All Chapters of Too Late To Love Me: I Already Left With His Twins: Chapter 221 - Chapter 230

Lydia POV“Mom.”I had barely turned toward the door before Eli’s head appeared from underneath his blanket, his hair pointing in approximately seventeen different directions and his eyes suddenly wide with betrayal.“Don’t call Auntie Anna.”I paused.“You just told me you weren’t going.”“I changed my mind.”“That quickly?”He nodded with the seriousness of a man negotiating an international treaty.“We’re ready.”I folded my arms.“Five seconds ago, you were retired.”“I came out of retirement.”Ava’s voice floated from the bathroom.“He’s lying. He was never retired.”Eli whipped around.“Nobody asked you.”“I heard you.”“That’s not the same thing.”I laughed under my breath as I watched him scramble out of bed and begin searching for the clothes we’d picked out the night before. The sudden transformation was almost impressive. One minute he had been buried beneath his duvet, threatening to resign from childhood because six in the morning was apparently an unreasonable hour for h

Lydia POVThe word came out before I could stop it.Every child went silent.Even the adults.Miranda looked at me.I could feel my heartbeat pounding against my ribs, each beat pushing another layer of restraint out of the way.“You can talk about me,” I said, my voice low. “You can make assumptions about my marriage. You can make whatever judgments you want about the way I live my life. But you do not get to stand in front of me and question how I raise my children.”“I wasn’t—”“You were.”My voice cracked through the room.“You have known me for less than a day, and somehow you’ve decided you understand my children better than I do.”Miranda opened her mouth.I lifted my hand.“No. Let me finish.”Theo stood.“Lydia—”I shook my head without looking at him.“I would take anything from you, Miranda. I would take every passive-aggressive comment you’ve made since you walked through that door. I would take the comments about the temperature. The air freshener. The food. The sugar. Th

Lydia POVThe moment Dave said he was coming to Country Z tomorrow, the room completely lost whatever little calm I had managed to restore.Ava was practically bouncing on the bed, her hair flying everywhere as she fired questions at him faster than he could answer. Eli had somehow gone from half-asleep to fully awake in less than three seconds, demanding to know what time Dad would arrive, whether he was bringing anything, how long he was staying, and whether they could go somewhere “extremely cool” when he got there.Dave laughed through most of it, trying unsuccessfully to answer both children at once. I watched him, taking in the way his expression softened whenever one of them said his name, the way he leaned closer to the screen as though he could somehow shorten the distance between them by doing so. Whatever else I could say about Dave, I couldn’t deny that the children loved hearing his voice. There was a particular brightness that appeared in their faces whenever he called,

Lydia povI answered.“Hello?”“Lydia.”His voice sounded amused.“How do I remove blush from a child’s face?”I blinked.“What?”“Miriam.”I glanced at my kids in the back seat.“She told me she doesn’t want to wash her face because she likes your lipstick.”I laughed.“It’s blush, Theo.”“Whatever it is, it’s apparently precious.”“It is.”“I figured that out.”I could hear the smile in his voice.“She says she doesn’t want it to come off.”“Use a wet wipe.”“A wet wipe?”“Yes. A normal baby wipe. Just gently clean her face.”“Where do I find one?”I laughed.“Are you serious?”“I’ve been informed that I’m apparently useless in this department.”“You can find baby wipes in literally every supermarket.”“Excellent.”There was a brief pause.Then I heard Miriam’s voice in the background.“Daddy!”“What?”“Can I live with Lydia?”I froze.Theo went completely silent.Then Miriam continued, apparently unaware that she had just detonated a bomb.“I want her to be my mom.”I covered my mo

Theo POV My phone vibrated against the conference table just as I was signing the final page of the acquisition agreement. I glanced at the screen. Anna. Of course. I stared at her name for a second before answering because if my sister was calling me in the middle of a meeting, there were only two possibilities. Either something had gone terribly wrong, or she had suddenly decided that whatever she wanted to tell me was more important than the fact that I was currently closing a multimillion-dollar deal. With Anna, unfortunately, both possibilities were equally likely. I excused myself from the room, stepped into the corridor, and answered. “What’s wrong?” “Why does something have to be wrong?” she asked immediately. “Because you’re calling me while I’m in a meeting.” “Oh, please. You were going to finish that meeting anyway.” I closed my eyes briefly. She wasn’t wrong. “I have ten minutes.” “Perfect. Tomorrow, we’re having a hangout.” “A hangout.” “With the kids.”