Four Brothers and a Bride

shared a womb. They've been together their whole lives. Having to fight over a woman is killing them both."

"What would you havedo, mother? Ashley will never stop suspecting me. You askedto be intimate with

him and even that didn’t bring us any closer. | don’t know what else to do to ease his fears."

Mother clears her throat. "I spoke with Ashley and he is willing to stay back in this mansion with you by his side

but he has a condition."

My heartrate slows down. This can’t be good.

"What condition?"

"You'll have to bear his child."

ork

| am not surprised at all. Ashley will demand the craziest things just to flex stestosterone around our

marriage. He wants a child withto put a bigger barrier (somewhat) between his brother and I. I bet he

doesn’t give two cents about being a dad. He just wants to saddlewith a baby so | remain stuck with him. |

can’t believe how low he thinks of me.

I lurch to my feet to go stand by my window.

"He doesn’t want a child. He's just being manipulative."

"No, Demi. | asked him myself and he opened up about the heartbreak he suffered when your test results came

back negative. He wants a child with you. I for one know how the gift of a child can draw a couple closer. It

happened toand Brett. Our relationship got strained for a while when we were childless but as soon as we

got blessed with our boys, | saw a different side of him. He gave up bad habits to focus on our family and hasn't

stopped lovingdeeply ever since. | want that for you and Ashley."

| don’t give a rat’s ass about what she wants but | rein in my emotions and my thoughts on the issue.

"But mother, a child wasn’t part of our agreement. Are you askingto stay with Ashley forever?" She stands

up to joinby the window.

"Has it not crossed your mind once? Do you abhor the idea?"

"Ashley has never made my heart feel safe with him so no, | never let the idea cross my mind." | turn to her with

the most pitiful look I can muster. "I can handle anything from Ashley, from his distrust and emotional neglect to

his entitlement but | am afraid of introducing a child in this marriage before Ashley learns how to love me

properly. I'm sorry mother."

"lI understand." She replies somberly. "The problem is that Ashley's mind is already made up. | don’t know how to

change his mind."

You can change his mind but you just won't. This is all a ploy between you and your son to stroke his ego at the

expense of my life. | manage to conceal the anger bubbling insideover my recklessness. | shouldn't have let

Ashley have his way. He doesn’t deserve to father my child.

"If he means to separatefrom this family, | guess I'll have to accept my fate."

| know the emotional blackmail won't cut it with mother since her precious son is involved. | have to think fast

and devise a plan to secure my place in the mansion. If father and mother can’t sway Ashley, there's one more

person who can effectively do so and | happen to have a gem to compel that person to keepin the mansion. |

drop him a message that will definitely have him gritting his teeth.

Liam finally callsback after I leave the house for sfresh air and to meet up with my plan B.

"Where have you been? Why can’t | get a hold of you when | desperately need you?"

"I have a life too, you know." He huffs out a breath. "What do you mean by Ashley wants to leave the mansion?

How did that happen, Demi? What did you do?"

Immediately, he blames me. He’s not wrong to but | was hoping he’d circle around the truth for a bit.

"He made the announcement this morning to the family. He didn’t even informabout it. | don’t know what's

going on in his head. | haven't done anything to warrant this drastic measure."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, | am." | sigh tiredly. "I think | might have a way to change his mind on the issue. If it fails, I'm going to

need you to think of something to keepin the mansion. You know what happens if | leave."

"I think you're in the best position to negotiate your way out of this mess, Demi. He's your husband after all. How

difficult can it be to sway the man with all your lady parts? Except you're holding back. Is that it? Are you looking

outside for help because you don’t want to explore other intimate solutions?"

"You think I haven't tried all that? He's not listening, Liam. Despite welcoming him into my bed and doing

everything expected of me, he continues to doubtas long as | breathe the sair as his brother. The sight

of Ashton and | in the sroom reminds him of things he refuses to forget. | can’t help him there. He wants to

put a distance between Ashton and I."

"At least we've established that this is all your fault." | snort at him. "If you don’t want to leave, how about you

find a way to make Ashton leave with my sister? You can always find a way to sow that seed in Mila’s head. She

will do the rest."

His suggestion stunsto silence. It's a great suggestion and | did think about it. I just don’t know how | feel

about it.

"Why are you silent?"

"| already suggested that to Mrs. Rollins and she was furious with me." | lie smoothly. "She almost accusedof

trying to separate the brothers. Ashton wants to live in the mansion when he weds Mila. His mother isn’t

prepared to lose him either so she madeswear not to suggest the idea to Ashley. | am only to try and

convince him to stay back at the mansion."

Liam says nothing.

"I have to go. | have an appointment. Hopefully, | will able to reverse this nightmare soon."

| cut the call and exhale sharply. | hope Liam doesn’t catch up with my lies.

Finally, my guest arrives, slides a chair out and joinsat my table in the Honey Pot. He casually glances

around in search of his latest, special girl and shoots her a seductive smile over the counter. His eyes harden

when they meet my face.

"You've got sballs threateninglike that, Branson."

"That was hardly a threat, Asher. You oweone, remember?"

