Page 81 of Secret Betrayals

Grumbles echo around the table from the brothers.

Pop’s voice cuts through it. “Calm your shit. It’s only for a few minutes. We’ve got family business to handle. Give us the room, you ungrateful bastards.” He chuckles, waving them off.

When Pop speaks, you listen. Light-hearted or not, that’s the final word.

Once the last man exits, my father locks eyes with me. “Talon. I heard about what went down when Gabriella showed up. You lost your shit. Ran your mouth. But you’re not doing that today. You hear me, boy?” He says, giving me a look that says he will put me down if I fuck up.

I glare at him, confused and on edge. “What now?” I mutter. “Seriously, Pop. I just came out of a coma. Can the universe give me five goddamn minutes to breathe?”

“Brian.”

My name. From her mouth.

It punches the air from my lungs. My eyes close. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard her call me that—my real name. And hearing it now? Fuck, it hits different.

There’s so much between us. So much shit, we still have to untangle. So much pain I caused. I was a complete asshole. I own that now. I’ve had time to think—too much time. And the one thing I couldn’t stop circling back to was us. I ended our story. I drove her away. Lied. Cheated. Cut her down when she came back. But I’m not letting that stand as our final chapter. I can’t.

I open my eyes.

She’s staring at me. Those brown eyes I once loved, that used to look at me like I hung the moon, until I taught her to hate me. But right now… right now, those eyes aren’t guarded. They aren’t cold. There’s no fury. No wall.

Just her. The girl I ruined. The girl I failed.

And then, just as fast, the warmth vanishes. The wall slams back into place. Her expression shifts. The Ice Queen returns.

Fuck.

SEE YOU SOON!!!