Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 155

ASHAL

"Why are you quiet?" I ask mother with red eyes. She’s sitting up on her bed, with a shawl swaddling her body. I’ve watched her sitting quiet for two days ever since Ashton left the mansion. I think I’ve given her more than enough time to recuperate and tell me why the fuck she’s watching our family burn to the ground.

I lurch to my feet and stifle the urge to kick something. "Why, mother? Don’t act like you’re powerless. If anyone can stop his madness, IT’S YOU. Again, I ask, why are you choosing to stay quiet even after he kicked Ashton out?" Her eyebrows slant upwards at me.

"Ashton will be fine." Her voice is a tender whisper. "I put plans in place to make sure he’s taken care of out there. He won’t want for anything or live like a pauper, never." She pulls the shawl tighter around her body, quivering to a chill I can’t sense. "Otto will see to it that your brother’s fine so don’t worry about him."

I suppress the urge to sigh in relief and continue to fume. "You still didn’t answer my question, mother. Why are you doing nothing about all the craziness going on in this house? Father is out of control..."

"Out of control?" She reiterates with a baffled look on her face. Slowly, she breaks into a teary laugh. "That’s not entirely accurate, Ashal. Your father might be set in his unconventional ways of handling tough situations but that’s only because it’s the fastest way to get things handled. I don’t always support his acts." Her voice falters as pain flits across her pupils.

"I never expected such a monumental betrayal from him after everything we’ve been through but I am trying so hard to shed the pain that’s threatening to drown me right now, just so I can save our family. A lot is happening with Billion-Err and if I trusted that you and your brothers were capable of putting out this fire before it guts our family, I would have called your father in order. However, no matter how much I hate to admit it, I have to let him handle it his way. He’s the only one that can get us out of this pit fast enough."

"What the hell are you saying right now? You’re going to watch him hurt more people just to get out of taking responsibility for our wrongs as a family?"

She stretches out her hands and clasps my cheeks. Her fingers are cold. "I won’t watch my boys go to jail. I just can’t. Call me names. Hate me but I can’t be parted from any of my children, not right now." Tears cloud her eyes. "Your father and I have yet to discuss Josh and his mother. I’m holding out till he saves us from the impending doom, and then we will broach that topic but for now, I can’t bear to be parted from you guys, especially now. I’ll go crazy so yes, I’ll turn a blind eye for as long as I need to if it means my sons aren’t whisked away to prison."

"But Ashton and I..."

"I overheard. I don’t care if you’re prepared to face the music. There are some things you’ll never understand until you become a parent and right now, it’s my obsession with protecting my sons. I’m a mother, Ashal; your mother! I don’t mind being called a bad mom but I will do whatever it takes to keep my boys safe. I’ll take on the world if I have to."

She drops her hands from my face and takes my hands. "You don’t doubt me too, do you? You’re not going to take away my right to call you my son simply because I hid the truth that you were adopted, right?"

She pins me with a look that’s flushed with pain.

"Of course not. You are the only mother I know. I would have loved some honesty on the issue especially after we grew older but my feelings towards you will never change."

Crying, she leans forward to pull me in a hug. "It breaks my heart that you all had to find out the way you did but it wasn’t maliciously hidden from you. Ashton has it all wrong. Oh god, I need to go see him. I need to clear things up with him before he loathes me even more than he already does."

"He doesn’t loathe you, mother. None of us do. And if we’ve hidden anything from you till now, it’s because we honestly felt that we were protecting you from the pain." I pull her face up to stare into it, to assure her that we never supported father’s infidelity.

"I’m sure you kept up the IVF story to prevent the world from attacking us as your adopted sons. They already judge us too much and keep looking for ways to take us down. I completely understand that hiding the truth can be an act of love." I press a warm kiss to her forehead and wipe her tears.

"Thank you, Ashal. You’ve always been the easiest to talk to, the most understanding."

My mind wheels back to the many secrets that we are still keeping from her; my divorce, Nicola’s miscarriage etc. I hope she recalls this conversation when those secrets are revealed in the future.

"I need you to be done mourning soon, mother. I don’t like it when you’re being perceived as weak, especially by the other woman!"

Josh’s irritating and frequent visit to the mansion is still grating on my nerves and I am certain he’s fishing for information to go feed his mother. They clearly have their sights set on our home.

Mother silently nods at the unspoken conversation communicated through my eyes. Somehow, she gets it.

Her door flings open, startling us. Father stands in front of it, bubbling with rage.

"Brett! What madness is this? You scared me!"

