Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 103

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Chapter 103

Chapter 103

BIANCA

“Later, Lucian.” I looked at him, seeing the fear in his eyes but unable to comfort it right now. “I just–I need time. To process all of this. To figure out what it means. To decide what I want to do.”

He nodded, looking like he wanted to say more but recognizing I’d reached my limit.

I left the kitchen and headed toward the guest suite, my mind spinning with impossible information.

Matthew was here. Theo was here. I might still be bonded to the man who’d tried to kill me.

Vera was awake when I entered, her eyes tracking me with surprising alertness given the trauma she’d survived.

“You look like hell,” she observed, her voice raspy but functional.

“You look like someone who got stabbed multiple times and survived,” I countered, moving to check her vitals. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got stabbed multiple times.” She grimaced. “But alive. Thanks to you.”

“Thanks to us,” I corrected. “Rivera and his people got you out.”

“Rivera.” Vera’s expression shifted. “He’s someone powerful. More than he let on”

I paused in adjusting her IV. “You knew?”

“I suspected. The resources, the authority, the way everyone deferred to him–it didn’t add up for just a well–connected civilian.

“You look bothered about something, what happened?” she asked changing the topic.

I shouldn’t have told her. Shouldn’t have shared information about Matthew and Theo when Vera was still critically injured and

vulnerable.

But I was exhausted and overwhelmed and she was the only person in this house who understood what it was like to be hunted, to hide, to sacrifice everything for safety.

So I told her. About Matthew being in the city, about Theo’s therapy, about the possibility that my mate bond might not be fully dissolved.

Vera listened without interrupting, her expression growing more concerned with each revelation.

“Bianca,” she said when I’d finished. “You cannot let Matthew find you. If that bond is still intact, it he has any legal claim-

“I know.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” Vera struggled to sit up despite my protests “Pack law regarding mate bonds is archaic and absolute If Matthew can prove the dissolution wasn’t complete, if he can demonstrate the bond still exists, he can petition for you return. And most pack councils would side with him would see you taking your death as deception rather than survival.

“But I was running for my life

“They won’t care. They’ll see a wife who abandoned her mate and child through trickery. They’ll see a bond that wasn’t properly severed. And they’ll rule that you belong back in Silver Moon, under Matthew’s authority.”

The certainty in her voice made my blood run cold.

“So what do I do?”

Chapter 103

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“You stay away from them,” Vera said firmly. “You stay away from Matthew and Theo and anyone else from your old life. You maintain the fiction of your death until that bond is absolutely, completely dissolved. And then–only then–you consider whether contact is worth the risk.”

“But Theo thinks he killed me—”

“And that’s tragic. Truly tragic.” Vera’s voice gentled slightly. “But Bianca, you cannot save your son by sacrificing yourself back to a man who tried to kill you. That’s not heroism. That’s just different kind of death.”

She was right. I knew she was right. But knowing it didn’t make the choice any easier.

I spent the next hour tending to Vera’s medical needs, checking her wounds, adjusting medications. The routine of medicine was soothing, giving me something concrete to focus on while my mind spun with impossible decisions.

When I finally left her to rest, I found Rivera waiting in the hallway.

“Louis is at school,” he said quietly. “I have the day cleared if you want to talk. About any of it.”

I looked at him—this man who’d kept massive secrets, who hid the truth from me, until today.

But who was also offering to spend his day helping me process it. Who was giving me space to be angry while making it clear he wasn’t abandoning me.

“I don’t know what I want,” I admitted. “I don’t know how to feel about any of this.”

“That’s okay.”

“Is it?” I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Because Lucian, you lied to me. For months. About who you are, about Matthew being here, about things that directly affect my life and safety. And I’m supposed to just–what? Forgive you because you’re sorry?”

“No,” he said. “You’re supposed to take all the time you need to decide if you can forgive me. If you can trust me again after this. And if you can’t-“His voice broke slightly. “If you can’t, I’ll help you find your own place, your own life separate from mine. Because I’d rather lose you and know you’re safe and happy than keep you here through obligation or guilt.”

The sincerity in his voice made my eyes burn with tears I’d been holding back.

“I need time,” I said finally. “I need to think about all of this without you watching me, without feeling like I have to make decisions right now.”

“Take all the time you need,” Rivera said. “I’ll be here. Whenever you’re ready.”

I nodded and headed back to Vera’s room, needing the simplicity of medical care to ground me.

My ex–husband was in this city with my son. I might still be bonded to the man who’d tried to kill me. The man I loved had been lying to me for weeks about this.

I settled into the chair beside Vera’s bed and tried very hard not to think about a tour year–old boy who thought he’d killed his mother with angry words.

Tried not to imagine running to him, scooping him up, telling him none of it was his fault.

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