Darius frowned and nodded. “Mom is way too biased. How could she give all that money to Alana? As if sharing our surname wasn’t enough! She’s from our mother’s side of the family, she’s not one of us!”
“Exactly. We took her in out of the goodness of our hearts, and she’s stolen what rightfully belongs to us. It’s outrageous, she’s nothing but an ungrateful wretch!”
“No matter what, we have to make Mom change her mind. That money absolutely cannot end up in the hands of an outsider!”
Joan said jealously, “I bet Alana must have sweet-talked Grandma into handing over the estate to her. That scheming woman!”
Miranda grew angrier the more she thought about it. Since Alana had Stephan by her side, they couldn’t go after her directly; they could only target the old woman instead.
“Once the old woman wakes up, we’ll take turns talking her out of it. We have to make her change her mind!”
Another child of Grandma’s expressed some concern, “Mom just came out of surgery. If we bring this up in front of her now, what if she can’t handle it and something happens again?”
Miranda snorted coldly. “If something happens, she’ll have it coming. Who told her to ignore us, her own flesh and blood?”
“We’re clearly her real family, her immediate relatives. She’s not leaving her estate to us, but to Alana, a complete outsider. It’s obvious she doesn’t consider us her real family. She might as well just die!”
Those words were so vicious.
Even some of the relatives were shocked to hear that.
Darius spoke up to stop her. “Enough. Let’s wait until the old lady wakes up before we say anything more.”
But they waited a long time, and there was still no movement from the hospital room.
Miranda couldn’t contain her urge to go inside.
Just then, the ward door opened.
Alana and Stephan emerged one after the other.
Miranda immediately asked, “Alana, has your grandmother woken up?”
Alana paused for a moment. “Grandma just woke up a little while ago.”
Miranda acted on impulse, “Since she’s awake, let’s all go in and see her! And have her redistribute her assets while we’re at it!”
But Alana and Stephan stood blocking the doorway, clearly preventing them from entering.
And with Stephan standing guard beside Alana, they didn’t dare make a move.
Miranda could only resort to verbal bravado. “Lana, what’s this? You won’t let us go in to see her?”
Alana shot Miranda a cold glance, showing a rare display of assertiveness.
“Auntie, Grandma has only just been stabilized. Are you going to go in to cause a scene again? Will you only be satisfied once you’ve driven Grandma to her death?!”
Miranda couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt when she recalled how, just a few hours ago, her loud outburst had caused the old lady to faint from shock.
She only wanted the old lady to hand over her assets; she certainly didn’t want her to die.
“What do you mean ‘cause a scene’? We’re just going in to see her. Don’t think of me as such a villain.”
Alana glared at her coldly. “Grandma fainted and had to be rushed into the operating room for emergency treatment because of you. If the doctors hadn’t acted in time, she might not be alive today. You nearly killed her... and you have the nerve to say you’re not malicious?!”
Miranda’s confidence wavered slightly. “Well... she’s not dead yet, is she?”
Alana laughed bitterly. “What? Are you only satisfied once you’ve tormented Grandma to death?”
Miranda swallowed.
Alana took a deep breath and continued,
“Grandma is very weak right now. Her emotions can’t handle extreme ups and downs, and she especially can’t get angry. Most importantly, she needs a quiet place to rest and recover properly.”
“If you want to see Grandma, you should wait a few days until her condition stabilizes.”
Darius couldn’t help but speak up, “Alana, we just want to go in and take a quick look. We promise we won’t disturb her.”
“I don’t trust you, and besides, Grandma doesn’t want to see you right now.”
Darius looked at her in disbelief. “Are you seriously stopping us from going in to see her? She’s not just Grandma... she’s my mother. As her son, don’t I even have the right to go in and see her? Besides, I’m your elder. Is that any way to speak to an elder?”
“I’m not stopping you from seeing her. It’s just that Grandma is frail and needs rest. We’ll arrange for you to see her in a few days, once her condition has stabilized. Grandma has already fainted once because of you all. There’s no guarantee she won’t faint again. For Grandma’s sake, let’s wait a few days until her condition stabilizes.”
