This time I do flinch over his vulgarity. “Jules would never have let you touch her. What the hell did you do to my sister?”
He rolls his eyes. “Look, I wasn’t planning to share this story with you but if you’re going to start making slanderous accusations then you leave me with no choice.”
He glances at his wife’s portrait, frowns, and then sighs.
“Julianne showed up here one night and sat down at the bar while I was making the rounds. She was alone. She said it was her twenty first birthday and she seemed a little weepy and pathetic so I gave her a drink. She asked to come home with me. Before you assume the worst, you should know that she was aware that I was about to be married. Whitney happened to be in the city that weekend. Yes, Gretchen, I took your sister home and fucked the living daylights out of her just like she begged me to. I’m guilty of that. But there were no promises made. Then Julianne comes to me a few months later with the news that she’s pregnant. What’s more, she wants money. I gave her money and I kept giving it to her. I’ve never had anything to do with those kids because that’s the way she wanted it. So there you have it. Your sister was after cash and a sperm donor and she schemed her way into getting them. Julianne got exactly what she wanted.”
During his horrid speech my hand moves to my mouth but this doesn’t extinguish the urge to vomit. This description of Jules isn’t one I can picture.
But Liam Cassini isn’t finished. He leans forward and drops his voice into something hideously sensual. “I will admit, your sister was one eager little wildcat. Fucking her was fun. I’ll bet you really enjoy opening those pretty legs of yours too. We could have had a good time, you and me, if only I were interested in sticking my dick into my little brother’s leftovers.”
He notes my horrified face and smiles with satisfaction. “Interesting. I wasn’t sure about that. You and Trent. I would have credited you with better taste and more sense.” Then he checks his watch. “I’ve got a real meeting in two minutes so I’m afraid we need to cut this short. But you tell my kid brother to come and see me real soon. He and I now have a lot to talk about.”
There’s nothing I can say right now that won’t make the situation even worse. Without another word, I bolt from Liam Cassini’s office, down the stairs and out to the parking lot before I take another breath.
For a moment, I need to lean on the hood of the minivan so that I don’t fall over. Then I realize he might be watching from a window so I straighten up, get behind the wheel and take the road back to town.
Despite the bright sunny day, I can see nothing but bleakness ahead.
Not only have I provoked Liam Cassini by exposing a truth he’s been hiding, but I’ve also given him ammunition to extort Trent.
And I have little doubt that’s what he has in mind. There was too much bad blood between them already and now they’re at war over the fate of the brewery. Liam is capable of terrible things and the twins are now caught in the crossfire.
The film of tears in my eyes gets angrily blinked away. This is not a time to fall apart.
The girls don’t need to be picked up from preschool for another three hours. Trent had conference calls scheduled for most of the day. He always works at his house and I know that’s where I’ll find him.
With my heart in pieces, I ring his doorbell and he answers quickly.
“Hey.” His smile disappears when he inspects my face. He reaches for me with alarm, pushing my hair away, cupping my chin. “Baby, what happened? What is it?”
I jump into his arms and sob on his shoulder as he holds me.
Then I tell him everything.
13
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.