Escaped

Chapter 36

Escaped: Chapter 36

A/N: Sorry this one is so long!

Everyone was awake and gathered in the living room around Benjamin.

We were all quiet for a minute.

It felt like you could cut through the tension with a knife.

"What are you doing here, Hale?" Zayn finally spoke up.

"I came to rescue my daughter, Malik," he spat, mocking him with the use of his last name.

"But now I see," he said, looking up at me, "that you're here by choice, aren't you?"

Niall and Harry stood up and moved towards him.

"Don't talk to her," Niall growled. "You don't deserve to speak to her. Hell, you don't even deserve to look at her, let alone call her your daughter."

Harry, next to him, nodded in agreement, a scowl etched on his face.

I tried to give them a weak smile.

I felt like my heart was going to burst. Seeing how much they cared for me, I just wanted to cry.

Benjamin chuckled, darkly.

"Oh and like you do? You're the scum of this earth, Horan."

I dared myself to say something

"Well, he's a lot better than you," I shouted pushing my way past Niall and Harry.

No one talked about my friends like this.

Benjamin fell silent when I stepped in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" He faltered. "What did they say about me, Lottie?"

"The truth," Louis growled from behind me.

"Charlotte," he said. "You're going to believe these... these criminals, over your own father? Come on, baby girl."

"Save it," I said and I was pissed. "Don't insult me. I'm not that gullible anymore. I see right through you, Benjamin."

The fact that I didn't refer to him as "dad" made it quite evident to him that he had lost.

He glanced behind him and, ignoring me for a moment, he said, "How's your side, Payne?"

I wasn't sure what he was talking about but everyone in the room seemed to understand what he meant.

"Better, thanks to me," Eleanor cut in before Liam could reply.

She obviously wanted to make it apparent that everyone in the room was not only against my father, but was in full support of Liam and the rest of the guys.

My father sneered. "You're still here, huh?"

He looked up at Eleanor and then Perrie and then back at me.

"You know, I wasn't sure what was going on when you ran from me back at the store," he said. "I thought maybe you were just scared. That they'd threatened you, or even your mother and I, if you ever tried to come home. I thought maybe you were trying to protect us. But I would have never guessed that they had brainwashed you into being another one of their sluts."

Anger flared in Liam's eyes and he brought the butt of his gun down on my father's head, who fell over, groaning in pain.

Zayn sprang forward and landed a few well aimed kicks into Benjamin's gut.

"Don't. Talk. About. My. Girlfriend. Like. That." He sent another blow with each word. He stepped back, panting heavily. "And don't you ever speak about Charlotte that way, either!" He shouted.

Perrie and I reached forward, each of us grabbing one of Zayn's hands, gently pulling he backward.

"Calm down," Perrie soothed.

I looked up and saw Liam shaking with rage.

He aimed the gun back at my father's head.

"Stop me, Charlotte," he growled.

I stepped forward and put my hand on his, but not lowering the gun.

"Look at me," I told him. "Just focus on me."

He turned his gaze to me and immediately I was grateful that his anger wasn't directed towards me. The look on his face was terrifying. But his expression softened when his eyes landed on me.

"Wait," I said to him.

I glanced down at my father, images flashing through my mind: Niall, beaten to near death, a rusty old pocket knife sawing through Louis' flesh. And clearly, with his remark about Liam's side, there was a whole lot more that he'd done I wasn't aware of.

I knelt down so I was looking into his eyes.

"Did you hit mom?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, anger flowing through me.

He opened his mouth but then closed it.

The look on his face was all I needed.

I let go of Liam's hand, the gun back on Benjamin's head.

I looked at him and said, "I don't know this man."

I turned to go back upstairs.

Someone grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Let go of me," I spat at my father.

He was looking at me with horror in his eyes.

"Don't let them do this to me," he said. "Don't abandon me!" He shouted, desperately.

"You disgust me," I said, yanking my hand back and I ran from the room.

"Not in my house," I heard Gemma say. "Take him out back."

"Charlotte!" I heard Benjamin shouting. "Charlotte, you bitch! Don't you dare leave me like this!"

I fled to my room and slammed the door shut behind me.