The Alpha's Forgotten Mate

18. A Life That Wasn't

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"Xander, I think we should let her parents know now." Samuel knelt down in front of his niece's husband.

A day had passed just like that and the man was still in his blood-stained clothes, staring at nothing outside the ICU. She was going to be in there for a few more days before she was declared stable enough to be moved into a room.

Samuel had restrained himself from calling Melanie and Anderson until he got the go-sign from Xander or Rodney. But Rodney was AWOL, and it was a matter of utmost concern. Where was Rodney? Gregory was so desperate that he even tried to contact Jackson but he was untraceable as well.

But the Kings knew Jackson enough to know that he was watching. He was watching and he would make sure everything that needed to be done and could be done, will be done to make sure that his little one lived. He loved her way too much, even though the twisted ways in which he showed it would make anyone want to punch him in the face, despite his position and his age.

"Not until Rodney gets here." Xander finally said. "It is not the first time Joanne has been hospitalized. Why would we call them now when we never called them then?"

"This is not the same as last time." Samuel muttered but was stopped by the glare Xander gave him.

"How is this not the same as last time? How is this any different?" He yelled, getting up. "She got shot. The surgery was successful and she will wake up in a day or two. That is going to be the end of it." Xander said.

"And then everything is going to go back to normal. She is going to recover and then fight with me over how the six months have ended and she wants to come back to your company. And then I am going to fight with over the four months she took off post surgery and then-" Xander's voice cracked as his eyes filled with tears. "-She is going to start screaming over how she is going to decapitate me and feed me to some cannibals she personally knows and then she is going to run out of breath and say she is tired of me and our marriage and how I am the worst cook in the world and fall asleep in my arms! That is what is going to happen! SO WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU WANT TO CALL HER SO CALLED BIRTH PARENTS? WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU THINK THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS LAST TIME?"

"What's going on?" Anthony and Olivia had gone to the cafeteria. They were taking turns of two. People needed to be home for Ava and Stella as well. But Anthony refused to budge too. So it was mainly the others who took turns.

No one was surprised to see Anthony's paranoia. They might have had a love-hate relationship but the two of them always gave off sibling energy, fighting and bickering over anything and everything. So when his sister wound up in the hospital, it was no surprise that he too was going to stay.

"Where is she?" All of them turned to the new voices.

It was Melanie and Anderson Blake.

Joanne's parents.

Xander looked over at Samuel, ready to confront him for informing them but before he could, Samuel was yanked by his arm and a hand was brought in contact with his face.

The slap resonated through the hospital hallway.

"What do you think you are doing?" Olivia started but was stopped by Samuel putting his hand forward as he looked back up at his brother-in-law.

He looked over at his sister looking through the glass window on the door, with a faraway look on her face.

"That's my daughter lying in there." Anderson turned to Olivia, his eyes red with unshed tears.

"So?" Anthony asked. Before Olivia could stop him, he continued. "It doesn't give you any right to slap her uncle."

"This is none of your business, boy!" Anderson glared at him.

"Tony-" Olivia got a hold of his arm. "Don't get involved in their family matters."

"What do you mean by their family matters? This is our family matter. The woman lying inside is a King." Anthony yanked his arm out of her grasp. "I don't think Jo is going to be very happy when she wakes up when she hears that someone slapped her darling uncle. Knowing her, she is going to come up with some bizarre theory that it was my idea, and then she is going to plot some revenge plan!"

Olivia bit her lip, wanting to laugh even though they were all grieving. There could not be a pair more optimistic than Xander and Anthony about Joanne's recovery. She wished they would give some of that positivity to her as well because she was dreading every moment. She hoped her best friend opened her eyes. Because every moment with her attached to those tubes and wire felt like a lifetime to the family. She could not leave them. But even she would be too tired by now, right?

"Her darling uncle?" Melanie whispered, slowly turning to face the rest of them. "Her darling uncle? I AM HER MOTHER!" She yelled.

"Rodney's her mother." Anthony said stubbornly.

"Tony, shut up." Olivia hissed.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"TONY!"

Rubina caught everyone's attention as she approached them with Leon in tow - he was carrying a bag with fresh clothes for Anthony. Xander's supplies had already been dropped off by the man simply refused to budge from the spot.

"Rubina, you knew, didn't you?" Melanie cried. "You knew she was my Joanne and you said nothing!"

"I was protecting my Jo." Rubina said firmly. "She wasn't ready to come out with her truth. I respected that."

"She knew she was our daughter?" Anderson said. "She kept contact with her uncle yet she didn't come to us?"

Xander looked unfocused between all these people. What was wrong with them? His wife was fighting for her life in the critical unit and all that mattered to them was what she hid from them. And they called themselves her parents?

