Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 101: Chapter 101

ASHAL

I haven’t been able to placate Olivia’s feelings. I’ve managed to rack up a lot of hate points with respect to her. She had barely recovered from my affair with Cree when I shocked her by punishing her sister with a forced marriage. Now, she has learnt that I have been playing her by pretending to be Asher. It’s a lot, I’ll admit. I am indeed an asshole.

The worst part is the timing of it all. It’s such a bad time for her to find out given her pregnancy. I would hate for anything untoward to happen to her or our baby.

She has been keeping to herself in her room and left instructions that she doesn’t want to see me at any cost. Each time I call her phone, she doesn’t take my calls. She never comes downstairs when I arrive the penthouse. All she does is cry in her room all day, according to Lily. I am getting very worried over her condition.

Lily returns with a tray of untouched food. I grit my teeth. She can’t starve, not now. I sprint upstairs and knock on the door.

"Olivia, I want to talk. Open up. This is about Maddie." Hopefully, she’ll take the bait.

There is a little movement on the other side of the door and surprisingly, Olivia cracks the door open a notch. She looks like hell. Her eyes are all red and swollen. Her face is puffy from not getting enough sleep. She doesn’t appear to have showered in over a day.

"Liv, what are you doing to yourself? Punish me all you want but not like this. Don’t hurt yourself or our baby. Please."

"What about Maddie?" She asks weakly, her eyes drooping.

"Open up then. Let me in. I promise I’ll fix things with Maddie." Her eyes struggle to stay on mine. I don’t think she’s sleepy. She’s probably woozy. I gently pry the door open as she is too weak to stand a chance against me and catch her before she falls.

"Liv, you’ll be okay. I’ll do whatever you want, okay? You want me to forgive Maddie? It’s done. You don’t want her marriage to take place? It’s cancelled. Please, I need you to take care of your health. That’s my condition. Eat. Freshen up. Rest. I’ll give you all the space you need. You need your energy if you’re going to scold me for my actions. Please Liv."

Thankfully, she lets Lily bathe and dress her. I watch Lily feed her some food. Whenever Olivia wants to stop eating after a few bites, I insist she finishes her plate or we have no deal. She finally finishes every last bit of food and gulps some water.

"Lily, you’ll stay in this room with her. Under no circumstances should she be left by herself for too long. If you have to cook or do something else around the house that requires a good time investment, Olivia will come downstairs to the living room where other eyes can watch her. Is that clear, hon?" I ask, turning to my wife.

She wipes her lips. "You promised to help Maddie."

"I did and I will." When I go close, she tucks her hands away so I can’t hold them and turns her cheek when I try to kiss her. She hates me. Lily clears the plates and leaves us.

"I never cease to disappoint you, do I?"

"Keep your word, Ashal. Don’t let my sister’s life be ruined through marriage. I will harm myself if she has to suffer the same fate as I did by being stuck in a loveless marriage." Tears fill her eyes. "She might have hurt your pride and reputation but remember she was doing it to help me. Maddie sees what you keep turning a blind eye to; a fancy house, comfort ang good food isn’t enough to win a woman’s heart if you take away her choice to stay with you or not." She sniffles and props herself up. I hate where this is going.

"I’m afraid we can never be more this, Ashal. I know you desperately want to believe in a future where I would love you as much as I once loved Asher, your brother. You must have noticed the difference when you pretended to be him for weeks. Is that why you did it? You wanted to see what it was like when I am in love with you?"

"I don’t know what I was thinking when I did that."

"Do you regret it?"

My silence tells her all she needs to know.

"You don’t. You loved it, didn’t you? But you don’t need to pretend to be him just to feel a woman’s love. You could find true love of your own out there, Ashal. I don’t think I can find the energy to love another Rollins brother ever again. Asher was a mistake and a lesson. I can never give you what you want. Why won’t you let me go?" When she tries to take my hand, I lurch to my feet.

"You don’t have to be afraid that love will never find you. At first, I thought you were a monster because of how you hit me but you’ve come a long way from that mindless freak. You have better control of your temper now. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Go out there and try again. Find love."

"STOP IT."

"There’s no future for us here, Ashal, not even this baby can unite us as you hope. Things will still be the same between us or even worse. Would you also keep the baby trapped in here with me? Would you hide the baby from the world too? Think, Ashal. What kind of home would you want your child to be born into? What we have is too depressing to allow a child grow in."