"Did you intentionally choose this place hoping to convincewith Anna’s help?"

"She didn’t even know you were coming. Look, | hate that it's cto this but you would do the sthing if

the roles were reversed. You've dangled my secrets like a carrot before my face and threatenedseveral

times before. A little dose of your own medicine can’t hurt that much."

"So, you wantto convince Ashley to remain in the mansion. Why?"

"Why not? Don't act like you don’t want him to stay back too."

"I want him to stay but | also want you gone."

| ignore the jab to my pride. "You wantgone from his life not just the mansion. That'll take a few more

months." He arches a brow at me.

"lI am right. You don’t give a shit about my brother. Why aren't you divorcing him then? Why are you desperate to

stay with him till the contract expires? Why are you desperate to remain in the mansion?" His eyes dim with

understanding. "Ashton. You don’t want to be away from him."

"If | still cared deeply for Ashton, | would have suggested this move to Ashley to sparefrom the torment of

watching him carry on with his life being hitched to another woman, don’t you think? This has nothing to do with

Ashton. The mansion is the only h| know. Like | explained to mother, Ashley and | are not ready to live alone

as a couple. Between his affair with Nicci, his distrust inand my frustration with his insecurity, we'll be

miserable. | don’t want to be miserable for the next six months."

"Then divorce him!"

"Is that what he wants? He might not be the best husband but Ashley used to be a great friend to me. | don’t

want us to part ways with bad blood between us, not like this. I'd also hate to leave before I fix the strain in his

relationship with Ashton. | know it hurts you to see them like that. Imagine how | feel being caught up in it all.

Please, Asher, you're their brother. | shouldn't have to convince you to keep your brothers close. Ashley doesn’t

want to leave his family. | know it. He's just hurt. | need you to talk him out of this crazy idea."

"Or you'll spill my secret at breakfast like your husband did."

"Precisely."

He grits his teeth as he contemplates.

"Hateall you want but don’t let that hatred blind you so much you fail to do right by your brother. Don’t let

him make this mistake. Being away from the quads, being unable to exercise with you guys at two in the

morning or to share drinks at the groom and meals with the entire family every day will wreck him. Do

whatever you have to do to change his mind or you'll live with the guilt if he goes into a spiral."

"I'll talk to him but only because | already planned to knock ssense into him, not because of your silly

threats. Don’t you ever dare to threatenagain! You want to spill my secret, go right ahead. | wonder what

Anna will think of that, what she will think of you."

"Think of who?" Anna joins us with a big smile, the type that she is fond of showing only when Asher is in the

building. She bats an eyelid at him as they struggle not to touch each other in public.

"Nothing. We were just talking about boring work stuff." | grab my bag and disregard the smirk on Asher’s face.

"I'll stop by your place later tonight." | kiss her cheek and bid her good bye, then give Asher a stern look to

remind him to keep his end of the bargain.

Unwilling to go hbefore Asher callswith sgood news, | text Anna and go over to her place to crash

while she’s at work. By the tshe arrives at night, | am bored out of my mind and worried too. | haven't heard

a peep from Asher or Ashley and | am too stubborn to call either of them first. Ashley should be calling to

apologize tofor the rude shock he gaveearlier. Asher should have the decency to informif he was

successful or not.

"I don’t know what you see in him." | gripe to Anna an hour after she gets hand after | am done explaining

everything that happened to her. "Why won't he even textat the very least."

"Do you wantto ask him?"

Ashley’s call comes through. | shush Anna and take the call.

"Hey."

"Demi, | am very sorry about this morning. | need to see you. Can you chome?"

Asher must have spoken to him. | don’t plan to make things easy for him though. He nearly gaveheart

attack.

"I don’t know, Ash. | was planning on crashing at Anna’s tonight."

"Please, | am really sorry | upset you. We are not moving out of the mansion. Chome, please."

I roll my eyes. "I'll be there shortly." | hang up and expel a deep breath.

"I have to go. Asher sorted it out."

Anna jumps to her feet as | gather my things and head for the door.

"Did Mrs. Rollins really ask you to bear Ashley’s child? What are you going to do about your pregnancy? How long

are you going to keep this from them?"

My fingers freeze on the door. | have been trying not to think about it.

"I don’t know, Anna. | sincerely don’t know what | am doing or what | am going to do when they find out. Look at

the stunt Ashley pulled today. Look what happened when his father thought | was pregnant. He had a mini fight

with mother over it. It all goes to show how divided the house will be once my pregnancy is discovered but that’s

not what | am most afraid of. | am scared of what they'll do toonce it’s discovered. What if | am confined to

the house? What if my daily routine is regimented and my movement monitored. It's too much pressure. | don’t

know what to do, Anna."

Anna pullsinto her arms while | sob softly. She pats my hair and soothes me. | dab my eyes.

"I'll figure something out." | assure myself.

"You will. You always do."

She helpswith the door. With my head lowered, | notice the black sheen of male shoes first before | lift my

head to stare at his eyes.

"Asher?" Anna and | both chwith shocked stares at the sight of her unexpected guest.