The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 352

Chapter 352 Do you know a way out of here?

Madsion

The fake Mia was watching us with those mean eyes, like she was trying to figure out if we were going to cause problems.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I said, which was sort of true but mostly I wanted to get away from

those eyes.

“I’ll show you where it is,” the fake Mia said.

“I know where it is.” I’d been in this house enough times to remember where things were. “Can Alexander and Ethan come with me? We always stay together.”

Mommy waved her hand like she didn’t care. “Fine. But don’t wander around. This isn’t your house.‘

We walked up the big staircase with the golden railings, our footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. I led them down the hallway toward the bathroom, but mostly I was thinking about the layout of the house, remembering which doors led where.

“Madison,” Ethan whispered when we were far enough from the stairs. “Do you know a way out of here?”

I did know. When Daddy brought me here, I used to play hide–and–seek by myself while the grown- ups had their boring talks. I’d found all the secret places–the door behind the kitchen that led to where the servants used to work, the stairs that connected different parts of the house, the windows that opened onto the roof of the porch.

But I also knew that running away from Mommy when she was in one of her moods was dangerous. She got worse when people tried to leave her.

“Maybe,” I whispered back.

Alexander’s POV

The arguing downstairs got louder and louder until I couldn’t pretend it was just grown–ups talking anymore. Victoria’s voice was getting shrill and angry, and I could hear things being moved around hard, like somebody was slamming furniture.

“You stupid girl!” Victoria’s voice came through the floor clear enough that we could understand the words now. “This was supposed to be simple! Take the children, make the demands, get what we deserve!”

The fake Mama said something back, but her voice was lower so we couldn’t hear.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Victoria shouted. “Do you know what I’ve sacrificed? What I’ve lost

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Chapter 352 Do you know a way out of here?

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because of that family? They took everything from me! My house, my money, my reputation, even my own daughter!”

Madison flinched like somebody had hit her.

Ethan moved closer to her on the bed. “She doesn’t mean that,” he said quietly.

“Yes, she does,” Madison said in a voice so small I could barely hear it. “She’s always sorry after, but she always means it when she says it.”

I didn’t understand why Victoria was so angry at us or why she thought we took things from her. I didn’t even know her very well except that she was Madison’s mommy and sometimes she picked Madison up from school before Madison came to live with us.

But listening to her yell made my stomach feel sick and shaky, like when I had the flu last winter.

“I want to go home,” I said to Ethan.

“Me too.”

“Can we call Mama now? Maybe if we ask really, really nice—”

“Alexander.” Ethan’s voice was gentle but firm, the way it got when he was trying to keep me from doing something that would get us in trouble. “Remember what Madison said. Asking might make them angrier.”

Through the window, I could see that it was starting to get dark outside. The sky was gray and heavy, like it might snow soon. Mama would be worried by now. She always picked us up at the same time every day, and when we weren’t there, she would know something was wrong.

But what if she thought we went home with somebody else? What if she wasn’t worried yet?

“Ethan,” I said, “what if Mama doesn’t know we’re gone?”

Ethan touched his eyebrow, thinking. “She knows. Ms. Rodriguez would have told her that somebody picked us up, and Mama would know it wasn’t really her.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” But Ethan didn’t sound as sure as his words.

The arguing downstairs stopped suddenly, which was somehow scarier than when it was loud. Now we could hear footsteps on the stairs, coming toward our room.

Madison grabbed her backpack tighter. “They’re coming back.”

The door opened, and Victoria walked in without knocking. Her hair was messy and her face was red

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Chapter 352 Do you know a way out of here?

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and blotchy, like she’d been crying or yelling or both. The fake Mama came in behind her, and now she wasn’t wearing the mask anymore.

Without the mask, I could see that she didn’t really look as much like real Mama as I thought. Her nose was wrong, and her eyes were the wrong color, and her mouth was too thin. She’d done something to make herself look like Mama from far away, but up close, I could tell she was a different person completely.

“Children,” Victoria said in a voice that was trying to sound nice but came out shaky and too bright. ” We need to have a talk.”

Madison’s POV

When Mommy used that fake–nice voice, it meant something bad was about to happen.

She sat down on the bed across from us, trying to smile, but her smile looked like it hurt her face to

make it.

“Madison, sweetheart,” she said, “do you remember how I used to tell you stories about fairness? About how sometimes good people don’t get what they deserve because other people take it away from them?”

I remembered. When Daddy got sick and the doctors couldn’t make him better, Mommy used to tell me stories about how unfair life was, how people with lots of money could buy better medicine but people like us had to just hope and pray. She said it wasn’t our fault that Daddy died, it was the fault of people who had more than they needed but wouldn’t share.

“I remember,” I said carefully.

“Well, that’s what happened to us, sweetheart. The Branson family–Kyle’s family- they have so much money they don’t know what to do with it all. But when we needed help, when your daddy was dying, they said no. They said it wasn’t their problem.”

That didn’t sound right to me. I’d never heard of Kyle or his family before I came to live with Mia. And the reason Daddy died wasn’t because of money–it was because the cancer was too strong and the medicine couldn’t fight it anymore.

But I didn’t say that, because when Mommy was telling her stories about fairness, she got angry if anybody disagreed.

“So now,” Mommy continued, “we’re going to ask Kyle’s family to share some of their money with us. To make things fair.”

“How much money?” Alexander asked, because he was curious about everything and couldn’t help asking questions even when he should be quiet.

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