"Why did you even tell them?" Anthony asked Samuel. "Jo is going to be so mad when she wakes up!"

Olivia looked over at him and realized for the first time that Anthony was not just paranoid and over-optimistic - He was not in his right mind. He was delusional that Joanne was completely alright and was going to wake up any moment. That's why he was getting annoyed at people and their grave reactions. That's why he kept on talking about the chaos that would ensue as soon as she woke up... If she woke up.

That's why... unlike Xander, who could not stop his tears or even bring himself to move from the spot, Anthony walked around as if Joanne just had some routine elective surgery. But deep down, his fear of losing her made him stay in the hospital.

Anthony really loved Joanne.

"WHAT IF SHE NEVER WAKES UP?" Melanie yelled back at him. "WHAT IF SHE NEVER WAKES UP AND DIES?"

"Melanie!" Anderson yelled.

"Don't you dare say anything like that ever again!" Xander took a step forward. "You have no right to say anything like that. Not about my wife."

"I am her mother."

"My mother-in-law is her mother." Xander said.

"Xandy..." Rubina pushed him back. "Why are you being like this?"

"Because these two people are more interested in why Jo hid her identity than in her health." He said. "Do you think Rodney would have cared about anything else if she was here? She would be running around making sure her baby was fine and everything was going well! She would be screaming at doctors to take care of her, screaming at me because I didn't take care of her! She will be screaming for her daughter's safety, not to prove her relation to Jo! That's why Rodney is my Jo's mother."

"Rodney is not the mother." Xander closed his eyes in exasperation as he heard Jackson's voice.

Anderson narrowed his eyes, fisting his hand as he approached his father. "Don't you even dare try to raise your hand-" Jackson let out a sigh as he caught his son's first, dropping his cane.

"Mr. Blake, can you all take your family drama somewhere else?" Anthony asked, exasperated. This man, whom they have been trying so desperately to get a hold of, chose to arrive just at the moment when there was enough drama going on.

"We will, son." Jackson smiled, way too nicely. It had everyone's attention except Xander who had moved on to the door to stare at his wife.

"Xander, I need to speak with you before that." He said.

"No."

"Rodney is dead."

Olivia sat down on one of the waiting chairs.

So the mother and daughter were attacked at once?

"She is the one behind the attack. And I killed her."

If the previous statement was not shocking enough, this one was.

"What did you just say?" Xander turned to him.

"Rodney tried to kill Joanne because she wanted to become the boss herself."

"What are you talking about?" Anderson asked. "Rodney? As in Rodney Lake?"

"Bullshit!" Anthony said.

"Every single attack on Joanne till date was orchestrated by her."

This was the first point since he got to know of what happened to Joanne that Anthony wished that she didn't wake up for a while. How would she even take in all of this?

"What is happening?" Melanie whispered. "Why would Rodney do that? What attacks? How many attacks?"

"Take this circus outside." Rubina finally said, tears dripping down her eyes. She looked angrily at Jackson. "Stay away from my kid, Jackson. At least until she is well enough. She can't take any more of this."

"Who do you think you are to tell me to stay away from my own daughter?" Anderson was not ready to see any reason.

"I am her grandmother." She said. "And right now, it's not like there is anything you can do here. Only family members are allowed here now."

"Listen-"

"That's enough." Jackson said. "Joey's family is here. They know to take care of her. Don't make me regret letting you know."

"This is not over." Anderson said. "If anything happens to my daughter, I won't leave any of you."

Xander, Anthony, Olivia, Samuel and Rubina were finally left alone. It did not look like Anderson wanted anything to do with Jackson but he was willing to talk to his estranged father for the sake of his daughter who, unbeknownst to him, had gotten tangled up in his father's world.

But the fact that Jackson reached out to Anderson and Melanie did not sit well with Rubina. And the news about Rodney being behind all of this... Things were too complicated. She looked at her three grandchildren and Joanne's uncle.

She sighed and nodded to herself. On each one of their heart was a prayer, a prayer that Joanne would get well soon. They wanted nothing else.

The reason for the attack could wait. Rodney's betrayal could wait. Jackson's games could wait.

All that mattered now was Joanne.

Everything else could wait.

"Xandy, Tony, they are her parents, whether you like it or not." Olivia said finally. "Why would you both talk to them like that?"

"They failed to protect her." Xander said. "And now, if Jackson is to be believed, they all had left her with her death all these years."

"It doesn't matter." Rubina said. "Because she is not going anywhere. And we are not letting any of them anywhere near her ever again."

"Hey, she is going to be fine." Olivia side-hugged her. This was probably the first time she had ever shown any affection to Rubina, but the situation called for it.

"Exactly. For all we know, she could wake up tonight" Anthony smiled.

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