My long-lost parents had been staying with me, Chel and Benito for a couple of months now. Even though they were being very nice and they were being helpful like helping with the cleaning around my mansion and in Alvito's stable and the gardening when our servants' shifts for the days were over and helping Benito with his school homework, I still don't feel like I could trust them. But I never said anything until very early today.

It all started when a loud noise woke me up at two o'clock in the morning. It woke Chel up too. We both got out of bed and grabbed two swords that we had been saving in case our mansion got attacked by thieves and robbers.

"Check on Benito," I whispered to Chel.

She quietly ran to Benito's room while I continued to quietly head downstairs. Then someone tapped my left shoulder behind me and I turned to see it was Chel.

"Benito is not in his room," Chel whispered. "I think they've taken him."

I was shocked as she was, but we both managed to keep very quiet and our emotions under control just so we didn't alert the intruders.

Then we heard the same noise again.

"Do not let them get away," Chel whispered. Then she ran the other way quietly before I could even ask her what she meant. Seeing I had no other option, I continued to head downstairs.


I moved very quietly as I could. I peeked through the rooms to look for the intruders, but I couldn't. Soon there was only one room left to check and that was the kitchen. I opened the door slightly and that was where I found two burglars in the kitchen. I couldn't make out who they were because of two reasons. The first one was because there was only one lit candle and they were keeping it close nearby and it covered enough for them to see what they were taking. The second one was, from what I could make out with the little light the room was providing, because they were covered up in black completely. Even their faces were completely covered up.

Also from the little light the candle provided, I could see the thieves were filling up some sacks with food and throwing them to more sacks on the table which rattled. I couldn't see them, but from the sound of the rattling, those sacks sounded like sacks of coins. They were taking our food and money that Chel and I had worked so hard and saved for!

Then I heard some moaning coming from a dark corner. One of the intruders ran to the corner.

"Shut up, kid!" a male voice yelled. "You make one more sound and I will cut one of your finger off. Understand? Good!"

When I heard that man say 'kid', that made me think that kid was my son Benito. I opened the door and ran into the kitchen, readying my sword.

"FREEZE!" I yelled.

The burglars didn't freeze but instead charged at me with swords. As I fought in the sword fight, I was glad I could keep up my sword fighting skills that Miguel and I used for escaping guards back in Spain. We were really acting with them, but I'm glad they paid off when I was fighting for my life for real this time.

While I fought, I grabbed the candle and lit as much as candles as I could to help me see who I was fighting. When I finished lighting the candles, I managed to see the kid who was tied up and I was shocked to see that I was right that the kid was my own son Benito. I saw that he was all chained up with only a padlock to free him. But before I could even fight the burglars to grab the key to free my son, they blew out the candles. All of them! There wasn't even one for me to see as I fight. All I could do was stand in the darkness and hope that the burglars wouldn't find me.

Then I could hear moans and groans from the burglars themselves. It was as if they were being attacked themselves. Then the kitchen's fireplace got lit up as well as the candles. I saw the burglars was tied up themselves and there was another person in the kitchen.

"Chel!" I cried happily. "How did you do that?"

"I'll explain later," she said. "Let's find out who attacked us, shall we?"

Chel and I approached the thieves and took the masks off and I was shocked.

"Mother? Father?"

"Grandmother? Grandfather?"


I knew I couldn't trust my parents since the day I met them, but this shocked me to the core that they tried to kill me and stole my food, money and my son.

"Look, son," my father said. "I take no pleasure in this."

"Let me guess," I said. "It's just business. A lot of people use that excuse."

"Did you use that excuse when you were thieving in Spain?" my mother asked.

That got me. They weren't wrong, but I wasn't going to give in to them like that.

Then the doors opened and we saw Nicla and some of her soldiers arriving. After we explained everything that happened, she ordered her soldiers to free Benito, arrest them and arrange their trail for tomorrow.

"Son, please, don't let them do this to us!" my mother begged.

"You brought this on yourselves!" Chel snapped.

"After your trial, I don't want you to do anything with me or my family ever again," I said, without even looking at them as the soldiers took them away.

"I'm so sorry for what to you guys tonight," Nicla said. "Because of this incident, you guys get a day off."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," we all said.

"By the way, this letter came to me, but I think it's for you," Nicla said, giving it to me. "It's not urgent. Just an invitation. Good night." Then she walked out with her soldiers as they escorted my parents out of my mansion.

I opened the letter and we read it. It was an invitation. An invitation to a wedding. The wedding of Moana and Patlee and it was requested that Chel would be Patlee's best woman, which she was delighted.

As we headed back to bed, Chel explained how she tied up my

Then we went to bed feeling happier that we were invited to a wedding and that my parents were out of our lives again. Despite being my own blood parents, I never forgave them for leaving me when they did and I will never forgive them for their deed tonight. As far as I was concerned, I had only one dad and that was Benito in Spain and tonight made me glad that I named my son after him and that I had a real family of mine whom I love and they love me in return.