REBORN: MEET MY BROTHERS-Chapter 69: DO YOU TRUST ME?

The girl glanced nervously at Wesley before turning back to Gaulin. "With all due respect, Sir—"

"Don’t you dare use those words when you clearly have no clue what they mean! If you had any respect, you wouldn’t have dared to lay a hand on my wife and daughter in the first place."

Matilda stepped close to her husband. "They didn’t just lay a hand on us, Gaulin. They dragged us out of the room like criminals. Right in front of your unconscious father."

"And this one," Sasha pointed an accusing finger at Wesley, "had the audacity to smirk about it, like it was some kind of joke." Her voice trembled from the anger.

Gaulin’s eyes narrowed on Wesley’s nonchalant face and his face hardened even more.

Wesley sighed softly. "Mr. Whitlock, I’m sorry you had to witness such an unfortunate situation. But your family has had a long-standing relationship with this hospital, and you understand how critical our policies are. This entire situation could’ve been avoided if your wife and daughter had simply complied with the hospital’s new policy."

"As much as I respect your family, I expect the same level of respect as well. If you feel the hospital’s policy is intolerable, you’re free to take your father elsewhere. But this action has to be carried out under the hospital’s new policy, and as such, only the legal guardian has the right to make this call."

Gaulin scowled. "You don’t need to say anymore. With the disrespect you’ve shown my family, as the legal guardian of my father, I wouldn’t dare to keep him here for a second longer."

"Very well then. Since the hospital has made findings on each patient’s legal guardian..." Wesley adjusted his glasses as he turned to the girl beside him. "...Elizabeth, please confirm Mr. William Whitlock’s legal guardian is his son, so he can proceed with the paperwork downstairs."

She nodded and went through the file in her hand. Her brows furrowed as her eyes returned to their faces. "Mr. Whitlock, you are not the legal guardian of Mr. William Whitlock."

Gaulin became confused and exchanged glances with his wife and daughter. "What are you trying to say? How is that even possible?"

"My husband has been my father-in-law’s legal guardian for years, so what nonsense are you blabbing?!" Matilda snapped.

"Mrs. Whitlock, please calm down. There’s no mistake here. The hospital’s records are clear," Wesley explained.

Elizabeth hesitated and glanced at Gaulin before continuing. "It seems the legal guardianship was updated recently. The name listed here is Ava Whitlock."

"Ava?!" Matilda frowned. Why was Ava’s name there?

"That’s impossible!" Sasha barked. "Ava is barely involved in any of this. How could she possibly be the legal guardian?"

Wesley cleared his throat. "I understand this is surprising, but the documentation doesn’t lie. If you believe there’s been a mistake, I suggest you reach out to her and sort this out. Until then, I’m afraid the hospital will need to communicate directly with Ms. Whitlock regarding Mr. William Whitlock’s care."

Gaulin felt like going crazy. When and how did Ava become his father’s legal guardian? "This is absurd. I’ve been managing his care for years. I don’t even recall Ava stepping in to sign anything!"

"Nevertheless..." Wesley replied, "...these are the facts we’re working with. I’ll leave you to handle the family discussion. Once Ms. Whitlock is reached, we can proceed. But for now, since you’re not Mr. Whitlock’s legal guardian, the hospital’s policy cannot be sidetracked. I have no choice but to ask you and your family to leave, Mr. Whitlock, until a permission from Ms. Whitlock is received."

"You want me to leave my father’s side because of some stupid mistake from this hospital? Do you think I don’t know this is all a sham?!"

"Mr. Whitlock, the records don’t lie. Ms. Ava Whitlock is the documented legal guardian," Elizabeth explained.

"If you wish to contest this, you’ll need to go through the appropriate channels. But as it stands, there’s nothing I can do other than follow the hospital’s policy," Wesley said blandly.

Sasha’s face turned red with frustration as she threw up her hands. "Ava?! Are you kidding me right now? Ava wouldn’t know the first thing about managing Grandpa’s care. She can barely manage her own life, let alone this!"

"If this is some sort of sick joke, I’m not laughing, Mr. Rowland. Ava wouldn’t do this—she couldn’t do this. Who approved this change? Who signed off on it?" Matilda asked bitterly.

"It was approved a few weeks ago, Mrs. Whitlock. The documents were signed and verified by both Mr. William Whitlock and Ms. Ava Whitlock," Elizabeth said.

