Hello, Ex! I Finally Found My Worth! - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Nightmares
The hospital waiting room was thick with tension. The walls, painted in a neutral beige, did little to soothe the weight pressing down on everyone inside.

The air smelled of disinfectant, and the only sounds were the faint beeping of machines and the hushed murmurs of nurses passing by.

Alex sat beside Emma, his fingers interlocked, staring blankly at the floor. Margaret was pacing near the window, her face lined with worry, while Claire sat stiffly in a chair, her arms crossed over her chest.

They were all waiting. Waiting for news from the doctor.

Waiting for something—anything—that would tell them Jake would make it through. No doctor or nurse had stepped out from the theater after that nurse and it was over thirty minutes now.

It was taking long and it made them all nervous and neither of them knew what to expect or what to think. They could only wait and pray that Jake would survive it all.

Alex sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. His mind was a mess, tangled between his fear for Jake and the unsettling words Jake had uttered earlier.

He needed answers. He needed to know exactly what had happened to him and why he had forgotten all about his life before his adoption.

He could remember that he was seven before his adoption. Why had Jake mentioned Howells? Was Howells his last name too before he became adopted?

No matter how hard he thought about it, his head was blank. Nothing seemed to come out before his life with the Sterlings.

Maybe Claire or Margaret could have some answers. He thought, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Looking up, he turned to Claire, his voice low but firm. “Claire, there’s something I’d like to know,” he said to her and she frowned.

“What is it?” Claire asked, wondering what it was and if it was the reason he was looking so confused or if it was because of Jake.

“When I was newly adopted… like when I was newly brought home, do you remember anything specific about me? Anything unusual? Maybe something you found strange as a kid,” he said uncertainly.

Claire blinked, taken aback by the sudden question. “Unusual?” she echoed, wondering why he was suddenly asking that and why he was asking that now of all time.

Margaret, despite her concern for Jake, turned to Alex, frowning in confusion. “Why are you asking this now, Alex?”

Emma, who had been silent until now, shifted beside him and said softly, “Because Jake said something… something unsettling before he went into surgery. I know he should be worried about Jake but he is also worried about this. I’m sure Jake wouldn’t have told him about it if he wasn’t shot.”

Claire’s gaze sharpened. “What was it he said to him?” she asked curiously.

Alex exhaled, feeling the weight of his own words before speaking. “He mentioned… the possibility of me having a sister. He said he started looking into my past just so he could get something on me and that’s how he found out that there’s a high possibility of me having a sister. A biological sister,” he said and immediately, silence fell among them.

Margaret and Claire exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable. Margaret shook her head, realizing that she had almost unknowingly brought harm to the family by giving Jake the address if the Orphanage home Alex was adopted from.

Claire was the first to respond. She shook her head slightly. “I… I don’t know much,” she admitted. “But I do remember that when you first came to us, you had a lot of nightmares. You used to sleep in my room a lot because of them.”

Alex’s brows furrowed. “Nightmares?”

Claire nodded. “Almost every night, you’d wake up screaming. Mom and Dad thought it was because of the trauma of being adopted. But… you never talked about them, and if anyone asked, you’d just shake your head.”

Alex tried to recall. His childhood with the Sterlings had been kind. He had always felt like part of the family, but now that Claire mentioned it, there were flashes—fragmented memories he had long buried. Shadows, whispers, fear.

“But there was something else,” Claire continued, her expression growing thoughtful. “There was a locket. You had it when you first came to us. You gave it to Mom, saying you couldn’t keep it because every time you held it… it gave you nightmares.”

Alex sat up straighter, his pulse quickening. “A locket?”

Claire nodded again. “Yes. It was old, and I remember Mom saying it looked expensive. She kept it somewhere safe after you gave it to her. Also, your name used to be Carter.”

Alex frowned, a strange unease creeping up his spine. “What? Carter? Why was my name changed then? What about my last name?” He asked but Claire and Margaret shook their heads, indicating that they don’t know anything.

Alex sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Do you know where she kept it? The locket,” he asked after some time, his mind reeling so many questions now.

Claire hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Yes. I think I do.”

Alex’s jaw tightened. He didn’t know why, but something told him that locket held the answers he was looking for even why his name was changed from Carter to Alex.

“After we leave the hospital,” he said firmly, “I need to see it,” he said and Claire nodded, part of her wondering what that locket meant to Alex and this new discovery.

