Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86

RIVERA

Because that was the fear I’d been suppressing for weeks. That Bianca would remember she had a child, a son she’d given birth to and raised for four years. That maternal bond didn’t just disappear because a husband was terrible.

What if she wanted Theo back?

What if she decided her real family her actual son, her legal marriage even if it was supposedly dissolved mattered more than the makeshift family she’d built with Louis and me?

“Lucian,” Klaus said gently. “You’re spiraling. I can see it.”

“Am I?” I looked at him. “Her son is here. Her actual child, not the boy she’s helping out of obligation or affection. What if she finds out and realizes she wants her old life back?”

“Her old life involved a husband who tried to kill her,” Elijah pointed out. “I don’t think she’s nostalgic for that.”

“But Theo-“I stopped, trying to articulate the fear that had been growing. “She gave birth to him. Raised him. That’s not something you just walk away from, even if the marriage was terrible.”

“She didn’t walk away,” Roy said quietly. “She was forced out. There’s a difference.”

“But now she could go back. If she wanted to. Matthew’s here, Theo’s here, she could-”

“Could what?” Klaus interrupted. “Magically undo her faked death? Reveal herself to a pack that thinks she’s cremated? Walk back into a marriage that was dissolved the moment she ‘died‘? Lucian, you’re not thinking clearly.”

He was right. I knew he was right. But fear didn’t respond to logic.

“You’re scared,” Mikael observed. “Scared that Bianca will realize you’re not enough. That what you’re offering–a quiet life, a ready–made family, a man with complicated secrets–can’t compete with her actual son.”

“Maybe I am,” I admitted. “I’ve been alone for five years. I’d convinced myself I’d stay alone, that Louis and I were enough for each other. And then Bianca appeared, and suddenly I remembered what it felt like to want something for myself instead of just existing for my son. And now-”

“Now you’re terrified of losing it,” Klaus finished. “I get it. But Lucian, you can’t control this. You can’t prevent Bianca from finding out Matthew is here, and you can’t force her to choose you if she doesn’t want to.”

“I know that,” I said, though the knowledge didn’t make it easier.

“What you can do,” Elijah said, “is tell her yourself. Before she finds out another way. Be honest about Matthew being in the city, give her the choice of whether to reach out to him or not. Show her you trust her enough to let her make that decision.”

“And if she decides she wants to see Theo?”

“Then you support that,” Roy said simply. “Because preventing a mother from seeing her child–even a child who thinks she’s dead–isn’t love. It’s control. And you’re not that man.”

The words hit hard because they were true.

I’d spent five years watching Matthew control Bianca, watching him use his authority to override her autonomy, watching him treat her like property instead of a person.

I wouldn’t become that. I wouldn’t let fear turn me into the kind of man who restricted Bianca’s choices because I was scared of losing her.

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Chapter 86

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“You’re right,” I said finally. “I need to tell her. About Matthew being here, about the possibility of seeing Theo if she wants. And I need to trust that whatever she decides, it won’t destroy what we’re building.”

“There’s the Lucian I know,” Klaus said with approval. “The man who faces hard truths instead of hiding from them.”

“I’ve been hiding from a lot of truths lately,” I admitted. “Not just about Matthew. About my identity, about Thorne, about—”

“About the fact that you’re falling in love with her and it terrifies you,” Mikael interrupted. “We know. We can tell.”

“I’m not terrified of loving her,” I protested.

“You’re terrified of losing her,” Klaus corrected. “Which is why you haven’t told her you’re the Alpha King, why you’re avoiding difficult conversations, why you’re trying to create this perfect bubble where nothing can go wrong.”

“Bubbles pop,” Elijah said bluntly. “Better to have honest conversations in a messy reality than maintain a beautiful illusion.”

I knew they were right. Had known for weeks that I was avoiding hard truths because I was scared of the consequences.

“I’ll tell her,” I said. “About Matthew being here. Tonight, when I get home.”

“And about being the Alpha King?” Roy pressed.

“Soon,” I hedged. “I need to figure out how to explain it without making her feel like I’ve been lying this whole time.”

“You have been lying,” Mikael pointed out.

“By omission,” I corrected. “I never explicitly told her I wasn’t the Alpha King—”

“Lucian.” Klaus’s voice was firm. “Stop rationalizing. You’ve been deliberately hiding your identity because you were afraid she’d run if she knew the truth. That’s lying, even if you never spoke the words out loud.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“One truth at a time,” I said finally. “Matthew first, then the Alpha King revelation. I can’t drop both on her simultaneously.”

“Fair enough,” Klaus agreed. “But Lucian, don’t wait too long on the second truth. The longer you hide it, the worse it’s going to be when she finds out.”

We moved on to lighter topics after that–Roy’s latest historical research project, Mikael’s frustration with the city’s budget allocations, Elijah’s ongoing war with bureaucratic red tape.

But my mind kept circling back to the conversation about Bianca.

Matthew was here. With Theo. Her actual son, the child she’d given birth to and raised.

And I was going to have to tell her, knowing it might mean losing her.

But Klaus was right–I couldn’t control this. Couldn’t prevent Bianca from finding out, couldn’t force her to choose me it her heart was still tied to the family she’d lost.

All I could do was be honest and trust that what we’d built was strong enough to survive the truth.