WARNING for young readers: Chapter contains a very violent male protagonist. My aim is not to glorify any abusive relationship.

"So Alana, what do you do for a living?" Dwight asked me, sipping onto the red wine.

"I'm still doing college and..." I cleared my throat; I had to be a calculating bitch if I was going to answer to his questions.

"Does that college happen to be Carmel?"

So much for being a calculating bitch, I just walked right into his trap.

"Uh—yeah." I tried to keep my voice steady.

The contours of Dwight's mouth twitched upward in an amused smile, his next remark was directed towards Rowan, "Whatever happened to teaching economics that you began teaching other subjects..." He snorted to add more spice to his evilness, "How do you manage without getting caught?"

"I resigned." Rowan declared as he forked the spaghetti, all heads turned in his direction.

"You, what?"

"I don't make it a habit of saying things twice." Rowan muttered under his breath, shaking some pepper into his food.

I knew I had to jump into this situation because from what I could notice this was a News Flash to everybody, "It's entirely my fault if Rowan resigned, I would have been expelled out of Carmel if he hadn't taken the step."

Dwight shook his head, "You see, Alana, Rowan could've tackled the problem without losing his standing. He is just lazy enough to try." he smiled coyly, "Resigning is just a fast way out, let me give you a tiny example of how Rowan can screw things up in hopes of making it better."

Rowan's hands balled into fists, and he clenched the fork with too much force almost murdering the poor salad, he was trying so hard to keep his anger at bay. I let my hand slid underneath the table, found his warm hand and squeezed it. He squeezed it back.

"Rowan and I used to work together in our father's company about six years ago, more like learning how stuff worked around and Dad told us about a target we needed to complete within a couple of days." A pause later he said, "And Rowan was an amateur back then, so instead of asking Drew or me for help, he took matters into his own hands and managed to lose around thirty percent of the company profits along with a few clients, all in a day."

"DON'T FUCKING BRING THAT SHIT UP NOW!" Rowan pounded his fist on the table, I flinched at once.

Dwight continued to chomp on his food, ignoring the dragon's lair being blown at him, like they were having the most normal conversation. "ummm, Mom, what's up with these shrimps?"

Can this guy get any weirder?

Rowan's breathing was an erratic rise and fall. He was cracking up again.

"Why don't you just chillax, Rowan. I was giving Alana an example."

"STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD!"

"Rowan, sweetheart." Mrs. Masters said softly, I had to strain my ear to hear her speak, "Calm down."

"YOU TELL YOUR SON TO ACT CIVIL AND STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD." Tears started to well up as Rowan spoke.

"Language, Rowan." Gary Masters spoke in his authoritative voice.

"How long has it been since you've been off your meds?" Dwight went on.

That was the trigger.

The plate went down with a shattering crash; the half filled flute went next, along with the spoon and the fork. I stood up at once, and took two steps back. Kyo on the other hand, switched to the next vacant seat available.

"You Bastard, stay out of my business," Rowan spat the words at Dwight as he grabbed the antique vase off the table and heaved it down on the floor with a crashing thud. Gary Masters stared into space, the fork in his hand floating in midair, devoid of any emotions while Mrs. Masters had her mouth covered with a hand as she watched her own sons spit at each other.

"Did you know how much that cost?" Dwight spoke in a high pitched menacing voice, "This isn't your house to trash around, fuckin psychopath."

Rowan let out an irritated growl, grabbed the nearest plate he could find and aimed it at Dwight, throwing it with a inhumane force that missed him by inches and landed below with a loud crash, backed away and bolted out the dining area crunching the glass pieces below as he headed upstairs trashing anything and everything that fell in his way.

To say I was angry, would be an understatement. I wanted to rip Dwight's throat out.

"You see that?" The question was directed straight at me, "Is that the man you fell in love with? He acts worse than Norman Bates."

"Who I choose to fall in love with is none of your business. What's your problem anyway?"

"I just wanted to check if he was still on his meds. Turns out I was right." Dwight said, taking a bite of his food. 'Hmm, Mom this is too good."

"You went too far this time, son." Gary Masters left his seat and walked out of the dining room followed by Mrs. Masters who passed me an apologetic smile, grabbing a fistful of tissues before she left us.

Some Great Dinner Party.

I couldn't leave Rowan on his own, not when he was having one of his latest episodes. I climbed to my feet, ready to go upstairs, "where are you going?"