Alex leaned back against the hospital chair, his mind racing with thoughts of the locket.

If it had been so significant that it triggered nightmares, why couldn’t he remember it? What did it mean? And more importantly, what connection did it have to this supposed sister Jake had mentioned?

His fingers tightened into fists as frustration settled in. He hated this feeling—this uncertainty, this lack of control over his own past.

Before he could dwell on it further, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was a call.

He pulled it out and glanced at the screen to see that it was an unknown Number.

His gut twisted. Something told him this wasn’t just any call.

Swiping to answer, he brought the phone to his ear. “Alex Sterling.”

“Mr. Sterling,” a gruff voice greeted him—it was one of the officers whom he had given his contact details to incase of any update. “We have an update on the shooter.”

Alex straightened, his body tense. “Did he say anything?”

“No. He’s refusing to talk. But there’s something else.” The officer hesitated. “His phone has been ringing constantly since we took him into custody. The same number keeps calling over and over again.”

Alex’s heartbeat picked up. “Who is it or is it a strange line?”

The officer exhaled sharply before saying, “It’s saved as Vanessa.”

The moment the name was spoken, Alex stiffened, his jaw locking in place. His grip on the phone tightened.

So it was her. Just as suspected, it was her.

The pieces fell into place. Vanessa had ordered the hit. She had sent that shooter to kill Emma—and Jake had taken the bullet instead. What was her beef with Emma? Alex mused bitterly.

His eyes darkened, his fury simmering just beneath the surface.

“Can you make him take the call?” Alex asked, his voice low but firm. “Maybe convince him to meet with her so you could follow him there and set a trap for her.”

There was a pause on the other end before the officer responded. “We can try. It’s risky, but if it means we can get to Vanessa before she disappears again, we’ll do it.”

“Do whatever it takes,” Alex said, his tone sharp. “We can’t let her vanish into thin air again. This might be our last chance to stop her.”

“I understand,” the officer replied. “I’ll call you back once we have something.”

The line went dead, and Alex lowered his phone, exhaling a slow, measured breath.

He turned to Emma, Claire, and Margaret, their eyes locked on him expectantly.

“Who was that?” Claire asked before Emma could.

Alex’s expression hardened. “The police.”

Emma’s brow furrowed. “Did the shooter say anything?”

Alex shook his head. “No. But his phone has been ringing nonstop. It’s Vanessa.”

The moment he said her name, Margaret’s breath hitched. Her face paled, and her lips trembled as she brought a hand to her mouth.

Claire’s eyes widened. “Vanessa?”

Alex nodded grimly. “She was behind it. She ordered the hit. The shooter just got caught before he could escape thanks to the guards I hired after Emma mentioned catching a glimpse of her some weeks ago.”

Margaret let out a shaky breath, and before anyone could react, she sank into the nearest chair, burying her face in her hands.

Emma placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, concern etched across her face. “Margaret?”

Margaret lifted her head, her eyes red and glistening. “This is my fault,” she whispered, her voice thick with regret. “If I had never involved Vanessa… if I had just let Jake face his punishment back then, none of this would have happened.”

Claire frowned, stepping closer. “Margaret, don’t do this to yourself.”

But Margaret shook her head violently. “No! It is my fault! I thought I was protecting my son, but all I did was bring a monster into our lives!” Tears spilled down her cheeks as she clutched her arms tightly around herself. “And now… now my son is fighting for his life in surgery because of my mistakes!”

Emma swallowed hard, squeezing Margaret’s hand. “You didn’t know she would turn out like this.”

Margaret let out a bitter laugh through her tears. “I should have seen it. She was always dangerous, always unstable. But I ignored it because I thought she loved Jake. I thought she would help him, not destroy him.”

Alex ran a hand through his hair, frustration and anger clashing inside him. He hated seeing Margaret like this, but deep down, he understood her guilt.

Still, guilt wouldn’t fix anything. They had to stop Vanessa—before she could hurt anyone else.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “We’ll deal with Vanessa. I won’t let her get away with this. The best thing we can do now is stop her before she causes any more trouble for us.”

Margaret sniffled, looking up at him, her expression filled with pain. “Please, Alex. Don’t let her escape this time. Don’t let her come back to finish what she started.”

Alex met her gaze, his eyes cold and determined. “I won’t.”

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