Lucas and I turn our head at the same time, looking at my father who's wearing the most disheartened look ever. I almost hate my father for barging in just now. Lucas was about to say something, but he cut him off.

Lucas looks uncomfortable with my father here so he lets go of my hand. My hands feeling suddenly cold without his touch. He stands up and greets my father.

"Hello Mr Grayson- I mean Mr. Jenkins." He says to my father.

"Oh hello. Its you again. Can I talk to my daughter alone?" My father asks Lucas.

Lucas looks at me as if asking for my permission. I nod lightly, indicating that its okay. "Yes sure." Lucas answers.

My father looks as uncomfortable as Lucas right now. Its no surprise since they didn't have quite a good first encounter with each other. I can only imagine how awkward they must be feeling about each other right now.

"I'll be right outside." Lucas says to me, and leaves us.

My father looks as me, his eyes holding so much pain, that I feel bad for him that he had to see me this way. He sucks in a breath and exhales slowly. He finally approaches me, sitting near the bed.

"Amelia I don't know what to say." He begins to tear up. I guess he finally believed me.

"Dad you don't have to say anything. What's done is done." I tell him. My heart aches for him but it hurts more that he wasn't there for me when I most needed him. If he had listened to me for once, all this wouldn't have happened. My selfish mind almost wants to blame him for all of this.

"No. This is all my fault. If I had been a better father-" he chokes, pausing for a few seconds. "If only I had been a better father to you, none of this would have happened. I am so sorry Amelia. I don't deserve your forgiveness." He shakes his head, beginning to cry. "I've let your mother down. She would be so mad at me for letting all this happen to you. I couldn't even protect you. I let my one and only daughter go through through this. I don't even deserve your forgiveness. And I let you down. I don't deserve to be called your father." He sobs.

My heart breaks seeing my father this way. My whole life I have only seen him cry once, when my mother died. And now he's crying for me. I always saw my father as this tough persona who is always strong both mentally and physically. So seeing him cry in front of me is making me feel hurt for him.

"Dad don't cry." I try to console him, putting my hands over his. "I know you feel bad but its okay. Its the past now. Let's try to forget it." I say, even though deep down I know that I will never forget this chapter of my life. It will always be in the back of my mind, to remind me how far I've come, and what I've survived.

"No its not okay Amelia. I hate myself for letting this happen to you." He sighs, shaking his head. "I never knew Claire was capable of doing such things."

"Yeah. You never were home so of course you wouldn't have known." I say, feeling a pang of hurt as I think back to all those times my father left me home. "Why didn't you stay home at least a week, dad? Why? You always had some business to do or some meeting to attend to. I don't understand. Did you hate me? Or were you just sick of me?" I finally ask my father, the question that's been lingering on my mind for the longest time. I could never understand why he left home so much no matter how many conclusion I come up to on my own.

"What? Amelia no! How can you say that? Why would I hate you? You're my daughter." He says, his eyes filled with remorse.

"Then why did you always leave me?" I ask him again. He never know how much I needed him after mom died. I fought all the sadness alone, by myself. It was hard for a ten year old girl to grief over her mother alone.

He sighs, taking his hand away from mine. "Its because you remind me of your mom." He looks down. I furrow my brows, confused. "Your eyes. Your voice. They remind of your mom. After she died, I was so filled with grief that I lost myself little by little. She was everything to me. So when she died, it felt like a part of me died with her. I couldn't bear to lose myself so I wanted to distance myself from things that remind me of her." He continues to say.

"So you stayed away from me." I conclude. I feel the tears spilling down my face. How could he think like that? I understand that he's broken about mom's death but how could he stay away, just because I remind him of mom? I'm his daughter. He should have at least tried to help me get over mom's death.

"Amelia I was heartbroken. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He continues to apologize.

He's my father. How could he think like that? So this is why he was so adamant about remarrying. He was trying to replace mom.

"How could you, dad? I'm your daughter. How could you?" I cry, my headache becoming worse as I cry. I close my eyes, trying to calm my breath. But instead I cry even harder.

"Amelia please don't cry. I'm so sorry sweetheart. I'll do everything I can to make up for my mistakes. Please don't cry sweetheart." He begs, trying to console me.

"Don't call me that. Only mom calls me that." I snap. I don't care if I'm being immature but after knowing the reason why dad always left, I'm growing more angry at him. "I think you should go dad."

"Amelia please." My father pleads looking at me but I look away, not wanting to see him cry.

"Matt? Are you there?" I call out, not wanting to talk to my father anymore. I have misjudged him my whole life, I thought he cared about me but Claire was right, he never cared about me. Because no loving father would leave their only daughter alone to deal with their mom's death.

"Ems what's wrong?" Matt comes in looking very worried.

"Can you please tell dad to leave?" I ask Matt. "The headache is coming back. I don't want to talk anymore."

Matt looks at me, he probably notices the tears on my face so he doesn't think before saying, "Yeah I think we should let her rest. She's still recovering so." He tells my father.

I mentally thank Matt for taking my side on this one. If it had been Lucas I'm sure he would have put up a fight. Thinking about Lucas, I wonder where he is. I thought he was waiting outside too. Why is he not coming in?

"Alright. Amelia just know that I do love you. And I'm sorry." My father says and starts to leave.

Just then two men come barging in, wearing police uniforms. "Are you Miss Amelia Jenkins?" One of the officers asks pointing at me.

"Yes." I answer him. I'm not sure what this is about, both Matt and my father looks confused as well.

"Officers what is this about?" My father asks them.

Lucas comes in just then, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop them. I told them that Amelia is still recovering but they said they needed to take a statement from her." He breathes out. He looks like he just ran a mile, I don't know why he's panting like that.

"Yes we need your statement Miss Jenkins. Tell us how long have your mother abused you?" One of the officers ask.

"Stepmother." My father corrects him. Its ironic how he always tells me Claire is my mother but now he's defending that she's my stepmother.

"After a month they got married." I answer. My father looks shocked to hear this, his mouth slightly open.

"Okay so that alone can serve her five years in jail." The other officer states.

"What?" I ask them.

"She can be in jail for five years or more depending on the case." The officer explains to me.

"No I want her out." I tell him.

"What?" I hear them all say at the same time.

"I'm dropping the case. I don't want her in jail." I say, then turning to look a my father. "Dad do me one last favor. Bail her out."

"Amelia are you crazy?" My father begins to say but I stop him.

"Dad please. This is the only thing I'm asking of you. But I want to see her before she gets out." I tell them.

I decided to help her so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to help her heal. I'm not doing this for her. I'm doing this for myself. This is the only way I can be at peace with our past.

*******

So do you think Amelia is making the right decision? I'd love to hear all your thoughts about this.

I hope you're all doing well. And the reason I've been updating daily is because I want to finish this story before I begin work. So hold on tight for daily updates! Lol

I know I say this every time but thank you for votes and comments.