Chapter 76 Turn to Stone
TURN TO STONE
KOEN
I leave Briar on her knees, stalking out of the bedroom before my emotions can get the better of me. I head for the stairs, fully intending to get the fuck out of here, when something big steps into my path and I come up short, finding myself face to face with Liam.
“Where the fuck do you think you're going?”
“Out. Do you mind?” I motion with my hand for him to kindly get the fuck out of my way.
“I do, actually.” He lifts his chin, drawing attention to the fact that he’s got three inches on me. “We need to talk. Family meeting. Now.”
He turns and stalks down the hall and up the stairs, not bothering to look back, knowing full well that he’s got me. Family meetings aren’t optional, and there’s only one rule: when someone calls a meeting, you show up.
Always.
I follow Liam upstairs, finding Aidan already waiting in the living room for us.
Liam moves to lean up against the kitchen island that separates the rooms. His temper is already running hot, judging by the redness on his face and the clenched fists by his sides.
Neither of them sits, so neither do I, stopping by the door I’m itching to get out of and staring them down.
“Where’s your wife?” I ask Aidan, not seeing Rory anywhere.
“Upstairs. She agreed it was better if we talked alone.”
“I’ve got Alex on the line.” Liam holds up his cell, coming closer to drop the phone on the coffee table, center to all of us, before retreating back to his spot by the island. With things settling down, I sent Alex back out to look for our sister.
“Any luck tracking down Rea, Alex?” Liam asks.
“No. Not a trace,” Alex replies, with resignation in his tone, sounding more tired than I’ve ever heard him.
“I sent her a text,” Aidan speaks up, “about this meeting, but her phone is still off.”
I work a muscle in my jaw. As much as I don’t want to deal with this fucking meeting right now, not having Rea here feels wrong.
So much for rule number one.
A long silence rings out and no one says anything, but the weight of their stares on me is heavy.
“Someone want to tell me what we’re meant to be discussing? I’ve got shit to do.”
Liam frowns. “You can’t avoid her forever, you know.”
I roll my eyes, fists tightening at my side. Of course, this is about Briar.
“I’m not avoiding her. I was just with her,” I bite back, although my words lack any conviction, and both my brothers pick up on it.
“You have to deal with this, Koen. It’s been over three days.” Aidan says calmly.
“Weren’t you like… stalking her?” Liam asks, and I fix my glare on him.
“Yes,” I say, my tone clipped and short.
“But you didn’t know she had a kid?”
“No,” I bite out, clenching my jaw.
He laughs, the fucker. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… you’re a terrible stalker.”
“Shut the fuck up, Liam,” I growl. “She betrayed me. Betrayed us. Briar is the reason you were almost killed the other night, in case you’ve forgotten that little fact.”
My bite doesn’t dim his swagger, and he leans back further. “Aye, she is. I haven’t forgotten, because Briar is also the reason I wasn’t. She called you, she confessed; that’s got to count for something…”
I scoff, refusing to look at either one of them.
“She lied to me for years. Would she ever have even told me if I hadn’t—” I stop myself.
Kidnapped her? Christ, that’s hardly a defense.
“Who's to say she’s not still lying? Is that kid really even mine?” My words come out bitter, and I regret them almost instantly, but I’m too stubborn to take them back.
“Don’t even start with that shit,” Liam snarls. “She’s got your eyes, your attitude; that little girl is your spitting image, and you know it. And her name is Remi.”
I look away because I know he’s right. There was never any doubt in my mind, from the second I looked into that child’s eyes—Remi—I knew she was mine; I felt it deep in my bones.
“Christ, you’ve gone ice cold.” Liam pushes off the island, crossing his arms and shaking his head, looking down on me.
“On Briar, on the kid… You don’t get to freeze her out, Rí.
Not when there’s a kid in the middle. You’ve spent your whole life fighting for this family, bleeding for it, and now, when it’s your own flesh and blood, you’re going to stand here and pretend she doesn’t matter? ”
My throat tightens. Anger and guilt eating me alive. But the betrayal still burns hotter. Briar hid my kid, lied to me, spied on me, sold my brother out to the fucking Italians and Russians, and I’m just supposed to move past it? Get over it?
No.
“What do you want to do?” he continues, when I stay silent. “Kill your kid’s mom?” Liam asks me point blank. The gloves are off; he’s not holding back.
My shoulder twitches, and I roll it back, cracking my neck to release the growing tension.
Yes. There is a part of me that wants to wrap my hands around Briar’s throat, a part of me that wants to put a bullet between her pretty blue eyes for what she’s done.
For the years stolen, how she’d been playing me for weeks…
who knows what information she’s been feeding to Gio—and for how long.
It was all a lie. Everything about this girl was a fucking lie.
Every instinct within me screams for blood, demands I make her pay.
But when I picture it—her body still, bright eyes dark—something inside me reels back.
I couldn’t, even in the moments I find myself blind with rage, I know I could never bring myself to hurt her.
And it goes against everything I was taught, how I was raised.
Betrayal means death. There are no exceptions.
It’s weakness. She’s my weakness. And for the first time in my life, I don’t have a plan.
I don’t know what to do or how to move forward.
Briar ruined me. Even now, with her locked away down the hall, I can’t fucking shake her. I can’t kill her, but I’ll never be able to forgive her.
“We all know you’re not going to touch her,” Aidan says, finally breaking the simmering tension between Liam and me.
My hot-headed little brother coming in as the voice of reason in this situation—who would have thought?
“But now what? You’ve got the two of them locked up here.
Your issues with Briar aside, Remi is innocent; punishing Briar only hurts Remi in the end. ”
“I missed everything,” I mutter, my throat raw, finally meeting Aidan’s eyes.
His hard stare softens before he speaks again. “Then don’t miss another second. You can’t get those years back, but you can damn well decide what kind of father you’re going to be now.”
Silence hangs heavy in the room, the truth staring me right in the face.
They’re right.
“I’ll deal with the kid—Remi,” I say finally. My voice is hard, final. “But her? Briar made her choice when she kept the truth from me. She betrayed my trust when she sold us out to Giovanni. She doesn’t get another chance.”
Aidan’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t argue. I hear Liam mutter something under his breath, but I let it go, stalking for the stairs leading to the guest room on the upper level, since apparently, I’m staying the fucking night.