Four Brothers and a Bride-Chapter 162 - 163

ASHTON

I had meant to go along with Asher to get Ashley from the station. However, I took a detour along the way to pay Adriana a quick visit. Not only was she in a haste, Adriana was pulling a suitcase and hefting it into a cab. Instinctively, I screeched to a halt right next to the waiting cab, eliciting a shriek of fear from her.

As I get down from the car and lock eyes with her, her rosy cheeks go pale like she has just seen a ghost. With every one step I take towards her, she staggers backwards.

"Hey sis, where are you dashing off to in such a hurry?"

She swallows hard and begins to stutter a reply. I yank the suitcase out of the trunk of the cab and slam it shut, signaling the driver to leave. With a loud oath of disgust and impatience, he hits the gas and speeds away leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. When my eyes return to my fake sister’s, there isn’t a hint of color left on her cheeks.

"How long did you and Keith plan on keeping up the charade, huh, Kayla?" I asked her, my chest heaving with every deep breath I dragged in. "HOW MUCH WERE YOU PAID TO LIE TO MY FACE???"

She drops to her knees with her hands clasped in front of her, shaking visibly.

"I’m s-sorry. Very s-sorry. P-please sir, f-forgive...me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I needed some money and Keith promised he was going to pay more than I needed. He convinced me that I would be helping my friend fix her broken bond with her brothers and that you wouldn’t feel too angry when you discovered the truth because you’d already cherish me as your own sister and understand why I did what I did. I’m deeply sorry."

"Keith tipped you off. Is that why you’re running?" I pull her up to her feet but she continues to keep her head down. "If you are truly sorry for wasting my time all this while, you’d start talking already. Who’s my real sister and where is she? Is she aware of Keith’s tricks or my attempts to get to know her? SPEAK!"

Kayla shudders in fright. "Her name’s Skylar. She was my roommate for a year. While she remained closed off to every other person she met in school, she opened up to me a few times. That’s why we grew very close. She even told me some things Keith didn’t know about her difficult past and he begged me to share them with him. I did most of the time. I was genuinely worried for Skylar and thought her brother could help her."

She sniffles. "Skylar found out somehow and moved out after picking a fight with me. She hasn’t taken my calls or spoken to me ever since."

"And how am I to believe this isn’t another one of Keith’s tricks?" I advance menacingly towards her. "You cleverly avoided every opportunity to talk about your past because you knew the second you entertained the topic, I’d know you were a fake, right? How am I supposed to believe THIS isn’t another performance?"

"I know about Skylar’s past!" She yells. "That’s why Keith wanted me to stand in for her." Her eyes stay on mine awhile as she recounts some explicit details Skylar shared with her. "Keith was doubtful of your true intentions for Skylar so he never bothered to tell her about you. He was trying to protect her given her history with your father."

I take a few steps back. Kayla couldn’t be making this up. Her account is uncomfortably accurate and similar to Cree’s.

"Who else knows about this apart from you, Keith and Skylar?"

"I haven’t told another soul since Keith."

I feather a hand through my curls. "Well, you’re not going anyway, not until I get to the bottom of this. After that, I’d decide what to do about the stunt you and Keith pulled. For your sake, you better not lie to me EVER again going forward. Trust me, that would be a grave mistake."

I get back into my car, hoping to catch Asher and Ashley at the station.

"Mr. Ashton?"

"What?"

She wrings her hands nervously. "I feel obliged to tell you that Skylar isn’t interested in being reunited with her brothers. One thing was very clear from her inconsistent moments of candor; she hates the quads with a passion and never stopped talking about your karma. I’m sorry. I never understood why she was taking it out on her own blood and not the man who...sorry."

I ignore her. "Go back home and await my instructions. You make one move without informing me, you’ll pay for it."

***

None of it makes sense. I can’t wrap my head around the day I’ve had or the truths I’ve uncovered. Even worse, I have no idea how to bring this up with my brothers. Everyone appears to be so stressed out. Asher’s keeping a brave face as usual but I know he’s hurting more than anyone to see our family entirely broken apart.

