The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 318

Chapter 318 I’m her daughter–in–law

Mia’s POV

The house smelled the same. Lemon polish and the faint scent of the roses Kyle’s gardener maintained in the backyard. It smelled like money and loneliness.

“Tea?” Mrs. Chen asked.

“Please.”

She led me to the kitchen. The same granite countertops where I’d eaten so many solitary meals. The same window that looked out onto the garden.

Mrs. Chen moved slowly as she prepared the tea. Her hands shook slightly as she filled the kettle.

“How are the boys?” she asked.

“They’re wonderful. Growing fast.‘

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“They look like him.”

I nodded. “Alexander especially.”

“And you? You look…” She paused, studying my face. “Tired.”

“It’s been a long four years.‘

Mrs. Chen placed the tea in front of me.

The kettle began its low whistle. Mrs. Chen poured hot water over loose leaves, the steam rising between us like fog. Earl Grey.

We sat in comfortable silence for a moment. This kitchen had been witness to so many conversations

over the years.

“Mrs. Chen,” I said finally, “I visited Catherine’s grave yesterday.”

Her face shifted almost imperceptibly. “That’s nice. She would have liked that.”

“I brought sunflowers. They were her favorite.”

“Yes,

she grew them every summer.” Mrs. Chen’s voice was soft with memory.

“I felt terrible that I missed the funeral. I only found out she’d died because of some old legal papers.

Mrs. Chen’s teacup clinked against the saucer. “You didn’t know?”

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Chapter 318 Im her daughter–in–law

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“No one told me. I spent two years wondering why she never called or visited the boys.”

“Oh, dear.” Mrs. Chen set down her cup with careful precision. “I assumed… someone should have told you.”

“Were you at the service?”

“Yes. It was beautiful. Small, like she would have wanted.”

I waited, letting the silence stretch. Mrs. Chen had always been more comfortable with quiet than forced conversation.

“The church was full of her friends from the garden club,” she continued eventually. “And some business associates, I think.”

“What about family?”

“Just Kyle.”

The words hung between us. Kyle had been there. While I was home with his children, reading bedtime stories and kissing scraped knees, he’d been saying goodbye to his mother.

“How did he seem?”

Mrs. Chen hesitated. “Sad. But then, we all were.”

Kyle had been at his mother’s funeral.

He’d stood in a church somewhere, probably in his expensive black suit, and watched them lower Catherine into the ground.

“Mrs. Chen, what did Catherine die of?”

“Cancer. Very aggressive.”

“How long was she sick?”

“Maybe six months. She didn’t tell many people.”

Six months. Catherine had been dying for six months and no one had thought to mention it to me. The woman who’d been more of a mother to me than my own mother during those dark years of my marriage.

“Did she suffer?”

Mrs. Chen’s face crumpled slightly. “At the end, yes. But she had good doctors. The best care.”

We sat in silence for a moment. The tea was cooling between us, forgotten.

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Chapter 318 I’m her daughter–in–law

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Mrs. Chen was quiet for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.

“She was healthy. Always so healthy. She ate well, exercised every day, went to all her doctor appointments. When they said cancer, I couldn’t believe it.”

“What kind of cancer?”

“Pancreatic. Very fast–moving, they said. By the time they found it, it was everywhere.”

Pancreatic cancer.

“Mrs. Chen, did Catherine ever mention being worried about anything? Or anyone?”

“She was worried about Kyle.”

“Worried how?”

Mrs. Chen hesitated. “She thought he was making dangerous choices. ”

“Did Kyle say anything to you that last time?”

“Not much. He seemed… distant. Like he was thinking about something else entirely.” Mrs. Chen paused. “He asked about you, though.”

My heart jumped. “What did he ask?”

“If you were doing well. If the boys were healthy. He seemed relieved when I said yes.

“But he didn’t ask to see them?”

“No. He said…” Mrs. Chen frowned, trying to remember the exact words. “He said it was better this way. That you were building a good life without him.”

Without him.

“Mrs. Chen, do you think Kyle is okay?”

“I… I don’t know. Mrs. Chen was quiet for a long moment, staring into her tea. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible. “Mr. Kyle always kept his own counsel. Even as a child, he didn’t share what was troubling him.”

Mrs. Chen looked up at me then.

“Mrs. Chen, if you knew something about Kyle, please tell me.”

“I would tell you anything I could,” she said.

Mrs. Chen walked me to the front door, our footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. As I reached for

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the door handle, she spoke again.

“Mia?”

I turned back.

“The boys… they’re healthy? Happy?”

“Very. They’re wonderful children.”

“Good. That’s… that’s what matters most.”

I was halfway to my car when I heard the front door close behind me with a soft, decisive click. As I drove away, I glanced in my rearview mirror to see Mrs. Chen standing at the window, watching me

leave.

After leaving Mrs. Chen, I sat in my car for several minutes, processing our conversation.

I pulled over and googled Catherine Branson’s obituary on my phone.

Nothing.

I needed more information. And I knew where to get it.

Catherine’s will would be a matter of public record. If she’d left any instructions about Kyle, any clues about her concerns, it might be mentioned there.

The probate court was a gray building that smelled like old paper and bureaucracy. I spent two hours navigating the filing system before I found Catherine Elizabeth Branson’s estate records.

Most of it was standard–assets distributed to Kyle, charitable donations, instructions for her burial. But there was something unusual. A reference to a private trust administered by an outside law firm.

Blackwood, Sterling & Partners. Estate Planning and Medical Directives.

Medical directives. The phrase jumped out at me.

I’d never heard Kyle mention them. All his legal work had been handled by his corporate attorneys. Why would Catherine use a different firm for a private trust involving medical directives?

I called the number listed in the court documents.

“Blackwood, Sterling & Partners.”

“I’d like to speak with someone about the Catherine Branson estate.”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

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