All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Abandoned Wife : Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

“I didn’t make the team. I was the last cut.” Adekunle said it flatly, dropping his backpack by the door, eight years old and refusing to meet Bianca’s eyes, something closed off in his posture that she hadn’t seen from him before. “Adekunle.” Bianca crossed the kitchen, reaching for him, but he stepped back slightly, avoiding the hug. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, disappearing toward his room before she could say anything further. Bianca found Ethan in the driveway when he arrived home, relaying the situation before Adekunle could overhear. “He wouldn’t even let me hug him,” Bianca admitted, something unfamiliar and unsettled crossing her voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him shut down like that.” “Give him space tonight,” Ethan said. “I don’t think this is a problem we solve tonight with the right words.” Dinner that evening passed in strained near-silence, Adekunle picking at his food, answering only in short, clipped responses, nothing like his usual thoughtfu

“I want to do something actually original. Not just a baking soda volcano like everyone always does.” Bianca Rose announced it at the kitchen table, nine years old and characteristically ambitious, surrounded by library books about experimental design that were considerably beyond her grade level. Amara, sitting across from her, exchanged a glance with Marcus. “What are you thinking specifically?” “I want to test whether plants actually grow better if you talk to them, or if that’s just something people say without any real evidence,” Bianca Rose said. “I want to actually measure it properly, not just guess.” Marcus felt something proud cross his expression at his daughter’s genuine scientific instinct. “That’s a real hypothesis. How would you actually test it fairly?” “I need multiple plants,” Bianca Rose said, already working through the logistics with visible seriousness. “Same amount of water, same sunlight, everything the same except some get talked to and some don’t. Otherwi

“We should make our own club. Just us three. No grown-ups allowed unless we say so.” Bianca Rose announced it with the specific authority of the oldest cousin, nine years old and holding court in Kemi’s backyard, Adekunle and Adaeze Margaret watching her with equal parts skepticism and interest. “What kind of club,” Adekunle asked, arms crossed, eight years old and characteristically cautious about committing to anything without understanding the rules first. “A club where we’re honest with each other,” Bianca Rose said. “Like the grown-ups always are. Except we get to practice it just with each other, without them watching.” Adaeze Margaret, five and easily the most enthusiastic of the three, immediately raised her hand like she was in school. “I want to be in it. Can I be in it?” “You’re already in it,” Bianca Rose said. “That’s the whole point. All three of us.” They spent the following weeks meeting whenever family gatherings allowed, retreating to whichever backyard or bedro

“Adaora’s brother needed emergency surgery. Eight months ago, in another state, uninsured, and the hospital wouldn’t proceed without a deposit we didn’t have.”Daniel said it quietly, his hands still pressed flat against the kitchen table, unable to look up at any of them directly.“I had access to the fund,” Daniel continued. “I told myself I’d pay it back before anyone ever noticed. Fifteen thousand dollars, transferred to cover the deposit, with every intention of returning it within a few months once my next paycheck cycle caught up.”Adaora made a small, pained sound beside him, her hand tightening on his arm. “I didn’t know,” she said, voice thin with shock. “Daniel, I didn’t know you did that.”“I didn’t tell you,” Daniel admitted. “Because I was ashamed of where the money actually came from. I told you I’d found emergency financing through the hospital’s assistance program. That wasn’t true either.”Bianca sat with this, something complicated moving through her chest, old memo

“His mom died two years ago. Before that, his dad remarried someone Theo’s never actually accepted, and now his dad wants him to date someone specific, a family friend’s daughter, and Theo’s been avoiding the whole conversation entirely instead of telling his dad no directly.”Zoe said it in a rush, sitting cross-legged on her dorm bed, phone propped against a stack of books, her voice still working through the shock of what she’d learned only hours earlier.Bianca sat up straighter at her kitchen table. “So it’s not about you specifically.”“That’s what I thought too, at first,” Zoe said. “But then he told me the actual reason he hasn’t said anything. He’s scared that if his dad meets me and actually likes me, his dad will feel like Theo chose someone real over honoring what his mom would have wanted for him. Which doesn’t even make sense, except I think grief doesn’t always make sense.”Bianca considered this carefully, recognizing the specific, tangled weight of grief complicating