Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Chapter 99

RIVERA

I closed the door to my study and turned to find Klaus standing with his arms crossed, his expression somewhere between furious and disappointed. Elijah, Mikael, and Roy sat in various positions around the room, all wearing variations of the same look.

I was in trouble.

“So,” Klaus said, his voice dangerously calm. “That went well.”

I moved to the whiskey decanter, pouring myself a drink I desperately needed. “She took it better than I expected.”

“Better than you-” Klaus cut himself off, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “Lucian, I just lied to that woman’s face. After you promised me, two weeks ago, that you were going to tell her the truth about who you are. And instead, I’m standing in your hallway explaining that I’m the Alpha King while she has no idea you’re standing about fifteen feet away also being the Alpha King.”

“I know-”

“Do you?” Klaus’s voice rose slightly. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’ve been avoiding this conversation for weeks. Months, actually. And now I’m the one who had to cover for you because you still haven’t found the courage to tell the woman you claim to love the most basic truth about your identity.”

Elijah spoke up from his position by the window. “In fairness, telling her tonight would have been terrible timing. The woman just performed emergency medicine on someone in critical condition. Adding ‘by the way, I’m actually the Alpha King‘ to that situation seemed cruel.”

“Thank you,” I said, though the support felt hollow.

“I wasn’t defending you,” Elijah clarified. “I was explaining why Klaus had to lie. Which you should have prevented by being honest weeks ago.”

I drained my whiskey and poured another.

“The longer you wait, the worse this gets,” Mikael observed. “You know that, right? Every day you don’t tell her is another day of deception she’ll have to process when the truth comes out.”

“I know,” I said quietly.

“Then why haven’t you told her?” Roy asked, his tone more curious than accusatory. “You’ve had dozens of opportunities. What’s stopping you?”

I stared into my glass, trying to articulate fears I barely understood myselt.

“Because the moment I tell her I’m the Alpha King, everything changes,” I finally said. “Right now, she sees me as Lucian Rivera. A man with resources, yes, but fundamentally just a man. A single father trying to protect his son, someone who happens to have enough influence to help her start over.”

“And if she knows you’re the Alpha King?” Klaus prompted.

“Then I become something else. Someone with power she can’t match, authority she can’t challenge, resources that make the relationship fundamentally unequal.” I set down my glass. “She’s already spent four years married to an Alpha who used his authority to control her. What if knowing I have even more power makes her see me the same way?”

“That’s a cop–out,” Elijah said bluntly. “You’re not Matthew Morrison. You’ve never used your authority to override her autonomy. You’ve built your entire relationship ou respecting her choices.”

Chapter 99

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“But she doesn’t know that for certain,” I countered. “She doesn’t know that I’m the Alpha King who approved her entry papers, who’s been protecting her from a distance, who has the power to make or break her entire new life with a single decision. What if that changes how she sees everything we’ve built?”

Klaus moved to stand directly in front of me. “Or what if she deserves to know the full truth about the man she’s living with? The man who has his son calling him ‘Mum‘? The man she told she loves?”

The words hit hard.

“I was going to tell her,” I said. “I’ve been trying to find the right moment-

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“There is no right moment!” Klaus’s frustration finally broke through. “There’s just the moment you’re brave enough to be honest. And every day you wait, you’re choosing cowardice over courage.”

“That’s not fair-”

“Isn’t it?” Klaus’s voice softened slightly, but his eyes remained hard. “Lucian, I love you like a brother. You know that. But this –this avoidance, this fear of losing her if she knows the truth–it’s going to create exactly what you’re trying to prevent.”

I slumped into my desk chair, exhaustion settling over me like a weight.

“There’s something else,,” I admitted quietly.

The room went still.

“What else?” Roy asked, his historian’s instinct sensing a significant revelation.

I took a breath. “I still haven’t told her about her ex husband”

The silence that followed was absolute.

“Lucian-”

“I know,” I interrupted. “I know I should have told her. But how do I drop that on her? ‘By the way, your supposedly dead wife status is about to be complicated because your husband and son are twenty minutes away receiving therapy?“”

“The same way you should have told her you’re the Alpha King,” Klaus said. “With honesty and trust that she can handle difficult information.”

Mikael leaned forward. “Does Matthew know Bianca is alive?”

“No. As far as he’s concerned, she died during the ritual and was cremated. He has no reason to suspect otherwise.”

“Unless he sees her,” Roy pointed out. “BloodMoon City is large, but not infinite. If Matthew is here for medical treatment, there’s a non–zero chance he crosses paths with Bianca at some point.”

My stomach clenched. “I know.”

“You know,” Klaus repeated, his voice flat. “You know there’s a chance Bianca’s supposedly dead status gets exposed, you know her ex–husband is in the city with their son, you know you should tell her, and yet you’ve done nothing?”

“I’ve been trying to protect her-”

From what?” Klaus demanded. “From information? From choices? From the reality of her situation?” He moved closer, his expression intense. “Or are you trying to protect yourself from the possibility that if she knows her son is here, she might choose to see him?”

The words landed like a physical blow.

“That’s what this is really about,” Klaus continued, his voice gentler now. “You’re terrified that if Bianca knows Theo is here, she’ll want contact with him. And if she wants contact with him, she might remember she has a whole other family. A biological

Chapter 99

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son she gave birth to and raised for four years. And that might make her reconsider this new life she’s built with you and Louis.”

I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t find words to deny what was so clearly true.

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