REBORN: MEET MY BROTHERS-Chapter 85: YOU DISAPPOINT ME

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?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"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.

"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.

.

Gaulin, Matilda, and Sasha stared at Ava speechlessly. "She can’t be serious!" Sasha burst out, "Did she just... walk away like that? Like we’re nothing?"

Matilda clenched her fists. "That ungrateful little—she’s testing me! That girl is testing my patience."

Gaulin was eerily quiet. His jaw tightened as he stared at the elevator doors that had closed behind Ava and Maximus.

"What are we going to do now, Dad? Are they going to throw us out since she has refused to give her permission?"

Gaulin took a deep breath. He’d had enough embarrassment for the day. "Let’s go home. We’ll settle this at home," he strained before walking away.

Both Matilda and Sasha were shocked. "That’s it?! You’re going to let her get away with everything she just did, Dad?!" When Gaulin said nothing and just kept walking, Sasha and Matilda were compelled to follow behind him, but they both frowned as they walked out of the hospital.

.

Inside the elevator, Ava smiled as she turned to face Maximus. "Did you do this?"

Maximus shrugged before holding Ava in his arms. "I told you to trust me, didn’t I?" Ava smiled even more as she raised her head to look at his face. "Does this happen more frequently?"

Her smile vanished. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, little one."

"No." Ava noticed the frown on Maximus face but she’d rather say this than expose how unfair she’s been treated. "How did you know about all of these anyway?"

"It’s very unlikely that someone gets kidnapped in a hospital, so I had Ethan do a little research, and well... He happened to come across this little information about you not being allowed to see your grandfather."

Ava’s smile faltered for a second before she chuckled softly to cover up. Did he also find out about Matilda being involved? "And did he get information on who the mastermind behind the kidnap is?"

"Not yet." Maximus held her tighter. "But he’s still on it. I promise you, whoever was involved will pay dearly."

Ava nodded curtly. She didn’t know if she was happy about the information or not. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Maximus to find out about Matilda’s involvement, but with the care he’s been showing her, she knew he wouldn’t just sit by.

In her previous life, she would have enjoyed this. Her life would’ve been a beautiful fairytale where she was saved by a hot billionaire. But life wasn’t a bed of roses. She’d learnt this the hard way. Now, she wanted her revenge herself, and she was going to make Matilda and any member of her family involved in her past sufferings pay dearly.

"Thank you, Maximus," Ava said with a small smile.

Maximus tilted his head slightly as he studied her face. "This is new."

"What is new?"

"You’ve never said this to me before."

Ava pouted. He was right. She’d never really thanked him for anything he’d done for her up to this point. And she knew it made her look like an ingrate, but while he did those things for her, she never appreciated any of them because she thought there was a hidden agenda to it.

With everything she’d gone through, thanking someone with an evil agenda was equivalent to being killed again.

Now she was sure that Maximus didn’t have any bad intention towards her, she felt embarrassed for not showing gratitude for those things. "I’m sorry for being such an ingrate."

Maximus pinched the bridge of her nose, not enough to hurt. "I already got used to being engaged to one."

She laughed.

The elevator door opened to Ethan, and on seeing him, Maximus hesitantly let Ava go even if he placed his hand on her lower back as he led her out.

A smile grew on Ethan’s face. "Did I interrupt?" Maximus ignored him as he led Ava to her grandfather’s room door. Clearing his throat, "Wesley has been waiting for you but you just missed him," Ethan informed.

"Why?"

"Something about getting your legal team ready in case the Whitlock’s decides to sue the hospital."

"That can be easily discussed over the phone or email. Tell Wesley not to waste his time worrying about things that don’t concern him. I told him I was going to take care of it, didn’t I?"

Ethan nodded curtly. "I can understand his concern. Gaulin looked really mad when he was thrown out of the hospital. The last time he was this mad, well, we both know what happened."

Maximus chuckled dryly, and he released Ava’s waist when they got to the door. They both watched as she took in a deep breath before pushing open the door.

When she entered the room, "Let him be mad. It’s about time he’s reminded that he can’t mess with someone who’s dear to me," Maximus said dryly as he watched his little wife.

Ava’s heart tightened as she saw her grandfather lying on the bed and she quickly rushed to where he was. "Grandfather, I’m here."

Maximus and Ethan stood by the door, giving her a moment. They watched as she bent down and held him.