Chapter 55 - Making Up

"Everything's gonna be alright." Mason reassured her as he took a hold of her hand that was resting on her thigh, while keeping his other hand on the wheel. They decided to cancel their movie date for the meantime and planned to go to the Montenegro's residence before Kelsey change her mind and chicken out.

Kelsey shot him a forced smile and released a long breath to calm herself down. They drove to the Montenegro's in peace and quiet. Kelsey felt her heart pounding against her chest as the car entered the silver gates of the residential.

Mason pulled over and parked the car in front of the door of the house. They both got out and strolled towards the massive two-door wooden doors hand-in-hand. Mason looked at Kelsey and shot her a look that asked whether she was ready or not. She reluctantly nodded her head and sighed. Mason pressed the doorbell and a maid quickly opened the door for them. "Good evening Mr. King." She greeted them warmly.

"Is Sir Lucas home yet?" He asked her.

"No sir. Mr. Montenegro is not back yet. He will most likely go home late like usual." She informed them. Mason and Kelsey stared at each other for a second before returning their attention back on the maid.

"Did he mention where exactly he is going?" He questioned. The maid shook her head in response and apologized for not knowing. Mason nodded his head in understanding and thanked her anyway. With a heavy heart, Kelsey walked back to the car and was ready to get in when a driver came to Mason's view.

"Mr. Lim!" He called out to him, catching the old man's attention. He had been Lucas' driver for a long time. He was even considered a friend and one of Lucas' most trustworthy men. The man smiled and sauntered towards him.

"Mason, what can I help you with?" He asked the young man.

"I'm looking for Sir Lucas but the maid told me that he's not home yet. Do you have any idea where he might be at?" He hopefully asked him.

"He didn't really say where he's going." Mr. Lim replied and disappointment quickly sank in Mason's heart. "But, he's been going to the hospital a lot lately." He informed them, causing both Mason and Kelsey to stare at each other in worry.

"Is he okay? Did something happen to him? Is Sir Lucas sick?" Mason bombarded him with questions. Mr. Lim quickly shook his head and furiously gestured his hand in a crossed form.

"No, no, no. Nothing's wrong with Lucas. He is completely fine, I can assure you that." Mr. Lim explained.

"Then why would he be in the hospital?" Kelsey sounded her voice out.

The old man glanced at her and answered. "I'm also not quite sure. But he's been visiting someone in the Children's hospital lately. In fact, he's there every single day."

Kelsey's mind boggled in realization. But was it possible that her father knew about Kyle? Did he already know? She was so confused and all she could hear was the loud pounding of her heart against her chest.

Mason asked Mr. Lim which hospital it was and thanked him right after. He gently held Kelsey by the elbow, earning her attention. "Let's go?" Kelsey nodded and quickly got in the car with Mason in towed. He pulled the car out of the driveway and made their way to the hospital.

~ * ~ * ~

Kelsey halted by the door as laughters filled her ears both in delight and misery. Her mother's laugh was what really triggered her heart. It was not just a laugh, it was a heartfelt one, one that was sincere and full of happiness. It had been a long time since she had last heard her mother laugh so carelessly. Kelsey felt her eyes brimming in tears.

Mason squeezed her hand and stared right into her eyes. "You can do this." He encouraged her.

Kelsey held her tears back and nodded in determination. It was now or never. Mason kissed the back of her palm in affirmation, as if telling her that he would be there to support her all the way. Kelsey took a deep breath and faced the man she had been trying to avoid for the last decade. She hesitantly knocked on the ajar door and Hilda was the first one to see her daughter.

Hilda's smile quickly faded as her heart hammered in her chest in anxiousness and fear due to the fact that her daughter might end up hating her for lying to her and not telling her that she had been seeing her father. "Kelsey?" She whispered, and Lucas' heart stopped beating for a second.

Lucas stared at his daughter standing by the door. All he wanted to do at that moment was to grab her and pull her into a tight hug. His baby girl wasn't so baby anymore. He wanted to cry all of a sudden from a surge of emotion rushing in his system.

"Kelsey!" Kyle excitedly yelped and gestured her to come in, unaware of the thick tension in the room. She obliged with Mason in tow and hugged her little brother. "I miss you so much." He told her. Mason stood next to Lucas and gave him a half-hug in greeting.

She pulled away from the embrace and beamed at him. "I miss you too." She said, trying to refrain herself from breaking down in front of her little brother. It still hurt her to see her little brother suffer so much. If only she could do something to take his pain and sickness away.

"Honey..." Hilda uttered from behind and Kelsey twirled around and saw her mother again after more than a month of being away from her.

"Mom." She whispered and quickly pulled her mother into a tight embrace. "I miss you, mom." She told her as a tear failed her and rolled down her cheek.

Hilda kissed the side of her head and held her daughter tightly. "I miss you too, sweetheart." They pulled away from each other after and Hilda wiped the tears away from her daughter's face. They beamed at each other and Kelsey turned around to face her father.

Lucas swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as he watched his daughter staring at him with an unreadable expression. "This is Mr. Lucas Montenegro, Kelsey. He's a friend of mom and he's really nice." Kyle blurted out. Kelsey smiled at her little brother and returned her attention back to her father.

"Can we talk?" Kelsey asked him and Lucas' breath got hitched in his throat. He promptly nodded his head in agreement and followed after her as she exited the room. Hilda shot him a worried look, but he only smiled at her in reassurance.

Kelsey sat on one of the benches near the reception area. It was empty since it was already night time and it wasn't quite busy. Lucas followed suit and sat on the bench across from her in anxiousness. They were both silent for a few minutes, letting the tension gradually dissipate between them.

