After the Romeo was escorted out, Eva had to confront her fiance about it. "I can't believe you. How could you do this?" she questioned him. "How could you prevent him from seeing Odette?"

"I'm just protecting our daughter, Eva," Leon defended. "Is that so wrong?"

"You are not protecting her from Gage. He wasn't the one who shot her, so don't give me that bullshit."

"I don't care. I don't trust him."

"You don't trust him, or you don't like him?" Eva questioned him.

"What's that suppose to him?" Leon responded.

"You tell me. You didn't even consult me that you had to get a security guard just to keep Gage from seeing our daughter."

"Because I knew you'd say no," the man argued.

"Oh. my God. You are being unreasonable."

"Call it what you want, but I am not letting him near Odette. We almost lost her."

"I understand. However, you need to understand that Gage is not Adrian! And Adrian is not Gage. They may be father and son, not the same person. They are two different people."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Then why do this?" Eva interrogated him. "Gage is a good kid. He's not going to do anything to put Odette in danger. Furthermore, he knows the truth about his father."

"Does he know the whole truth?" the CEO blurted.

"There it is. The truth came out. You are just doing this out of spite. This is not just about Adrian's attempt to kill her. This is about Gage being the son of two people who betrayed you. You still can't see past that, can you?"

"It doesn't matter now." After that, Leon turned his back on his fiance since her words hit a nerve. "And, my decision is final. That boy is not allowed to see Odette."

"Not the right one." Then Eva left him in the corridor.

----

Gage was escorted out. It was humiliating, considering he had to be dragged out to the lobby in front of so many people in the hospital. "I'm here. Now, can you just leave me alone?" he grunted, then aggressively pulled himself away from the security guard as he just let the young man go and walked away to get back to his post.

Eva went after him and tried to hurry since she was wearing stilettos. "Gage!" she called out. Eventually, she caught up to him.

"Ms. Hermosa?"

The older woman looked at him with concern. "Are you alright? Did the guard hurt you?"

"I'm banned from seeing Oddey, and her father had to request a bouncer to make sure that's happening. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty pissed." The poor guy even noticed that people had their eyes on him. However, when he caught any of them glancing at him, they just looked away.

"I'm sorry. Listen, Gage, just go home." Eva took out a business card from her purse and gave it to him. "Here, just message me, and I can tell you how she's doing."

"I don't want this! I want to see her!"

"Well, you can't. So if I were you, just take what you can get."

The Romeo let out a heavy sigh as he held the card in his hand. "If you want to help me, then find a way to help me see her."

"Don't you see that it's not that simple, especially when it's your father's fault that Odette is fighting to stay alive in the ICU?" The woman replied. "Trust me, I don't like this anymore than you do."

"I get it. You're right. This is all my Dad's fault while I had to be caught in crossfire." The young man held her arm and looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please, I need to see her. Had I known something, maybe this wouldn't have happened to her."

Eva sympathized with the poor guy and saw that he was not like his father. "If you really want to see Oddey, then you should listen to me," she told him in a firm tone. "Be patient."

Gage became doubtful about helping his hand since she was the fiance of Juliet's father. "I don't understand, Why are you helping me? I mean, I am the son of the man who... you know."

"Sweetie, just because I am engaged to Odette's father, that doesn't mean I have to agree with every decision he made. However, I understand what he's feeling. Anyway, I know you're a great guy. I know you won't do anything to hurt Odette, right?"

"No, of course not. I still..."

"Love her?"

"Yeah," the Romeo confirmed.

"I can see that, and I know that Odette would be happy that you're there for her," Eva replied. "For now, you just have to listen to me, and I promise you that I will make way for you to see her. Can you do that for me, or at least for Odette?"

The young man thought about it briefly, then nodded to her. "Alright."

"Thank you. Now, go home before Leon sees you again."

"Okay, and thank you too," Gage said to her with a smile on his face.

"It's going to be okay," the woman reassured him. "Now, go before he sees you."

