Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 122: Chapter 122

ASHTON

"What the fuck happened? I thought you said you lost father. How did you not see him behind you? Why in the world was he following you in the first place?" I keep badgering Asher as he pulls up at Ashal’s second penthouse where we are crashing in the meantime. Asher gets out of his car with a forlorn look on his face but I am too livid to spare him a breath.

"ANSWER ME GODDAMMIT"

"Calm down, Ashton."

"Don’t tell me to calm down. Answer my questions!"

He runs a hand over his brows and expels a deep breath. "Look, father and I had a little tiff earlier in the day. We parted ways and I guess he felt guilty and wanted to make it up to me so he tracked my car GPS because I was too furious to return his calls."

All I can do is grit my teeth. "Didn’t he settle things with you at the HQ when you two met up? What was the need to follow you all the way to Adriana?"

"Look, I don’t know, okay? It’s Father. If I could decipher his motivations for doing a bunch of shit, I would be two steps ahead of him, don’t you think." He sighs loudly. "I pulled him over and registered my displeasure at being followed. I don’t think he would be doing that again for a while."

I don’t know what to make of this. "I should have listened to you and gone after Adriana. I worked too damn hard for us to lose the opportunity we had today."

"Has Keith called? What did he say?"

"He isn’t taking my calls any longer. My guess is he is furious. It was a big risk to plan that meeting with Adriana. He was counting on me. I messed it up and now our sister might no longer be interested in our reunion."

"Hey" Asher calls, grabbing my shoulder. "Don’t rush to conclusions. You found her the first time, didn’t you? You made the impossible happen. I am certain you will find a way around this snag. Brace up." I bob my head in agreement. His eyes track up the stony steps. "How’s Ashal? Is he much better?"

"I hope so. I have a bunch of questions that need prompt answers."

I lead the way into the penthouse and together, we take the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms where Ashal lays sprawled on the bed. He props himself up the moment we enter, a somber expression clouding his face.

"Hey man." Asher begins, edging close to him. Ashal inclines his head away from Asher’s hand which is extended to check his temperature.

"How are you feeling?" I ask him.

"I’m fine." He replies dryly. I know he knows why we’ve rounded up on him. Shrugging, he straightens his spine. It’s my guess that he is ready for our rapid-fire questions so I proceed. "Ok. Dead guy in your trunk. What else do you remember?"

"I told you all I recall."

"Don’t get cheeky." Asher reprimands him. "This is very serious, Ash. We might have managed to quell the storm with our contacts in the force this time around but this might come back to haunt us someday. Besides, father is growing very suspicious of all of us lately. He has been tailing us. If he gets a whiff of what you’ve done, he’ll have you thrown into a psychiatric facility for God knows how long."

"I get it. He already threatened me once."

"Good. Now, cut it out and cooperate with us." Asher adds.

He exhales. "I’m sorry. I’m a little bit shaken. I---I thought I was past that. I really thought the days of hurting people to the point of taking their lives was over." His voice breaks with emotion. Tears shimmer in his eyes. "I honestly don’t even recall talking to the guy much less following him. I don’t know what kind of interaction we had before I..."

"You don’t know if anyone saw you following the guy, Madeline perhaps?"

As I mention her name, I notice something wash over his features. He wrings his hands and shakes his head from side to side. I join him on the bed.

"Ashal, tell me the truth this time. What exactly is going on between you and Madeline Dunn? Are you in love with her? Is there a secret affair going on between..."

"NO." He denies too quickly, earning a suspicious stare from Asher and I. "No, it’s nothing like that, I promise."

"Then tell us exactly what’s going on." Asher presses, impatience simmering in his eyes.

"I am not in love with her. If anything, I think I thought I was because she reminds me so much of Olivia and has the same qualities I fancy in her sister. This whole confusion started when Elyon arranged blind dates for me, you know the one that led me to meet Cree? Maddie was one of them. I stood her up because obviously I wasn’t going to date Liv’s kid sister."

