Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 58

ASHER

The office has never felt so serene. The last two weeks of work while Josh’s suspension held were a slice of heaven. I didn’t even realize how much I enjoyed work before that bastard showed up.

It was utterly refreshing to be reminded just how close father and I used to be. We had our lunch together and laughed at our silly attempts at dry humor. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was enough in father’s eyes. I will forever treasure those days as I hope father will.

Josh is back now and the stench of his presence is responsible for the big scowl on my face. Why didn’t he get at least a month? I personally want to curl my hands around his neck and snuff the life out of him for attempting to take mine. I will never forgive him for that and for hurting Ashton in the process.

However, I know father is watching me to see how I relate with his other son, especially given my temperament and Josh’s wrongs against Ashton and I. Father would not be expecting me to be the bigger person. He would expect me to make a move on his ostensibly hapless son but I won’t give either of them the satisfaction.

Rather than barge into his office and yell expletives at him, I rap gently on Josh’s door and stroll in like the boss that I am. It’s so strange to see him meekly seated behind his desk and working for a change instead of hopping between offices with a gigantic chip on his shoulder and bothering everyone else.

His face sags when his eyes meet mine. I bet I am the last person he expects to pay him a visit after his suspension. He reclines in his chair and sighs.

"What do you want?"

A low chuckle escapes my lips. "I need to take a photo of you behind your desk. It’s rarer than an eclipse of the sun." I take a picture with my phone and laugh at the image. "You look like a steaming pile of horse shit trampled beneath the feet of elephants in a stampede."

"So, you’re here to gloat."

"Oh yes." I affirm, slipping my phone into my pocket. "It’s amazing how much work I can get done when I don’t have to worry about running into your ugly face. I already cleared my plate for a few days to come. With lots of free time on my hands, I figured I’d make your life more miserable than it already is by informing you directly that a two-week suspension is not enough punishment for attempting to take a life."

My lips curl with mischief. "I’ve retrieved the real CCTV footage of the club, well, mostly the part where you tried to stab me in a murderous rage. Just remember what your fate will be when I decide to release that video. All the money in your piggy bank and your useless last name will not be able to spare you the trauma of being an ex-convict."

Josh slowly rises to his feet. His eyes are hazed with shock but he makes an effort to hide the intimidation and dread behind them.

"You’re not going to release anything! Dad already had this matter handled. The video footage was confiscated and destroyed. You’re bluffing. You don’t have anything and even if you do, you can’t touch a hair on my head." I burst into an animated laugh as his fear seeps through the cracks in his false demeanor.

"I am Asher Rollins. I don’t bluff, Josh Randall. I’ve been serving under my father since I was eight and I have learnt quite a number of things from him. One of them is to never leave any traces if you’re going to get your hands dirty by running afoul to the law. The second you hurt my brother and fled the scene, I made securing the evidence my top priority. The fact that my brother was bleeding in that room wasn’t the distraction you hoped it would be. I got the actual tape before joining others at the hospital because I knew you would arrange to have it doctored or destroyed."

"Father won’t let you."

"And how exactly is he going to stop me? He knows better than to come pleading for your sorry excuse of a life to be spared. I will get my pint of blood one way or another from you, Josh Randall. You have messed with the wrong quads. By the time I am don juicing you of all the potential opportunities that accrue to you as father’s son, I will leave you to hang dry with the gem in my possession. Just you wait."

Josh exhales and dabs his sweaty brow. "What do you want? What will make you stop and destroy the evidence? Out with it!"

"You must be more stupid than I thought." I lash at him with a fiery look in my eyes. "What could you possibly use a bargaining chip that will top the satisfaction I will get from all the damage I can cause you with the evidence I have in my possession?"

"You would be surprised." Josh replies with a smug look.

My phone starts ringing just then. "Get your ass back to work." I order him. "You have a lot to do around here."

