Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

DEMI

My birthday was an epic tragedy. Prior to the D-day, I kept having nightmares about my past life with my late parents. Sometimes, the true version of events would play out. Other times, the dreams would get distorted from what actually happened and I would end up orchestrating the act that leads me to lose my parents.

Then, my birthday rolled by and nobody in the mansion bothered to listen to anything I had to say. I wasn’t allowed to not have a party which was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t even have a say in how the party foisted on me was to be organized or who got to be invited. Even my birthday dress was handpicked for me.

No offense to Ashley but I have never felt so uncomfortable in a dress not because of the stitching of the dress but because of the sex appeal it made me ooze. It felt like I was being forced to look like someone else or to be someone else. The guest list didn’t seem like a guest list because everybody seemed to have turned up, even the people that shouldn’t have.

While my husband’s ex was stripping herself bare for everyone to see and splashing in the pool at my party, the man I have a big crush on was being dry humped by his hot girlfriend.

I didn’t even get a chance to fume about anything before I was accosted by my ex-boyfriend from high school who has reasons to suspect my motives for marrying into the elite family connected to the loss of my parents.

To top it all, my best friend who promised to stay by my side and help me navigate the crazy world of the rich and powerful, disappeared on me.

I still can’t get over how fucked up that night was. The party had been organized for me but in so many ways, everyone around me attended to fulfil their selfish ends.

Like my night couldn’t get any worse, I had to wake up the next morning to realize the very same attendees whose invitations I would never have approved of, had spent the fucking night at the mansion.

It just goes to show that the Rollins don’t truly give a damn about me, my opinion and especially my feelings. If they did, they wouldn’t flaunt Nicola in my face knowing fully well that she is my husband’s ex, especially after she disrupted my party and even had sex with Ashley that very night! I grit my teeth as the nasty image flits across my mind.

"Are you okay?"

I look up from the blank screen of my laptop to see Nessa lounging by my door. I didn’t hear or see her come in. I run a hand over my eyes and try to banish the thoughts jostling for attention in my aching head.

"Yeah, just very tired." Nessa edges closer and drops a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc with a red bow on it. I am not surprised. Since my birthday party was aired on the news, I have been getting random gifts from everyone at work. Someone sent a whole hamper of fruits and beverages. I have enough food trays to keep me satisfied at lunch even without having to go to a restaurant during my lunch breaks. I haven’t even had time to tidy up the gifts in my crammed office space due to my wandering, distracted mind.

"Happy belated birthday." Nessa echoes with a sweet smile.

"Thank you, Nessa. That’s very sweet of you."

"I had no idea about your birthday party. I would have prepared something better but it’s not too late. Maybe we can go shopping sometime, you know, bond beyond the office?"

"Yeah. Definitely. I’d love that."

I am down with bonding with her. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to get to know her better than just Asher’s pretty secretary who seems to be into him. I wonder what she’s like when she isn’t fussing over Asher’s schedule.

My eyes absently dip to her stomach. I had seen her with a pregnancy strip coming out of Asher’s office. That was on the very same day she returned from her sick leave. Since then, I’ve seen her drinking. My guess is that she didn’t keep the baby. Did Asher make her terminate it? I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s a stonehearted human being who is obsessed with work. Aside his immediate family and the business, nothing else matters to him.

Speak of the devil, I mutter as Asher comes strolling towards his office. Nessa winks at me and begins to return to her station when Asher halts in his tracks and stares hard at his phone.

Together, Nessa and I watch with astonishment as he backtracks and rushes for the elevator. No matter how loudly she calls to him, whatever he had seen on his phone seems far more important.

"What was that?" I ask Nessa as she grabs her phone to call him. "Is everything okay?"

"He has an important meeting to chair in less than twenty minutes. The chairman will be there. I don’t know how to explain his absence." Nessa is almost biting her nails. I am not surprised she’s also tensed about father. He has that effect on people.

"Shit. I can’t reschedule the meeting. I have already been putting it off for a while and most of the heads of departments had to move things around to be at the meeting today. Mr. Asher is ignoring my calls too. He won’t like it if this meeting holds without him because Josh will likely chair it. Why wouldn’t he tell me what’s going on at the very least."

I go up to her and place a hand on her tensed shoulder to calm her down. "It’s okay."

"No, it’s not. Can you try to call him? Get him to come back or at least remind him of the meeting. Maybe he will listen to you."

I stifle a laugh at Nessa’s cluelessness. Asher only listens to the thing between his legs and father. If he does listen to other people especially around the office, I won’t even make it to the top fifty on that list, assuming he listens to up to fifty people.

"I doubt that. Keep trying. I’ll see if I can stall father. The meeting will definitely not hold if father doesn’t attend, right?"

"Right. Thank you so much, Demi. You’ll literally be saving my life and my job."

