Page 66 of Whatever Will Be

Trent

With effort, I quit pacing back and forth because Gretchen is already upset enough. She sits on the sofa, the lone piece of furniture in my bare living room, and the sight of her face wracked with misery just rips me to shreds.

I’m struggling to come to terms with the revelation that Mara and Caitlin were fathered by my brother. I think back to the day when he showed up here and remember the shrewd flash in his eyes when he spotted Gretchen and the twins. It was the look of a man who is used to using and abusing people to get his way. If Liam would happily destroy his own teenage brother then he likely wouldn’t have many qualms about wrecking the lives of two little girls who mean nothing to him.

Even if they are his children.

Liam and Jules must have made a deal. Something like he’d fork over some financial support if she kept the twins’ paternity a secret. For the life of me, I can’t picture Jules Aaronson getting dirty with my brother. Back when I lived in Lake Stuart, Liam never showed the slightest interest in any member of the Aaronson family. He laughed when Alex Aaronson went to prison. He would tell Danny to fuck off whenever Danny came around looking for me. As far as I know, he never spoke a word to either Gretchen or Jules.

I drop to my knees in front of Gretchen and separate her knees, sliding between them to look her in the face. “He lies.”

She nods.

“Don’t believe whatever shit he told you about Jules.”

Her chin trembles. “I know. But it doesn’t matter. She’s gone and he’s their father. He could take them if he wanted to.”

The thought makes my stomach flip. Trying to keep Gretch from seeing my internal panic, I bend forward and brush my lips over hers. “I’ll fix this, honey.”

I don’t know if I can.

I have to.

Liam’s not getting his sadistic hands on those little girls. He doesn’t care about the twins anyway or he would have been knocking on the door long ago. The danger is that he now sees them as an opportunity to get something else, something he actually does want.

Gretchen begins to look hopeful, and then she remembers something and sucks her lower lip between her teeth. “He hates you, Trent.”

I stand and pull her up off the sofa. “Don’t worry. He can’t hurt me.”

That’s not true. Liam no longer has the authority to lock me up and throw away the key. But he can hurt me in a way that’s far worse by using the people I love.

And I do love Gretch. The twins too.

That’s why I kiss my beautiful girl softly and tell her to go home and try to relax before she needs to pick up the kids. They’ll be alarmed if they see their beloved aunt is distraught.

Her bright green eyes blink up at me. “What are you going to do?”

I put my arm around her shoulders and walk her outside. “I’m going to go pay Liam a visit, like he wants.”

Liam’s car is not parked in front of the brewery, but then again it’s now the lunch hour. It would be just like him to brutally taunt Gretchen to the point of despair and then go celebrate by pigging out on a steak.

Fine, I’ll wait. If he’s not back in an hour then I’ll go hunt him down.

A wiser plan would be to call my lawyer and get some legal input but I already know I’m not sitting in a strong position so there’s no point. The only course of action is to figure out what it will take to keep him away from the twins and make that happen.

After fifteen minutes of sitting in the parking lot and staring at Rosebriar Hill the thought occurs to me that I don’t need to wait out here. That building should be mine as much as it is Liam’s, probably more. Because, unlike him, I loved our father. I would have treated the company Carmine Cassini built with care and respectfully honored the family name.

No, I’m not hanging out in the fucking parking lot for another second. I’m going inside.

The main entrance is unlocked. There are bound to be employees milling around and I’m hardly through the door before I run into one.

“Trent!” Alvie Custer started working for my father in the brewery’s early days and I’m surprised to see that he has stuck around through the Liam years. Not many employees did.

Alvie’s heavily lined face cracks a smile and he pumps my hand. “It’s been way too many years, kiddo. Damn, it’s good go see you back in here.”

I return his handshake with enthusiasm even though I’m distracted. Alvie was loyal to my father and counted him as a friend. Ordinarily I’d jump at the chance to have this chat but there are other things to worry about today.

“Good to see you too.” I drop his hand and gesture to the small army of cocktail tables that are currently being carried into the atrium. “Looks like you’re getting ready for an event here.”

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