Jack's brows furrowed and his face set in an angry mask as he heard the exchange between father and daughter. What the hell is she doing here?
"How is she?" Archie asked, a note of almost sincere concern in his voice.
Jack watched, from his hiding place, as Roxy's bottom lip trembled. She clamped down on it and shook her head, tears instantly filling her eyes. "She lost the baby."
Archie let out a small sigh, picking up his whisky glass from the bar and taking a long sip. "Right."
A look of disgust crossed Roxy's face as she looked at her father incredulously. "Is that all you can say? 'Right'?"
"Excuse me?"
"Is that it? Is that all you've got to say for yourself?" Roxy's voice began to rise in volume.
"What do you want me to say, Roxanne?" Her father's tone was level, even; as though he was discussing how to set up his Sky+ recordings, not the death of his unborn grandchild. A death that he was responsible for.
Roxy scoffed, shaking her head. "You're not even sorry, are you?"
"Of course I am, I'm not heartless-"
"But you are, aren't you?" Roxy challenged him, her ice blue eyes boring into his face and seeing the man her father truly was.
Archie watched the expression on Roxy's face change, her eyes flashing with an emotion he'd never seen in them before. Gone was the admiration and love, now they housed something different . . . something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Roxanne?" He asked, unnerved by the intensity of her gaze.
"You killed Ronnie's baby-"
"You're mistaken, Roxy-"
"I don't think so. You killed her baby-"
"Veronica fell into the bar-" Archie raised his voice to be heard above his daughter's.
"NO!" Roxy screamed, her fury coursing through her, making her entire body shake with the force of it. "You pushed my sister into that bar!" She flung her arm out, pointing to the very spot Archie had chosen to seal the fate of Ronnie's unborn baby. "You killed my niece or nephew, Amy's cousin, your grandchild – Ronnie's baby. You ripped her daughter from her arms and now you've ripped her baby from her stomach." Roxy could feel the sobs building in her throat, but she pushed them down – if she didn't say this now, she never would. "You're evil, d'you know that? You worm your way back into our lives and slowly destroy everything you touch."
She shook her head, aghast at her own stupidity. "Even after all of your lies – about Danielle, Sean, I thought maybe, just maybe, there was still an ounce of fatherly love inside of you. But there isn't, is there? Ronnie was right about you all along." Roxy turned and went to walk away from him, but Archie caught her arm.
"No, Veronica's wrong – she's a liar-"
"Get off me!" Roxy shouted, her free arm swung in an arc and came down against her father's head, stunning him momentarily so she was able to wrench herself out of her grip. Stumbling backwards slightly, Roxy caught sight of a figure standing in the shadows of the opening of the bar. Their eyes met for a second and a silent pact was made between them.
Without so much as a second glance at her father, Roxy quietly opened the doors of the Vic and slipped out of them.
Leaving Jack alone with Archie.
