A Weekend with the Alpha Chapter 48
My heart sank like the titanic after she said he was involved in a crash and my whole mood change.
“He was taken to the hospital and has been there since.” she finished, bringing me out of my thoughts to focus on her. “Where is he now?!" 1 asked, barely holding my trembling voice together.
I saw Aaron stare at me from the corner of my eyes with worried eyes and I knew he had heeded my warning and wasn't listening to this call. However, judging from the quietness I got from behind, I wasn't sure the same could be said for thos seated in the back seat.
“saint Louis General hospital,” she replied and my brain did a mental location of the hospital and realise it addressed wa at Beverly Hills.
I nodded. “I'm on my way." I ended the call and turned to look at Aaron.
“Where?” he asked, not waiting for the rest of the story. He must have placed his conclusion based on the change my. expression took and realized I needed to be somewhere.
He just saved me a lot of stress with words.
“saint Louis General Hospital, Beverly Hills," I answered and without another word, he turned the car around and drove ir the hospital's direction.
We got there after six hours’ drive, and I got down and raced inside. I didn't look back at Zion because I knew he was in sz hands. I ran into the hospital reception with a heavily beating heart and approached the nurse behind the counter having the name tag Rose. She was writing something down in the book before her, but as soon as she saw me; she dropped the pen and gave me her undivided attention.
“Good day," I greeted, despite my desperation.
“Good day, ma'am. What can I do for you?” she asked.
“Ym looking for my brother. His name is Lionel Adams. He was involved in a car crash and was brought in here last night” “Okay, hold on a bit she said politely and while I waited, Aaron came to stand beside me. “He's in ward C, down the ICU hall to the left.”
“Thank you” I told her and hurried my legs in the direction she just told me.
I came to ward C and pushed it open. The room was a medium-sized room painted white with a heart monitor on the left side of the bed close to the window and a drip hanging on an iron stand close to the right side of the bed. Lionel was on the bed with a bandage around his head and a cast covering up his arm. His face appeared pale and swollen and his lips busted open, and I was certain it was from the impact of the crash. A woman I didn’t know stood beside him in bed, and I was certain she must have been the one who picked up the call hours ago.
My heart clenched in my chest at the sight of him and for a moment there, I forgot to breathe.
His attention was on Shamsi, but his head soon turned to me, and hers followed right after.
His eyes grew warm on seeing me, and mine remained glassy. “Zera," he called out to me with a faint voice and 1 race to stand beside him.
“Lionel,” said, and a tear rolled down my face. I reached for it and wiped it off, sniffing the rest inside.
“Zera, I've been worried sick about you," he spoke up, affirming Diya's words over the phone earlier. I pressed my lips together and nodded. He had every right to be. A week without being able to reach their loved ones would give anyone a scare.
“Ym sorry, I lost my phone at Diya's Bachelorette party.” I didn't get to recover before the attack and rescue happened an here we are, many days later.
“What happened to you? What sort of crash was it?”
His lips paused as if he was in deep thought, “It came out of nowhere, sis. I was on the right because the light was green me and so I was going and this car just came out of nowhere, slamming into mine and sending both of us somersaulting. the road.” he said and I felt the fear in his voice.
“The police said there was no one in the other car. No blood stain, no forced exit from the car and no trail.” Shamsi addec but did not sound convinced about it as well.
“That can't be true. I saw someone, a guy in a black shirt and red hair. I was not in any drug, neither am I making it up,” he said, his eyes staring into mine, hoping I believe him.
My hand tightened around his. “I believe you. We will get to the bottom of this, I promise.”
“The police thought Lionel could have been under the influence, but the test they ran showed that he wasn't. Hes in sou mind, but they can't prove his theory without evidence. That's what I came in to tell him before you came in." She explain and then turned to pat Lionel's head tenderly.
“I thought I was going to die... Perhaps my time is near” he trailed off and I took his hand into mine.
“Listen to me, Lionel, you will not die, not now, not soon. We need you here with us. Zion needs you, I need you and you still have a long way to go with us” he nodded slowly, and I kissed the back of his hand.
