Third Person POV
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Flashbacks (5 years ago.)
"Dad, help me please." Adam froze when he heard the frightened voice of Giuseppe.
"Giuseppe? What's wrong?" Adam asked urgently.
"Please, dad, I don't know what to do. Mom is-" Giuseppe didn't complete the sentence because of his continuous hiccuping.
"What's wrong with your mom?" Adam asked, fear griping at him like no before. "Giuseppe what's wrong with your mom?" Adam repeated his question when the little boy didn't answer.
"We were attacked and mom is at the hospital. They say she may not make it out alive, and Ela hasn't stopped crying since then. I don't know what to do, dad. Please help me." Giuseppe said incoherently.
"Giuseppe, breath, just breath." Adam waited until he heard the little boy doing what he instructed. "Good, now tell me what happened in details." He told him.
"We were shopping for Ela, just me, mom, Ela, and Müller. When suddenly gun shots were heard a floor under us. Mom hid me and a sleeping Ela in a safe place before she and Müller went to face the guys who apparently were searching for her. The next thing I know is mom on the floor with blood oozing from her head and stomach, and soon Müller followed after he run to help her. An ambulance brought us to the hospital where both mom and Müller were whisked to the OR." Giuseppe explained.
"Who's Ela?" Adam asked the boy.
"Gisela Ingrid Knights." Giuseppe answered.
Adam knew right away who she was, he was over the moon for a while. He had a daughter.
He and Emma both decided to keep the gender of their unborn child a surprise, he never knew what they were expecting. So he was so happy that he forgot the piles mess surrounding him from everywhere. Only when Giuseppe spoke again did he snap out of his thoughts.
"Dad." Giuseppe called out.
"Yes, son?"
"They say-" Giuseppe cried silently before wiping his tears off and resuming. "They say mom has a brain tumour, that there's a high possibility she may not make it out of the operation room alive." The little boy informed his adoptive father.
Adam stood frozen in his place, his mind unable to process what he was just told. He didn't know when the phone slipped through his hand and crashed on the floor.
Then in a blink he sprung to the door and towards his car. He was on the road in no time and speeding towards the hospital.
He dialled Jeff with his work phone seeing that the other one was crashed. Jeff picked up on the first ring. "Sire."
"Connect me with Rob." Adam ordered, his tone icier than usual.
"Right away, sir." Jeff knew better than to question his boss, especially when his voice clearly indicated something was terribly wrong.
"What are you going to threaten me with now, young boy?"
"You knew all along that Emma's episodes were not due to the psychological trauma she received from the accident? You fucking knew she was battling with a tumour that was slowly eating her alive, didn't you!" Adam seethed.
"Adam-"
"You knew and yet kept ruthlessly using her, playing along with her, letting her think you she had you fooled about her condition and turning a blind eye on what she was going through as long as you got what you wanted. You fucking knew and instead of dragging her to the nearest hospital to have a surgery you kept her beside you like some loyal dog to protect your ungrateful ass!" Adam cut him off, anger radiating off of his tone in waves.
"We- I couldn't." Sighed Rob defeatedly. "I just found out few months back, and by then it was already too late. The risk was just too much to take." He explained.
"So you fucking left her there to go through that excruciating pain when you could've done something about it!" Adam raged.
"SHE COULD'VE DIED!" Rob was angry by Adam's indications that he did not care for her.
"SHE WAS DYING EITHER WAYS, BUT YOU HAD A CHANCE TO LESSEN THE PAIN SHE'S GOING THROUGH AND YOU TURNED A BLIND EYE ON IT!" Adam yelled back.
"I couldn't! I'm not her legal guardian, there's nothing I could've done if he refused to do so." Rob said.
"You forgot something, he's not her legal guardian either, I am. You could've came to me, but you didn't want spoil the thing you worked for for so long." Adam said.
"If she had gone through that surgery she would've have died or got all of her memories erased, then everything she was taught, everything we worked so hard for would vanish along with her, that's a fact I'm not denying, but it wasn't because of that that I didn't tell you." Rob said. "Call me selfish, but I didn't want to lose her." He admitted.
"You were both selfish, only her selfishness was not about her. She wanted to make sure her loved ones are safe and sound, and that her late mother got the justice she deserves. She never once thought about herself even though she knows the method to get rid of the unbearable pain she was going through, so you see Rob, she cared for you, while you did not." Adam said.
"Believe it or not, I really did care for that child, more than I did my own flesh and blood." Rob admitted.
"Tell him to never show up in front of me again if he doesn't want what he worked for for years to come to an end." He told him instead of commenting on his last statement. "If Emma ever comes out alive I'll make sure she never remembers any of you, and if she does one day remembers, I'll make sure she never knows of your existence. I will rob you of your precious A.L just like you robbed me of my wife and the mother of my kids." Adam promised and hung up on him but not before he heard Rob's last words.
"I'm really sorry, my desire to keep her by my side awhile longer ended up being the reason we all lose her at the end." Rob apologised just before Adam finishes the call.
No words of apologies were enough for Adam to forgive them for that they did to his family, because of them his wife spent a lifetime racing against time running in a wrong way to achieve the one thing she so desperately wanted while battling a disease that ended up putting her in an operation room with a possibility of never waking up. And because of them he spent his life deceiving the one person he cared for the most for her own safety, if he knew something like this were to happen, that he might lose his wife in the depths of this swamp of endless lies and deception, he would've told her the whole truth right from the start.
Would that have helped saving their relationship, then?
Would it have helped lessening the guilt that was eating at him at that moment?
Would Emma have forgiven him if she knew the whole truth from the very beginning of the story up 'till she found out?
A/N
Hey, lovelies!
Here's another chapter for you, guys. So any clues on who this Rob is? Does it ring a bell?
Hope you enjoy the update.
Don't forget to vote and comment.
Until next time.