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Chapter 932: Bastard

Although he wasn\'t very close to his younger brother, Henry, he knew Henry to a large degree and he doubted that Henry would have let his wife go so easily.

For all of Henry\'s life, he had only wanted one thing- and that was to be acknowledged by them as a Rosewood since he was a bastard.

He had done all he could for Shawn to accept him and treat him as his brother and sometimes Shawn thought he did too much in his quest for acceptance.

Although the public didn\'t know it since the Rosewood family had kept it a secret, Henry was his half-brother- a result of a sordid affair.

Growing up, Henry had always been the family\'s black sheep, a reminder of his father\'s infidelity, and Shawn had never truly bonded with Henry because his mother had made it clear she wanted him to have nothing to do with Henry.

He was the son of a gold-digging whore who had wanted to reap where she did not sow, and his mother had gotten rid of her immediately after she birthed Henry since she didn\'t want any rumors of an affair or for anything to tarnish the Rosewood family name.

Henry knew very well how much the Rosewood family hated the idea of divorce, so it didn\'t make sense that he would divorce Vanessa and marry someone else regardless of the circumstances.

Or was it that he had been truly in love with this Diana lady and she had led him to do that? Shawn mused thoughtfully.

Thinking about Diana, his brows pulled together in a frown. Something about her didn\'t sit well with him and he couldn\'t even point out what it was.

Shawn sighed deeply as his thoughts drifted back to Henry once again. First, they said he had been missing for days, and now an accident. Where had he been all this while then? Was it that he had been involved in the accident days ago but no one had been there to rescue him until now? Or was there something else at play here? Shawn mused.

Whatever the situation was, Henry was still a Rosewood, and family meant everything to Shawn. He intended to uncover the truth. If there was foul play involved, he would get to the bottom of it.

Once Shawn arrived at the hospital, he strode to the reception desk, his presence commanding immediate attention.

"I want to see whoever is in charge here and the doctor attending to Henry Rosewood," Shawn demanded, his voice brooking no argument.

The receptionist, a young woman with wide eyes, nodded quickly and picked up the phone. Within minutes, a middle-aged doctor with kind eyes and a weary expression appeared, his white coat flapping as he approached.

Recognizing Shawn, he greeted him politely as he led him to a private office. Inside the office, he gestured for Shawn to sit. "Mr. Rosewood, I\'m Dr. Collins. Your brother was brought in a while ago. We are doing everything we can for him."

Shawn\'s gaze was piercing. "How is he? Is it serious?"

The doctor sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. "Your brother was unconscious and reeking of alcohol when he was brought in. It appears he was driving under the influence. We\'re running tests to check his blood for alcohol and drugs while we try to resuscitate him."

Shawn leaned forward, "Don\'t bother with the drug test. He\'d never go near drugs," Henry said confidently.

"I see. By the way, do you know if he has any allergies? I\'d like to have his medical history," the doctor said.

"Henry is allergic to opioids. So, whatever you do, do not give him opioids. I will have him transferred to the family clinic after you stabilize him," Shawn said, remembering the one time Henry had almost died because of a morphine tablet.

"Is that the only thing he is allergic to?" The doctor asked, and Shawn\'s eyes narrowed.

"To the best of my knowledge, yes. Why do you ask?"

The doctor\'s brow furrowed. "He seemed to have had an allergic reaction. The signs were there when he was brought in. To be safe, we need to check if he took any drugs."

Suspicion gnawed at Shawn. "Fine. Do the test. But call me the moment the results are out and he\'s out of the emergency room."

Dr. Collins nodded. "Of course, Mr. Rosewood. We\'ll keep you updated."

As Shawn left the office, his mind raced with questions. Outside, he found the lawyer waiting by the side. Shawn approached him, his eyes cold and calculating.

"Exactly what is going on, Alfred? Is that lady telling the truth about her relationship with Henry?"

Alfred\'s face was grave. "It\'s the truth. Henry was processing a divorce and planned to introduce Diana to you and the family."

"How does that make sense? Henry knows very well that my mother would never approve of that, and all his life he has lived wanting her approval. Was he really ing to let of Vanessa or did he have other plans?" Shawn asked and Alfred sighed.

"I don\'t know if he had any other plans. But I know he wanted to keep the divorce hush. And I just found out where he was found. It was an abandoned asylum he purchased a couple of weeks ago," Alfred said Shawn raised a brow.

"Henry bought an abandoned asylum?" He asked, trying to connect the dots.

What were the chances that he announced on television that his perfectly sane wife was insane, and now he was divorcing her and buying an abandoned asylum?

"Yes."

"Where is Vanessa now?" Shawn asked with interest.

"She\'s with her parents. She moved out two weeks ago," Alfred explained.

Shawn\'s jaw tightened. "Don\'t say a word to my mother yet. Tell Diana to not let the word of Henry\'s accident out. We can\'t let this get out."

Alfred nodded solemnly. "Understood."

As Shawn got into his car, he contemplated going to see Mia or going back to Henry\'s and then decided to go see Mia.

He arrived there twenty minutes later, and Maria was startled when she opened the door and saw him.

"Hello, Mrs Lawson. I\'m sorry to stop by unannounced. I\'d like to see Vanessa," he said with a polite smile.

Maria nodded, her mouth dry, "You\'re welcome. Please come in," she said, her mind racing as she ushered him into the living room.

Her husband wasn\'t home and she wasn\'t sure what Henry\'s brother wanted with Mia. Having

him in the house made her uncomfortable.

"Can I ask if anything is wrong?" she asked politely.

Shawn smiled, "Nothing is wrong. I heard about the divorce and I want to hear from

Vanessa," he said easily and she nodded.

