Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 114

ASHTON

Ashley’s raised voice on the phone catches my attention. I retrace my steps and advance towards his room.

"Ash, are you okay?"

When he doesn’t reply, I let myself in. His room is a hot mess. He continues to stand and beg on the phone. From the snippets of his conversation which I manage to pick up, he’s talking to Demi. They’ve been in a very bad place since her miscarriage. She’s gone off the rails. Ashley chucks his phone to the corner of the room and rubs absentmindedly at a spot just above his eyebrow.

"Hey, Ashley, calm down."

"She’s not coming home, Ashton. She’s so pissed at me that she has moved in with Anna for the time being." He whistles a breath while a small, unfunny smile tugs at the corners of his lips. "She doesn’t know how long she’ll be staying or how long it’ll take her to forgive me. She’ll stay at Anna’s, go to work from there and will only return to the mansion when..." He trails off and plunks down on his bed.

"When what?" I ask, crouching beside his nervous form. I haven’t seen him this nervous since Shay’s attacks. "When what, Ash?"

"When I tell the entire family about Nicci."

"Nicola? What’s there to tell?" We all know she’s his ex whom he hasn’t been able to let go of. Why would Demi be upset about Nicola right now?

"I don’t understand, Ashley. Did Nicci have something to do with Demi’s miscarriage?"

"No." Ashley pushes to his feet and holds his head in his hands. "God, I fucked up." He starts pacing his room and with every gasp or bad-tempered kick to the innocent furniture, my anxiety grows. I grab him by his shoulders and try to shake some calm into him.

"You have to stop beating yourself up about the miscarriage. There’s nothing you could have done. You didn’t even know about the pregnancy to begin with. Give Demi some time. She’s still grieving. She’ll come around eventually."

Demi can’t stay over at Anna’s for too long. If father gets wind of her recent relocation, he’ll just send bodyguards to go pick her up.

"We’ll have to keep this from father so he doesn’t send men in black to go forcefully bring her back home. Mother too. She’s a bit anxious about Demi’s hysterical display the last time so she may side with father in bringing her home. That might just worsen thing between you and Demi..." I trail off when I realize Ashley shaking his head. "What is it?"

"You don’t understand."

"Then make me understand."

"Nicci has nothing to do with Demi losing our unborn child."

"Then what does Demi want you to tell the family about Nicci?"

Ashley fixes me with a frustrated look. There, in his eyes, realization dawns on me. My fingers fall from his shoulders. It can’t be. This time, I shake my head and laugh nervously.

"You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t!"

"I didn’t mean to. It was an accident!"

"AN ACCIDENT? DEMI JUST LOST HER CHILD AND YOU’RE HAVING ANOTHER WITH YOUR EX? HOW COULD YOU BE SO RECKLESS?" I shove at his chest, anger blazing in my eyes. Why does he always have to make Demi suffer?

"I’m sorry. I didn’t want this."

I rake a hand through my hair, suddenly feeling intense grief for Demi. No wonder she lost it the last time. This is the worst period of her life. She has been betrayed by her family and her husband while nursing tremendous pain over the loss of her child. How could Ashley do this?

"Ashton, please, I need all the help I can get. Nicci is keeping the baby but she doesn’t want to be a single mum. She’s threatening me to divorce Demi and marry her or she’ll reveal everything. She’s got steamy videos and pictures of us together. She has screenshots of our messages, recordings of our calls. I don’t know why she flipped in one night. She’s trying to ruin me."

"And that is supposed to be surprising? She has done it once before and yet you let her back into your life. I can’t believe you’re even more worried about yourself right now. What happens to Demi? Are you going to do Nicci’s bidding and cast your wife away in spite of everything she’s been through?"

"No, I won’t. Believe me, I still cherish Demi. I don’t want things to end between us like this. I still care about her but Nicci’s pregnancy is more urgent right now. If I don’t find a way to handle this, then everything I have suffered to build, including our family’s reputation, will go up in flames. Ash," He takes my hand with a pitiful look on his face. "I can’t sink into that depressive state again. I don’t think I’ll make it this time. Please help me talk to our brothers. I’ll need all hands on desk to fix this problem of mine. I’ll even forgive Asher if that’s what it’ll take to put his mind to work to help me deal with Nicci."

He’s desperate. I yank my hands away from his and indulge in a long sigh.

Everybody sits quietly after I drop the bomb on them. Asher is done feeling guilty like father asked and sits with his head held high. However, his face is pinched with worry. I know he’s deliberating on a quick solution so nothing affects the company’s stock market prices. Ashal’s face is hard to read.

"Does mother know?" Ashal asks.

"Yes. She has promised to think of a plan but I am too nervous to leave you guys in the dark. I know we somehow find a way to fix our messes faster and neater as quads so I thought to share."

