Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Chapter 117

THEO

It was a picture of me and Mama at the park. She was pushing me on the swings, and we were both smiling. Really smiling, and laughing with me. Not the fake kind that she put on, when she was with Mia or people she didn’t like.

I thought all the pictures of Mama were gone forever and I wouldn’t see them again. Dad said they’d been deleted, that we didn’t have any left except the ones he’d managed to find.

“Can I have it?” My voice came out small.

“Of course.” But when I reached for the photo, Aunty Mia caught my hand. Her grip was tight. Too tight as I instinctively tried to pull away but her grip was too tight, making me wince.

“Why don’t we go somewhere quiet to talk? Just for a minute? I have more pictures of your mama. Lots of them. We could look at them together.” She said, sounding a bit tensed about the whole thing. It was more like she wanted me to come this instant.

Warning bells started going off in my head. This felt wrong. Bad wrong.

Dr. Fisher had taught me about gut feelings. How sometimes your body knows things are wrong before your brain figures it out. And that I should never ignore those kinds of feelings because they were the ones that could save me, faster than anything else.

“I need to go back to class,” I said, trying to pull my hand away but she refused to let go as she looked frantic about it. That was when I was beginning to notice that her smile was too wild and she seemed to be sweating despite being under the cool afternoon breeze.

Aunty Mia’s grip got tighter. “Just five minutes, Theo. Please. I’ve missed you so much—”

“Let go.” I pulled harder.

Mrs. Patterson stood up from her bench, starting to walk over towards us, with the speed of someone who had noticed something was odd somewhere and was coming to investigate. She must have seen something was wrong.

Aunty Mia released my hand quickly, her face going back to that fake smile that she perfected whenever she was with my mum.

“Think about it, okay?” She pressed the photo into my hand, her voice too cheerful now, devoid of all the panic that was in it, moments ago, making me have a whiplash and wondering if I had assumed all of that.

“I’ll be at the coffee shop across the street if you change your mind. We could get hot chocolate. Your favorite.”

She left before Mrs. Patterson reached us, walking fast toward the school gates, not looking back at me, as she seemed eager in getting out of the school building.

My hand hurt where she’d grabbed it. And my heart was racing like I’d been running as I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to control my breathing.

“Theo?” Mrs. Patterson crouched beside me. “Are you okay? What did she want?”

“She wanted me to go with her.” The words came out shaky. “To the coffee shop. To see pictures of Mama.”

Mrs. Patterson’s expression went serious, like she was taking this to heart as she asked gently.

“Did you want to go with her?”

“No. She was holding my hand too tight and it felt bad.” I looked at the photo still clutched in my other hand. “Can I call my

dad?

11

Chapter 117

+25 Bonus

“Yes. Absolutely yes. Let’s go to the office right now.“.

She walked me to the school office, her hand on my shoulder the whole time. The secretary let me use the phone, and I dialed Dad’s number with shaking fingers.

He answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

“Daddy?” My voice cracked. “Daddy, Aunty Mia was here. At my school. She tried to get me to go somewhere with her.”

A pause. Then Dad’s voice, very controlled: “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

“She held my hand too tight. And she wanted me to go to the coffee shop with her but it felt wrong. I know I should have gone with her, it’s aunt Mia but I didn’t want to go with her today.”

“You did exactly right not going with her, Theo. Exactly right.” I could hear him moving, like he was grabbing his keys. “I’m coming to get you right now. Stay in the office with the adults, okay? Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be there in twenty minutes max”

“Okay.” I said nodding my head despite it being a phone call and he couldn’t see my face.

“I love you, buddy. You’re safe. I’m coming.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify