Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 111

ASHER

No one is home when I storm into the mansion and by no one, I mean everyone who gives a fuck about Demi; mother and my brothers. I am not surprised to find father home but the surprise kicks in when he isn’t in his study but in his bedroom.

Even with the lights turned on, his room has a dark hue to it. I find him on his couch, sipping a glass of chardonnay. The fury simmering inside me erupts like a volcano at the small smile playing on his lips when I barge into his room. He must have been expecting me. He must find everything humorous.

"How could you, father? How could you do such a thing?"

Carefully, he sets his glass down and adjust his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "Do what, Asher?"

"With all due respect, father, playing ignorant doesn’t suit you. You know exactly what I am talking about!"

"As a matter of fact, son, I don’t. I did a couple of things today, some even involving you so unless you clarify, I’m afraid I won’t be able to follow."

Very typical of him. "Nessa confessed everything. You asked her to keep me distracted while you orchestrated Demi’s attack. Do you deny it?"

"Why would I? I did in fact send men after her to do something you clearly don’t have the balls to do. Tell me, Asher, what was your grand plan for getting rid of that thing Demi was carrying? How long had you known she was pregnant?" At my silence, he shakes his head. "I thought you were very much like me and didn’t flinch when doing what needs to be done. Are you suddenly developing a conscience?"

"I was handling it!" I snarl angrily. "You shouldn’t have interfered. Now, she’s all battered and bruised in the hospital and my brothers are asking questions and pointing fingers at me! If you had let me handle things my way, Ashley would never have found out about that baby. Demi would have terminated it quietly."

"You’re so confident she would have, aren’t you?"

"Yes, I am. You seem to be forgetting how persuasive I can be, father." I rake my hand through my hair. "This is exactly why we don’t confide in you about anything. You don’t think about the ripple effect of the action you’re about to take before you take it. How do you think they’re all going to take it after today? Aren’t you the least bit worried that they will never forgive you for this, especially Ashton and Ashley?"

"Well, who’s going to tell them I had anything to do with this?" He inclines his head as a sly smile tugs at the side of his lips.

"What?"

"Come on, Asher. You know me better than that. I just told you earlier today that I was trying to bridge the gap between my sons and I. Do you honestly think I’ll let you go blabbing to them that I had something to do with Demi’s condition even if they won’t believe you? I can’t let your mother think I just robbed her of the chance to be a grandmother."

My head is spinning slowly now. I can’t believe what he is insinuating. "You want me to take the fall for this."

He gets up on his feet and pats my shoulder. "If you’re going to take over Rollins Empire one day, you have to learn to be comfortable with not being liked. You’ll make tough decisions and be put in tough situations just like you find yourself right now but remember, it’s for the greater good. I managed to tackle the problem with Demi within an hour of being informed about it. Think of every other snag you and I can effectively deal with for good?"

"My brothers will hate me." I croak out in despair.

"Oh, they’ll get over it. I haven’t died from their hatred, have I? They have a lot of maturing to do, Asher. You can’t be too hung up on their feelings towards you. You are their big brother. This is what it means to be a leader. It’s a position that is secretly admired by many but when you assume that position, you realize that it can be quite difficult and unsavory most times."

I drop on the couch and cover my face with my hands.

"What if I can’t do this? What if I can’t take the blame on your behalf?"

Father’s face is drained of all humor as the words leave my lips.

"I don’t think you have an option here. I am aware you hired some men to tail Demi today. My men ran them off the road. I can easily guess what you hired them to do. Duncan already has their address. It wouldn’t be an uphill task getting them to confess to hurting Demi, would it? I’m sure I can top whatever you paid them."

How can he be so evil? He had all this figured out in just a few hours?

Father sits next to me with a hand on my shoulder. I want to rip it apart given how much I loathe him right now.

"Think about it, Asher. Even if you manage to convince them that you didn’t actually hurt Demi, how will you explain the men you hired to go after Demi? Who will believe that you merely wanted to coax her? The only thing everyone will see is that I beat you to something you wanted to do. How does that help either of us? Look, I am asking you to take the blame because it’s the only way you and I can get away with this easily. Your brothers and your mother will eventually forgive you like they always do. As for me, it won’t be that easy, not with your mother. Do you want to find the dining table missing a member? The atmosphere in the house will be frigid once they all ostracize me."

