’s blankets, tucking them around his small shoulders. “That was very brave of him.”

“Mama,” Ethan said from his chair beside the bed, “Kyle looked really sick when he got out of his car. Like he might fall down.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

“But he didn’t fall down. He stayed up to make sure we were safe.”

Madison, curled up in the reclining chair with her bandaged arm cradled against her chest, made a small sound of agreement.

A soft knock at the door interrupted our conversation. Kyle appeared in the doorway. He’d changed out of the hospital gown into regular clothes.

“How’s our patient?” he asked, approaching Alexander’s bed with careful steps.

“Kyle!” Alexander’s face lit up. “The doctor said I have stress fever because my body was working so hard to keep me safe. Did you know bodies could do that?”

“I didn’t know that,” Kyle said, settling into the empty chair on the other side of Alexander’s bed. ” Your body is very smart.”

“Dr. Martinez said Madison’s arm is going to heal perfectly, and Ethan just needs to rest, and I have to stay here tonight so they can make sure my fever goes away.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

“Will you stay too?” Alexander asked. “Will you stay here tonight?”

Kyle glanced at me across Alexander’s bed, a question in his eyes.

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Chapter 355 After the Stom

“If it’s okay with your mom,” Kyle said, “I could stay for a while.”

“It’s okay,” I heard myself say. “The children would like that.”

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And so we settled into an unexpected vigil. Madison fell asleep first, curled up in her chair like a small cat, her injured arm resting on a pillow. Ethan fought sleep longer, but eventually succumbed to the exhaustion that had been building all day, his breathing deepening as he slumped against my shoulder.

Alexander’s fever broke around midnight, his temperature dropping back to normal as his small body finally relaxed into healing sleep. Kyle and I sat on opposite sides of his bed, the only sounds the soft beeping of monitors and the quiet conversations of nurses in the hallway.

“Thank you,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper.

Kyle looked up from where he’d been watching Alexander’s peaceful face. “For what?”

“For finding them. For bringing them home.”

“Gas found them,” Kyle said. “I just followed.”

“You left the hospital to look for them. Against medical advice, I’m guessing.”

Kyle’s mouth quirked upward slightly. “Severely against medical advice.”

We lapsed into quiet again.

Around four in the morning, Alexander stirred and opened his eyes, blinking slowly as he adjusted to the dim room. His fever was completely gone, his cheeks no longer flushed, though he still looked tired.

“Mama?” he said softly.

“I’m here, sweetheart. How do you feel?”

“Better. Thirsty.”

I helped him sip water from the hospital cup, his small hands wrapping around mine as he drank. When he was finished, he lay back against his pillows and looked across the bed at Kyle.

“You stayed,” Alexander said, and there was something like wonder in his voice.

“I said I would,” Kyle replied.

Alexander studied Kyle’s face with the serious attention, then he asked.

“Are you our dad?”

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Chapter 356 I always wanted a dad