Good. I want to make it into her good books, not just as the boss’ daughter-in-law but as a trustworthy friend. If Nessa believes she owes me a debt of gratitude, it could be the start of our friendship and maybe she would eventually open up to me about lots of things.

I have no clue how to stall father as I make my way to his office with a bottle of red wine I had grabbed last minute from my gifts. I silently hope that Pippa from auditing doesn’t see me.

This will be a first for me, visiting father’s office that is. His secretary informs me that he has company. I indicate that it is urgent and pout my lips at the elderly woman who smiles and leaves a message for father. Suddenly, she informs me that I can go in.

I thank her and reach for the door knob only for the door to swing open. A flustered Josh Randall comes out of father’s office, a film of sweat on his face. We lock eyes in that awkward moment but rather than his usual smile, he totally ignores me and brushes my shoulder as he walks away.

is perched behind his desk. His office is

looks very intimidating. My throat dries up and I struggle to form words. "Are you here to

just...I wanted to thank you for

anything. That’s all my wife’s doing. You should be

arches his brows and watches me. "I know this doesn’t mean much but I was hoping you would share a bit of this with me. We haven’t really

drink during working hours." The low hum of his voice is both a warning and a threat but

to us as father and daughter, a small sip will do. Mother and I have grown really

go easy on me.

bottle and splashes right in father’s face, dripping down his chest. His white suit looks like he caught

he gives me. "I...I didn’t mean to...please forgive me. I-I’ll dry clean...." He presses his intercom and calls for security. "Father please, I didn’t mean to.

"GET OUT!"

my eyes, I slavishly bow to him, spew more profuse apologies before hustling

to tell me the meeting has been postponed as father can’t make it. My heart is still racing when I beam up at her in response to her thanks. When she proceeds to ask me how I managed it, I tell her she doesn’t want to

lot of trouble so I grab my phone and call mother for emotional support. I play back everything that happened as me trying

don’t know what I

entire office is abuzz with gossip about what happened in father’s office because the janitors who cleaned out the place decided to run their

as I go to refill my coffee in the staff kitchen or to use one equipment or the

up at him for the audacity. His interference is very unprofessional. He is neither my boss nor a family member so the fact that he feels he has a right to register his annoyance over an accident that happened between my father-in-law

you shouldn’t forget who you’re talking to. Beyond our official roles, the chairman is firstly my father-in-law and I, his daughter-in-law! What happened earlier was nothing malicious but a pure accident while I was trying to thank my father for throwing me a birthday party. I

eyes with a heated glare that surprises Josh. A storm brews in his eyes but rather than continuing to ingratiate himself to the chairman

that was fun to watch.

had it coming. Who exactly does he think he is? The boss’ son?" We laugh together. "Hey, it’s lunch time. Want to grab a bite with

back yet

I say glumly. My mind reels back to Asher. Where could he have

the atmosphere in the office ruined for me, I grab my things and head out for lunch. Few minutes later, I

called a few times and apologized but things between aren’t quite the same. I still

car and walk in. She seems a bit

"Hey."

Nessa had agreed to have lunch with

I

to make up my mind." I grab the menu and flip through with a flat look.

you already know that menu like

knew the menu. In fact, I actually thought I could trust

in there that you aren’t prepared to try even if other people definitely enjoy

the menu shut and glare up at her. "Care to

thought we were talking

the entire night but you disappeared on me. Why won’t you just tell me where you went

won’t stop me from apologizing. I’m also sorry that my excuse is not good enough

won’t get mad, okay? Just tell me...were you with Asher the whole night?" Anna eyes dilate in surprise. "Anna, I saw how he was looking at you. I just need to

he was looking

enough to eat but that’s it. Remember everything you went through because of him. You lost your job at Blue Cove because of him. You nearly lost your life because of him. I can’t stress this enough but if you’re nursing any kind of romantic feelings for a man like

You really think I am that dense? I am an adult, okay? I can make decisions for myself. You’re not

behest might I add. Did you hear me? That’s who Asher is. Is

head at me again. "You know what? I’ll get someone else

and sigh tiredly. Does she really think she can hide it from me? I know what I saw. There can’t be a better explanation for why she and Asher were mostly missing at my party.

of the magnifying glass on

am

you. Red shirt, white face

my head and lock

you and Anna? That looked

best friend squabbles.

She knows everything. You can’t afford to be beefing with

long sigh. "So, I tried talking to Ashley about Olivia Dunn. He denied it obviously. They are still trying

of tech wizards. I went through the program. It’s going to be really difficult for them to find me as the one behind Billion-Err or the one who made the

"What?"

I can’t get anymore info from him but before that happened, I overheard his calls to Ashal. I think Olivia tried to escape recently but she was later caught. I don’t know. Ashal must have taken her to some restaurant for a private dinner date and when she went to use the restroom, he panicked because she took too long. His men searched for her and eventually, she

though he hides her. On the other hand, her attempt to escape his clutches can only mean that she fears

I overheard them talking and it seems her family was threatened right around the same period the