I massage my temples as a loud ringing sound echoes in my head. I need my pills. I can’t deal with this without the goddamn pills. I stand and stagger towards the door. As I grab the knob, a single thought occurs to me. When I spin around to face him, father is back in his original position with his wine glass in his hand.

"I’ll do it." I tell him. He smiles and nods his head but I am far from done. "You’re going to give me the adoption papers to hand over to Ashton. It’s the least you can do for putting me in this predicament. I want to have a bargaining chip when Ashton comes after me. It’ll buy me time to explain myself and beg for forgiveness."

Father sets his lips in a hard line and thinks for a minute.

"Fine."

I watch him cross over to his bathroom and return a few minutes later. He passes me the document in an envelope. I didn’t realize he had another safe in his damn bathroom. I hastily rip it open and flip through the document. I can’t believe the papers exist. I stifle my relief and tuck the file under my arm before leaving. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

My phone has been blowing up with Ashton’s call. I know it will be foolish to head to the hospital right now and be confronted by my brothers. I have to be smart about this.

Ashton must have impressed on the minds of everyone that I am behind it all. Ashley will be too distracted by his grief and worry for Demi to take his anger out on me. Ashal will be on mom watch while she processes everything that has happened.

My best bet is to lure Ashton away from the hospital and try to defend myself. It might result in several blows and a black eye but if I can quell his temper, then I can get through to the rest of my brothers.

I text him where to meet me, knowing he’ll leave everything and rush over.

He finds me standing by a lake with the file in my hand. I watch him get down from his car and without bothering to shut the door or turn of his headlights, march towards me.

"Wait, Ashton, you need to know something first."

My words go right over his head as he gives me a punch in the face that sends me thudding to the ground with a broken nose. I barely manage to pull myself up when the next blow lands. Blood spurts from my mouth.

"I WARNED YOU THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES IF YOU PUT HER LIFE AT RISK BY LETTING THAT THUG ROAM FREE."

"Ashton, we can talk about this."

"YOU REALLY HATE HER SO MUCH THAT YOU SICCED THAT RABID DOG ON HER? SHE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU AND BECAUSE OF YOUR BASELESS ACCUSATIONS, YOU PUT HER LIFE IN DANGER. SHE LOST YOUR BROTHER’S CHILD! DID YOU EVEN STOP TO THINK ABOUT ASHLEY? GO SEE WHAT A MESS HE IS RIGHT NOW." His chest heaves with breath. "MOTHER IS DISTRAUGHT ALL BECAUSE OF YOU."

"I’m sorry, man. I’m really sorry."

"Sorry won’t resurrect that lost life."

He straddles me on the ground. My body shudders as he punches me again.

"Ashton, wait!" His arm is reeled back to deliver another blow. I don’t know if I can get through that and retain my consciousness. "The file, please, I need you to take a look at it. Just one minute, please." He continues to pin me with a hot glare, breathing heavily, "Please Ashton, just take a look."

After a few humming seconds, he gets off me, walks back to grab the file that’s almost buried by sand. With his headlights beamed on him, he flips through the document. I watch his eyes cloud over as realization dawns. While he is distracted, I stagger to my feet and wipe the blood and sand off my body and face.

"I know this is hardly the time to talk about that but I needed you to calm down a bit so I can get through to you." His red eyes lift from the document to my face.

"Where did you get this?"

"I’ll come back to that later but you have to hear me out first, Ashton. I didn’t do that to Demi. I swear I am not responsible." I press my eyes shut and paraphrase. "No, what I mean is I am somewhat responsible. I was out with father this morning. He was asking a lot of questions about a lot of things. One thing led to another and it slipped from my tongue that I suspect Demi could be pregnant."

"What?"

"I’ve been observing her. I had concrete reasons to believe so. I found pregnancy sticks in Anna’s bathroom and she confirmed it belonged to a friend. When I checked, the said friend doesn’t exist. I immediately realized they had to have been Demi’s."

"You told father?" Ashton repeats, fuming.