Ashal just got back from rehab to find his personal life is worse than he left it. I fear for his mental health. Ashley is far from fine with his abrupt divorce from Demi and the shocking discovery of her secrets. I bet he blames me for most of the woes in his life.

I killed the man whose death he constantly gets blamed for. I fell in love with his wife and I wager that is one of the major reasons that toppled their marriage. I could go on. He has every reason to shut me out the way he’s been doing for the last couple of days. It’s been hard.

Ashley keeps mute while our lawyers facilitate his release. Although I can guess how annoying it must have felt to be pegged a murderer, detained and questioned, I somehow sense that the lingering sadness his face is currently wearing has little to do with his present ordeal.

"Hey man, are you really ok?"

Asher steals a glance at us. Ashley ignores my hand on his shoulder, mutters something about needing some air before walking away to go stand next to Asher’s car. I turn to Asher who simply shrugs his shoulders.

At the mansion, I try to stop Ashley before he goes in.

"Come on, man. Lay it on me. I know you’ve got a lot to say. I’d understand if you blame me for all your calamities."

"What are you talking about?" He quips.

"What else? You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder since the station."

Ashley sighs. "Maybe I blame you for some things that have happened around here. You shouldn’t have challenged father just to protect Demi. We’d still be a united family if you hadn’t gone out of your way to protect the same woman responsible for the woes in our family."

"Ashley..."

"I’M NOT DONE." He exhales. "Asher’s been right this whole time about her. If we had only listened, a lot of this would have been averted. Ashton, you have to open your eyes at some point before she drives a wedge between us brothers. I’ve gotten nothing left but you guys. You all are my strength. If I don’t have you all to draw strength from, I don’t think I could last with everything going on in my personal life."

"Don’t say that." Asher steps forward. "We will always be a unit. Nothing and absolutely NO ONE can come between us."

Ashley eyes remain fixated on me. "Not from my standpoint. Ashton’s already locked in with Demi. He’d drop everything and abandon everyone just to go be with her."

"Hey, that’s not true." I counter him.

"No? Where were you earlier today? Why were you late to the station?"

My throat dries up. I can’t tell them about the Adriana scam just yet.

"I’m done with her, Ash. I’m done torturing myself with what I could have done to make our marriage work or how to make amends for our family’s wrongs towards her. I’M DONE. Our marriage should NEVER have happened. You should have remained married to her or kicked her out yourself. It was unfair of mother to offer her to me. If she’s who you want after everything that’s happened, go right ahead but promise me that you will NEVER let her break our brotherly bond. That’s all I ask."

Before I can assure him, Asher steps between us. "If you’re so worried about the love of your life, go right ahead and be with her but get this; she’ll never love you as unconditionally as your brothers. Blood always wins, Ashton. Women come and go but blood remains." He jerks his chin towards the mansion. "She’s upstairs, second floor."

I take one look at the mansion, my brows furrowed in annoyance. There’s no way Demi is just lounging upstairs. Father must have made sure to treat her like an enemy. God, is she tied up? Just then, our parents step out.

"Oh good, you are back." Father says to Ashley while mother sprints forward and smothers Ashley with a hug. She kisses his cheeks before turning to me with teary eyes. A very tight hug follows and she holds me a little longer than usual while father acts indifferent to my presence, patting Asher’s back.

"I called the lawyers." He informs Ashley. "You and Demi are getting your divorce finalized today so she can be severed from our lives for good."

"About time." Ashley replies before walking into the house. Mother clings closely to me as we also go in.

"Thanks for sending Otto." I whisper to her.

"If you need anything else, you let me know." She stays silent when my eyes keep tracking upstairs, then pulls me to the side. "Ashton, are you sure? Is she really worth it despite what she represents and after everything that has happened?"

I know she’s talking about Demi. Her forehead is creased with worry. I kiss it, then her cheek. "I bet someone asked you the same thing when you got with father. Is he really worth it, Barbara?" I mimic a feminine voice to make her smile. She chuckles lightly.

