"This is a male dominated business Rowan! You won't make it one minute without my help." My father said aggravated as he organizes the papers on his desk.
"Fine! if you have so little faith in me to do this on my own why don't we just throw me in th...
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"Well, re-introduce you to my daughter, Charlotte Collins"
"Charlotte Collins"
Alive
I stood there with my mouth open in total shock and confusion.
Next to me, Cameron looked just as confused and I heard Justin mumbling.
Though apparently, Lincoln was enjoying this because his only reaction was, "No fucking way."
Shouts and voices started to boom around the room and all Derrick did was stand there with a fucking smile on his face.
Rowan quickly grabbed Charlotte's arms and hurried her back over to Asia and down the stairs connected to the stage.
As they stared for the door I went to intercept them, because there was a lot of fucking explaining Rowan has to do. And apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so.
Lee and I got there at the same time and I could hear others behind us.
"Rowan, what the hell is this?" Lee was first to talk and I saw her flinch when she realized she couldn't make it out of this room without talking to us.
She completely ignored Lee for a second and turned to Asia, "Get her out of here and back to the house now."
She ushered Charlotte away and Ro turned around to face us.
"I can't talk to you right now. I have more important things to deal with." She wasn't afraid to look us in the eyes as she talked, and that made me angrier.
"You mean the more important things like Charlotte being alive! Oh, or how about the fact that you've been lying straight to our faces for ten fucking years. Ten years Rowan!" My voice raised after every sentence and everyone around me could probably feel the anger steaming off of me.
"You can be pissed all you want Luke, and you can scream in my face but I never lied to you. I never once said in my own words that she was dead." She was looking right at me now, and usually we would only do this for a moment and someone would back down, but not this time.
"No, you only let us believe Derrick's lies. Because that's so much better."
Lee took a step back. which was smart, it's rare that Rowan and I ever have real fights. And when we do they usually only last less than a few minutes. But this was definitely not one of those times and there was no telling what was going to happen.
"We had to do what we had to do to protect her after that night, Luke. You wouldn't understand."
I was silent for a moment and looked at her.
She did not just tell me I don't understand what happened that night.
"Really? REALLY! I wouldn't understand? You seem to forget that you weren't the only fucking child in the house that night, I was there too! You forget I heard the gunshots and I heard the screams! You weren't the only one to see horrors that night Rowan, I witnessed the guards get shot in the head and drop dead to the floor! I'm the one that heard my dad screaming for you and shooting people until he realized that I was in the hallway!"