I step out of the office and head towards mine but before I can take the call, it ends. I redial Ashton’s number and he picks up almost immediately. He doesn’t let me say a single word but hurriedly mentions that I abandon everything and head over to Ashley’s. Then he hangs up before I can ask for more details.

A short message pops in right after and this has me rushing for the elevator. Nessa’s anxious calls and Demi’s surprised stare don’t slow me down. The message had mentioned a name my brothers and I haven’t uttered in years.

I power through traffic like it’s a Mad Max Fury Road movie, cop a ticket for speeding before arriving at Ashley’s. It’s no surprise that Ashton and Ashal’s cars are already in the parking lot. The elevator is occupied so I sprint up the stairs in giant strides of three till I reach the second floor.

The minute I burst through the door, my eyes scan the room for Ashley. He is sitting on a couch in his office, his hands clenched on his knees. His shoulders are tensed. His eyes are a little misty and it is my guess that a few tears have flowed from them.

He reminds me of the weepy, whiny little eight years old boy he was years back, too afraid to speak or share the horror being done to him by a man who was meant to protect him. Ashton and Ashal are seated on either side of him.

"Where is it?"

With a jut of his chin, I follow Ashal’s direction to the desk where a large bouquet of fresh flowers sits. The moment I draw close, Ashton hovers behind me. I snag the card with a frown and read the words.

"We already checked the cameras. A courier dropped them off. He kept his helmet on the whole time. I called the company and they confirmed that one of their messengers reported being attacked and his bike stolen." Ashton fluffs his hair and grinds his teeth in anger. "I killed Tobias." He says in a whisper. "I should be the one being targeted, not him." He glances back at Ashley who is still in shock.

"They don’t know that." I say, turning to him with a grim look. "But what they do know is what Tobias was doing to Ash. They know it was Ashley that was hurt. For that reason, they blame Tobias’ mysterious death on him."

"Ashal also made some calls regarding Tobias’ family. They left Danvarr shortly after he died. His wife already remarried. He had two sons and a daughter. One of the sons died a year ago from drug abuse. The other two children haven’t stepped foot in Danvarr for over ten years."

I lower my voice. "Well, clearly, someone who knows everything that happened has and they’re trying to torment our brother. We can’t allow that. Ashley has come a long way from that painful period in his life. We can’t let him go down that rabbit hole."

"I’m not going to." Ashley says to our surprise. He pulls himself up and wipes his face. I rush to him and take his face in my hands." I’m alright, Asher. I’m much better now with you guys here."

"I know but we can’t ignore the emotional tumult you just went through. Leave everything to us. We’ll uncover the person or people behind this unfunny joke. I just need you to promise me you’ll talk to Dr. Welsh about it. Please, Ashley. You need to share with someone."

Ashley shifts uncomfortably and nods at last.

"Thank you." I kiss his forehead and pull him in for a tight hug. "You’re getting a bodyguard too."

"I don’t need..."

"I wasn’t asking." I reinforce, pulling back.

"Look, I know I panicked. It’s only normal given the shock of seeing..." He struggles a bit, "...his name again after so long. I have had some time to pull myself together. Whoever did this wanted to scare me. They’ll return for sure to play more mind games. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me shaking like a leaf. I didn’t do anything wrong. It was all self-defense. Besides, I doubt they have any concrete proof. This might just be their ploy to get me to admit some guilt over what happened. If I take on a new bodyguard, I’d only be announcing to them that they’ve succeeded in scaring the shit out of me."

My eyes avert to the flowers instantly when Ashal places a firm hand on my shoulder.

"I already checked the flower for cameras and bugs."

"And this room?"

"I handled that." Ashton assures me.

"Ash, let me see your phone." I grab Ashley’s phone and do a quick scan. "There’s a fucking spy app in here." I disable it. "Do you know how this could have happened? Who could have done this to your phone?" Ashley blows out a frustrated breath.

"I don’t know man; I hang around a lot of people. Nicola has no reason to. We hang out more often than my own wife and she has accepted her place in my life. Demi barely sticks around me. Plus, she’s not the jealous type to actually go this far. I have no clue who could have installed that."