I had almost forgotten Claire was even present in the room, "Upstairs."

"It's not a good idea, Alana." She warned me as she got to her feet, "Just leave him alone for a while."

"I have to be with him."

"Claire-chan." Kyo spoke, when was the last time I heard him speak? "What about dessert?"

Claire passed him an 'are-you-fucking-crazy look', "My brothers were close to ripping their throats just a minute ago, the one who ran upstairs is probably going head-banger on the wall and you ask for dessert?" she turned to me, "sometimes I feel like I'm living the Loony toons show."

"Come on, Alana." Claire began leading me out of the dining area, "let me show you Rowan's room."

"Claire you're leaving too?" Dwight asked to which Claire showed him the middle finger shutting him up for good.

Claire and I ran up the spiral staircase, the head of a broken mannequin stared back at me from the floor. Rowan's room was in the far end of the hallway with two other doors on the floor.

"Who else lives on this floor other than Rowan?"

Claire pointed at a door on her right, "This used to be my room until I was ten, I moved upstairs after that."

"Why?"

There it was, the emotional waterfall again, "Don't hate me for this, but I couldn't sleep every night with all the banging and screaming going on next door." It had scared me shitless the first time I'd seen it; I couldn't imagine how it must feel to go through the same thing each day. "He scared me, Alana. I'm still scared sometimes."

Didn't these people understand? Rowan needed someone next to him who wasn't scared of the demon inside him, who loved him with his personal demons and maybe I directly fell in the category. I heard soft noises drift from room at the end of the hallway even though the door to Rowan's room was shut.

Claire grabbed my arm, "I'll say it again, don't go inside. Right now, Rowan is capable of doing anything. He might hurt you and if he does, he's going to be hurting later when he realizes his mistake so just let him be."

"I have to check on him, make sure he is okay." I explained her, "He might listen to me."

"Alright, but I'm right here if you need me and if I hear you screaming bloody murder, I'm entering the room without knocking."

"Deal."

****

I had to be crazy to even think about entering this room after the amount of drilling I was getting from his sister, I wasn't sure as to what possessed me to take the risk.

Hope.

I could only hope he wouldn't send me packing or bang the door on my face. After I was done dealing with Rowan, I was going to be sure to kick some Dwight ass. Claire watched me as I neared the door of doom.

I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the blow I was likely to receive. I knocked on the door once, only to be fired by a, "Fuck off!"

Great start.

"Rowan it's me, Alana."

Silence.

"Can I come in?"

Silence again.

"Okay, I'm letting myself in."

I opened the door only a crack and peeped in, only to be blinded by the darkness. My eyes couldn't adjust at first so I closed the door behind me, with that, the room went jet black but after a while my vision became clearer, as I became more acquainted to the darkness. The room was exceptionally large, with a king sized bed in the center, an upturned ottoman with murdered cushions and a flat TV facing the bed which had survived the Rowan calamity by the grace of lord. The fancy oval mirror had a jagged crack running through the center. The black guitar stood glimmering in the corner.

So Rowan played a guitar too, huh? What else did I not know about this man?

My feet would clank against the pieces of broken glass and other broken stuff that spread all across the floor. I went further into the dark and my eyes stopped scanning as the black silhouette of a person, crouched on the floor, stared at me. His back against the wall, his knees pulled close to his chest and I didn't fail to notice the bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"Rowan."

"Don't come near me."

I switched on the table lamp.

Damn! He was a mess. From the looks of it, he'd been pulling his hairs from the roots that had amazing created a unique hairstyle. Those tear rimmed eyes bore into mine, showcasing vivid dark emotions. I had an urge to cry at the mere sight of him. He seemed so...

Broken.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? I SAID, DON'T COME NEAR ME." he seized the lamp, pulled out of its socket and threw it across the room, pulling the room back into the darkness, "I DON'T NEED A FUCKING PSYCHOANALYST."

I stayed glued to the spot; I needed to make sure this was the same Rowan I knew because from what I could gather, he was possessed by those demons again. Honestly, I had to be brave enough and still expect the door to get slammed in my face. Being with Rowan also meant I had to be ready to take all the crap without complain. Sure, I never signed up for it, but my love for him betrayed me in the end. So it was suck it up or Make some MAJOR changes. One could always hope.

"It's me Alana." I tried again.

He needed to snap out of it.

"Alana, please leave me alone." he sounded civil, which was a good start. "I can't really face you right now."

