Four Brothers and a Bride

of Ashton and further strain their relationship?

Well, | won't stop. Ashton has promised he would talk toevery day so | don’t indulge in self-harm. | plan to

nurture our relationship till he can no longer deny his feelings for me, not even for his brother who has clearly

wrongedover and over again.

"Where are you going?" Anna quizzes.

| tie my hair in a high bun and secure it with a hair tie. "My husband's ex wants to have a conversation with me.

I'm guessing there’s been a new development. | hope she fell for my trap and went on to broadcast her

pregnancy to put Ashley in a tough spot." Hair and face done, pretty much, I slip my shoes on and spritz a

cologne on my body.

"Wishluck. I'm hoping this one is not also disappointing." | peck Anna's cheek before leaving.

| guess | find it strange that Nicola has invitedto her apartment. When she ushersin, | take one cautious

step after another, sizing up her cozy space. It's grander than | thought. I'm guessing Ashley got this for her and

not her modeling pay check. | eye her couch.

"We've done it on literally every furniture in this house if that’s what you are wondering." Nicola quips with

hands folded across her chest. | turn to find her still standing by the door, observing me. She's still in her

nightdress and flip flops.

"I guess I'll stand then." We lock eyes for a humming minute. "Why am | here, Nicola? | think | am up to speed on

your affair with my husband. If you calledhere to apologize, might as well get on with it even though it won't

change anything."

She smiles. "I have nothing to apologize for. Ashley was mine first. | didn’t force him to keepby his side after

he got married. If you're looking for someone to blfor my pregnancy, you should start with your sex

deprived husband who can’t get enough of his ex because apparently, his wife doesn’t do it for him."

| grit my teeth and strap down on the need to stream across the living area and leave an indelible mark on her

cheek with a hard slap.

"I'm trying to see what he sees in you."

"Don’t be naive. You didn’t think romping naked with him in the sheets and being his booty call was going to

earn you a place at his family table, did you? That's not how it works, Nicci, not for a powerful man like Ashley. If

that were the case, then he’d marry every woman he’s had a fling with. You're simply a pick off the litter. You're

easy, used. For the title of a wife, a man like him usually goes for more than a voluptuous body and a pretty

face."

Nicci edges close to me. "At least you admit you're not his type. Tell me, is that why you seduced him at the club

that night and deceived him into marrying you? That must be it. You knew that there was no way in hell that he

would even give you a second look. You don’t even qualify to have a fling with him. You're just one of those girls

in a crowded room whom Ashley never notices. He wouldn't have married you if you didn’t craftily involve the

entire country in your plan."

"You're welcto wrack that tiny brain of yours and torture yourself with how a nobody likegot the revered

position of the daughter-in-law of the Rollins family. Better yet, you could ask Ashley. | can tell you free though

that | didn’t have to open my legs once for him before we tied the knot. Ashley might be a womanizer but even

he can distinguish between a valuable woman and a sex toy."

Nicci’s face contorts with anger.

"Did you callhere for this pissing contest? | have other places to be so if you'll excuse me..." | brush past her

to head for the door when she yells at me.

"You lost your baby, didn’t you?" She turns to faceat the door. Ashley told her? He had no right to use my

miscarriage to placate his bitter and pregnant ex.

"You lost your baby. That must have hurt a lot." Nicci continues. "I am just wondering how a woman who has

recently cto know the pain of losing a child would be complicit in the plot to makelose mine."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your husband made a proposition after threatening my life and that of my father’s. | thought he loved me

enough to have my back but | was so wrong. In the end, he chose his family. He chose you."

"What proposition? Did he ask you to get an abortion?"

"Don’t act ignorant, Demi Rollins. I'm sure you helped him cup with that sick plan just so you can have the

baby you lost and be the perfect daughter-in-law the family wants." She marches up to me. "You are planning to

steal MY baby, aren't you? Ashley promises to get my career out of the mud and help my father be reinstalled in

a fitting political seat on the condition that | secretly have my baby and hand it over to you to raise as yours!"

"What?"

"Your entire family is in on it. Don’t pretend to be clueless." Tears glisten in her eyes. "How could you be so

greedy and selfish that you want to rip my child off my arms the second it’s born to play pretend mom in front of

the whole country? You already have his last name. All | want is my baby and my baby’s father present in my life.

Ashley was already thinking of divorcing you so | was helping him achieve that. How am | the only one left to

hang dry?"

| stumble backwards. What sick proposition is this? Ashley hasn't even said a word to me. Did Ashton know about

this while he was comfortingat the café? What the hell is going on?

This isn’t what | wanted to happen. | wanted to expose Ashley and Nicci’s pregnancy so he gets a bad social rap

which will eventually ricochet and affect the family business. | wanted a lot of tension on the hfront, enough

to distract everyone from my schemes. | never asked to raise Nicci’s child! What the hell is Ashley thinking?

"Nicci...this isn’t...there has to be a misunderstanding." | stutter.

"There is no misunderstanding. Ashley didn’t mince his words when he clearly threatened me. This is the only

option he set before me. | have to surrender my child to the both of you and go on with my life like nothing

happened. How do you think that makesfeel? It's one thing to lose a child you've never met. It's a whole

other ballgto lose a child you've bonded with during your pregnancy and birthed. How will | cope watching

you and the man | love raise my child without me?"

Nicci sinks to the floor, weeping heavily.

"How can you be that callous, Demi? | know you put him up to this. Is this your revenge? This is how you plan to

get back atfor everything? All | did was love a man whom | believed lovedback. Please, don’t let him do

this to me. I can't live like that."