"When did you find out?" Kelsey finally asked, breaking the deafening silence.

"Just recently." He honestly told her, being cautious of every single word he uttered. The last thing he wanted was to blow the chance he had to fix his relationship with his daughter again. He watched her every move and he could tell how difficult it was for her to face him. She was avoiding any eye contact with him and she was fiddling with the pendant of her necklace. His eyes zoomed in on the necklace for a moment and realized that it was the necklace he got her for her seventh birthday. It was a heart pendent with rhinestones on the half portion of the heart. He was surprised that she still wore it all throughout these years.

"Why exactly are you here, Mr. Montenegro?" She asked him after a few seconds that had passed. Lucas grimaced at her formality.

"I'm here to visit my son." He simply answered.

Kelsey looked up from the intriguing floor and gazed at her father with scrutinizing eyes. "I meant what are you doing here? Why did you come back?" She sharply said, trying her best to keep herself composed and collected.

Lucas' heart sank in his chest as he knew what was about to come up. He was soon to experience the wrath of his daughter. He knew he was unscrewing all the bottled up anger and hatred she had kept all these years. He couldn't blame her though, he was the only one to be blamed for making his own daughter store such feelings towards him.

"I came back to find you, my family." He carefully told her. She scoffed in response and shot him a dirty look. She could feel her chest rising and falling heavily as she tried to contain her temper from blowing up.

"And you thought you could come back just like that? Did you honestly think you could just crawl back into our lives and we'll accept you with open arms as if nothing had happen?" She summoned him.

"No I-"

"Of course not!" She spat, cutting him off. "Do you have any idea what you've put us through? You left mom without a single knowledge that she was pregnant. You didn't even care what I would feel. You didn't care about anyone but yourself. You became selfish because of your ambition." She accused of him. Lucas felt tear after tear travelled down his cheeks as he listened to his daughter's resentment towards him.

"You traded your own family for money. You turned your back on us." She continued on in disgust. "So you have no right to come back here." Kelsey barked as a tear escaped her eyes. She quickly wiped it away but it didn't go unnoticed by Lucas. He knew she was in pain, and he wanted her to keep going. He wanted her to get mad at him and let everything out of her system. He was sure that it would make her feel better afterwards once she had said everything she has ever wanted to tell him.

Lucas remained quiet, which irritated Kelsey more. She wanted him to tell her the reason why he had left. She wanted him to explain his point of view. She was ready to listen but it seemed that he wasn't going to talk anytime soon. "I just really don't understand why you had to go." She said when she was certain that he was not gonna speak. "Why did you leave? Why did you decide to just get up and go? Did mom and I not matter to you? Were we not important in your life?" She questioned him and Lucas couldn't keep himself silent any longer as a husky 'no' escaped his lips.

Lucas shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "You and your mom are my life. You're the only reason why I live." He sincerely told her.

"Then why did you go?" She retorted.

"Because..." He trailed off.

"Because what?!" She frustratedly demanded.

"Because I had to protect you. I had to protect you and your mother." He said as Kelsey grew curious and confused.

"Protect us from what?" She asked him but he didn't respond. "Protect us from what?!" She repeated with gritted teeth.

"From my father. I had to protect you from my father." He announced as she shot him a bewildered look. Could her own grandfather be a threat to her and her mother? Would he have hurt her knowing that his blood was also running down her veins?

"Why? What was he planning to do?" She continued on. Lucas stared at her with begging eyes, pleading her to stop asking questions. But Kelsey was determined to know the truth. She needed to know why her father left in the first place. It was the only way to let him back in in their lives. "Tell me!" She ordered.

"He was going to take you and send you away to god knows where. And knowing how devastated your mother would be, I had no choice but to leave so he would also leave you and your mother alone. I couldn't sit there and not do anything, Kelsey. I had to protect you and your mother from any harm and if it meant I had to go and be away from you, I will take it any day as long as you're safe." He explained.

"Why would he do that to his own grandchild?" Kelsey asked in incredulity. "How could he do such a thing?"

"Because of greed, Kelsey. My father wanted nothing but power and money. He had an arranged marriage with your grandmother and the only reason why he married her was for a bigger corporation with the merging of companies. The only reason why he accepted me when I was still in my mother's womb was because he knew I was a boy. And my father knew he needed an heir, someone who will inherit everything he has and someone whom he can sell for marriage to earn more money. Everything was about money for my father. That was why he hated the fact that I rebelled against him and married your mother because of love. I never have regretted my decision of marrying your mom and having you and Kyle. But I want you to understand that I did what I had to do to protect you."

"But why now? It's been a decade already. Why are you only coming back now?" She asked him.

"Your grandfather passed away two years ago. And right after the funeral, you have no idea how much I wanted to fly back here and find you. But Chloe got ill with asthma and we were coming back and forth in the hospital. Right now is the only opportunity I've ever gotten to finally return and see how you are all doing. To come back to my family."

Kelsey stared at her father in astonishment. Even when he was already free to come back to his family, he still thought of the little girl who wasn't even his real daughter. It melted Kelsey's heart how big her father's heart really was.

Kelsey didn't know what came up within her, but she found her body moving against her will. Before she knew it, she was sitting beside her father, wrapped up around his warm arms with her head resting on his chest. They cried and held each other tightly, full of love, regret, and sorrow in their hearts.

"I'm sorry, dad." She muttered as Lucas let a smile climbed its way up on his lips in bliss. He placed a lingering kiss on the top of her head and held her tightly in his arms.

"I love you, Kelsey. You will always be my little princess."

"I love you too, dad." She had managed to choke out as she bawled in tears, missing her father's hugs and kisses. She wished that day would never end.