I can’t believe she is still going on about this separation. Why is everyone telling me to try and find love again? Can’t I just have the woman I am with? It hurts to hear the same harsh truth from Olivia as it is proof that she has given up on us too.

me we can’t work out. I’ll rather find someone else to vent my frustration on and right now, Maddie doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Her recent actions have influenced Olivia’s decision no doubt.

a change of heart. I can understand why he’s frustrated. It can’t be easy to keep making promises to young men and their families

my daughter’s wedding. You even handled the selection of the groom to sift out the most eligible and though I had concerns, you assured me the young man is a good choice.

them the wedding is off. It’s as simple as that."

like this, word will spread and soon, nobody will take me seriously when I propose the marriage of my daughter and their son. I might be stuck with Maddie for the rest of her life unless she elopes with a man and does one of those hasty court weddings that young people

wedding with his first daughter was as distasteful

cancel the wedding. I have given my word. Maddie will wed Hunter

feet. I can appreciate Mr. Dunn’s reason for turning me down. My decisions lately have been coming off as fickle and just because I happen to be wealthy and influential doesn’t mean I get to play with a young woman’s life like that. I am left with one last option; to pay off Hunter so he cancels the wedding from his own end. Mr. Dunn might get upset when

you for your time." I tell

I use the address he gave during the interview process as Maddie’s groom to be and trace his home. It turns out to be much nicer than I thought. His red

to convince me to pitch Hunter to Maddie’s father as he was a decent young man who had the wherewithal to give Maddie a good life. His looks might be average but he looks like he can

takes a

"Hello." I greet her.

I help

like a word with him." A wave of confusion washes

Is there

the door?" A young woman asks from within. Her mom repeats my enquiry and she comes to the door

pleasure to meet you

"Meet me again?"

already met at the bar on Foxton Grove. My friend whom you called blondie saw you, freaked and left the bar? Skye Sanders? You were quite taken by her." She

I think you must have met one of my brothers." Her

tucks her hair behind her ears. "You are looking

"Yes."

"He doesn’t stay here."

that? Isn’t this his

then but that doesn’t make him part of

What? Hunter lied?

car?" I ask, pointing

my brother’s. Hunter also helps maintain

about his house and his car, then he must have lied about everything else; his job as a banker, his earnings, his family, his intentions for Maddie.

wedding is not taking place. Hunter is a pathological liar. I have just been to his house. It’s not his. It belongs to complete strangers. He lied about his assets. He’s not even a banker. He’s an errand boy for

bum? Shouldn’t that excite me? That was the plan after all when I altered her father’s list so why does this trouble me so much? Maddie’s father’s response cuts through my

just to get me to back out of this wedding? Why are you doing this, Mr. Ashal? I

me. Typical. "Where is Madeline? I want you to call her and get her exact location and then text it to me.

the store where she told her father she is headed in a taxi. I keep calling her but she doesn’t take my call. When I see her alight from a taxi cab

stare at the store. Are those

the first move by coming up to me and asking the burning

contemplate going into the store and confronting both women together. They’ll feel like they were stalked. Demi will believe the worst of me. Maddie won’t come with me. The confusion about what to do continues to plague me until Demi walks out alone,

down to fill my tank. Demi’s eyes spot me and a smile stretches her thin lips. It looks genuine. There’s no trace of shock or surprise which I find weird considering she was just with Maddie inside the store.

you here." Demi throws more chips into her

my tank. "Was that Madeline I saw you running after earlier?" Demi arches a brow at my bluntness. "It’s okay. I know

It’s just being crazy lately and I didn’t think it was my place to bring up your personal life. Maddie explained everything to me. You have a right to your privacy, Ashal. I understand why you kept your relationship with Olivia private. Your brothers have had some tough run with their relationships out

one woman and that’s’ Maddie’s sister. We’ve

"What do you mean?"

wants to break up with me. Given everything we’ve been through, I am deeply hurt by how easily she wants to end things. She does this all the time. When the going gets tough, she demands to end our relationship and when I give her a few days to her thoughts,

to do?" She

days to cool off. We always manage to pull through times like this. After a few days, she’ll be clinging

her head while munching