I ask to see the footage from the camera. It’s just as Ashton had explained. The messenger keeps their helmet on the whole time as they deliver the flower to Ashley’s office.

There’s a moment of hesitation and a nervous scanning of the room before the person leaves. His body is fully covered in an all-black leather pants and jacket. Even his hands are masked by black gloves.

I cuss under my breath as I am unable to find any clues.

"I’ll forward this to Duncan and see what he finds."

"Hold on." Ashton interrupts me, pulling the laptop closer. He rewinds the video and freezes the image at a point.

"What?" I ask him as his eyes narrow with precision.

"How did I miss this?" He points a finger at the frozen image of the messenger just when he turns to scan the room. "The jacket is slim fitted. That’s why it’s a little snug on him. Right here, just as he turns, can you see that protrusion?" Ashton plays back the video for us all to watch again and allows it to roll till the messenger walks out. "Notice anything weird about the way he walks without the weight of the bouquet? What does that tell you?"

"That protrusion is actually a right boob and that walk is indeed feminine." I lock eyes with Ashton’s narrowed one as we declare in sync, "IT’S A WOMAN!"

***

"Don’t start, Ash."

"I’m just saying we can’t rule them out. Your phone was bugged. These two women are the closest to you and could have had the opportunity to plant that spy app. A woman clearly delivered the flowers. Why aren’t you guys seeing this from my standpoint?" I query Ashley and the rest of my brothers shaking their heads at my theory.

"This isn’t about me constantly seeking to make Demi a culprit. It’s just fucking obvious that she can’t be innocent in all this."

"You already called the office, didn’t you?" Ashton asks. "Didn’t Nessa say Demi is in her office? Did you see her leave before you came here? How could she have delivered the flowers and returned back to the office in record time?

"And what about Nicola?" I try again. "She left Ashley just before his lunch with William. She could have returned to drop the flowers off while he was entertaining his friend in the lounge area."

"Nicola didn’t even know I was inviting William over. She left to return in five days’ time to try the new dress I am making. If she had anything to do with this, she would have arranged it to be delivered at a time when I won’t likely be in my office, not when she is certain she would run into me working late."

I can’t believe they’re defending these women right now. "I’m just saying both women fit the physique of the courier from the video. Can we just agree to take them into consideration while we are looking into this? Ashley, you literally just got assaulted. We are not trusting anyone right now. It could have been either of them or someone else. Till we can completely rule them out, they’re culpable suspects."

I glare at anyone bold enough to challenge me. When they all remain silent, I head to the fridge and return with some craft beer for everyone to calm our nerves.

"Let’s forget this for now and talk about something else." My eyes track towards Ashal. "Did you talk to Olivia about the comment on Billion-Err? It can’t be a coincidence that someone meticulously mentioned her full name and the fact that she is your secret wife."

Ashal sighs. "I grilled her about it but she keeps insisting that she has no idea who could have done that. She admits that her friend Eliana, whom she had been having dinner dates with had suspected she was in an abusive relationship. However, Liv never clarified or even mentioned who she was in a relationship with, let alone the fact that she is actually married. She doesn’t think any of her family members could have done it either. Father already threatened them and there’s been no admission of guilt."

"This Eliana, do we know how to reach her?"

"I warned her to stay away from Olivia a while back. I could get Olivia to reach out to her once more to figure out if she is really behind this mess."

I run a hand over my eyes. "We’ve been sloppy, guys. Our secrets have never been this close to the surface. We’ve let our guards down and I fucking need you all to see that. I don’t know if it’s the women or the events and shocking revelations over the past few weeks that’s poked holes in our system but we need to fix this mess. If this continues, we will all be ruined."

My vision blurs and I blink my eyes. My symptoms have been raging lately.

"Are you okay, Asher?"