"But this...this is different. This could go wonderfully or terribly wrong for both of you given what you both know now, and the chances of it being a disaster is higher. What if she secretly blames you and desires to take her revenge later? What if she wants to use you to break up our family forever? What if..."

"...they’re the children from two broken families whose love for each other will finally heal the rift between both worlds?" Ashley interrupts mother. "There are a LOT of what ifs, mother, and I understand your concerns." He stares at me. "I’m afraid of losing him too and of him losing himself if her feelings for him turn out to be dishonest but what can we do? This one’s as stubborn as a mule. He won’t listen until he finds out for himself."

He passes the divorce papers to me. "Here, go give them to her. I already signed. She’s all yours again, bro. No hard feelings. She and I were never meant to be."

"She should be in her room." Mother sighs, patting my shoulder. "I hope you’re right about this, about her. Think hard about what comes next for you two and our family and let us know, okay?"

Ashley pulls her away to the sofa and begins asking after Ashal who’s noticeably absent. Mother brings up Nicci but he cleverly digresses to distract her. I ignore the burning look father shoots my way and get into the elevator. My palms are slightly sweaty.

This is the defining moment. Demi is getting divorced from my brother. I have been disinherited. My family is still very much in the news for all the wrong reasons. Our stocks have plummeted to the bottom of the barrel. Josh and his mother are still lurking around the media, trying to make a case for their right to father’s affection. There are yet secrets to be uncovered about my biological sister going dark and what truly happened to my biological parents.

As I advance towards Demi’s room, I start to wonder if taking her into my arms and igniting our delayed romance would be the best right now. Can I protect her if I need to or is she better off without me being her weakness? Do I really want to rope her back into dealing with my family’s crap seconds after she’s set free or should I make sure she gets to experience a life without the Rollins family once again and decide for herself what she wants?

I hover in front of her door a bit, thinking things through. When I come to a decision that seems the best for all the parties involved at the moment, I go in.

***

The energy downstairs is weird when I reenter with Demi trailing closely behind.

"Is it done?" Father belts out, gesturing towards the papers. I nod at him. "Good. Hand them over to the lawyers." When that is done, I notice Demi feeling uncomfortable with the awkward eyes on her.

"Can she get her phone back and other things that were taken from her?"

Father frowns at me but juts a chin at Duncan’s latest hire who ambles forward with Demi’s belongings.

"You’re free to go." I mutter to Demi. "Sorry for everything that’s happened." She gives me a shocked stare as if to say, that’s it?

I ignore the look and turn to my family, pretending not to be intensely aware of the pain she must be feeling. She grabs her things and stalks out. Everyone remains fixated on me.

"I’ll also be leaving now." I inform them. I have to find my real sister with Kayla’s help and put the nagging doubts to bed before my brothers start asking questions.

"ASHTON." Father stops me when I turn to leave. "Not so fast." He leaps to his feet and makes his way to the center of the room where I am standing. "You just sent that woman away but you haven’t told us exactly what that means."

"If you were expecting me to talk her out of helping Billion-Err, it’s not my place to or frankly anybody’s. It’s up to her to decide and keeping her here against her will was never going to make that decision any easier for her to make."

Father smiles. "That’s not what I was asking."

"What do you mean?"

He turns to my brothers, my mother. "I guess everyone is wondering the same thing; what does Ashley’s divorce mean for you and Demi? Tell us your decision right now!"

I ignore the clog in my throat and straighten my spine. Might as well be now.

"This family never deserved her. She’s better off finding happiness elsewhere." While father nods impressively and the rest of my family stares worriedly at me, I move aside to take an incoming call.

"Yes?"

"You were right. The original orphanage records don’t contain the names you forwarded. I think those people were hired and prepped to lie about the identity of you biological parents." The speaker informs me.

I grit my teeth. If father is going to such great lengths to falsify records and evidence, then my worst fears must be true.

"And the other thing we discussed?"

"Yes, I’ve managed to track down Cree Baxter’s source of information about your biological family."