Child of a King

Chapter thirty-two - Father's Day

(A/N): Sorry for the long wait and thank you for your patience! I made this chapter longer than normal to pay up for it. Hope you enjoy it. X

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Biting my lip to stay as quiet as possible, I slipped out from underneath the covers, dad's light snoring echoing through his bedroom. After yesterday's horrible events at the juvenile center, I felt a strong need to stay close to dad and insisted that I sleep with him throughout the night. Not that I need to insist much. He had made it clear on more than one occasion that I was always welcomed to bunk with him.

Tiptoeing as quietly as I could, I sneaked out of dad's room, hoping my footsteps would remain dead silent. Otherwise, he would most likely wake up and that wouldn't be good.

It was early. Way too early on a Sunday if you asked any common person on this earth, but a daughter gotta do what a daughter gotta do.

Arriving downstairs like a ninja, I beamed at our cook who had prepared everything that we had agreed upon yesterday. Taking in the sight, my eyes lit up. The wooden tray had everything a dad would need. Today's newspaper, a delicious breakfast and of course a pot of coffee entirely for him.

"It looks amazing Barbara!" I gushed, inhaling the scent of crispy bacon.

"Thank you, Miss Estella". The elderly woman smiled down at me as she added the final touches to the tray. "Do you need help carrying it?"

Hearing the small squeak from one of the steps on the staircase, I shook my head in decline. "I've got it covered but thank you so much for getting up early on a Sunday".

"My pleasure sweet child. Mr. Micheal is such a generous man. I don't mind returning the favor with a bit of extra work", she winked.

"Good morning, angel". Nate yawned as he approached me, leaning down to kiss the top of my head. "All ready?" He asked, smiling tiredly.

"Yup!" I grinned, anticipation bobbling in my stomach when my brother picked up the tray heading back upstairs, me following behind.

"What about the others?" I whispered as we neared the bedroom corridor.

"Don't worry. Slade is on it", he replied in a hushed voice, balancing the tray as we paused outside our other brothers' bedrooms.

Soon enough, Slade stepped back out into the corridor, a tired and endless yawning Ray in tow behind him.

"Morning early bird", Nate snickered quietly.

"Oh, shut up", he growled, running his fingers through his disheveled hair.

I stiffened a small laugh of my own. Everyone knows Ray is not a morning person. I still appreciated that he had agreed to get up early to do this with the rest of us.

"Are we ready? Dad normally wakes up around this time, so we have to hurry", Embry said in a low tone, holding some of the gifts we got for dad.

"We still need Marc".

"Then hurry and get him", Embry rushed.

"He's not in his room", Slade whispered back, shrugging his shoulders.

My good mood faltered. Marc had said he wanted to be part of surprising dad too and it made me ecstatic. For once I had managed to gather all my brothers to do something. Well, except Sebastian who still only replied with a regular thumbs up to let us know he's alive somewhere. Marc missing made me tremendously sad. It didn't feel right to do it without him.

"Should we wait?" Nate mumbled, straining his neck to glance at his watch, knowing as well as the rest of us that time was ticking.

Quick footsteps sounded from the staircase, Marc ascending the steps in a hurried stride.