Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 134

ASHAL

Maddi observes a few seconds of silence after I asked her the question.

"Maddi? Do I have your word?"

"No." She replies firmly, breaking my heart into tiny splinters. "No, Mr. Ashal. You have no right to ask that of me. My sister has been through a lot and a speedy divorce is just a scratch on the surface compared to what you owe her. You’re going to sign the divorce papers and set her free by weekend. If you do that, maybe I’ll try to forgive you for lying about Alfie’s death."

My body shudders with shock. "What?"

"I don’t want to ask the questions in my head. I don’t want to know how or why you did it because then I won’t be able to think of you as just a man, Mr. Ashal. Alfie’s brother knows your family bribed the officers to cover up Alfie’s death as a drug overdose despite the bruises on his face. He was warned by his superior to stop looking into the case and mourn quietly because your family wants it closed" Her voice trembles now. "You already admitted to seeing us in front of the dorm that day and I can’t think of anyone else who would have a bone to pick with Alfie."

"Maddi..."

"Please, no more lies." She cried. "Your family wouldn’t cover up the case if you weren’t guilty. You must have lost control again." She sniffles. "Give my sister that divorce and I’ll try not to hate you for what you did to Alfie. Do I have your word, Mr. Ashal?"

There’s no point in denying anything now.

"Yes."

She hangs up before I can get another word in. When I try to call her back, her phone’s turned off. I slam both hands on my steering wheel and growl loudly in my car. Why now? I thought I could coax her to give us a chance. Why does my condition always find a way to fuck up my happiness?

I keep trying her line like a maniac. I need to be sure she doesn’t hate me for what happened with her ex. Can she truly forgive me and overlook my flaws? My mind keeps whirling with torturous thoughts till I manage to make it home. I go straight to my room and shut myself in. Ashley already left to visit Nicci with Demi. Asher is probably in father’s study since he can move around by himself now. Ashton doesn’t appear to be home yet.

After a couple of hours, I step out of my room because I genuinely need to talk to someone about how depressed I am feeling. I find Asher alone in the game room, yelling on the phone.

"That snake! I knew he and his mother had something up their sleeves. They must have leaked those photos to get the attention." Asher nods at me as I enter and sink into a chair. "Three days? That’s too soon. Father agreed to that?" He runs a hand over his hair. "Fine. I’ll prepare. I think I can handle it, don’t worry. Hey, are you okay? You sound a bit weird and no matter how many times I ask, you keep denying it. What’s wrong. Did something else happen at the office that you aren’t telling me? Speak up. I can handle it."

A small sigh escapes my lips. I think I’ll just go find mother, but when I stand to leave, Asher waves me back in my seat.

"Alright. I’ll see you soon." He drops the call and turns to me. "Hey. If I had to guess what Ashton’s face looked like given the tone of his voice that’s making me worry, I’d wager it appears exactly like yours right now. Come on kiddo, what’s up with you? Let’s hear it."

"Don’t call me kiddo. We’re quads."

"I was born first, kiddo. Make peace with it." He sets the laptop on his thighs aside and leans forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

"How are you?"

"I’m stronger. Now tell me what’s up with you. You really don’t look great right now."

"You promise you won’t judge me?"

"Uh...."

"Then I’ll just wait for Ashton to get home."

"I PROMISE I WON’T JUDGE, ASHAL. Now, get on with it. "

I wish it was literally Ashton or Ashley right now. Helpless, I go on to tell him everything he’s missed since his surgery. I can tell he’s struggling not to snarl at me for what happened with Alfie and my growing obsession with Maddi. He clenches and unclenches his fist for a few seconds after I bare my heart to him, taking everything in and probably choosing a cautious way to address the situation.

"I’m not like you, Asher. I actually fall in love with women I like and when I do, nothing else matters. I am unable to sacrifice that just to please father. I have to prioritize my own happiness sometimes because father would never do that for me."

"That’s your justification for killing a man, Ashal?"

"Alfie was an accident. You know that."

"Ok. Hear me out, now. You’re right. You’re not like me. I am also not like you and that’s a good thing. Because I am not like you lovesick pups, I actually have my head screwed on right and can see beyond the rose-tinted glasses to the problems that will crop up if you insist on going down this route. You’re divorcing Olivia on the faith that she would keep her NDA. The same woman who has broken it time and time again? You’ve fallen for her kid sister who used to hate you way more than Olivia did and I am supposed to believe it isn’t a set up by those sisters to trap you? You’ve literally confessed to hurting Olivia, killing Alfie and God knows what else, to Maddi. She could destroy you by running to the media, which, by the way, is her staple."

"You promised not to judge."

"This isn’t me judging you. If I was judging you, I’d be calling you some mean names right now for being a simp over a woman. This is me assessing the situation and telling you how it is. I’m showing you the things you can’t see because you’re blinded by love for the most problematic daughter in Danvarr. Seriously Ashal, couldn’t you have found anyone else? I have a really bad feeling about this."

I wish I had kept my mouth shut. I lurch to my feet. "Thanks for the clarity but you’re only fixating on the negative outcomes like you’ve been trained to do. I don’t blame you. Father hasn’t taught us any better. Have you stopped to think what if it’s the complete opposite of what you just said? What if Olivia has learnt her lesson and keeps her NDA after the divorce. What if Maddi has changed because of her feelings for me? What if Maddi is the one for me?"

"Habits die hard, Ash. People don’t easily change and making such a huge decision like letting Olivia go based off of the guilt you feel towards her could really fuck things for us if you’re wrong about her. Look what a huge loss we suffered because of father’s scandal. If your condition leaks along with records of the crimes you’ve committed and a possible recording of your calls and conversations with Madeline, we’re fucked. How can you not realize this?"

