The Beast's Queen

Chapter 23

I smiled to myself as I thought about the match later on. I had every piece on the board. And I was ready to play.
"I'm going to win." I muttered to myself as I made my way back to my locker room but before I walked in I heard Drakes voice booming from inside.
"No she's not back yet mom...Yeah I know I agreed to help you keep him away from her but she won't listen to me...I fucking know she can't find out about Dean...no I won't fucking tell her...I'm sorry...Dean may be blood but he isn't family...Yes I understand...Okay bye." He said as I heard him groan.
What? What's he talking about?
"What do you mean Dean may be blood?" I asked curiously as I raised an eyebrow and walked into the room.
"What?" Drake asked as he turned around quickly.
"Nicole how much of that did you hear?" He asked nervously.
"Enough." I said shortly.
"Care to explain?" I asked bluntly.
"I can't." He said.
"So Deans blood? There's no explanation for that statement." I said incredulously.
"Nicole sit down." Aubrey said as he sighed.
"No I'm fine standing."
"Dean is..." Drake said as he struggled to finish.
"Come on we don't have all day." I said with a roll of my eyes.
"Deans our brother." He said softly.
"What?" I said as I bursted out laughing but Aubreys face remained serious.
"You're serious?" I asked him confused.
"Dead serious."
I stood there in complete shock as I processed what he just told me. But how? Why?
"How?" I asked sternly.
"Mom had an affair when we were just babies. But she didn't want Hunter to know so she gave him up. Hunter was barley home so he never noticed."
"That's fucking ridiculous. This whole thing is." I said loudly.
"And you knew?" I asked sadly.
"Yes." He said.
"So you're telling me the man who just helped me just HOURS ago in that ring is actually my brother?!" I exclaimed.
"Nicole you have to understand." Drake said as he walked towards me.
"Don't!" I yelled as I stepped back. "You fucking knew! And you never told me! You let me believe all these years that it was just us. You knew he was our brother and you knew the hell he went through as a kid. He needed a family Aubrey! He needed someone to tell him that they cared. We are his blood. He's a fucking McMahon. We've never turned our backs on the ones we call our own! And now your going to stand there and tell me that you turned a blind eye to a man that's related to us?! He works with us every damn day in this building. Oh my god." I sighed as the tears flew down my face rapidly, "that's why we're so alike. Fuck!" I screamed.
"I should've fucking known. I've never met another person that was exactly like me. That thought exactly like me. That spoke exactly like me. That had the same craziness inside of them like me. He's always been like me. Even on the fucking independents we used the same fucking name!"
"And that's why you wanted me to stay away from him that night on Raw right? You didn't want me figuring it out." I said as I laughed sadly.
"You're right." He said softly.
"Jonathan Dean McMahon. Not Ambrose. MCMAHON." I yelled.
"All our lives it was supposed to be Nicole McMahon. Aubrey McMahon. Jonathon McMahon. Nicki, Drake, and Dean. But instead it was just us two. And our whole fucking family left him to rot by himself! AND YOU KNEW AUBREY. You say that mom is awful and she needs to be stopped but you're just like her." I said.
"Nicole don't say that! You don't understand!" He pleaded.
"I don't even know who you are anymore Aubrey." I cried as I walked out and slammed the door behind me.
"Woah woah woah what the fuck is wrong?" Brock asked as he jogged up to me.
"I don't have time for this right now." I cried.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"Stephanie's office." I said as I walked down the halls with a purpose.
"You can't just go in there guns blazing expecting a good outcome." He said as he stopped me.
"Dean Ambrose is my biological half brother." I said in a monotone voice.
"What?" Brock choked out.
"And everyone in this god damn place apparently knew except me so I'm gonna cause some hell." I said with a soft smile as he nodded and led me down to her office.
I marched down angrily as I slammed open the door.
"You fucking bitch!" I screamed as I walked in and then I realized everyone was here.
"Oh good Uncle Shane, Grandpa, and Hunter are all here too. Glad the whole families here." I said as I yelled.
"Sure Nicole come in. Please make yourself at home. Oh me? No I'm not doing great thanks to the beat down your boyfriend gave me. Thanks for asking though. I hope your doing swell too." Hunter said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"Shut up." I said through gritted teeth as I turned to face my mother again.