"It slipped. I’m sorry but back to what I was saying. Father wasn’t pleased about it. He doesn’t want Demi birthing his grandchild. I convinced him that I would handle it and by that I meant I would talk to Demi about it, find out if she was truly pregnant, inform Ashley so both of them can decide what to do next."

Ashton snorts. He doesn’t believe me. I ignore the bitter truth and carry on.

"Father planned with Nessa to distract me. She drugged me. I woke up to your call and when you told me about Demi, I knew it had to be him. Trust me, Ashton, I didn’t do this. Father is making me take the fall for him. I don’t mind doing so with Ashley and Ashal but I needed one person to know the real truth. You have to believe me. I know I am the most culpable here but I am not as vile as our father, not yet. I didn’t do that to Demi."

A few seconds go by as Ashton’s grim face continues to glare at me. Finally, he stomps forward.

"Tell me you didn’t plan on doing exactly what father did to Demi, Asher."

My throat dries up.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t plan to terminate Demi’s pregnancy because it displeased you!"

I swallow hard. "I’m sorry, Ashton. I wasn’t okay with it but my methods to have her get rid of it would have been less gruesome."

I expect another punch but it doesn’t come. Instead, Ashton grits his teeth.

"You believe me." I can see it in his eyes. I know he knows father isn’t exactly a saint but I had expected him to make me his culprit and accuse me of trying to avoid the blame by making things up about father.

"You actually believe me." I gasp in relief, then catch myself. "I’m sorry. How is Demi coping? I would love to go to the hospital to check on her but I don’t think anyone wants to see me there right now."

Being reminded of Demi’s poor state makes the rage return to Ashton’s eyes.

"I mean it, Ash. I want to know how she is faring."

"She hasn’t woken up yet. The doctor says she’ll recover." He turns to face me. "If you didn’t do this and Iman wasn’t behind it, then father must have sent some of our men to hurt Demi?"

"Yes. It appears so." Father has no thugs. If he wants to get work done, he’ll likely send men from our security detail even if they have to dress for the part. Ashton’s eyes narrow in thought.

"Is there a chance father could have hired thugs to do this?"

"He got Nessa to text me within minutes after I told him about Demi. While she whisked me away, he sent men after Demi. He couldn’t have had the time to hire any thugs. Why would he hire thugs when he has a lot of men at his disposal to get their hands dirty for him?" I can tell there’s a lot on Ashton’s mind. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing." His eyes dip to the file he must have forgotten was in his hand. "Where did you get this, Asher?"

"Father gave it to me. It was in a safe in his bathroom, I guess. He knows that you searched his office. I convinced him to give them to you tonight before all this happened. I’m glad this puts your mind at peace."

He continues to stare at the document.

"Something wrong?"

"There’s something I have to tell the quads." He replies cryptically.

***

When I reach the hospital, trailing behind Ashton, my heart is far from being at ease. I know there’s still work to be done regarding the rest of my brothers. Ashton might know the truth but I have to take the fall in front of Ashley and Ashal so father believes I did as he asked.

"I’ll just wait outside." I tell Ashton as he walks through the door to Demi’s room. Outside, I run my hands over my face and expel a deep breath. Maybe I should go in and get this over with. When I open my eyes, Anna is standing in front of me with teary eyes.

"Asher?"

"Anna." I reply, lunging to my feet. Beyond the tears shimmering in her eyes, there are traces of anger. When I reach for her hand, she steps back. "Anna, how is she?"

"She woke up a while back but fell unconscious again."

"She’ll be fine. We have to trust the doctor."

"Tell me you had nothing to do with her condition."

"What?"

"You overheard us that night, didn’t you?" She asks as tears roll down her eyes. "You heard Demi talking. You knew about her pregnancy and now this happens."

"Anna, I didn’t do this."

"But you knew, didn’t you?"

"You knew she was pregnant?" I turn as Ashley steps out with murder in his eyes. "You knew and you didn’t tell me? Instead, you sent your thugs after her to kill my baby?" Ashton intervenes in time before Ashley can attack me. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME, ASH. HE DID THIS. HE KILLED MY CHILD."

Mother steps out too, her eyes damp with tears. Ashal is by her side. The look he gives me causes a fresh tear in my heart. While Ashton pulls Ashley away to calm his nerves, Ashal demands that I leave as my presence will only upset everyone.