Asher scoffs. "You’re right about us cleaning our messes faster and neater but don’t forget most of those messes happen to be false claims against us, emphasis is on the word ’false’. If Nicci is truly pregnant with your child, then you picked the worst time to sire a child. If her career was still thriving and her father was still in power, she wouldn’t have even told you about the baby in order to preserve all that. She would have terminated it quietly." We all give him a look.

"I’m sorry. I know it’s too soon to make comments like that but you get what I mean."

"No, Asher, we don’t." I reply. "Why don’t you elaborate?"

"I’m not advocating for an abortion. I have learnt my lesson. I think I might have a way of convincing Nicola to keep the baby without tainting Ashley’s name and reputation."

After he shares his plan with us, Ashley exhales deeply.

"I hope this works."

"It will, trust me." Asher gives me a look I instantly recognize. I nod at him. "Hey, Ashley, Ashal, there’s something I have to tell you guys but you must promise not to lash out or give away the fact that you’ve come to know the truth." His eyes sweep the room. He rubs both hands together and huffs out a breath.

"Ashley, I didn’t have Demi attacked. It’s like I told you from the jump, I didn’t do it."

Ashley steals a glance at me, then back to Asher. "If you didn’t do it, then who had those men attack her and kill my baby?"

A long, uncomfortable pause follows his question. Asher trades glances with me. I turn to the rest of my brothers.

"Father did it."

***

"That can’t be true."

Ashley is up on his feet with a murderous look in his eyes. They wheel to Asher. "I told you I was ready to forgive you if you helped me out with Nicci. What’s the need to lie against our father just to save your hide?"

"He’s not lying, Ashley." I defend Asher uncharacteristically. Everyone turns to me. "Father arranged everything. He had his men attack Demi and by his men, I mean the same ones that hover around him and this mansion every damn day. He doesn’t need to hire thugs. Most of our bodyguards have worked with him for a very long time. They’ll do his bidding without asking questions even if it’s an order to maim one of us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sit down, Ashley. There’s a lot I haven’t told you guys but that’s about to change. Let me start by saying that Asher is telling the truth. Father had him take the blame for Demi’s attack to cover his own tracks. Asher didn’t do it. Sure, he isn’t particularly fond of Demi and is the most culpable of the crime committed against her but he truly didn’t do it this time. He told father over brunch that Demi is pregnant. Displeased with the idea, father texted Nessa with instructions to distract Asher and even drug him so his minions can go take care of his dirty work against Demi."

"Yeah, Nessa confessed everything when I confronted her."

Ashley’s eyes droops with pain. "How could father do that to me? That was MY child!" His eyes are misty when they climb back on my face.

"Trust me, there’s a lot about father’s distasteful acts that you don’t know. For now, we have to keep Nicci’s pregnancy away from him."

"Why? Is he going to kill her baby too if he finds out?"

"Do you really want to find out, Ashley? That’s what I thought." Asher replies.

"Does this mean that Olivia is in danger too?" Ashal breaks his pensive thoughts. He looks up at us frightfully. "I also told father about her pregnancy. Could he be plotting to harm her too?"

I go to him. "Calm down, Ashal. I don’t think father will touch Olivia for now given your threat. He was only able to hurt Demi because he believed Ashley would never suspect him. He does things like this and ensures that fingers will never be pointed accusatorily at him. I think Olivia is in the clear for now."

With that said, I hurry to inform them about our sister. I also need everyone to be onboard with the plan to find and protect our sister from father’s claws. I tell them everything I have learnt about Zoe/Adriana so far.

"You broke your promise!"

"I know, Asher and I apologize. I tried to ignore it. I really did but I just couldn’t. I wanted to pursue the lead I had till I confirmed that the story was false. I was too afraid to be riddled with guilt if it turned out to be true and our sister is out there somewhere."

"You also lied about Cree." Ashley adds with a bitter stare.

"Again, I apologize for that." I keep my eyes on Ashley this time. "I wanted to confirm the truth of her words before bringing this to you all. I’m sorry. I know it seemed insensitive when I kept defending her after what you went through but that wasn’t to spite you. She was helping me out with finding Adriana. I hope you can understand." Ashley dismisses my plea with a wave.

"Can we see the picture Keith sent?" Ashal asks. A small smile breaks on my face as I quickly whip out my phone and pass the photo along. They all take turns to get a good look at her.

"She looks familiar."

I turn to Asher. "How so?"

"I met someone that looks just like her a while back. I can’t say for certain that they’re one and the same but the resemblance is there." He passes my phone back to me. Can I join you in meeting her? I’d know for sure if I see her again."

"I don’t think Keith or Adriana will like that. Maybe some other time if she allows it. She seems like the jittery type for good reason."

My words remind everyone of the horrid details of the demise of our biological parents. My brothers are all finding it difficult to digest and I can relate. Asher insists that he won’t believe that bit until he questions Cree’s informant. Ashal concurs with him but Ashley remains mute. I bet he is adjusting his view on father’s capabilities given the heartless murder of his unborn child.

