CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

                                    

                                          
"Actually, they have four." 
The room was stunned into silence, Roger's eyes widening in fear, his breath cold as it caught in his throat.
"Siobhan?" He choked out, beads of sweat lining his forehead, "I thought you were..I thought you were-"
"Dead?" Siobhan finished his sentence abruptly, her voice and posture nonchalant as she let her gaze roam over his crumbling frame.
"But that's impossible!" He exclaimed, the panic in his voice high as his hands trembled, "I shot you..I watched you die.." 
"I was acting." Siobhan glared, "Acting like the way you said you loved me, when in reality, you cared for nothing more than your business and money. I was merely a pawn in your little game, nothing else." 
Siobhan watched as Roger's mouth gaped open, trying to form words, yet all that game out was a breathless whisper. The silence from the rest of them was eating through her confidence, but she kept her gaze steadily fixed on the man before her. 
"Hand over the keys." 
"What?" Roger's voice was strained as he fidgeted in his chair, looking over at Janice and Mia's father helplessly. 
"The keys. They're ours now." Reece stood beside Siobhan, giving her the comfort she needed when facing the man who tore her apart. 
"Absolutely not!" Roger protested, his face growing red with anger, "You're supposed to be dead!"
Autumn marched strictly over, pulling Roger's arm backwards with a yelp, "Keys. Now." 
Roger's breathing was ragged as he squirmed in Autumn's grasp, "Okay, okay!" He fished in his pocket, pulling out a set of thick keys a before thrusting one to Reece, who caught it effortlessly. 
Autumn loosened her grip on his twisted arm, letting the bruised flesh drop back down to his sides as she walked back to Winter. 
Roger soothed his arm, rubbing delicately against the aching skin in attempt to lessen the throbbing. Mia's father stood awkwardly in the middle, not managing to rip his gaze from his daughter who was still buried in Charlotte's chest, Marjorie laying a comforting hand on her shaking shoulder.
"I don't deserve this." Roger muttered, "I worked hard for this position - I don't deserve this." 
Vivian snapped. 
Her anger flooded the room, drowning them all in her fury as her voice broke.
"You're right, you don't deserve that. You deserve something way worse." Her fists clenched, knuckles pasty as she spoke coldly, "You tried to murder a girl you emotionally blackmailed for 20 years, you destroyed your children and morphed them into something they had a fear of being, you abused a woman you said you loved and tried to kill her too." 
Vivian's voice broke as tears welled in Charlotte's eyes, knowing what was about to be said next. 
"You ripped a child away from their mother. A child who hadn't done anything to you, yet you took everything away from them," her voice cracked, emotion trembling along her tongue, "The child was innocent. And you took advantage of that." 
Roger seemed speechless as his eyes darted around the room. Mia had finished crying - her eyes blotchy and her nose tinted red. Charlotte still had an arm around her, tears streaming down her face as her heart ached at the memory of her lost child - memories she could've made that had been snatched away from her in an instant. 
Reece and Vivian stood, broken, pain evident in their eyes as they continued to glare at Roger, Siobhan silently at the door. 
And then his eyes rested on Autumn.