Chapter 3

Henry Michealson's Pov

I was vaguely aware of my surroundings. It's cold and there was machines beeping around me, I'm completely numb now and I don't feel any pain. Am I Dead?

"Shawn you're my father's most trusted assistant surely you would know about his will. I want you to announce about how he decides to split the money to all of us by today."

That voice. It was Blake. Why is he asking for Shawn about my will? I begin to remember what happened, I was in the car and the driver lost control when he rammed into the curb and our car flipped over.

"Let the old man die in peace would you? There's no point in saving him now. Why would you want him to suffer even more if he is saved?"

I clenched my fist. How could he? Does he really want his father to die that badly?

"Blake his our father! Without him we wouldn't be here right now! Where's your compassion and love? His our fucking father!"

I noticed that voice immediately, it was James. At least one of them cares enough for me to save me.

"Blake's right James. We should probably let him go. He is an egotistical man. He wouldn't want to wake up weak. He would lose his mind."

That's Nicholas. Every single sound is becoming clearer and clearer to me. Doesn't this hospital have any good sound barrier system? How can I manage to hear them?

"James, I know Daddy would rather die than suffer. We all don't want him to suffer would we?"

Each word that I heard from my own kids stabs me harder in the heart. None of them except for James has the intention to save me at all. Me. Their father. They rather let me die and split up all my money than save me. What kind of kids are they? Have I raised them to be like this?

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?" An unfamiliar voice said. "Isn't that your father lying in there in danger and fighting with death right now? How could all of you cold-blooded creatures just stand here and allow him to die. Robbing him the chance of surviving. It's not your call to make. It's his. So fuck off and let the poor man sign the paper."

Who is this girl? Why did she have the interest to save me? Nevertheless I am eternally grateful for her to stand up to my monster of my children. At least there are still people with compassion out there in the world. But I am suddenly hit with the realization that monsters don't just happen, they are made by parents even more wicked than their offspring. Me.

"Dad Save Me!" I vaguely hear again. This time it was a young boy calling for help, Blake. What did I do to him? I refused to give the kidnappers the money to free him and even worst told them to kid my own son. I really am a monster.

At the door of death have I only realized about all of my mistakes that I made. It is too late now for me to do everything about it. I forced myself to open my eyes to be welcomed by the immense bright lights and closed them again, slowly drifting off to a land of blackness.

Please if you would give me one more chance. I swear that I would change and do everything I can to fix my broken family. Just one more chance...

One week later

"Sir you're awake!" I groaned at the various pains stabbing me through my body. I'm alive?

"Where am I?" I manage to croak out, my throat burning from the dryness. "I need water."

Shawn immediately jumped to his feet and poured a cup of water for me, placing a straw for me before he helped me to sit up straight. "You're in the hospital sir. You have been out for almost a week. It's a miracle that you woke up. Doctors predicted that you would be in a comatose state for quite awhile."

Right. The accident. I'm not dead. I'm alive. This is my chance for redemption. I can fix my family.

After a few sips of water I asked "Where are the kids?" Half of me knows very well that they are not going to bother whether if I lived or died, yet another part of me silently hope that at least they would care to come check up on me.

"Blake and Nicholas haven't been here since you were admitted in. Both of them left after it was announced that you are stable after the surgery and didn't return since. Maya did come and check up on you for a few times for a short while. As for James he's the only one that almost never left your side except when he is called for work. He would return immediately after and stay with you until the nurses asked him to leave."

At least one of my sons still cares for me and my daughter still somewhat cares. It's not too late to fix the mess I made. Blake and Nicholas on the other hand... I sighed. They are going to be very hard work. I wouldn't blame them for behaving this way because I know full well who the cause of this was. Me.

I am determined to fix my broken family and return it to the way it should be. No matter how long and what it takes. "When can I go home Doctor?" I asked.

"Everything looks fine for now but it would be safer if we could observe you for a few more days. I say you can go home in about 3 days if nothing goes wrong."

Once the doctor was done with me, the room returned to its quiet state with the exception of the beeping machines and my assistant fidgeting at the corner of the room. "Something you want to tell me Shawn?"

