Chapter 68
Rowan
I ’m nervous. It doesn’t matter how safe I am, how loved. I’m still sitting in a private dining room in one of the most exclusive restaurants in Manhattan, waiting for the people who raised me to walk through that door. And for the first time in my life, I won’t be sitting there alone.
My entire pack is here. Xavier sits to my right, impossibly still, like a storm coiled in silk. Cole is at the head of the table, calm and composed, one leg crossed like he owns the building. He probably does. Massimo and Laurent flank the other side, both dressed sharp but unreadable; Mass with that cool detachment that masks every thought, and Laurent with that barely contained edge that makes even silence feel dangerous.
Then there’s Sébastien on my left. His presence is quiet, grounding. Warm fingers brush mine beneath the table, the gentlest reminder that I’m not alone. And yet...
I keep adjusting my dress, brushing invisible creases from my lap. My heart keeps skipping, my palms keep sweating. Not because I’m ashamed. Not because I regret bonding them. I don’t. I would do it again a thousand times.
But because this moment, the one I’ve imagined and dreaded and hoped for, is here. And I don’t know which way it will go. They didn’t know I was an Omega. They didn’t know what she did to me. They’re about to. I exhale slowly as the private elevator chimes. The door opens. And there they are.
My fathers walk in first, Richard and Thomas, both in expensive suits, both visibly tense but trying to look composed. My brothers follow behind, more guarded, less polished. Eli, James, and Fin.
They pause at the threshold.
I rise, my voice quiet but steady. “Fathers. Brothers.”
Richard’s jaw tightens. “Rowan.”
Thomas’s eyes move from me to the five men seated at the table, his gaze catching on each of them in turn. “I see you brought them all.”
Xavier answers before I can. “We’re her pack.”
Thomas offers a polite nod, but there’s something unreadable behind his eyes. “So, we’ve seen.”
“So, we’ve seen.” What the fuck does that even mean? They begged to see me.
Thomas picks up his water glass but doesn’t drink. His eyes are on me again. “We were... surprised, when everything came out. Your bond. Your presentation. It all happened
fast.”
I nod once. “It did.”
Garrett leans forward slightly. “Rowan, if you’d told us—”
“I didn’t have the chance,” I say. Not angrily. Just fact. “You didn’t ask. Not for a long time.”
Richard stiffens, but something flickers behind his eyes. Doubt.
“I didn’t even know I was an Omega,” I add quietly. “Not until it hit me out of nowhere. The spike, the symptoms, I thought I was just sick. It wasn’t until I went into Heat in Chicago that I understood.”
Richard’s brows draw together. “Chicago... that’s when...”
“Yes.” I nod. “That’s when it all went public. When I bonded. When the world found out... before my own family did.”
Thomas’s mouth parts like he wants to speak, but he says nothing.
“I was lucky,” I continue. “Lucky I wasn’t alone. Lucky, I found them, my pack, before it got worse. Because if I hadn’t...” My voice falters for half a second. “If I hadn’t, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”
Eli is the first to break the silence. His chair scrapes slightly as he leans forward, elbows on the table, his eyes locked on mine, not judging. Not calculating. Just... present.
“You shouldn’t have had to go through that,” he says, voice low but steady. “I don’t care how fast it happened, or what protocol says. I don’t care about public opinion. You’re our sister. We should’ve been there.”
He glances briefly at the pack seated around me, then back to me. “You needed Alphas, yeah. I get that now. But needing a pack doesn’t mean you had to go through everything else without family. We could’ve supported you. Even if we couldn’t be what you needed biologically, we could’ve been there. ”
The words land hard. Harder than I expected. Because that’s the first time anyone from my family has acknowledged it out loud. Not just that I changed, but that they weren’t there. That they should’ve been.
I blink fast, swallowing the emotion that tightens my throat. Eli was always the one who stayed quiet in the chaos. I didn’t realize he’d been watching. That he noticed.
The words land harder than I expect. I blink fast, swallowing the emotion rising in my throat. Eli was always the one who stayed quiet in the chaos. I didn’t realize he’d been watching . That he noticed.
James exhales slowly, his jaw tight. “She always had excuses,” he murmurs, more to himself than anyone else. “Why you didn’t come for the holidays. Why you were always 'too tired' or 'behind on something.’ I remember asking once if we should check in on you and she said...” he trails off, eyes narrowing. “She said you were going through a phase. That you'd embarrass us if we gave you too much attention.”
I flinch. James sees it.
“Shit.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “She trained us to look away, didn’t she?”
Fin nods slowly, a grim look crossing his face. “She played us. All of us.”
Xavier doesn’t move, but I feel the subtle shift in his posture, how he’s watching them now instead of shielding me from them. Assessing. Recalibrating.
Sébastien’s hand squeezes mine beneath the table, a silent, You’re doing so well, chérie.
Thomas looks pale. Richard looks shaken.
Mason shifts in his seat, eyes dark. “She’s still being held without bail,” he says quietly. “We’ve been in contact with the investigators. The charges are stacking.”
Garrett adds, “She’s not getting out. Not after what she did to you.”
Richard’s jaw tightens, his gaze dropping to the table. “If even half of what’s in that file is true...” He swallows hard. “We failed you. All of us.”
Thomas is the first to speak. His voice is lower than I’ve ever heard. “We should’ve protected you. That was our job before anything else.” He looks at me, really looks, and for once, there’s no polished edge, no diplomatic distance. Just a father, broken open. “Instead, we trusted her. We believed what was easy. And we let you suffer.”
I stare at him, but I don’t speak. I can’t. Not yet.
Richard leans forward, resting his elbows on the table like the weight of it all has finally settled onto his shoulders. “We thought we were doing the right thing. We thought... she was helping you. Pushing you to be strong. To stand out. We didn’t see that she was trying to erase who you were.”
His voice cracks, just once.
“We let her convince us you were fragile. Dramatic. Unfocused. We didn’t ask why you pulled away. We didn’t listen when you got quiet. We just let her talk louder.” He pauses. “And we’re sorry, Rowan. We are so sorry.”
Thomas’s hands are clasped in front of him now, his knuckles white. “We know there’s no undoing what happened. No excuses. But if you can find it in yourself to forgive us... or even just to let us, try again... we want to. We want to be part of your life, if you’ll let us.”
The silence that follows isn’t uncomfortable. It’s heavy. Honest. And for the first time in years, they’re not trying to fix me. Or change me. Or decide for me. They’re just sitting there, hoping it’s not too late.