The CEO's Favorite

Chapter Twenty four

Between Lucas and I, I don't know who is more nervous.

When I broke the news that we were going to visit his grandparents, he was beyond shocked. He had asked me about them at one point, of course, and I almost lied that they were dead, but I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't do that to them.

That had put me in a tight spot and I had to come up with a different lie instead. I'd told him that they lived on a different continent and we wouldn't be able to see them. He soon understood that we couldn't afford to fly to a completely different country and stopped asking to see them.

It made me feel bad, but I was also relieved. I was afraid that I'd call them and they'd say they weren't interested in being part of Lucas' life.

Lucas and I stand in front of the door of the home address my father had sent to me. It isn't the house I grew up in. It is much smaller but seems classier. My mother always had an eye for fancy things, so I'm not surprised.

"I thought you said they lived on a different continent." Lucas reminds me just as I raise my hand to ring the doorbell. I drop my arm. I was hoping he wouldn't remember the lie I told him when he was only five.

"They moved back." I lie again. "Are you not excited to see them?"

Lucas wipes his palm on his jeans. "I have unfinished homework."

I chuckle. I can feel the nervousness rolling off him, but he won't admit it.

I go to ring the bell again, but Lucas' words stop me again. "What if they don't like me?"

That has been my biggest fear forever, but my father has assured me that he wants to meet my son and I believe him. "They already love you, okay?"

He nods and I allow him to take a deep breath before I finally push the button. It's like they've been waiting behind the door as it doesn't take up to a minute before someone opens the door. It's my dad.

He looks exactly how I remember him, except for a few gray hairs infiltrating his natural brown hair. His eyes are still green, except they look more tired. And he still has the slightly protruding belly he promised to work off.

"Hey."

My voice is weak and unsure, and I don't know whether to put out my hand for a handshake or hug him. I don't know how to act with him. I don't know how to act around him.

He decides for me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. I hear a sniffle from him, but I can't be so sure. I've never seen my dad cry. He certainly wouldn't start now. "Just because we haven't talked for years doesn't mean I'm not your father anymore. I still love you, kid."

I laugh in between the sudden tears. Kid. He's so used to calling me everything but my name. His excuse is that my mom picked the name, Aria, and he didn't fancy it, but he couldn't say no to her. "I'm not so sure I'm a kid anymore, dad."

"That's right." He releases me and turns to Lucas, bending down with a grunt to meet his height. "What's your name, kiddo?" He asks, even if I doubt he'll use the boy's name on him.

Lucas glances at me first and a nod from me has him speaking. "Lucas."

As my father continues talking to Lucas, my mother appears at the door. I stare at her. She stares back. We both don't move as my dad takes Lucas inside. Lucas who was worried they wouldn't like him has already started blabbing about God knows what.

My mother hasn't aged in the past eight years and I'm not surprised. She even looks like she aged backward. She's almost fifty yet she looks younger than I am. It's quite insulting to me, but I'm sure you get the picture now.

"Are you going to hug me or are you going to wait for me to take the first step?"

I hold back a laugh. "I already took the first step when I called Dad. Don't you think you should take the second step?"

"And you couldn't call me instead, why?" She's offended, but I don't regret not calling her instead. The conversation would've gone differently and Lucas and I may not be here at the moment.

"Because of this." I gesture to the distance between both of us. She's hard-headed and always waits for the other person to crack first.

"Fair enough." She rolls her eyes. "We'll both move on three, okay? One—"

I don't wait for her to finish as I take a long step toward her and wrap my arms around her. For a moment, she's stiff under my arms, unmoving, then she releases a long deep breath and hugs me back. I close my eyes, savoring the moment.

I don't think I remember a time when we hugged, so the feeling is quite foreign and new. "I missed you, mom," I admit and she takes another sharp breath before repeating the same words to me.

When we pull away from each other, she ushers me in and proceeds to ask me about Lucas. The house has a striking resemblance to my childhood home, but there are a few touches that make them different.

Dinner went better than I expected and the whole conversation was focused on Lucas, who was happy to answer every single question that came his way. He even managed to bring up Ally somehow, finally confessing that he has a crush on the girl.

The dessert was even better. It was filled with everyone catching up on each other's lives and talking about the crazy things that have happened in our lines of work.

My mom had the most stories to tell, but my dad had a lot as well. I mainly listened to all they had to say. Dinner with them like this was surreal since we never did anything like this when we were younger.

Cutting them off was easier because they never gave me the attention I needed in the first place, so I didn't have much to miss. But that was in the past now. We were fine again. We were a family once again and this one seemed better than the excuse of a family we had in the past.

This time, they were genuinely interested in my life, to the point that my mom asked me if there was any man in my life. I answered negatively, but Lucas had an answer that opposed mine. He talked about how Gabriel came to our house a lot — which was an exaggeration — and about how nice he was. This time, they wanted to do it right.

I stopped the topic by announcing we had to get going because I had work tomorrow and Lucas had school, but I knew in the future, I'd have a lot of questions to answer concerning Gabriel.

That was when my father reminded me that I'd called him for a reason. Since I didn't want Lucas to know of the said reason, I kept him with my mom and took my dad into the living room.

When I told him exactly what happened with Patrick, he was furious. He couldn't believe his client could be that vile. He promised to have a chat with him, but also assured me that I could keep working at DH Tech because he was going to handle Patrick and if anything were to happen to us, he'd hold him responsible.

I was happy to hear that because I don't plan to quit. Now, that some things were taken care of, I only had to worry about Gabriel and what the fuck was wrong with him.