"So were you ever gonna tell me that Dean Ambrose is my brother?" I yelled.
"Nicole you need to calm the fuck down." Stephanie yelled as my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"I need to calm down?!" I screamed as I paced back and forth.
"Do you realize you lied to me my whole life?!"
"You're being over dramatic." Vince said as he looked at me.
"Grandpa...no...please don't tell me you knew." I said.
"Of course I knew. Everyone did. Even Aubrey did." He said.
"So you all just decided to leave me out of the loop? That's fabulous. Real family loyalty." I said sarcastically.
"We know you Nicole. You would've told him." Uncle Shane said as he looked at me sympathetically.
"Aubrey just texted me. He's leaving the arena. Looks like you're down one team mate." Stephanie said with a smirk.
"The match is the least of my concerns right now." I said as I rolled my eyes.
"I'm telling Dean." I said sternly.
"No Nicole you're not." Hunter said.
"Fine then you tell Dean." I said with a raised eyebrow.
"Tell Dean what?" Dean asked as he walked through the door with Roman and Seth behind him.
All of a sudden the complaints and yelling stopped abruptly and all that was left was silence.
"Tell me what?" He said sternly.
"Nothing Ambrose. Good performance tonight I think you deserve tomorrow night off. Don't you all think so." Hunter said as he smiled.
His question was met with murmurs of agreement from every party standing there.
Except me.
I stood there shaking my head in disapproval at the scene unfolding before me.
"So that's what this family does now is it?" I said in disappointment.
"Nicole." Stephanie said sternly but was cut off by me.
"No!" I yelled. "His whole life has been a lie and everyone of you standing in this room knew about it." I said as I tried to calm down.
"Dean how old are you?" I asked him blankly.
"26 why?" He asked confused.
"26 FUCKING YEARS. This man never knew. For over two fucking decades. Isn't that crazy." I said as I laughed sadly.
"You all are disappointing. McMahons never turn their backs on their own. And you threw him away like some object that you needed to hide." I said in disgust.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Dean finally yelled.
"Well Mr. Ambrose." I said as I turned to him but immediately all the confidence I had vanished into thin air once I was finally face to face with telling him the truth.
"Spit it out now." He said sternly.
"You're my brother." I said softly.
You'd assume a revelation like that would be met with uncertainty or even anger, but instead Dean Ambrose laughed hysterically in my face.
"You're a funny one McMahon." He said as all three members of the shield looked on and laughed.
"Me a McMahon?" He said as he clutched his ribs as he continued to laugh.
"It's true!" I exclaimed.
"Listen if this is your attempt to mess with my head or whatever save it because this is not gonna work doll face." He said as he looked at me in amusement.
"You were born in Greenwich, Connecticut. At a hospital not far from the city." A female voice said and I turned around to see my mother
speaking softly, "You were adopted by a family not even 2 days after you had taken your first breath. They took you home and although you were too young to remember they had died on their way home from a date night. You were only 5 months old at the time and had been sleeping in your crib with a neighbor watching you. After CPS heard about you they moved you to a foster home in the middle of Cincinnati but they weren't capable of caring for a young infant so you bounced around from foster home to foster home until you were placed with your forever family that you grew up with." Stephanie said as she looked at Dean with sympathy.
"You should've been with me." She said as tears blurred her vision but hadn't yet fallen down her face.
"How...how do you know all of that?" He asked as his voice began to get shaky.
"I know because ever since I left you in that hospital I've kept tabs on you." She said with a sad shrug of her shoulders.
"It's the only thing I could do at the time to keep me from losing my mind about you." She said.
"Wrong." I said sternly but was met with a stern look from Brock and I immediately shut my mouth. Apparently it wasn't wise to intrude on this matter.
"You...you're..." Dean said as he struggled to finish his sentence.
"Your mother." She finished for him as a tear escaped her eye. I heard Roman and Seth gasp quietly behind him as all the pieces of the puzzle slowly came together.
Why Dean and I are so alike.

