Page 28 of Whatever Will Be

“Business is good,” he lies. “Real good.”

I keep my face neutral. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“In fact…” He leans forward and attempts to look shrewd. “There might be an opportunity to buy into a partnership if you’re interested.”

I’d rather not say a word right now. There will be profanity.

“I mean,” he continues with a shrug, “I’d be willing to open something up given your connection to the place.”

My connection to the place?

He’s daring me. He’s got to be. He’s trying to figure out how much of a pussy I am.

Fury threatens to boil over. And it will if I don’t change the subject.

“I guess you heard that Julianne Aaronson died.”

He averts his gaze, bored with the topic already. “Yeah, what a shame.” He rises from the chair and yawns. “Well, Trent, this has been a real treat seeing you again but I’ve got a lunch meeting that can’t be rescheduled. Grab one of my cards over there on the desk and we’ll make plans to catch up for real.”

I ignore the command to take one of his cards. I know where to find him.

Liam begins to automatically offer me a handshake and then remembers why I refused the first time. He stuffs his hand in his pocket instead.

The observation from Liam’s wife is correct. We share many of the same features. We’re both black-haired, square-jawed, and dark-eyed like our father. Liam appears to have grown soft in some important places, though. Back when I was sixteen, he was capable of overpowering me with ease. Hell, he worked me over the night before I was arrested. He would provoke me deliberately with taunts about my mother, knowing fully well that was the quickest way to blow my fuse.

“That gold digging bitch is waving at you from hell, kid.”

Naturally, I flew at him. He knocked me to the floor, kicked my ribs and pounded a fist into my face. He wouldn’t be able to do any of that now. Somehow, I wish he’d try. I wouldn’t need much of an excuse to cripple him.

“I’ll be seeing you,” I say, more of a threat than he can guess.

Liam’s lips bend into a creepy smile and he nods. “Definitely.”

Now that I’ve done what I came here to do, I just want to escape. Seeing Liam again has rattled me more than I thought it would. Every scrap of my willpower was used up when I stopped myself from seizing him by his crisp white shirt, slamming his body into the nearest wall and demanding to know the thing that’s haunted me for eight long years.

WHY????

I’m his only brother and I was a kid. I understand that he never forgave our dad for divorcing his mother and starting a new family but he could have gotten me out of the way without going that far.

There’s only one answer why.

He did what he did because he’s a sadistic bastard who enjoys putting people through terrible shit.

Liam Cassini deserves far worse than financial ruin. It’s anyone’s guess who else he’s hurt or plans to hurt.

Whitney calls my name and I hear her heels rapidly clicking on the floor as she rushes over. I keep walking with grim, purposeful strides until I’m back to my truck and then I waste no time getting out of there.

But instead of driving straight back to town, I choose a detour over the gravelly road that winds up Rosebriar Hill. Sometimes flimsy road barricades would be set up to discourage trespassing but whoever owns the land must have given up because the narrow road up the hill is all clear.

Right now, the pine trees are the only greenery. In the summer it’s a different story and the hill is a thick screen of leaves and flowers. There’s still one lone sign advertising The Rosebriar Resort and it’s just a shingle hanging by one nail. The buildings are a sorrier sight than they were the last time I was up here. The roof of the main recreation center has caved in and the scattered cabins give the location a real horror-movie-in-the-woods vibe. The sunken amphitheater is still intact and I take a seat at the edge. Down in the center is a big smudge mark from the bonfires we used to set all the time. I asked Danny if the kids still come up here and he didn’t know.

Perhaps Gretchen would know. From what I hear, she’s visited Lake Stuart over the years far more often than her brother.

Thinking about Gretchen Aaronson has become a problem. That girl just fires up my blood in an inexplicable way. Sure, she’s sexy as hell, but so what? The world has no shortage of hot women.

No, there’s something else about her that gets me going, that makes me forget she’s Danny’s little sister and should be off limits by all reasonable standards.

Maybe because she knew me long before I was banished or maybe because she’s never been on a mission to impress me.

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