"And since then?" I ask.

loser. I was so obsessed with destroying her life that I made a lot of bad decisions I regret. These past few weeks, I have been trying to rectify my mistake and not destroy a young woman’s life simply because she was looking out for her sister. That’s the whole situation with Hunter." He adds, throwing

just killed her boyfriend after stalking him all day. That

kissed Madeline before?" We both stare in horror as Ashal stutters. "There it is." Asher gives the side drawer a bad-tempered kick and runs a hand through his gold mane

an accident. She

was drunk." I reply, tapping his knee before joining Asher

of her because of everything I’ve done to alter the

more than feeling protective. How did you feel whenever you saw her with her late boyfriend? Angry or worried?" My eyes dip to his clenching

fucked up. His obsession

I

out to

in unison. He cradles his head in

Asher out of the room

eye on

"Where are you going?"

in redeeming myself, the harder it’s going to be to secure us another meeting with Adriana." I cast a glance at the door. "I’ll see what I can do about Ashal. He needs a long session with his therapist for sure and beyond that, a reality check. Can you try to reach Olivia and see what’s up between them? She might be able to soothe him for now. See if

me about their crumbling marriage, Olivia has mentally checked out. Still, she knows all about his condition and if she desperately

***

just

"Yes, I just did."

acting skills. I am eternally grateful for everything he has done for me and I really wish I could help him

gratitude the whole time you were together. He spoke a lot about you in a way that he had never spoken of any woman for as long as I can remember. All I am asking is that you try to

The last time we met, I was accusing your father of heinous crimes and Ashal didn’t believe me. What exactly am I supposed to say to break the ice between us right now? Your

his brothers put you up to this. Trust

"And why is that?"

you will help take his mind off a certain other woman whom he isn’t ready to admit he has fallen for and right now, that’s what everyone wants,

on. Please, do this for me. Spend time with my brother. He’s been going through a rough time lately and could use

"Don’t insult me, Ashton."

raised hands. "I’m very desperate here. So,

"It’s a maybe at best. I have a few conditions. Firstly, I’m going to tell him you put me up to this from the start. Secondly, whatever it is I am supposed to be to him, it can’t be forced. If he doesn’t want me around, I’m gone. Thirdly, this has to be under wraps. I don’t want the spotlight that comes with the Danvarr

"Fair enough. Thanks Cree."

it going with your sister? Found her yet?" She asks, leaning to sip her

working on it but I

airing the news. The clip of Demi being pushed by a stranger during one of her public outings has me leaping to my feet. Thankfully, a young man breaks her fall before she can tumble down the short

wrong?" Cree asks

my pocket. Keith hasn’t responded to me but right now, I am more worried about Demi as if

on the severity of the almost accident that Demi had because she

okay? Where are

Demi replies

"I’m on my way."

sent out to find the culprit. Demi is seated in the

to hurt

Demi and ask

about Demi and Nicci? Billion-Err has been going off speculating that Nicci’s disappearance is a move to disguise her pregnancy and now someone wants to harm my purportedly pregnant wife." Ashley shakes his head. "I don’t know what

gets off the phone. "It’s been confirmed. Nicola is still on

think she was behind this?"

expose us. We all know Nicci isn’t a fan of this plan of yours. Is it really farfetched to suspect that she might have snuck back into the country and

could she have beaten

trying to cover every base here." Asher grunts in frustration. I bet he is indeed frustrated with the way things are going awry lately. No one hates

his teeth while Demi silently seethes at the shift of his concern from her to his baby’s mother. Mila comes

were you, Ashley? I thought you were supposed to be

to attend to, okay? How was I supposed to know that the one time I leave her side, someone was going to pull a stunt like this? Besides, do you really expect me to be hovering around her every second of the day since she’s pregnant? Even Billion-Err has been talking about that,

appears and nods in greeting

"Yes?" Father implores him.