Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 155: Chapter 155

ASHAL

"Why are you quiet?" | 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. | think I've given her more than

enough tto recuperate and tellwhy 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, | 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 | can’t sense. "Otto will see to it that your brother's fine so don’t worry about him."

| 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. | 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 | am trying so

hard to shed the pain that’s threatening to drownright now, just so | can save our family. A lot is happening

with Billion-Err and if | trusted that you and your brothers were capable of putting out this fire before it guts our

family, | would have called your father in order. However, no matter how much | hate to admit it, | 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. "lI won't watch my boys go to jail. | just

can’t. Callnames. Hatebut | can’t be parted from any of my children, not right now." Tears cloud her

eyes. "Your father and | 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, | 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 | need to if it means my sons aren't whisked

away to prison."

"But Ashton and I..."

"I overheard. | don't care if you're prepared to face the music. There are sthings you'll never understand

until you beca parent and right now, it's my obsession with protecting my sons. I'm a mother, Ashal; your

mother! | don’t mind being called a bad mom but | 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 doubttoo, do you? You're not going to

take away my right to call you my son simply because | hid the truth that you were adopted, right?"

She pinswith a look that’s flushed with pain.

"Of course not. You are the only mother | know. | would have loved shonesty on the issue especially after we

grew older but my feelings towards you will never change."

Crying, she leans forward to pullin 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, | need to go see him. | need to clear

things up with him before he loatheseven 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. | completely understand that hiding the truth can

be an act of love." | 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. | hope she recalls this conversation when those secrets are revealed in the future.

"I need you to be done mourning soon, mother. | 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 | 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?" | 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. | 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?" | ask father with a ghost of a smile on my face. "I didn’t realize | 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 | no longer a part of this family??? Why do you guys keep things fromlike this?"

| give her a reassuring pat. "I'll fill you in later, mother. Lethandle this..."

"Handle what?" Father snaps. "This is exactly my point. Things only get worse when | let you boys take matters

into your own hands. It’s like talking to a brick wall. | have taught you how to deal with these matters but you all

think of my methods as crude and evil. | did all | 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. | gave her everything she asked for. |

even stayed away from Maddie despite how much | long to see her. | 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."

| 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, | am very thorough." He massages his

aching temples while | look away to hide the shock and fear churning within me. When mother tries to take my

hand, | 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? | thought she’d care enough to givesinfo even if it’s after they moved. A little notice would

have gone a long way in helpingabsorb this shock. Have | been foolish, again? Was this the plan of the

sisters all along?

"And here | 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? | think. Could she really have gotten to Olivia? That would make a whole lot of sense. | 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, | 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 cwith me."

Without waiting for a reply, he spins around and heads out. After giving mother a weary look, | 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?" | 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 sof 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."

| hear the muffled sound of someone struggling as | 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.

| rush forward and yank off the bag. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach when she stares up atwith

tears in her eyes.

MADDIE!