"I’m fine. I am just really stressed. Josh is back at work trying to garner pity. I just fucking hate seeing his face at work. Father is holding back from comforting him but I know they’ll meet outside of work. Then there’s all these problems cropping up simultaneously..."

"Hey," Ashton places a hand over my shoulder. "If you get out of your own way, you’d realize the burden of fixing our problems isn’t your sole responsibility. You take on too much, Asher. You need to take a step back and get the proper rest you need."

I chuckle at that. "I’ll rest when I’m dead, okay?"

"Don’t say that." Something about Ashley’s tone has my eyes wheeling towards him. "Not even as a joke. I can’t lose any of you."

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say such a morbid thing." I down the rest of my beer and rise to my feet. "I should be heading back. It’s almost closing hours and Josh must have a lot to say to father about my absence today. Ashley, you should go home and take some rest. No one here doubts how hard you work and given what happened today, no one can blame you for taking a leave if you wish."

"It’s fine. I’ll just wrap up things here and head home to rest."

"Maybe you should call Nicci." I suggest. "You need someone to distract you for a bit. Who knows, you could also pick up some clues as to whether she knows anything about what happened here today. We’ll tell Demi you’re working late. Take your time." I give him one last hug before heading out.

On my way back to work, I forward the camera footage to Duncan and leave an audio message explaining why Ashton and I think the courier is a woman. Then I implore him to make his own deductions but most importantly, to find out who the person is. Next, I call father.

"Where are you?" His brashness doesn’t faze me.

"Driving back from Ashley’s."

"You skipped half a day of work. What’s the point of returning just after closing hours?"

"Maybe you should ask me why I am calling to tell you that I am just returning from my brother’s office first."

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel and grit my teeth. How clueless and indifferent can a father be? "Contrary to what you might think, I didn’t go over there to chat idly or have drinks with him. In fact, I wasn’t the only one who rushed over there. Ashton and Ashal were there as well."

"What happened?"

I inhale deeply. "Duncan is going to send you some pictures and a video. Someone sent a bouquet of flowers and a note to Ashley’s. It mentioned that it was from Tobias."

"What? How?"

"We’re still figuring that out. That’s not the only reason I called." Josh’s words come flowing back to me. Just before I had left his office, he had blatantly insinuated that he might have something to bargain with me regarding the incriminating evidence of him in my possession. In hindsight, the import of his words is starting to come to me.

"Is it possible that you might have shared the details of Ashley’s past to anyone outside our family?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course not."

"I need you to think, father. Around the time Tobias died, you withdrew for a while. I know he was your friend. The shock of his actions towards your son and his sudden death must have affected you in some way."

"Asher, I told no one."

"It had to be around the time you were seeing Josh’s mom, right? Do you think you might have told her more than you meant to in the throes of grief or passion." His brief pause unsettles me.

"I doubt it."

"You can’t say for certain that you didn’t."

"What are you thinking?"

"I’ll tell you once I have proof. Let’s just pray your other son isn’t behind what happened to my brother today. I hope for your sake that he isn’t. behind this."

"Josh can’t be."

His quick defense of Josh’s innocence lances my pride. "Did you have him monitored during his suspension? Do you know what he was up to? You better find out." I end the call and huff out a breath.

If Josh is truly behind this, I won’t spare his life this time. I don’t care if father remains heartbroken. He wouldn’t dare turn me in over the loss of his secret, bastard son. I can bet on it.

The lights are still on in some floors of Rollins HQ when I pull up. I take the elevator and take long strides towards my office. Nessa dutifully turned off the light in my office. I pull open the door and flick the light bulb on to retrieve my personal effects before going home. The sight of Josh Randall sitting in my chair startles me.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING IN MY OFFICE?"

He smirks at me and holds something up in his right hand. I don’t have to squint at it to realize it’s a single white pill, one identical to the ones I am used to taking to alleviate my headaches.

"Headaches, huh?" Josh turns the pill in between his thumb and index finger. "This isn’t a pill for a regular headache, isn’t that right, Asher?"