Ignoring mother, he turns his frosty eyes to me.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"What?" I ask, perplexed not for being confused at his question but out of shock at how fast he found out.

"WHERE IS OLIVIA?" He replies, charging forward. I firm my feet on the ground and keep my head high. "How dare you divorce and set her free without my knowledge?"

Now, mother’s head shoots up. "What?"

"Why?" I ask father with a ghost of a smile on my face. "I didn’t realize I needed your permission to live my life or do what’s best for me!"

"You moron! I’m still trying to deal with the mess Demi caused around here and you go and divorce your pregnant, crazy wife without so much as a word?"

"Pregnant?" Mother surges to her feet. "Olivia’s pregnant too?" She grits her teeth. "How many more lies have you all been telling? Am I no longer a part of this family??? Why do you guys keep things from me like this?"

I give her a reassuring pat. "I’ll fill you in later, mother. Let me handle this..."

"Handle what?" Father snaps. "This is exactly my point. Things only get worse when I let you boys take matters into your own hands. It’s like talking to a brick wall. I have taught you how to deal with these matters but you all think of my methods as crude and evil. I did all I could to teach you not to trust people out there but you keep letting your emotions take over when making decisions. Guess what? Olivia ran away! She’s not at the lake house she promised Asher she’d be at. She’s gone!"

My heart rate slows down. That can’t be right. She’s carrying my child. I gave her everything she asked for. I even stayed away from Maddie despite how much I long to see her. I hid my feelings and ran to rehab to deal with my condition and nurse my broken heart as well. Olivia can’t do this to me.

"How’d you know that?"

"Because Asher already checked and she’s gone!" Father answers with a searing look. "I can’t believe even Asher gave in to your stupidity by trusting that wench’s word. For all we know, she could be half way across the world by now, WITH YOUR CHILD! She could be plotting to expose everything she’s been through in the last few years from a position where we can’t get to her."

I jam my hands in my pocket to hide the tremor in them.

"She wouldn’t risk it. Her family is still..."

"They’re all gone, ASHAL. GONE. You think I didn’t check? Unlike you boys, I am very thorough." He massages his aching temples while I look away to hide the shock and fear churning within me. When mother tries to take my hand, I move further away to perch by her window and stare out.

What the hell is going on? What’s Olivia doing? What’s the plan here? How could she leave like this knowing that it’ll trigger suspicions from my family? How could she disappear with my unborn child?

And Maddie? I thought she’d care enough to give me some info even if it’s after they moved. A little notice would have gone a long way in helping me absorb this shock. Have I been foolish, again? Was this the plan of the sisters all along?

"And here I was thinking Ashton was my biggest headache." Father scoffs behind me. "If the family have all absconded, it’s definitely worth worrying about. What if they’re working with Billion-Err to give evidence against us? What if Demi instigated them to testify against us?"

Demi? I think. Could she really have gotten to Olivia? That would make a whole lot of sense. I recall instantly how she desperately tried to find Olivia in my penthouse, as well as her friendship with Eliana and Maddie. Olivia surely couldn’t have mustered the courage to do this by herself unless someone got into her ear. Right now, Demi fits that bill.

Whirling, I head for the door but father gets in my way.

"Move." My voice is a low, angry threat. Typically, he is unfazed by it.

"If you think I’d let you do anything to jeopardize things again, then you’re even more crazy than your ex-wife."

"I need to..."

"What you need to do is come with me."

Without waiting for a reply, he spins around and heads out. After giving mother a weary look, I follow him. We stop in front of a room on the far end of the hallway of the second floor. At his signal, one of the guards walks forward and begins to impute the passcode to the door.

"You know," Father begins while the door is being unlocked. "You weren’t entirely wrong in letting your heart lead this time. It can prove effective sometimes but such times are so rare it’s best to just go with your head for more, predictable results."

"What are you talking about right now?" I ask him, annoyed with the cryptic talk.

The guard steps away from the door. A small smile plays on father’s lips as he stares at me.

"The heart can make humans do some of the most stupid things, like break your family’s trust and sneak off to say a final goodbye to a man you’re forbidden from seeing." He opens the door to reveal a dimly lit room. "Thankfully, that worked in our advantage."

I hear the muffled sound of someone struggling as I enter. Calling for lights, the room brightens instantly to reveal a woman gagged and strapped to a bed post. There’s a black bag over her head. Chills crawl up my spine especially given the satisfied smile on father’s face.

I rush forward and yank off the bag. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach when she stares up at me with tears in her eyes.

MADDIE!