"She will join you shortly," Maria said and went to Mia\'s room to get her.

As Mia walked down the stairs to meet Shawn, her heart raced. In the duration is her marriage

to Henry, she had met Shawn less than a handful of times and she wasn\'t sure what he wanted

with her.

Was it about Henry? Did he find out something? She mused.

The moment she walked into the living room, Shawn rose and smiled at her pleasantly, "Hello, Vanessa. I\'m sure you are surprised to see me," he said and she nodded.

"Please sit down. You\'re welcome. Can I offer you something to drink?" she asked, but Shawn

shook his head.

"Your time is all I require," he said, gesturing for her to sit down and she sat down across

from him.

Mia\'s mom stood close by, not wanting to leave Mia alone with any member of the Rosewood family, and as if noticing this Shawn glanced at her and gave her a polite nod.

"How have you been? I\'m sorry I\'ve been too busy to pay attention to you," he said and she

shook her head.

"It\'s fine. I\'m fine too. Can I ask why you\'re here?" she asked curiously.

"I recently learned you\'re divorcing Henry. I was surprised to hear that considering the fact that you only just returned. Can I ask what is really going on?" He asked and Mia held his gaze.

"Do you want to know the truth? Or would you prefer an answer that suits you?" Mia asked and Shawn frowned slightly.

"What do you mean by an answer that suits me?" He asked, confused by her response.

Mia shrugged, "With all due respect Mr. Rosewood..."

"Shawn. Call me Shawn, Vanessa. We are family after all," he cut in.

"Family?" Mia asked with a snort, "No, we are not. We weren\'t even when I was married to

your brother talk more about now," she said and Shawn nodded.

"I understand your sentiments. Still, I\'d rather you address me as Shawn," he insisted.

Mia sighed, "I wasn\'t involved in any accident as Henry claimed," she said and Shawn

nodded.

"I figured," he said, urging her to carry on.

"I ran away because your brother was making my life a living hell," she said and Shawn\'s

brows pulled together.

"What do you mean?"

Without another word she rose, and her mother frowned wondering what she was up to as she turned her back to Shawn and raised her shirt.

Shawn\'s eyes widened in disbelief and then darkened with anger when he saw the scars on her

back.

"Henry did this to me," Mia said as she turned back to face him, "For years I endured him

until I couldn\'t anymore."

"Henry inflicted those wounds on you?" Shawn asked, not wanting to believe it.

"This is the least of what I suffered in the hands of your brother. This is merely physical evidence," Mia said as she sat down.

"Why didn\'t you come to me or our mother?"

"Come to you? And make things worse for myself? Even my own parents didn\'t do anything

about it, so who am I to expect the Rosewood family to take my side over one of theirs?" She asked and Shawn\'s frown deepened.

"It has nothing to do with taking sides. Hitting a woman is unacceptable and no one would support Henry after seeing that," He said reasonably.

"Well, it\'s all in the past now. All I want is for the divorce to be finalized so I can move on with

my life. I wish him well with his new family," she said, and Shawn raised a brow.

"New family? You know about his mistress?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yes. Diana, God bless her. She\'s the only reason Henry agreed to let me go. She\'s pregnant

with his child...." "Wait. Hold on. How do you know all this?" Shawn asked suspiciously.

"She\'s been living in the house with him. Your brother is in love with her. He put her in charge

of everything and even put me under her care too," Mia said with a shake of her head.

"So, it\'s true? He wants to marry her?" Shawn asked and Mia nodded.

"If I may ask, why did you return from wherever you were hiding?" Shawn asked and Mia

shrugged.

"I wanted to stop hiding. I wanted a divorce. I reached out to him asking for a divorce and he came to get me," she explained.

"When last did you see Henry?" Shawn asked curiously.

"He was here some days ago," Mia said, not bothering to lie since there was a possibility that

there were witnesses who had seen them together, and Harry had told her what to say if

anyone came to interrogate her.

"Where?"

"Here. He came here to get me. He said he wanted to take me back home," Mia said and

Shawn frowned.

"After you both agreed to the divorce?" He asked and Mia nodded.

"I take it you didn\'t go with him."

"I didn\'t have a choice. I left with him. He threatened me and my family," she said and Shawn

frowned.

"So, how are you back here? What happened?"

"He didn\'t take me home. He was taking me to somewhere else. I have no idea where he was

taking me. But it was somewhere far away and I got scared. I started to cry out for help, and

thankfully some passerby saved me from him," Mia said, shuddering at the memory of what had truly happened.

Listening to her tale, Shawn believed her. It made sense, "Do you have someone to confirm

your story?"

"My parents..."

"Apart from your parents," he said and Mia frowned.

"No, I don\'t. Why? Did something happen?" she asked, feigning confusion.

"Is there a way I can reach the stranger who saved you?" He asked, not answering her

question.

"No. I didn\'t think to take his number or anything. I was too startled and could barely talk to even my parents," Mia said and Shawn sighed.

"Henry was involved in an accident," he said and watched Mia\'s expression.

Mia didn\'t bother to act surprised or touched, "I guess there is a God after all. No offense. I

know he is your brother, but I\'m really not interested," she said flatly.

"I understand," Shawn said with a sigh.

"I\'m really sorry about all you had to go through. I wish you had come to me. I wish I reached

out to you and checked on you. I\'m sorry." He said, and Mia sighed deeply.

"Like I said, it\'s all in the past. All I want is for the divorce to be processed so I can leave," she

said and Shawn nodded as he rose.

"I need to leave now. Be good," he said to her and gave her nod before heading for the door.