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All Chapters of Married To My Ex-Husband's Uncle: Chapter 201 - Chapter 210

217 Chapters

Chapter 200: The Thirteenth

Xena"Stay behind me," Dante said, low and tense, as I stepped out onto the porch anyway. "I mean it, Xena.""I heard you," I whispered, my fingers knotted so tight in the back of his coat that the seam pulled. "I'm not letting you walk over there alone."Across the street, a dark car sat under a bare maple. Its engine hummed. The windows were fogged, and all I could see was the shape of one person in the driver's seat.Dante went down the steps first. I followed so close that my forehead almost touched his shoulder. My heart pounded hard enough that I could feel it in my throat. Halfway across the street, the driver's door swung open."Please don't hit me," Okafor called, an alarm making his voice crack as he climbed out with both hands raised. "I'm too old, and this coat was expensive."My knees nearly folded under me. I grabbed Dante's arm with both hands and hung on until my legs held again."Okafor," I said, half laughing and half ready to throw something at him. "It's two in the

Chapter 201: By Name

Xena"You were going to skip it," I said, the letter shaking in my hand as I turned toward him. "Weren't you? You were going to let the date pass and tell me afterward."Dante's hands tightened on his thighs until the knuckles stood out white. He kept his eyes on the dark field outside his window for so long that I thought he might not answer at all."I was going to ask for a continuance," he muttered, rubbing his thumb hard along the seam of his jeans. "I told myself it was the same thing as going, just later.""Is it?" I asked, my voice flat and quiet."No," he admitted. He dragged one hand down his face, leaving it over his mouth for a moment before he dropped it. "If I miss that date, they set a new one, and the next opening is six months out, maybe nine. That's another year of carrying lumber for Marcus's brother while you pay the mortgage on a house we haven't finished."I pressed my palm flat against my breastbone, where a dull ache had started up. I thought about him sitting b

Chapter 202: The Tenth

Xena"Why would he want me?" Dante whispered, still staring at the screen. "I've never said more than ten words to the man."I leaned past his shoulder to read the line for myself. Under the case manager's formal paragraph, someone had typed out Herald's words exactly as he must have given them: Add Dante to the list. He'll understand why once he's sitting across from me. If he won't come, nobody comes.The back of my neck prickled as I read the last sentence a second time."That's all he wrote?" Foster asked, rising from his chair and crossing the rug to look. "No reason? Nothing else?""Herald rarely gives reasons," Okafor said dryly, folding his glasses and tucking them into his shirt pocket. "He gives terms."Dante sat back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. His leg had started bouncing again, faster this time, and the cushion under me shook with it."Then that settles it," he said, his voice suddenly firm and even. "I'll ask the board for a continuance this afternoon. I

Chapter 203: Room 412

Xena."Cassandra Byrne," I told the woman at the front desk, my fingers drumming on the counter faster than I could stop them. "She came in by ambulance this morning. I'm Xena Cross, and she's been asking for me."The woman typed for what felt like a full minute while Foster paced a tight line behind me, three steps toward the elevators and three steps back. Dante stood at my shoulder with his hand resting between my shoulder blades. Every time Foster passed, I felt Dante's fingers press a little harder."Fourth floor, room 412," the woman recited, tired and polite, as she slid a visitor sticker across the counter. "Family only for now.""I'm her son," Foster snapped, snatching the sticker before I could reach for it. "Is that family enough?"The elevator stopped on every floor. Foster stood with his back pressed against the steel wall, his eyes fixed on the numbers above the door. He never once looked at me. I opened my mouth twice to say somethin

Chapter 204: Press One

Xena"Let go of it, Cassandra, please let go," I begged, my fingers closing around her thin wrist while the alarm kept shrieking above us.She tried to pull away. Her grip was weaker than her voice had been, and I held on until her fingers finally fell open against the blanket.The door banged against the wall. The nurse in blue scrubs rushed in, followed by a second nurse I hadn't seen before. Behind them came Foster, with Dante right at his heels."Step back, ma'am," the first nurse ordered, already reaching past me for the IV pole. "Right now, please."I let go and stumbled backward into the vinyl chair. The nurse pressed a button on the pump, and the shrieking stopped all at once."It's the line," she announced to the second nurse, clipped and fast. "She pulled the tape and kinked the tubing. The pump read a blockage.""Not her heart?" Foster demanded, gripping the rail at the foot of the bed with both hands. "That alarm wasn't he