“Zion is okay, isn't he?”
“He is. He's outside,” I answered, not including those who he was with. I would reveal everything to him in its time. “I will get a phone before going home and I will send you the number, so you will have it," I said and then lifted my head so my attention fixed on Shamsi, who had gone quiet. “Thank you."
She shrugged. “It's what I would have done for anyone. Luckily, he isn't anyone, which makes it even better” She said and smiled down at him.
I stepped out of the ward and I tried to wrap my head around everything that Lionel told me. I believe him, but the police report and his words did not tally. I knew one of them had to be lying and I knew Lionel would not lie about this. With Lionel's history of substance abuse, it would take the police a longer time to get to the truth, despite him being clean no It wasn't fair to him, but that was what we had to deal with.
ivan's discovery concluded that Henry acted alone in his attack, even though snapping the way he did without a cause made no sense. It made no sense that a car without a driver crash into Lionel's and left him in a terrible state, but here were.
I didn’t want to make wrongful conclusions, but I was beginning to think the same people behind my attack were behind this. Of course, I couldn't tell him that, that would only make him worry more and, besides, I could be wrong. Whatever the reason was behind these attacks, I knew they wanted to eliminate the Adams and I wanted to know why. “Get out of my way!” I heard the voice I knew and hated yell not so far from me. Turning around, I found Betty standing there with a look of disdain on her face. I wasn't surprised. The last time we met, she wasn't welcoming, and I didn't expe something different. If it were up to me, I would live my life and cut off things that would make us meet, but it wasn't up me, Lionel was the link between us and we seem to care about him.
Behind her stood Tatiana, with a less confident look on her face compared to the last time I saw her over a year ago. It wz not in my place to care, so I paid her little mind.
Betty crossed her arms over her chest, making the tight pink blouse she had on tighter. Her pale blue eyes stared at me from head to toe with a look of contempt. “You! What the hell do you want here? Haven't you done enough?” she yelled a me.
I scoffed at her words and audacity. “Enough? Lionel is my brother. I am here because I care about him."
“Care about him? This is all your faulty”
I scoffed and shook my head. “How's it my fault?”
“You kept moving him around and travelling six hours just to see that little bastard you call a child! Look where that got him!” she snapped at me, her face turning red.
For Lionel's sake, I didn’t want to lose my temper, yet this witch and her evil mouth were pushing it. I would gladly take he insult and name calling because of Lionel, but I will not take insult and name calling of my son. I will apologize later. “I w not stand here and have you talk about my son that way, Betty."
“Or else what? You've always been a good-for-nothing child. Everything you touch turns to ruin and I will not let you brin; your rotten hand anywhere near my son!” she threw her crude words at me.
“I wouldn't speak to her that way if I were you,” Aaron growled, and this made me turn to find him standing behind me wi a murderous look on his face.
Her eyes flew to Aaron and whatever she saw terrified her before she turned her attention to me. “Who the hell is this?” I voice lost the strength it had when she spoke down on me earlier.
“Daddy!” Zion called out, running towards us with a packet of biscuits in his hand.
Aaron smiled, bent down and took him into his hands before rising. “Look what Sesi got for me,” he said, shaking the biscuit in his hand.
Aaron's eyes widened dramatically, as if he wasn't boiling with rage a moment ago. “Well, did you tell her thank you?” Zion bobbed his head, “Yes, Ivan would get me ice cream next”
Aaron raised a brow. “Did he say that?”
Zion nodded and giggled. “He wants to be my favourite uncle.”
“Do not let him eat too much of that,” 1 told Aaron.
He nodded, “Yes ma'am.” and took Zion away from us.
I walked my attention to the mother and daughter who still stood before me and I took a step toward them. “I should hay said this the last time we met, but better late than never. The only thing that joins us together is Lionel and I will always I here for him because, unlike you, he understands what it means to have a family. But this would be the last time you use a disrespectful tone or words on me and my child. If you see me and you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all. Act like we do not exist and I will do the same. I wouldn't tell you what I'd do to you the next time you think about disrespecting me”
With that said, I brushed past her and made my way out of the hospital.