One thing I love about Rowan is how easily she loved Damian; immediately, he was also a part of her life.
“Go do what you need to do; I got this down here.” She points to the table.
Kissing her deeply, she stands, and when I look down, I laugh, seeing Roxy right there.
“Yeah, she follows me everywhere.” She gives me a lopsided smile.
Entering my office, I fall into my chair, leaning back, looking around, and I notice my shelf is out of place. Walking to it perplexed, I scan the files and see they’re out of order. I don’t place them alphabetically, but in an order that only I know. Drawing my eyebrows together, I pull them out, and that’s when I realize whose file I’m looking at…David’s. Rowan’s father. Standing there, the file feels like it weighs one hundred pounds, but that’s really just my imagination; the severity of this file could do more harm than imaginable. Opening it, the papers are out of whack. A feeling roams down my spine, clawing around my vertebrae. Rowan.
I never told her I had a file on her father, something she didn’t need to know. And now, with her finding it, I only haveone thought: she’s going to go after him. My stomach curdles at the dinner we just ate, with the thought of needing to now keep eyes on her at all times.
I stand there frozen, a dozen fucking scenarios playing through my head. Every fucking one of them ended with the same conclusion: Rowan dead. I already had to live through losing my sister and mother; those I thought were tough, but losing Rowan, that would be unimaginable, something I couldn’t and wouldn’t come back from.
Putting the file back in its place, my body feels like currents are flowing throughout it. Instant anxiety.
Striding to my desk, yanking my cellphone off the charger, I send Thomas a text message.
*I want eyes on Rowan at all times from here on out.
I throw my phone on the desk so hard I inwardly moan, knowing I just fucked it up, but not caring.
The emotions running through me are ones I’ve never felt before. I’m angry with her, but also scared. I’ve never been truly mad at Rowan, but I am now. Mad that she would go behind my back and look through my things. I know her and know she has something planned or is planning something. The night in the ocean hits me like a freight train.‘Our fathers’ sins bleed onto their daughters.’And she wants his sins to bleed out on the floor below him, for what he put her through, and I don’t blame her, but sometimes karma will come in time. And I don’t want her to be a part of his.
My phone pings. My eyes close when I pick it up, seeing the cracked screen.
*What the hell is going on, Brother?Thomas replies.
I can’t keep him out of the loop, especially when I need all hands-on deck.
Walking to the door, I look out over the landing and see Rowan washing dishes. I hurriedly walk back into my office, silently closing the door, and walk to the window. I call Thomas.
“What’s going on?” The phone doesn’t even ring by the time he’s speaking through the receiver.
My voice is monotone. “She’s planning something. I don’t know exactly what, but I noticed my files were skewed and when I fixed them… Thomas, they were her father’s file.” It comes out faster than I thought I could speak.
“Motherfucker. What the fuck is she thinking?”
I fall into my chair. “Payback.”
“I’ll get with Weeks and we’ll get something planned. You’re coming out tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there around noon to set Damian up.”
I hear rustling at his end. “While she’s helping him, we’ll start a game plan. And Luca, don’t let her know you know.”
“I want to fucking shake her, Thomas.”
His laugh hits my ears. “Me too, man. Me too. But you knew who Rowan was when you started this. This is a woman who was getting her revenge one way or another. If you thought she’d let her father slide, you were wrong. That girl is out for blood.”
I know his thoughts are going back to the night in the tomb. The knife and Colt. Fuck, my stomach recoils thinking about that.
“Get with Weeks and I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
“Got it.”
My nerve endings are on fire; the instant anxiety now flowing through me is unreal. I have to stay one step ahead of Rowan and not let her know I know she is planning something.
I need to expel these emotions. As I walk out of the office, I think about adding another lock to the door, but that would only set her hackles rising.