Chapter 205: Two Names

Xena"Do I take it?" Dante breathed, his thumb still hovering over the screen. "Xena, tell me. Do I take it?"I stared at the phone in his hand. Two nurses were walking past us toward the station, and one of them glanced at the fire extinguisher we were standing beside before she looked away again."Take it," I whispered, pressing closer to him. "Put it on speaker. I want to hear him."He pressed one, then tapped the speaker button and held the phone flat between us at chest height. The line hissed for a second before a man cleared his throat on the other end."Dante." The voice was low and rough, with a flatness that made my shoulders tense. "Your lawyer gave the facility this number when he put you on my list. I wasn't sure you'd pick up.""I almost let it ring," Dante admitted, his voice careful and even. "My wife is here with me. You're on speaker."There was a pause. Somewhere behind Herald, a door buzzed and slammed shut.

Chapter 206: Brown Paper And String

Xena."Tell me now," I said softly, setting two mugs of tea on the kitchen table. "All of it. You said later, and it's later."Dante sat with his elbows on the table and his chin resting on his laced fingers. The wall behind him still showed the patch of new plaster he had put up the night after our fight, and the paint we had rolled on together had dried into uneven stripes.He looked at the mug for a long time without picking it up."I had just finished college," he started, his voice so low that I leaned in to catch it. "I was still living in the room over my parents' garage. Everyone at dinner talked about Herald like he was already dead. My mother said his name once, and my father put his fork down so hard that a plate cracked."I wrapped both hands around my own mug. The heat stung my palms, and I held on anyway."Nobody told me the date of the sentencing," he went on, tracing the rim of the mug with one finger. "I found it in the news

Chapter 207: The Spare Key

Xena“You’ve had this for how long?” Foster demanded, staring at the brown paper box in my hands with his fists clenched. “Since your wedding? Since before I even knew your name?”We were standing just inside the door of room 412. It was barely eight in the morning, and the breakfast cart was still parked in the hallway behind us, filling the air with the smell of powdered eggs and burnt coffee.“Eleven years,” I admitted, holding the box against my stomach with both hands. “I didn’t know what was inside, Foster. I opened it for the first time last night.”“Eleven years.” He laughed once, a hard, ugly sound that made the nurse at the computer cart look up. “You’ve been carrying my brother’s picture around in a box for eleven years, and you never once thought to look inside?”The nurse kept her eyes on her screen, though her fingers had stopped typing. Heat spread across the back of my neck, and the brown paper crinkled under my tightening grip. I made myself stand still and hold his s

Chapter 208: Chain Of Custody

Xena“I have no idea how Gerald got that key,” Dante answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I swear it to you, Cassandra. I barely knew the man. He was a name at the head of the table at Christmas, and I was a kid at the far end of it.”Cassandra kept the key raised between them. Her hand trembled, and the brass caught the light from the window each time it moved.Foster came around the foot of the bed. He stopped an arm’s length from Dante, close enough that I could smell stale coffee on his breath.“Your family,” he said, cold and very quiet. “Your family had my brother’s key in a gift box for eleven years while my mother kept a spare in her kitchen drawer and wondered.”“Foster,” I began, rising from my knees. “Dante didn’t...”“Let him answer,” Foster snapped, without taking his eyes off Dante. “He’s a lawyer. He can speak for himself.”I bit the inside of my cheek and closed my mouth when Dante’s fingers squeezed my shoulder once.The nurse at the computer cart had stopped pret

Chapter 209: Bryne Freight

Xena“Get out of my way,” Foster growled, his face blotched red. “I’m taking it to the police myself. Right now. My mother can hate me for it after.”“Which station are you going to, and which officer?” Dante asked, standing his ground. “If you walk in off the street and hand that key to whoever’s at the front desk, there’s no record of where it came from. Any defense lawyer will get it thrown out before a jury ever sees it.”“Then let them throw it out!” Foster shouted. The man in the wheelchair turned his head toward us. “My brother’s been dead for fifty-two years, and the police never questioned a single person!”I took two steps toward them with my hands raised, unsure which of them I meant to calm. Behind me, I heard the soft hiss of the room door again, and I turned around.Cassandra stood in the doorway of 412, gripping the frame with one hand and

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