Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 32

Chapter 32

MATTHEW

The next two days passed quickly as I was staying more hours in the hospital, in room 306, watching over Mia, making sure that there was no complications or her disease would resurface.

Mia was recovering beautifully–better than anyone had dared hope. She was sitting up by the second day, eating solid food, laughing at things I said, looking more alive than she had in over a year.

Dr. Hartwick monitored her progress, without the care and concern needed by a doctor towards his patient. It was different from the way Bianca would fuss over the patient, making sure all their needs were met.

I pushed that aside, thinking it was just unique to only Bianca.

Dr Hardwick was barely speaking to me beyond the necessary medical updates. I chalked it up to exhaustion from the intense procedure.

What mattered was that Mia was healing. That she would live.

I’d been right all along.

My phone had been quiet, which was unusual. I had been expecting endless calls from Bianca, furious and mad at me, but there were no calls from Bianca.

No texts demanding to know when I’d be home, no arguments about Mia, no accusations about the treatment. Just… silence.

She was angry, obviously, that wasn’t hard to figure out. She was furious that I’d forced her to do her duty, that I’d made her save Mia despite her jealousy and paranoia.

Part of me felt guilty about how I’d handled things that day, the slap, the forcefulness, dragging her to the hospital against her will.

But she’d been irrational. Hysterical. Sometimes you had to be firm with people for their own good, to make them do what was right even when they didn’t want to.

She’d understand eventually. Once she calmed down and saw that Mia was genuinely cured, that her accusations had been baseless, she’d come around. We could move forward, repair our family, move on from this problem, and proceed to give Theo the stable home he deserved. 1

I just needed to give her time to cool off first.

“Matthew?” Mia’s voice pulled me from my thoughts as I blinked, turning to look at her. She was sitting up in bed, looking at me with those knowing eyes of hers that had always been able to read me too well.

“You seem distracted. Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” I squeezed her hand, forcing a smile on my face for her benefit. The last thing I wanted was to give her the idea that something was off.

“Just thinking about pack business.”

“Liar.” She smiled gently. “You’re worried about Blanca. About how she’s handling all this.”

Was I? I should be, probably. But every time I thought about going to check on her, about facing her anger and

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Chapter 32

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accusations, I found reasons to delay. I didn’t want to get into another argument with Bianca, it was draining so I gave myself excuses by focusing on Mia. One more hour with Mia. One more test result to wait for. One more excuse to avoid the confrontation I knew was coming.

“She’ll be fine,” I said, more to convince myself than Mia as I added. “She just needs some space. Time to process everything, that has happened this past few days. I don’t want to crowd her.”

“Matthew, she went through an intense healing ritual. You should at least check on her, make sure she’s recovering properly.”

“Dr. Hartwick said he’d monitor both of you. If something was wrong, he’d tell me.”

But even as I said it, I realized Dr. Hartwick hadn’t mentioned Bianca once since the procedure ended. Not her condition, not her recovery, nothing, he hadn’t given me any information about her. Every update had been solely about Mia.

I was beginning to feel uneasy but I pushed it aside. Bianca was tough. She’d bounced back from severe exhaustion before. She was probably just resting, recuperating in her VIP room, avoiding me as much as I was avoiding her.

On the third day, I brought Theo to visit Mia. My son’s face lit up the moment he saw her sitting up in bed, looking healthy and vibrant.

“Aunty Mia!” He launched himself at her, and she caught him with a laugh, holding him close.

“Hey, sweetheart. I missed you so much.”

“Daddy said you were sick, but you look okay now.” Theo pulled back to study her face seriously. “Did Mama help you? Did she make you better?”

Something passed quicker across Mia’s face–guilt, maybe, or discomfort. But she beamed at him and nodded her ⚫head.

“Yes, your mother helped me. She… she did what she needed to do.”

“Can I see her?” Theo asked, looking around the room like he expected Bianca to materialize out of thin air. “I haven’t seen Mama in days. Is she mad at me?”

The question hit me harder than it should have. When was the last time Theo had seen his mother? Before the procedure, obviously. But that had been three days ago. Three days without contact, without her checking on our

son.

Even angry, even in the middle of our worst fights, Bianca had always made time for Theo. Always.

“She’s probably just resting,” I said, but uncertainty was creeping in now and refusing to leave no matter what I did to force it aside. “The healing took a lot out of her.”

“But I want to see her.” Theo’s lower lip trembled.

“I said a lot of cruel things to her before because I was scared she won’t heal Aunt Mia. I want to tell her I’m sorry for being mean. I want to tell her I love her.”

The unease in my chest tightened into something that felt almost like dread.

“Okay, buddy. Okay. Let’s go find Mama.“.

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