Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Chapter 138

BIANCA

I didn’t know that man. Had no way of knowing whether the transformation was real or performed.

But Theo did.

Theo was living with him, talking to Dr. Fisher about him, calling him from school when he was frightened because he trusted his father to come.

That was something.

My phone buzzed. A text from James: *You’ve been in your office for two hours. I’ve left coffee outside the door. It’s the good stuff from the cart on the second floor, not the machine swill, so don’t let it go cold.*

I got up, opened the door, retrieved the coffee, and stood in the corridor for a moment letting the ordinary sounds of the hospital settle around me.

The ward was busy. A child was laughing somewhere down the hall–a bright, uncomplicated sound. Two nurses were discussing something at the station in the low tones of people managing a complex situation competently. The elevator dinged and released a family who looked tired but intact, the relieved–tired of people leaving with better news than they’d arrived with.

This was what I’d built here. This ordinary, functional, meaningful life.

I thought about Louis saving me the good cheese. About Rivera’s voice saying *I love you* like it was the simplest true thing he knew. About James showing up with coffee from the good cart because he’d noticed I’d been alone too long.

I didn’t want to lose any of it.

But I also knew, standing in that corridor with the coffee warming my hands, that wanting to keep something was not a sufficient reason to let a child come to harm.

I went back into my office and picked up my phone.

Rivera answered before the hour was up, which meant he’d been waiting too.

“Tell me what Klaus has,” I said.

“Matthew has been told there’s a credible threat to his son from parties connected to dark coven activity. He’s been told Lockwood should not be trusted. He’s been told to increase security at the assembly.” Rivera paused. “He’s received this information from the Alpha King’s office, from a source he has no personal relationship with, about people and practices he has no framework for understanding.”

“How did he respond?”

“Cautiously. Professionally. He asked the right questions and promised to take precautions.” Another pause. “Klaus says he doesn’t think Matthew truly understands the danger. He’s treating it as credible intelligence about a threat he can manage with conventional security measures. He has no concept of what Voss’s people are actually capable of or what they specifically want from Theo.”

I had known this was what Rivera would tell me.

“I need to go to Silver Moon,” I said.

Rivera was quiet.

“Not to reveal myself,” I said. “Not necessarily. But to be close enough to act if the assembly goes wrong. To have options I don’t have from here.” I paused. “And Lucian–if it comes to it, if there’s no other way to make Matthew understand what Theo is and

Chapter 138

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what the threat means-

“I know,” Rivera said quietly. “I know what you’re saying.”

“I need you to tell me honestly whether you think I’m wrong.”

A long pause. Not the pause of someone avoiding the question, but of someone taking it seriously enough to actually consider it.

“I think you’re the most capable person I know,” Rivera said finally. “I think whatever you decide, you’ll have thought it through completely and your reasoning will be sound.” He paused. “And I think I’ve done enough damage by making decisions on your behalf. This one is yours.”

“Come with me,” I said. “You and Klaus and whoever else needs to be there. Not as backup–as partners. We do this together or we don’t do it at all.”

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