Why my mother insisted on the shield becoming her new protection when they were only rookies.

And why Dean had such a shitty life.
"No." He said in disbelief.
"Yes Dean." I said as I reassured him.
"Shut up McMahon." He said with a growl.
"So you all are telling me that I'm a McMahon?!" He exclaimed.
"That I'm the son of Stephanie McMahon and the grandson of Vince McMahon. That I'm apart of this huge family." He said as he began to shake of anger.
"Why?!" He yelled.
"Why didn't you keep me?!" He screamed.
"You aren't Hunters child." I said blankly. "That's why."
"But you aren't Hunters child either!" He said loudly.
"Dean you were conceived when Stephanie was married to Hunter. She cheated on him and ended up pregnant with you. Any DNA test would prove that you weren't his kid. She couldn't risk him finding out at the time." I said.
"You couldn't risk him finding out you cheated on him. So you gave me up?! Do you understand the shit life I had?! My mother was a prostitute that worked a corner and then she left me. My dad was the only thing keeping me sane but then he became an alcoholic and he used to beat me down to the floor if I didn't do something he asked. I WAS ALONE." He screamed as tears rolled down his face.
"And you fucking knew this whole time. I needed a family. And you were no where to be found." He yelled.
"I know." She said as tears streamed down her face.
"No you don't fucking know!" He said back.
"You know my parents really did suck. Scum of the earth. But at least they didn't leave me the moment I was born. At least they stayed around for a bit before deciding to give up on me. You gave up on me the moment you found out you were pregnant." He said as he pulled at his hair.
"Let me explain." Stephanie pleaded as she began to tremble uncontrollably.
"You can save your explanations or your half ass truths. I don't want to be apart of this family. So all of you can go screw yourselves. Have fun with your million dollar homes and fake family loyalty. I don't need that shit in my life. I've survived on my own for 26 years." He said as he walked out and slammed the door.
After Dean left Roman and Seth quickly followed and once they left Stephanie immediately fell into Hunters arms and started crying loudly.
And just when everyone thought the night couldn't get any worse one fatal call came that would change the landscape of the McMahon family forever.
"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone and placed it on my ear.
"Hello? Is this Ms. Nicole McMahon?" The female voice said.
"Yes. May I ask who is calling?" I asked curiously.
"I'm Kaitlyn from NYC Medical. I'm sorry to inform you Ms. McMahon but Aubrey McMahon was just brought in here and you were his emergency contact, unfortunately..."
"Unfortunately what?!" I asked loudly. "Why was Aubrey even there?!"
"Mr. McMahon was a driver in a car accident. It seems he was driving and someone hit him from behind. The driver is in police custody right now but unfortunately Mr. McMahon's injuries were so severe that he passed away in the ambulance on the way here." She said with a sad tone.
"No!" I screamed as I fell to my knees.
"I'm so sorry Ms. McMahon. You are welcome to come in tonight to see Mr. McMahon before we release his body or you can wait. Again my condolences for your loss." She said as she ended the call.
I dropped the phone and immediately I felt hands wrap around my waist pulling my up.
I recognized Brock's cologne as I hugged him tightly and cried into his shirt.
"What's wrong Nicole?" Shane asked as he looked around the room panicked.
"What happened?" Hunter asked.
"It's...it's Aubrey...he's dead."

I thought I knew everything in the world. I thought I knew how to win. How to succeed. How to be make money. How to become a history maker. I was prepared for anything life had to throw at me.
But even I can admit I wasn't prepared for that.
People would assume that beating the shit out of my mother in a wrestling ring would be the thing to "break" my family. No. The thing that officially broke my family was when my twin died. Because as much as everybody hated to admit it. Aubrey was the glue that held us all together. And now we're alone. And we've officially lost the game.

The game versus life.