Later, the frustrated Romeo arrived at his house with a couple of officers securing the area for his and his mother's protection. It was not a good day for him after what had happened. Afterward, he got out of the car and greeted one of the cops before going inside.

When he entered the house, Marie emerged from the kitchen to see who was coming through the door. To her delight, it was her son, so she went up to him for a hug, "Honey," she greeted.

"Hey, Mom," Gage said back to her as he put his bag on the side.

"I know you were just in school, but I still got worried if your father went to see you or something."

"No, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." The mother noticed as she glanced at her child's face and heard his tone. "What's wrong? Did something happen? Oh! right, you stopped by to the hospital to see Odette, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," the guy sighed, then dropped himself on the couch.

"So, how is she?"

"I don't know, I couldn't get in!" Gage snapped.

Marie was wide-eyed, "What do you mean you couldn't get in?" she asked. "What happened?"

"Mr. Magnum asked for security to not let me inside to see Oddey. I got mad, and we argued, then had me dragged away to the lobby."

"Son of a bitch. Where is he? Is he still in the hospital? I'm going to talk to him. He has no right to that to you." The mother bear became a bull in an instant, then took her purse and was about to storm out through the door.

"Mom, don't!" Gage exasperated.

"I'm going to give that man a piece of my mind. No one kicks my son out."

"Mom, wait. Let's just leave it. I don't like it, but there's not much you can do too anyway."

"He's a parent, I'm a parent. Gage, let me do this for you," Marie insisted. "I'm not going to make a scene. I'll just reason with him."

"No need, Ms. Hermosa will try to do something about it," the son said. "It just sucks that's all."

"Ms. Hermosa? Leon's fiance?"

Gage nodded. "Yeah, her."

However, the mother was not thrilled to hear that his ex's soon-to-be wife was going to lend a hand to her son. "She's going to help you?"

"Yup, she gave me her card and all, so I can text her anytime."

"That's good, I suppose."

Then the poor guy frowned. "Still, I wish it didn't have to be like this," he sighed, then began tearing up.

That made Marie pity him and sat next to him. "I know, Honey."

"Why is this happening? I feel like I don't know what kind of world I'm living in. First, Oddey lied to me about herself, and I kinda get why. Now, my Dad is a madman who likes to ruin other people's lives just to get what he want."

"Honey, we are all victims of your father's evil ways, and because of that, we're affected too. Including Hal and Odette. As for you and Odette, you two are born into this mess. But that doesn't mean that after all this, you two can't be together again."

"I hope so, but then there's Mr. Magnum. He seems so adamant to keep me away from Oddey," Gage sulked.

"I think it's also because of me and what I did is why he doesn't want you to be with Odette. It's my fault, but I was hoping that he didn't have to take it out on you," Marie added. "I'm sorry."

"Mom, I will always love you despite what you did in the past. Besides, unlike Dad, at least you realize your mistake.

"Even if that mistake affected how Hal sees you."

"I don't care what he thinks about me," Gage said. "All I care about is Oddey."

"Honey, he'll come around. It's just now, his daughter nearly died, so all you can do now is wait for Ms. Hermosa text you so you can be near her again," Marie advised.

"Okay, mom."

"Don't be upset. Everything will work out now. Why don't you go up and wash up before dinner."

Gage stood up and hugged his mother. "Thanks, mom."

Once the young man went up the stairs, Marie couldn't help, but feel dismayed by what her son had to go through from what she and her husband did in the past.

----

Meanwhile, Adrian was in hiding in a cabin outside the city since he was wanted after what he did to Oddey. After a heated phone call from his wife, who had shunned him, he was out for blood once again. Even from the looks of it, Gage was disgusted by him as well.

"This is all your fault, Hal," the evil man grunted. "Because of you, everything I worked for is gone. My career and my family. I have nothing to lose anymore, and I won't let you win. I will get you and your daughter. Just you wait."

He took a small knife from the dusty kitchen and then stabbed a portrait of Leon. Afterward, he laughed in a sinister way.