"Henry I have been your assistant and stayed by your side since Maya was 6 and now she is 21. I watch almost all of your kids grow up and turn into the fine kids they are now but there is something that I have to tell you." He paused hesitantly.

I raised one of my eyebrows in pure curiosity. "What do you want to tell me about?"

"I'm sorry to tell you this sir but when you were in the ER, the doctors asked one of your kids to sign the consent paper. Blake, Nicholas and Maya all chose to give up on you. James was the only want who agreed to sign it though I would say a bit hesitantly. I'm sorry Henry. You know that if I could sign the paper I would."

I scoffed. So I wasn't dreaming about their conversation then. It really did happen. I really did a family of devils who only cares about money and themselves. "Would you believe that if I said that I'm not surprised? Funnily enough when I was lying on the operation table, I couldn't see anything but darkness around me, yet I could hear clearly about their conversation outside of the room. They gave up on me." I gave out a pathetic laugh. My family is a joke. I am a joke.

"I wouldn't say that exactly Sir, James was going to sign the papers without a second thought. It was Blake, Nicholas and Maya that persuaded him otherwise." He shook his head lightly. Even an outsider is disappointed in my children, no doubt disappointed in their father too on how he raised them.

At least James still cares. I tried to reassure myself, it's the only small hope that I can hold on that my family isn't evil by nature and that redemption is not too late. "You said that Blake, Nicholas and Maya persuaded him not to sign it and he almost didn't. What made him signed it in the end?"

"A girl. She came out of nowhere and started to knock some sense into Blake. You should have seen it. The girl was furious and so determined to save you even though she didn't know who you were. Blake even threatened her not to interfere but she didn't seem the least bothered."

A girl? I knew I heard another person's voice but it didn't seem clear then. Why would she be determined to save somebody that she didn't know? More importantly, would she still save me after knowing about all the evil things I've done? "Who was that girl? Do you know who she was?"

"No. She looked like she was in her early 20's and wore casual attire. She has dark chocolate hair and she has brown eyes. That's all I remember except for her fierce attitude. Man she's no girl to messed with." He laughed.

"Find out who was that girl. I need to thank her personally."

"Of course. I'll do it right now Sir. Shall I inform the kids that you are awake?" He asked.

"No. I want to see how long it takes for one of them to come check up one me."

While Shawn went out and to ask more questions about the girl. I sat there thinking about how am I going to remedy the big mess that I have made. It never really occurred to me about how wrong I was with my parenting style, I never even thought about all of my actions. Whatever I done was for the sake of earning money. Money above anything else. It was my own motto. Do whatever it takes to get what you want and don't stop until you achieve it.

It doesn't take long when the door suddenly opened with my first visitor. It warms my heart to know that the first one to come through the room was James. "Dad! Your awake! How are you? Are you okay? Did you call the doctors already? How long have you been awake? Wait here I'm calling the rest of them." He fired all the questions out at one shot.

"Calm done kid. I'm fine and as healthy as a bull. Look." I sat upright for him to see and flex my hand. "I'm perfectly fine." I smiled warmly at him, the way a father should smile at his own son.

He dropped his phone and looks at me with wide eyes, shook by my sudden change of behavior. "Are you okay dad? You don't seem like yourself." He asked cautiously.

"It's me kid. Laying in front of death's door just made me see the world in a different perspective."

He nodded and pulled a chair to sit beside me. "Did the doctors say when you can leave?"

"In about 3 days if nothing goes wrong. You can't get rid of me that easily kid." I smiled again. I have to admit even I am uneasy with my current change of attitude. The cold and heartless me is being replaced by a warm and I wouldn't say loving yet father.

However it didn't seem to bother James for long. I used to think that James carefree and easygoing personality was going to be his downfall but right now it is the best thing I could as for. "Great! That means you would be able to make it to the birthday party Maya planned for you."

"Birthday party?" Since when do I even do those things? Caitlyn used to plan it for the kids when they were young but I never once had those kind of things. It is a waste of time and therefore it means that it's a waste of money too because I can't be there to work.

"Come on dad, you're turning 55 this year. You were in an accident and you almost died. And you never celebrated your birthday before. I think it's almost right to celebrate the fact that you survived and lived to spend your 55th birthday." When he puts it like that. It does sound about right.

