Chapter 156: Theo's gift

"May I meet my family now?" Oliver asked his next question, to render Ian speechless once again and this time Oliver did not have to wait for him to confirm. He understood the situation immediately. "My family doesn't know that I am here, isn't it?"

Ian nodded, unable to say anything. He wished that Noah or the chatter-box Joshua was here with him to ease the situation. Even Noah's guard Ronnie would have been fine. At least he would not be handling Oliver's questioning gazes alone. 

"Why?"

Ian took a deep breath. Now that Oliver was about to find out everything, it would not take much harm to tell him himself. Someday or the other he would find out all that had happened, so why not today?

"Mr. West, since the day we took you with us, those people who were after you had been keeping an eye on your family. They even attempted to get to them. But your daughters had filed a missing case at the police station. Those people knew that you have proofs against them and if something happened to your family, the police may find out that it was they who were behind it. It was not clear where you had hidden the proofs. I think they did not want to take a risk in case there was something against them in your house."

Oliver got worked up all of a sudden. His family was being targeted and he was not there to protect them. He immediately scrambled to get close to Ian and held his hand. "Please tell me that my daughters and my wife is fine and nothing has happened to them. Please."

"Don't worry Mr. West, your daughters are fine." Oliver heaved a sigh of relief. He did not notice that Ian had only mentioned his daughters and not his wife. 

"Did they do anything to my daughters?"

"No. If my assumptions are correct, they only kept an eye on them. They did not dare to do anything to them."

"How do you know about this?"

"Noah had asked his men to make sure they were safe. So, we have an idea of what might have happened."

"Thank god. My family is safe. Thank you so much for taking care of them. I don't think I would have wanted to live if something were to happen to them." Oliver looked at him with gratitude, his eyes tearing up a little. "I will be indebted to you for life."

"Mr. West, it's fine. You might not be knowing this. Aria and I know each other since high school. She is also my colleague. It was only recently I found out that she was your daughter."

"What? You know Aria. How is she? My little girl must be doing good. She must have become a good doctor like she always wanted to. Am I right?" Oliver asked him excitedly just like a child.

"Yes, Mr. West. Your daughter has turned out to be a fine woman and an incredible doctor."

"Have you met my other daughter, Ivy?"

"No. Joshua has met her and even without meeting her I can say that she is an awesome journalist."

"Yes, yes. My daughters are outstanding." Tears fell off Oliver's eyes. He couldn't control his happiness on hearing about his daughters. He missed them dearly. All he wanted to do was to meet his family and hug them until he was satisfied.

"Sir, we want to tell them about you. But we fear that the people who are after you are still in the belief that you are alive. So, we did not want to put your daughter's life in danger."

"What do you mean? Are they still keeping an eye on my family?" Oliver was stupefied with the news. His heart which had finally returned to normal started to get agitated again.

"No Sir. But the case you have been working on, before the mishap happened has resurfaced once again. So, the mastermind behind it is still lurking around somewhere in the country and we do not want them to know about you, at least for now. And don't worry, nothing will happen to your daughters. Noah has taken up the responsibility personally to keep your daughters safe." Ian assured him and mumbled to himself, "He has to make sure that they are safe. It's his woman and her family in question. He wouldn't want anything to happen to his in-laws."

Oliver gave him a weird look. He had heard Ian mutter something under his breath, but he had not heard it clearly. "Did you say something?"

"No. Nothing."

The room became silent, both men having their own thoughts. While Oliver was happy that his family was doing fine, Ian was envisaging what would happen when he found out about his wife, Susan. He also wanted to reveal that Aria was in a relationship with Noah. Since it was not his matter in the first place, he chose to remain silent. It was up to Noah or Aria to inform about it.

After a long stretch of silence, Ian opened his mouth. "Sir, do you have anything else to ask?"

"I have this one question in mind. Did none of the doctors who were involved in the scandal get caught? I had collected a lot of evidence."

"Sir, other than the Royal Hospital, all other hospitals have been forced to shut down and their license has been canceled. But I am not sure about the doctors involved in this. I believe not all of them were caught."

"At least the hospitals were closed. And what happened to Royal Hospital?"

"Sir, that is my hospital right now. After the incident came to light, I bought it. I didn't want to close it as it was my mentor's gift to me."

"What? It was Theo's hospital?" Oliver asked perplexed.

"No Sir. When I was young, I had told my mentor about my aim to be a doctor. So, he had bought some shares of the Royal Hospital secretly and had gifted it to me when I successfully became a doctor six years back. So, when I heard that the hospital was about to be closed, I bought it with my friend's help and renovated it completely." Ian said, reminiscing the day when his mentor had given him the shares document. He had been overjoyed that day. But when he had found out that it was going to be shut down, he had done all he could to stop it. 

"Your parents must be very proud of you," Oliver said with pride after hearing Ian's words only to get silence in return. Ian did not reveal anything about him and his family. He was yet to come in terms with his family. Ian noticed that Oliver was exhausted. The long talk had tired him out. Not wanting to take any more of his time, he stood up.

"Mr. West, I'll send your breakfast. Please don't forget to take the medicines after eating."

Oliver nodded with a smile on his face. Ian gave him a small glance and walked out of the room. He was relieved that the man had taken the news quite well, better than he had expected.