The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 201

Mia's POV

Through my tears, I recognized the man—it was Nate.

I hadn't seen him in so long, and he seemed different from the Nate I remembered. Seemed thiner, taller. His usually compassionate features were hardened.

My heart surged with relief and confusion. Had he come to save me?

"Uncle Charles, don't kill her," Nate said, his voice steady but urgent.

Uncle Charles? I blinked in confusion, my mind struggling to process this new information as it tried to fit the pieces together.

The man named Charles turned to face me, sizing me up through the rim of his glass. "Wasn't that your decision? You lost Carol, and now you want Alexander Branson and Kyle Branson to lose their wives too. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

My head was about to explode. The fragments suddenly aligned, and I finally understood the truth.

Diana's daughter was Carol.

Carol was Nate's wife.

Nate's expression was filled with sorrow. He looked at me, then back at Charles, his posture tense with indecision.

Charles wore a mocking smile. "Don't tell me you fell in love with Kyle's ex-wife, Nate. It seems Diana's diary was also sent by you."

Nate's face remained pained. He only said, "Mia is my friend, Uncle Charles."

Charles laughed. "Have you forgotten why you came to New York, Nate Pierce?"

The twins kicked sharply inside me, as if sensing my distress. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself for their sake, though fear still coursed through my veins.

Charles lowered the gun slightly, but kept it pointed in my general direction. I watched them both, trying to understand the dynamics between them, searching for any opening that might help me escape.

"Nate, the first time we met, you said you knew me. It turns out you wanted to kill me." I spoke quietly, surprised by the steadiness of my own voice.

Nate didn't say a word, but his eyes met mine, filled with a complexity of emotions I couldn't fully interpret.

Charles spoke slowly, breaking the tense silence. "It seems we have a bit of time. Before Ms. Williams dies, perhaps she deserves to know the full story."

He wasn't in a hurry. Before I died, he might as well tell me everything. The thought chilled me to the bone, but I forced myself to focus. Information might be my only chance at survival.

Charles returned to his chair, placing the glass back in its original spot with precise movements. He gestured for Nate to sit as well, but Nate remained standing, his body angled slightly toward me—protective, I realized with a jolt.

"Diana was my sister," Charles began, his voice taking on an almost reverential quality. "To be precise, she was my sister by adoption. I loved her. But my parents wouldn't allow us to be together. However, I knew that once I had enough influence in the family business, my parents wouldn't stand in my way."

I flinched at the implication.

"She was very intelligent, and she was beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen," he continued, his gaze fixed on some distant point. "She graduated from Stanford with honors, and we were going to take over the Porter Empire together. It was almost within our grasp. I was about to publicly declare my feelings for her."

Charles patiently recounted the story, and strangely, my fear seemed to fade as I listened, replaced by a bizarre clarity.

His expression darkened. "Then she met Alexander Branson."

I recalled the entries in Diana's diary. She had discovered Alexander's corrupt business practices, threatened to expose him, and he had killed her for it. At least, that was what I had believed until now.

But what Charles said next sent a chill down my spine.

"Alexander seduced her," Charles spat the words, disgust evident in his tone. "Used her. Then, when she discovered the truth about his business dealings—the money laundering, the environmental violations, the bribes—he tried to silence her. He sent assassins to the lake house."

He paused, his fingers tightening around the glass until I feared it might shatter. "But they made a mistake. Diana had already fled to Europe. She had contacts there, places to hide. What they didn't know—what nobody knew except for Diana and me—was that she had a twin sister."

"Thea," I whispered, remembering the photograph at Yiayia's restaurant.

Charles's eyes snapped to me, narrowing in surprise. "You know about Thea?"

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