Page 68 of Whatever Will Be

I leave my shirt on the floor. I don’t feel like putting it back on. “All right. I’ll leave town. You hate my guts. The feeling is mutual. I’ll even hand over the thirty five percent interest I’ve acquired in the brewery. I’ll leave, Liam. You’ll never have to send out another hush money child support payment because I’ll take care of the girls. We won’t see each other again.”

Naturally, I’m not going anywhere without Gretch and the twins but I won’t point that out right now. Liam is primarily interested in solving his financial problems. He doesn’t care about his daughters at all. My nieces. A fierce and sudden rush of protective love threatens to give me away.

Liam doesn’t jump at the offer. He continues to stare out the window and scratches his sagging jaw. “You know, you’ve really got the Midas touch. I’ll give you that. What are you, twenty-five? And sitting on top of a fortune that should have taken decades to build. Not bad.”

“Appreciate the praise. Do we have a deal?”

His eyes shift my way. The sharp glint within is terrifying. “With your resources we could build an empire.”

“We? As in you and me? Hell no. Anyway, you’re not capable of building a goddamn birdhouse.” I shake my head. He really has lost his shit.

Liam nods to himself. “No, I think you’ll be sticking around, Trent. You’ll honor our father’s memory by investing in the expansion of Cassini Brewery. As a silent partner, of course, but if you insist on keeping an office here there’s a closet down in the warehouse you could have.”

It takes all my willpower not to leap across the desk and strangle him. “You’ve got some balls bringing Dad into this. I’ve always wondered about something, Liam. At the end, did you help him along to those pearly gates so you could get your inheritance a few days sooner?”

The accusation doesn’t even make him blink. It almost seems like he’s talking to himself. “I have a lot of ideas on how to move the company forward. All it takes is some cash.”

So that’s his plan. He’s going to keep me imprisoned in a different way, using me as a permanent ATM.

And if I stop producing…

“If I refuse, do you intend to go home to your wife and admit you’ve got two kids you forgot to tell her about?”

His lips press into a thin smile. “Now and then Whitney gets the idea that she’d like to be a mother. I could give her that chance. And when the novelty wears off, which it will, we’d have to explore another option for the twins.”

“Jesus, you’re evil.” My face burns and blood roars in my ears. I’ve never been more tempted to commit violence.

Liam would rip the girls from Gretchen and send them away where there would be no one to love them. He wouldn’t lose an hour of sleep over it.

Liam shrugs. “Or they could stay where they are. With their aunt. They wouldn’t even need to learn my name.”

With that suggestion hanging in the air, his phone buzzes on his desk and he answers.

“Hello, gorgeous. Yeah, the place will be all set up for the party tonight. I’ll remind them to string the lights.” He grins at me. “Trent’s here. Yes, it is nice. My brother and I were just discussing our new partnership. Love you too. See you in a few hours, baby.”

Liam wraps up his call with his wife and I swipe my shirt off the floor.

Somehow I feel as trapped as I did at age sixteen when I was shoved into the back of a police car in my underwear.

It doesn’t matter.

I’d be willing to suffer far worse, as long as the twins get to stay with Gretchen.

Liam sees the defeat in my face and his smile broadens.

Fuck him.

He can take every penny I have and keep me running on a treadmill to guarantee I’ll make more. I can deal with it.

“I would invite you to the party tonight,” he calls out as I head for the door with my shirt balled up in one hand. “But I think you’ve got plenty to keep you busy at home. That girl of yours gives off all kinds of slutty little firecracker vibes. Go enjoy a slice of that with your dinner and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

I don’t bother responding. I head for my car so I can go home and break the news to Gretchen.

We’ll get to keep the twins for now.

But until I can think of a way out of this, we belong to Liam.

14

---