I took another step with caution ready to dodge whatever he might throw at me next. "I'm here to talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" Rowan sounded more controlled now, "Do you want to end it?"

"What?" Then it occurred to me he was asking if I wanted to end our relationship, "No. No. Why would I do that?"

I went down on my knees next to where he sat, my heart started to speed up as I raised my hands to cup his face. I brushed those wild locks hiding his handsome face and urged him to make eye contact.

There wasn't a single emotion that didn't cross his face. "Don't do this to yourself baby."

That was his undoing; his face fell in the hollow of my neck as his body shook with the heavy sobs. I seized for the bottle that had loosened in his grip and quickly hid it behind me while he continued to cry in my arms. Rowan had always struck me as a controlled, strict teacher, the first time I'd seen him during my class. I hadn't a clue back then that beneath all the strong and controlled layers lay a broken man. It never crossed my mind that I'd be sitting in his room and wiping his tears two months later.

"I promised..."

He sat up straighter; close enough for me to see his sculpted features. The moon-light pouring from the window was aimed at him.

"I promised to change." He held my hands, "but I fucked up again, I'm...I'm scared, Alana."

"Scared about what?"

"Scared to think you might want to walk away one day." He whispered as his body shook from the aftershocks.

"I'm not going anywhere." I assured him, running my fingers through his wavy locks.

He shook his head, "you might want to, because I always do this. Always. I can never change no matter how hard I try. You don't deserve this. I don't deserve you." More tears streamed down his face, "If I were you, I'd dump my ass this second. And, Dwight's right, I'm a fucking psychopath."

"Listen to me, Rowan, stop with the self-loathing already." I inched closer to him, "You're a wonderful man, and you've been constantly taking care of your responsibilities. You left a job so I could continue with my college and it isn't easy being a single father and looking after a child. I think you give me a load of reasons to love you rather than a reason to walk away."

"You're saying this because I'm starting to grow on you." There it was, the tormented distant look again, "My family doesn't care about me, Alana They look at me like I'm some project gone horribly wrong. I've shamed each and every person; I've hurt everyone I knew."

"That's not true. They haven't looked into your eyes; they haven't looked into your soul and seen the man I have." His features were smoldering again, which was my cue to realize I was doing the right thing. "Dwight wanted to get on your nerves because he wanted to see how you'd react to the situation. I know what he said was wrong and I'm not on his side, but if it was a test to check how you were coping with your emotions, you failed in it."

I wiped the tears that teetered and grazed his cheeks. "Nobody is going to get to raise a finger on you next time. We'll make sure of it."

Rowan shook his head, still pulling at his hair, "You don't understand why he's doing that. I know my brother so well. Dwight wants me crazy, in fact he'll make sure I re-admit the psyche-ward if I'm showing good results now. He is a calculating bastard."

Re-admit in the psyche-ward?

His erratic breathing took pace again.

"Rowan, Just calm down." I rubbed his back.

"He wants to be the only one succeeding my father's company and he'll go to any extents to make sure he does." Rowan stared into the wall seeming tormented by something that I was yet to uncover, "I'm not interested in the company, Alana; I want none of it...but..."

"But what?"

"I'll die if they take away Minnie from me."

That was my ultimate Jaw-drop moment, "why would he do that?"

He went on without paying much attention to my question, "Dwight's trying to steal her away from me, he'll prove it to everyone that I'm not good enough to take care of her." he started sobbing softly, "I can't live without her Alana, I just can't. She is my life, my lost hope."

I pulled his head to level with mine, "Look at me Rowan, do you trust me?"

I stared back into his lifeless hollow eyes.

"More than I trust myself."

"Listen to me carefully; I will not let anybody take Minnie away from you, alright?" I didn't know where I got that confidence from, the man falling apart in my arms was probably the reason, "I'll make sure she stays with you. I promise. No matter what."

"Thank you so much, Alana." He sobered up a little. "You make everything seem so much better. You're such a nice girl."

"We'll get through this together." Rowan and his contagious tears be damned, "you and I."

I wrapped my arms around Rowan's broad shoulders and basked in the warmth of his embrace. The world outside could have been forgotten. We sat that way for god knows how long and after a while when I checked, he seemed to have slipped into a peaceful slumber like a baby. Rowan deserved happiness like every other person did, and I wanted to give him whatever little happiness I could.

I was just hoping to keep my promises. I would have never made any false promises if I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them in the end.