Anna ignores me and returns to check on Demi with mother and Ashal. My head starts to pound again. Saddened by the position I find myself, I storm away.

I drive aimlessly for a bit before father’s call comes through.

"What other dirty work do you have for me, dearest father?"

"I was just calling to check on you, son. I know you don’t want to talk to me right now. I want to assure you that your sacrifice won’t go in vain. I will do everything in my power to make sure your brothers forgive you."

I blink away the wetness in my eyes. I can’t believe I am so hurt I might actually cry.

"Gee, thanks father. That’s really kind of you."

"Don’t be sarcastic, Asher. One day, you’d look back on the lesson I have taught you today and thank me profusely."

"Well, that day isn’t today so please get off my phone." I hang up and slam my hands on my steering wheel, startling some bystanders on the road. My eyes are getting blurry but not because of the traces of tears in them. I reach into my glove box for my pills to combat the dizziness but find the case empty. Shit. How did I forget to get another supply from doctor Ezra?

I pull over and rest my head on the steering wheel. Anna keeps declining my calls. I need her help right now. Ashton’s call come in but I refuse to take it. I can’t let him or anyone of my family members see me like this.

Outside, the street is bereft of people. Most of the shops are closed. Breathing heavily, I step down from my car hoping against hope that I can find a pharmacy nearby. A lady approaches me from the sidewalk. She has a backpack on.

"Excuse me, miss. Is there a pharmacy around here?"

I can tell she’s a bit fearful. I slump against my car and beg when she quickens her pace.

"Please, I could use your help. I’ll pay for your assistance."

She halts and turns to me. "What do you need help with?"

"Don’t be scared, please. I promise I mean you no harm."

"What do you need help with, sir?"

"I need to use your phone to call my friend. Mine’s dead.

Still maintaining her distance, she helps me dial Anna’s number and tells her about my condition. Anna assures her that she is on her way.

"Thank you so much." I tell her. "Here, a little token for your time."

"I don’t want your money."

"Please, for your time and your kindness."

"Thank you but I didn’t do it to get paid." She tucks her phone in her bag.

"Can I know your name at least? I’m guessing you know mine."

"You’re one of the Rollins quads."

"Right. And you are?"

"Samantha Barrish"

"Thanks again, Samantha." I can swear she sounds familiar. If I wasn’t so dizzy, I probably would have made out her face even in the faint light. She sounds and moves like the scared girl from the bar the other time.

"Hey Skylar!" Her little trotting legs freeze at my words. I guessed as much. "You should probably avoid walking alone at night along empty streets like this, and going to places you don’t feel comfortable in like the bar the last time. Piece of advice. Thanks again, Skylar."

She only scampers away, leaving me wondering why she has a lot of aliases.

Anna shows up a few minutes after Skylar left with a prescription from doctor Ezra and offers it to me. She stays only long enough to watch me take the pill and regain my bearing before attempting to leave.

"Anna, please, you have to trust me. I didn’t hurt Demi. I can’t put up with your hatred too."

She whips her head to glare at me. "Trust you? Did you really just ask me to trust you? Even if I believe for one second against my better judgement that you didn’t hurt my friend and cause her to lose her unborn child, how am I supposed to ignore this, Asher?" She shoves her phone in my face and my heart sinks. Nessa sent a pic of us together to Anna? How dare she?

Anna wipes her eyes. "Demi was right. I should never have trusted you to begin with. I knew you were wrong for me but I deluded myself into thinking that it wouldn’t hurt when you showed me your true colors. I was wrong and now I will always feel like a fool who caused herself unnecessary and avoidable pain."

She gets a call that Demi is awake and scurries off back to the hospital. I lay back in my car and wait for the ringing in my head to stop.

The pill isn’t working as fast as it used to. My symptoms are still there but I pretended to be fine while Anna was here. I might need to make a decision and get my surgery done soon.

Anna will certainly not be by my side now. With everything that has transpired tonight, I doubt my family will surround my hospital room the way they have done for Demi. I really don’t blame them. Maybe I am just as vile as father is.

I dial father’s line as he is the only one that will pick up right now.

"Asher."

A single tear runs down my left eye.

"Asher? Are you there?"

"Father, I’m dying." I whimper with a broken voice.