“No.”
The unusually somber tone in my brother’s voice has me turning slowly back around.
“It can’t.”
I want to ask him what’s so goddamn important, but Liam’s not looking at me. Instead, he’s watching Briar, and there’s a silent conversation passing between the two that sets off a spiral of rage inside me.
Tears fill her eyes as she stares at my brother, and she gives him the tiniest imperceptible shake of her head.
“There’s something you need to see,” Liam tells me, his voice tight.
“Just tell me what it is,” I say, losing my patience.
“No.” Liam rolls his shoulders back, looking me in the eye this time. “You have to see for yourself.”Bloody fucking hell, he’s not letting this go.
“Aidan’s office,” Liam adds quietly, sneaking another weighted glance at Briar.
“Fine.” I storm out of the locker, leaving Briar and taking my brother with me. I slam the door behind us, because there’s no fucking way I am leaving the two of them alone together after whatever the fuck just went down between them.
Stalking into the office, I find Aidan and Rory standing by his desk in quiet conversation, both of whom tense and go silent when I enter.
“Someone care to tell me what the fuck is so goddamn important that it couldn’t wait?—”
My mouth snaps shut when I follow their gaze to the old sofa in the corner, where I find the child we technically kidnapped from Briar’s apartment sitting up.
She’s awake.
The office is silent.
Big, round eyes stare up at me, with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in them.I have to give the little one credit; she hasn’t screamed or cried yet, but under my hard gaze, tears well up in those big green eyes and?—
No.
Her eyes aren’t green… not all the way…they’re fractured in half, right down the middle, one side a dark evergreen, and the other… a dark brown.
I can feel everyone looking at me, but I can’t look away from the little girl’s eyes—my eyes.
Mine.
She’s mine.
69
REMI
BRIAR
No,no, no, no, no, no, no….
Not like this.
Please, god, not like this.
Of all the ways he could have found out about her, this is, without question, the worst possible one.
Koen reappears in the doorway, his eyes on the floor. His expression is unreadable, but not empty. He stops a few feet from me, and his gaze slowly lifts, and he just… shatters everything inside of me with a single look.
He knows.