Gaulin’s eyes narrowed. "My father? That’s impossible. He hasn’t been in any condition to make such decisions recently."

Wesley had had enough. "I don’t care if you think this is foul play or not, but I’m not here to argue about your family dynamics. If you don’t leave with your family, Mr. Whitlock, I’ll have my guards escort all of you out."

"You can’t send us out because of some useless mistake! There is no way my grandfather will make Ava his legal guardian—" Sasha protested but Wesley already signalled the guards to escort them out. There was no point trying to explain to the family when they were not ready to listen. The only way to enforce the hospital’s policy was to use force.

"Get your filthy hands off me! Father!" Sasha yelled as the guards moved them into the elevator.

"Rowland! What is the meaning of this? Tell them to stop now!" Gaulin scowled but Wesley stared blankly at him.

"I’m sorry it had to come to this, Mr. Whitlock, but you weren’t giving me much of a choice."

"You better hope this is not some clerical error, Rowland because if it isn’t, I’ll make sure you pay dearly for treating me and my family this way!" Gaulin warned as the elevator door closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The black Bentley stopped in front of the hospital building and Ava looked around confused. "What are we doing here?" She stared at Maximus as he strode to her side and opened the door.

"Come out." Maximus held the door but Ava only stared at him skeptically.

She couldn’t fathom why they were at a hospital. Was it because of her injury from yesterday? Or was Maximus sick?

"Aren’t you eager to find out how your grandfather is doing?"

Ava went speechless. "How did—" She trailed off. She had a lot of questions, but she decided not to ask. Instead, "I do. I want to see him so bad," she replied.

"Then let’s go."

"I can’t... They won’t—" she trailed off again. Telling him her family stopped her from seeing her grandfather because they hated her sounded pitiful, so she decided not to give him any reason.

"Your family won’t let you?"

Ava: "..."

"Do you trust me?" Ava slowly nodded, even if she wondered why he was asking a question like this out of the blue. "Then come with me."

Ava bit the insides of her cheek before hesitantly following Maximus.

They got to the elevator about the same time the guards escorted Gaulin, Matilda, and Sasha out of the elevator. The moment they set their eyes on Ava, they all felt like going crazy.

"You little—" Sasha trailed when she noticed Maximus beside Ava.

Ava was surprised to see her family escorted by the hospital guards, but she didn’t say a word.

"How could you, Ava?!" Matilda barked. "After everything we’ve done for you, you go behind our backs and make your grandfather make you his legal guardian?"

Ava froze. How did they know about it? "What are you talking about?"

"Don’t play dumb with us! You had my father sign guardianship to you, didn’t you? Behind my back!" Gaulin’s face hardened even more. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"How could you be so selfish, Ava?" Sasha stepped toward her. "We’ve always known you were ungrateful. But this... This is low, even for you."

Ava’s brow furrowed. "Grandpa was the one who asked for this. I didn’t trick him or go behind anyone’s back. He made this decision himself."

"Don’t give me that nonsense!" Gaulin’s voice rose with each word. "My father would never do something like this without talking to me first. What did you say to him? What lies did you tell him?"

"I’ve never lied to grandfather. You’re accusing the wrong person here." She looked at Sasha.

"Oh shut up! I don’t know whatever lies you fed your grandfather, but we’ll deal with this when we get back home. For now..." Matilda shrugged away the guards hand that lingered on her arm. She pointed to the counter. "You’ll go there. State that you’re the legal guardian of your grandfather and grant us permission to see him."

Ava became confused. "Why do I have to grant permission for you to see grandfather?"

"Aren’t you supposed to be smart?" Sasha scoffed. "We’re being escorted out of the room because there’s a new hospital policy that only the legal guardian of a patient can visit. And to visit, we need permission from you."

Ava turned to Maximus, and when he nodded curtly, she turned back to her family. She didn’t know what to feel about this information, but a smile appeared on her face. "Is that so?"

"What is that stupid smile on your face? Hurry up and do what your mother asked." Gaulin was getting impatient.

But Ava simply arranged the hand of her bag. "I’m sorry, father, mother. But you’ve both been watching over grandfather for a while. I’ll be glad to take that responsibility off your shoulders. I’ll see you at home."

She would’ve loved to wait to see their reaction, but she held Maximus’s hand and took him inside the elevator.