Darius, Miranda, and the others were unwilling.
They had their own reasons and simply wanted to settle the property matter as quickly as possible.
As long as that property remained in Alana’s hands, they feared she would squander it, and what if they ended up with nothing?
They wanted to storm straight into the hospital room.
But Stephan called over several bodyguards.
Each of those bodyguards was burly and muscular; when they stood before Miranda, Darius, and the others, their menacing glares were enough to make their knees go weak.
After much deliberation, they finally backed down, agreeing to wait until their grandmother’s condition stabilized before discussing her estate.
However, they specifically warned Alana not to make any rash moves regarding their
grandmother’s properties.
Considering her grandmother’s health and not wanting to cause any trouble, Alana nodded in agreement.
After that, Darius, Miranda, and the others left.
Alana breathed a sigh of relief, her body feeling almost limp.
Every time she had to face their ugly faces, she felt utterly drained.
It felt as though all the strength had been drained from her body.
Stephan quickly pulled her into his arms and helped her sit down in a chair.
He gently stroked her face. “Don’t worry. You did a great job just now.”
Alana nodded. She had realized that when dealing with a group of unreasonable elders, there was no point in trying to reason with them; it was more effective to fight fire with fire.
She took a deep breath, couldn’t help but bury her face in his chest, and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “Thank goodness you’re here.”
Stephan patted her back gently. “I told you, I’ll always be by your side.”
After waiting outside the ward for a while longer, Stephan’s phone rang.
It was Cynthia calling.
Stephan answered the call and told her what had just happened.
Upon hearing this, Cynthia was deeply shocked. “How could Lana’s relatives do such a thing? That’s outrageous! Just for a little bit of property, they actually upset her so much she had to go into surgery again . They’re completely heartless! Is the elderly woman okay now?”
“She’s fine now.”
“That’s good. Do you want me to go up and check on her?”
“No need. Lana’s grandmother is resting. Even if you came up, it wouldn’t be appropriate to go in and see her.”
“I didn’t say I had to see Lana’s grandmother. Can’t I just come up to see my future daughter-in-law?”
“You can come over if you want, but bring two takeout meals with you.”
“You little rascal! Fine, fine, I’ll pack some food and be right over!”
Alana saw Stephan hang up the phone and couldn’t help but ask.
“Is your mother coming over?”
Stephan nodded. “Yeah, she probably wants to come up and see what’s going on.”
Alana lowered her eyes, feeling a bit guilty. “She originally told me she’d come tomorrow to formally visit Grandma. I never expected something like this to happen...”
Stephan patted her on the back. “It’s okay. After all, you didn’t want this to happen either.”
Cynthia arrived shortly afterward, bringing two takeout meals.
After learning what had happened, she felt even more sorry for Alana, such a young child, already carrying so much on her shoulders.
She comforted Alana for quite a while, then pulled Stephan aside.
“See if there’s any way we can help her resolve this once and for all. Why don’t you help her cut ties with those shameless relatives? Let’s just never have anything to do with them again. Otherwise, they’ll keep picking on the poor girl day after day... it’s just too upsetting.”
Stephan had his own considerations. “Mom, I know what you’re thinking, but this involves her grandmother. Lana is very close to her grandmother, she can’t just abandon her. We’ll take this one step at a time; I’ll handle it.”
Cynthia sighed, then suddenly thought of something. “What about Alana’s mother? With her grandmother facing such a serious situation, and her being humiliated in front of all those relatives, isn’t her mother going to step in and help resolve this?”
“If I were her mother, seeing her get bullied like that would break my heart!”
“Her mother...” Stephan’s thin lips twitched. “It’s laughable, really. Her mother is Darla’s stepmother. Not long ago, she even went to Lana and tried to convince her to break up with me.”
“No way!” Cynthia couldn’t keep her composure. “This is way too melodramatic!”
“How could her mother do that? She’s her own flesh and blood, after all. How could she try to break you two up? That’s just too much! Oh my, poor Lana. She’s truly unloved by both her father and mother. It’s so pitiful... it breaks my heart!”