"I don't know, to be honest. I don't know what I'd do if I was in your shoes," she said.

"I see..." I said. "Well, you know Sabrina, in my opinion, I agree with my Dad. No, don't get me wrong, I don't hate my Mom, but I believe that she didn't do the right thing in this situation"

"Well, not gonna lie, if I were your Dad, I'd do exactly what he did"

We then talked for hours. I felt a little better talking to her. After we said bye to each other and hung up, I put my phone next to me and left my room to go to my father's room. I knocked on the door.

"Come in"

I entered inside and found him lying down on his bed.

"Hi Dad"

"Hey..." he spoke, in a tired and angry voice.

"Are you ok?" I asked, checking up on him.

"Yeah...not really, I'm still pissed after what happened," he responded, still in his bad mood.

I came near him and laid down on the bed next to him to make him feel comforted and to try to take that anger out of him. He didn't do anything for a moment, then he immediately hugged me with his strong arms. I hugged him back, but with one arm only, since my other arm still had his cast on it.

"I love you...my baby..." he mumbled.

"Me too, Dad"

We stayed like this for a little longer, then he let go of me. After a few minutes, he got up from his bed and said

"Alright, let's go. It's time to eat dinner"

"What will we eat?" I asked, getting up from the detective's bed.

"I have some leftover vegetable soup in the fridge, we'll eat that"

"Ok then"

We both then left the room and went into the kitchen. My Dad opened the door of the fridge and pulled out a huge pot from it. I'm assuming that it's the pot that contains the food that we'll eat.  He then put it on a table. The police then opened the pantry cabinet next to him and pulled out a bowl. He then opened a drawer that was under the pantry cabinet and pulled out a ladle. Soon after that, he took some soup from the pot with the huge spoon that he took from the drawer and poured it into the bowl. The man who gave birth to me then walked up to the microwave, put the bowl inside, and turned it on. In less time, he took the bowl out, grabbed a regular spoon, and put it in the bowl. He then walked to the dining room and put the bowl on the table.

I was about to go get a bowl myself until he stopped me and said

"Your bowl is already on the table, I put it for you"

"Thank you for filling up my bowl for me, but I could do it myself," I said to him.

"Well, your arm is broken," the guy responded, getting a bowl for himself.

I didn't do anything. I just sighed and sat down on my chair. My Dad did the same thing again and then, he sat at the table with me and started eating. I was eating with my left hand as my other arm was broken. But honestly, it was uncomfortable to eat with my left hand as I'm right-handed. As I watched my Dad eating, I noticed that he still had a negative feeling inside him. After he finished eating and got up to wash his empty bowl, I spoke

"Dad, please, calm down, I'm ok now. You don't have to be mad all of the time"

"No, you're not ok. Your arm literally broke. Plus, Chris is in a coma and god knows how long he'll stay like this"

"Well, he won't stay for long, at least that's what the nurse said, and I'll get this cast off my arm in a month," I responded.

"The nurse said that they're not sure, meaning that he could stay long. You and your brother could have died because of her. I don't trust her with you or your siblings anymore. I won't let her lay a finger on you guys"

Without even thinking, I already knew who he meant by 'her'. He then walked up to me and hugged me.

"Do you understand? Do you understand how dangerous that is? Do you understand that you and your brother could have been gone? Can you imagine my reaction after hearing the phrase 'Your children are at the hospital' on the phone while I was working? Do you understand how angry and inane I was while arguing with your Mom? Surely you'd understand that"

I felt like I wanted to cry. To be honest, he was not wrong, he had the right to be worried. I'd most likely have the same reaction as my Dad if something happened to my parents and one of my siblings was responsible. I hugged him back. We stayed like this for a long time, then he let go.

"I love you, Vicky, and I'll always will"

"I know Dad, and I'll always love you too"

He smiled. It's a good sign. Every time my Dad is in a bad mood, he never smiles. He instead yells a lot and acts seriously. But he smiled, meaning that that nasty sentiment finally left him. He kissed my forehead, got up, and said

"I'll go train in the basement. Call me if you need anything, ok?"

"Ok," I responded.

Just to let you know, my father has his own gym in the basement. The man who gave birth to me trains a lot, it's almost like it's his routine. No wonder why he has good muscles. He trains most of the time, especially when he's in a good mood, like he is right now. Before he left to go into the room that is beneath the ground level, I suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, Dad"

"Yes?" he said, looking at me.

"About Josh, what are we going to do about it?" I asked.

"I'll take care of it. I'll try to find out myself," he responded "Just act like you don't know anything for now, ok?"

"Yes Dad," I said.

"Good, and stay Mike out of this too"

"Ok," I told him.

The man who gave birth to me winked at me, knowing that I understand, and went into his room. To be honest, I don't want to forget about it or stay out of this. I want to know what my stepdad is really hiding.

19th April, 5 PM, Monday

I was lying down on the couch when I suddenly heard the doorbell. I got up and opened the door. Who I saw in front of me was Henry, one of my Dad's co-workers. Henry is a very handsome young man to the point that even ladies flirt with him. He's also a smart man and I was told that he solved so many difficult cases. Not only was he my father's co-worker, but he was also my father's best friend, especially after he almost died saving Dave from a gunshot. He's actually really friendly. I highly admire and respect this man. I've known him ever since I was a little kid and he was nice to me. My siblings also like him.

"Hello Vicky," he said.

"Hey, Henry. How are you doing?" I responded, happy to see him.

"I'm great, thanks for asking"

Once he looked at my right arm, he said

"I'm sorry about the incident. Your father told me about it, at least after he picked you up from the hospital"

"Thanks"

I noticed that he was holding some sort of document on his arm. Full of curiosity, I asked him

"What are those documents?"

"Oh, these? They're the documents where it's written all of the information about a case we're working on"

"Oh I see," I said

"By the way, is your Dad here?" he asked "I want to talk to him"

As soon as he explained what the documents were for, I immediately understood the reason he was there, even before he asked me that question.

"Yeah, I'll call him," I answered.

"Dad!"

"Yeah?"

"Henry is here, he wants to talk to you," I said to him.

"One sec, I'm coming"

My father came back from the basement. Of course, he was really sweaty. Once he saw Henry, he said to him

"Hey friend"

"Hey pal, how's it going?"

"I'm fine," the man who gave birth to me answered.

When my father saw the papers that his friend was holding, he also seemed to understand what he needed. He then looked at me and said

"Vicky, can you leave the two of us alone?"

"Yeah sure"

I then left the two of them alone. But still, I was curious, so I decided to listen to them.

The case that they were talking about was the one my father told me about, the one about the girl being kidnapped. Henry said that he had found a hint about the case. The hint was a report from a doctor about someone, explaining that one of the suspects isn't the kidnapper, which is Ophelia, the woman who was near her during the kidnapping. The report showed that she was not an accomplice since she was partially deaf, so she couldn't have necessarily heard the scream of the victim.

To be continued.