"When is the party going to be?"

He beams when he sees that I have complied. "This Sunday. Don't worry Maya's got everything planned out. She's planning a big party with lots of guests. She's even trying to get Maroon 5 to come and perform a few songs. Everything is going to be crazy."

Maroon 5? Lots of guests? A big party? I'm in hell. "No big party. She can have her party but I want it to be family only. You, me, Blake, Nicholas, Maya and Shawn. No extra guests. Just us. If I want to do a birthday party I want to do it with my family. Are we clear?" I spoke to him sternly if he was one of my staff.

He nodded his head quickly. I guess he is still afraid of my cold personality. It never occurred to me that I talked to my kids the exact same way that I talked to my staffs...

"Sir I have information –" Shawn stops when he saw that we were having company. I nodded in return to acknowledge that he should stop with James right there.

"James, could you give us a moment?" I asked.

"Sure. I'll call Blake, Nicholas and Maya to inform them about this good news. I'll check up on you later." He says before he leaves.

Once he was gone, I motioned for him to sit beside me, positioning myself to sit upright for a business like encounter. "What did you find out?"

He handed me a file with a picture attached and name written to me. "Brooklyn Hope Grayson. This is the girl who saved me from my family?" I asked, reading through the rest of her information.

"Yes sir. It took me some time but I finally got the files from the office. She's doing her residency program here for the time being." He confirms.

I skimmed through her files, she's a valedictorian in her old high school, a current full scholarship holder at Columbia for her medical studies. She comes from a good family from what I see, mother father and one younger brother. "She's on a scholarship?"

"Yes, unfortunately her mom died 2 years ago and her family's financial went downhill from there on. She's lucky that she's smart or else she would never be able to afford all these." Right now I feel pitiful for the girl. If there was anything I could do to help her.

There is something I could do, an idea snapped into my brain. There is a way that I can help this girl for saving my life and repair my broken family at the same time. I know a way.

"Shawn I need you to change my will for me."

"Certainly sir. What would you like to change?" He said as he took out his laptop and started to type.

I thought about my plan through for a moment to make sure that it would work before I continued. It is a risk but right now I see that this is the only way to fix everything. "All my inheritance goes to Miss Grayson. Once she is married all my money goes to her and either her husband or herself would be able to assume my current position as CEO in the company. If she doesn't want to accept this, all of my money goes to charity."

Shawn looks at me as if I have just grown to head and lost my mind. I might as well have. This is really a big gamble and I'm all in. "Are you sure Henry? What would your family do when they find out? I know that Blake and Nicholas have been fighting ever since they were young to assume your position."

"I want to find out what they would do too." I clasped my hand together, placing it under my chin. "I want to announce this news during my birthday party this Sunday. Make sure that everything is alright and printed out by then. I want all of them to know about it without a chance to doubt it."

"Certainly Sir."

"It's the only way –" I said softly as I rubbed my temple with my right hand.

"Henry I apologize if I overstep but may I ask, the only way to what?"

I sighed and told him the full story. "The only way to fix my broken family. The only way to fix all of the problems I caused. The only way to find our redemption."

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Author : So hey guys here's another chapter to fill you in on the background of the story before everything officially begins :) What do you think?

Blake : Clearly they aren't happy with the fact that I, Blake Michealson is once again not written in this chapter.

Author : Blake your name was written at least 5 times in this chapter.

Blake : Fine. Let me rephrase that. They are not happy that Blake Michealson was not shown in this chapter. What is so interesting about the old man anyway?

Author : All right. I told you to be patient, you will appear soon enough. You don't see Brooklyn or Nicholas complaining do you?

Blake : Let's ask the readers to vote for who's Point of View should be shown more shall we? Do you want to read more in Brooklyn's Pov or Mine? (Whispers) Comment my name below.

Author : You are impossible. But anyway do comment down below to let me know who do you want the story from, Blake or Brooklyn?

Brooklyn : And also vote, comment and share!

Blake : Hey that was my line!

Brooklyn : I guess you were too slow old man.

Author : TTFN Ta-ta-for now!