My phone beeps with a message.

"I have to go. I’ll see you all later. Ashley, everything will be fine. We’ll fix this."

Mila has been calling me nonstop. I don’t know why she has chosen to be so clingy and insecure since we officially got engaged. It’s honestly annoying.

A lot has been going on in my family lately. I agree that I haven’t necessarily opened up to Mila about any of it just to ensure nothing leaks. Mila has shown me that she has a tendency to threaten to expose secrets when she doesn’t get her way. Until she becomes a member of the family, I plan to keep her in the dark about a lot of things.

Besides, I doubt she’ll truly sympathize with Demi. The two of them don’t exactly gel as friends.

Speaking of Demi, I spot her sitting by herself on a table tucked away from the best views of the small café. She has sunglasses on. Her drink is untouched. She merely twirls her straw around the cup, sloshing the non-alcoholic beverage with less gusto.

When I slide into the seat across from her, she barely acknowledges my presence.

"HI."

"If you’re here to plead on your brother’s behalf..."

"He’s a dick." I clarify, earning the first decent stare from her. "You don’t deserve to be hurt or betrayed like that. He messed up, big time." She takes off her glasses to reveal the heavy bags under eyes. "You’ve been crying. Hey." I reach for her hand as she battles a sudden influx of tears. "I’m so sorry, Demi. My family has caused you so much pain. You don’t deserve any of it."

She tucks her hands between her thighs. "What do you want, Ashton? You know how your brother gets."

"I wanted to check on you. Ashley just told me you moved in with Anna and why. I was worried about you."

"Well, I am still breathing. Don’t worry. I won’t slit my wrist no matter how many times I think about it."

"You’re thinking suicidal thoughts?" I ask with a panic. "Demi, you can’t allow such thoughts."

"I can and I will because that’s the only way I can distract myself from the fact that Asher totally got away with wrecking my life like he has always wanted and now my husband is preparing to welcome a baby with his ex and you..." She laughs nervously. "You are moving on, getting married to a rich girl that your family prefers. Everyone wins except the poor orphan girl."

"Please, don’t say that." My heart breaks for her as more tears stream down her face. "Demi, you have to be strong."

"He’s going to divorce me to be with Nicci, isn’t he?"

"What? No!"

"Don’t lie to me, Ashton. I can take it. Just tell me. She’s clearly the one he truly loves, the one your family prefers for him and now they’re having a baby together. Your mother is excited to be expecting a grandchild again. What’s more perfect than that? I am just the third wheel in their relationship."

"Ashley isn’t divorcing you. He is pained that his actions have led to this. The baby was an accident but he’s doing his best to handle the problem without giving Nicci her wish."

"What exactly can he do? He can’t hide it forever even if he wants to. Nicci, she’s very devious. She has always wanted to usurp my place in Ashley’s life. She won’t back down." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"She’ll have no choice. You and Ashley belong together. I won’t let her get between the two of you." She allows me to take her hand and squeeze gently. "These dark days will come to an end and you’ll have reasons to smile again."

She closes a hand over mine and rubs gently, causing my breath to hitch.

"I can’t stop thinking that my life would probably have endured less pain if we...if you hadn’t denied me."

Oh crap. This line of conversation is dangerous. She retreats but I find myself clinging onto her hands when she tries to pull them away.

"I haven’t stopped feeling guilty about it. Every time you suffer, I suffer with you. I’m the reason you’re roped into all this."

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty." She shakes her head. "I know it’s wrong to dredge up the past like this but it helps keep me sane. I tried my best to give Ashley a chance. I tried to be a good wife. I even broke my own rules and let him touch me. In spite of everything, I haven’t been able to feel for him a smidgen of what I feel for you. It hurts to force myself to forget that night at the blue Cove or to stop myself from imagining the life you and I can never have. I hate my life."

"Don’t say that. Maybe we weren’t meant to be. I’m sure we’ll find happiness again."

She chuckles. "You’ll find that faster than me. Mila seems amazing. She seems to make you really happy."

"That’s funny. If that were true, I’d probably be sitting here with her and not ignoring her calls."

Our eyes lock. Heat flares inside me with the passion in her eyes. Even the tips of our fingers grazing makes my stomach churn with delight. I wish it was her. I wish I was getting married to her. I’d wed her in a heartbeat.

"Don’t hurt yourself. I won’t forgive you, ever."

Her gaze warms. "if I could talk to you every day like this, that would be easy to obey."

"Then we’ll talk."

"Ok." She smiles sweetly. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her beautiful smile. It disappears in a flash before I can ingrain it in my memory. Suddenly, Demi pulls her hands away from mine and stares at a spot above my head with shocked eyes. When I follow her gaze, my stomach drops.

MILA.