I jam my hands in my pocket. I really feel bad for Asher. Even after getting a new lease on life, he’s so hardwired to think of protecting the family business that he can’t imagine anything else coming before it, not even our happiness.

"Aren’t you tired of it all?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?"

"That lame excuse of wanting to protect the family reputation and business has been the catharsis of our inhuman decisions and actions for years. We have been stomping on people considered beneath us because of that false sense of ’honoring the family’. I personally have racked up points as a monster by trapping an innocent woman in a forced marriage and hurting her family just to keep my dirty secret. Perhaps if I had accepted what I am and checked into rehab, Liv would have lived a normal life. Alfie would still be alive. I’d have less guilt trips to go on whenever I close my eyes."

I blink away the moistness in my eyes.

"I’m tired of living like this, Asher, to please a father who is no less than a monster himself. You just cheated death. Do you really want to continue being the same old Asher Rollins with a stone-cold heart that doesn’t permit real human feelings such as love, remorse, pity and shame?"

"What’s the use of entertaining such weak emotions?" Asher asks.

"Weak emotions? Is that what father has taught you? The same man who claims to be married to the love of his life calls love a weakness and you believe him? You’re not being fair to yourself, brother. You keep turning away love when it finds you. Two women were literally fighting at the hospital to see you. I wish I could experience love like that from a woman."

Asher’s eyes fall to his feet.

"There must have been a time before your surgery, when you worried about dying not just because you’d miss your family or the business but because you felt you hadn’t truly lived. Do you truly have no desire to chart a different course for yourself other than the one father already mapped out for you?"

Asher drops on his seat and grabs his laptop. "You know what? You’re right. Maybe I’m tired of being the problem fixer around here. I’m tired of cleaning up after you all. Do you, brother. I really hope you’re right about Olivia and Madeline. I hope Madeline loves you as much as you love her but if it turns out that you are wrong about them, I trust you can handle it too."

"Yeah, I’ll clean my own messes from now on."

"Great."

I leave him to return to my room. Although I still regret discussing such a personal and sensitive matter with a man who has never allowed himself to love a woman, I am glad I told him the hard truth he needed to hear. As he has seen, life is too short to live as father’s puppet. If I can hope for it, then Asher deserves a real shot at love too.

I meet Ashton the second I get off the elevator downstairs.

"Hey, what’s the hurry? Everything okay?"

His eyes skirt the mansion. "Where’s Ashley? He isn’t taking his calls. I can’t reach Demi too." He tries to move past me into the elevator but I hold the doors.

"Ashley took Demi to visit Nicci on the island. What’s wrong? You look flushed."

He scratches an eyebrow and shakes his head. "It’s fine. I was just worried I couldn’t reach them all day." Though he appears very worried, he plays it off as fatigue from his day at the HQ and retires to his room. I shelf the plan to talk to him about my personal problems and contemplate going for a late-night drive to clear my head. I end up deciding against it and drinking myself to sleep instead.

The next couple of days are really hard for me. Maddi won’t talk to me and after bothering her with incessant calls, she finally blocks me. I didn’t think I had called her up too many times until I checked my call log. It was obscenely akin to that of a stalker. For this reason, I talked myself out of stalking her online or visiting her dorm. The weekend rolls by and my lawyer had my divorce papers delivered to my office.

I spent thirty minutes reminiscing my failed marriage and another hour convincing myself that it was the right thing to do because Olivia wanted it, and if it made Liv happy, it also made Maddi happy.

Just as I put my pen to the paper to sign it, a thought crosses my mind. What if Asher is right and the Dunn sisters don’t keep their promises? What if Maddi never truly forgives me for Alfie’s death? What if she doesn’t have feelings for me and has been pretending this whole time to get in my head and gather enough evidence from the horse’s mouth to finally put a nail in my coffin?

I shake the thoughts away and sign the papers like I promised I would, before sending it over to Olivia. I wish I could be there to see her reaction when she opened it and saw the bold signature.

For the rest of the day, I mope around the office, hovering around and poking my head through doors to check on my staff. It’s my coping mechanism to avoid worrying too much about Maddi and Olivia or why neither have called to thank me for keeping my word. I find it quite strange even if they’re pissed at me.

When I return to my office, I realize I have a bunch of missed calls. Scrolling, I note with a twinge of sadness that none are from Maddi or Liv. I return one of the calls from the penthouse.

"Yes? What’s so urgent?"

"Good evening, sir. I’m sorry to call you up like this but we have a problem."

I arch my brows. "What problem?"

"Your wife had earlier insisted on taking the divorce papers to the court to finalize the process. As you instructed, we escorted her and handled it privately. Before we could leave, she said she had to pee. It’s a common thing for pregnant women to pee more often than others so I escorted her to the bathroom. I couldn’t stand directly outside her door because of the way the restroom was built and a lot of women felt uncomfortable with me close to it."

"Get to the point, Viktor." I snap impatiently. My heart’s racing now. "Where’s Olivia?"

Viktor exhales. "The restroom had a back door when we searched it. We haven’t been able to find her. She isn’t at her family home nor has she contacted her parents yet. We’re doing our best to find her, sir."

In less than thirty minutes, I find myself in front of Maddi’s dorm. I’m told she moved out a couple of days ago. This appears to be news to her parents as well who have neither heard from or seen their daughters in a few days.

My head spins as I stagger back to my car. WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY AND WHAT ARE THEY UP TO NOW?