Trembling with shock, | stagger to her door while she continues to weep and plead with me. | don’t understand

anything. This is a huge shock. inside my car, | take deep breaths to calm myself. | don’t know if I should call

Ashley or Ashton or Liam. After a brief debate in my head, | pick up the phone and dial a number.

"Hey."

"I'm just leaving Nicola’s place and she had a shocking revelation for me. Apparently, my husband is planning on

hiding her pregnancy in the most inconvenient way possible. He wants her to have the baby secretly and then

hand it over toto raise as mine and Ashley’s child. Can you believe that?"

"What? Liam gasps in shock. "He wants to saddle you with the responsibility of raising the child he made with his

side chick? That's an insult on top of the injury he’s inflicted on you."

"Nicci mentioned that the entire family is in on it. She was surprised that | appeared clueless. Liam, what am |

going to do if they mean to foist that responsibility on me. | know Mrs. Rollins wants to keep her grandchild so |

get why she’ll be down with this idea. Given the sadness looming over the mansion with the loss of my baby,

everyone else might be open to this arrangement. | can’t do it, Liam. You have to find a way to foil this plan of

theirs."

"Shit. Look, we have two options in front of us. We can either use billion-err to leak your miscarriage or Nicci’s

pregnancy. It’s up to you, Demi. Which is it going to be?"

ork

It's a little shy of seven thirty when | pull into the driveway of the mansion. The house seems to have grown

double in size since | left or maybe staying at Anna’s humble space is messing with me. | survey the cars in the

driveway. Everyone is hby my count. Good. | need everyone present for this. | glower at one of the men in

suit at the entrance for informing father of my arrival.

When | get in, the family is at the dining room for dinner. | bet it makes no difference to them that their daughter-

in-law is absent. Mother hasn't even calledin the last two days. My eyes alight on Mila who's perched close

to Ashton at the table. Did she already move in or is this purely a visit?

Ashley smiles and shoots to his feet when he sees me.

"Demi, you didn’t informyou were coming back." He marches towardswith outstretched arms and a big

smile. All | think about as he closes the distance between us is Nicola weeping on the floor. How could he use two

women so shamelessly and have the stomach to eat? | flash five fingers in his face and give him a searing look

that makes him halt in his track. Everyone at the table seems alerted to the frostiness between us.

"Something wrong?"

"Did you really just askthat?" | lash out. "Has anything been right lately, Ash? With us? With this family? With

Nicci?"

The rest of the quads lurch to their feet. Mother turns totoo. Ashley feigns a smile as he tries to coaxnot

to divulge our issues in front of Mila but | don’t care what anyone thinks or wants right now. | am too livid to care.

"Don’t shush me. She's going to be a part of the family soon so what's the big deal if she’s apprised of the

hellish condition I've been put through?"

"Demi!" Father growls.

To everyone's surprise, | totally ignore him and face Ashley.

"It wasn’t enough that everyone turned a blind eye to the fact that Asher killed our unborn baby or the fact that

you cheated onrepeatedly and now your ex is expecting your child. You, Ashley, have the guts to add insult

to all the injury you've inflicted onby planning to makeraise your bastard child?"

"What?" Father rises in shock. Ashley instantly goes pale. The flushed look on his brother's faces hint at their

shock at my revelation. Are they pretending to be oblivious or was Ashley truly acting alone?

"Ashley, what the hell is she talking about? Nicci is pregnant with your child?" Father enquires.

Ashley runs a hand over the band of neck and exhales. He avoids everyone's eyes but mine. When he looks at

me, there's a mixture of anger and frustration in them.

Father turns to survey the room. "You all kept this from me?"

"We just found out too. We didn’t want to hassle you with another complication." Mother placates him.

"How was keepingin the dark going to help? It’s Nicola Grey for goodness’ sake."

"Calm down, Brett. Please, we can talk about this later. Let's try to figure out an amicable solution first."

"Ashley already made Nicci a proposition. I'm going to fake the pregnancy I just lost for the cameras while Nicci

goes on hiatus to have her baby. When it’s born, I'll take the baby from her and present it as mine while the

mother goes on living her life like nothing happened. Nicci explained everything towhile accusingof

trying to snatch her child. Can you imagine that, Ashley? This is your solution? You're tampering with the lives of

two women, two hurting mothers." Tears flow down my eyes.

"Why do you hateso much? How could you think that raising the child you had with your ex would heal the

wound left by my lost child? How could you insultlike that?"

"I am doing it for you, Demi, and for our family. | can’t think of a better way to resolve this. | know you're still

hurting. | am certain that raising the baby would be good for you."

"I DON'T WANT NICCI'S BABY. FRANKLY, | DON'T WANT ANY BABY, NOT AFTER MINE WAS BRUTALLY KILLED." |

glare past him to Asher who has a steely expression at the dining table. "I won't raise a child in this house, not

like this. | don’t need any favors, Ashley. Find a way to sort your mess with Nicci without involving me. Please,

leaveout of it." When | turn to leave, father’s voice echoes round the room.

"You're wrong, Demi. In this family, everyone works together to clean up messes that have the ability to affect us

as a whole. Mila, you should learn this too. We are a unit. We work as a unit. If Nicci insists on having her baby,

then Ashley’s idea isn’t bad at all."

"What? Father!" | shriek.

"Would you prefer to have another baby with him?" He inclines his head when | stare at him with shock written

all over me. "that’s what | thought. This way, Ashley gets to be a dad again. You get to have a child without

going through the rigors of making and birthing one. Nicci disappears from our lives and the whole of Danvarr

applauds the arrival of a new generation of Rollins. The news of your pregnancy and delivery could do our stock

prices a lot of good."

| shake my head. "You wantto lie about being pregnant and having a baby just to perk up your stock prices?"

"lI want you to do everything necessary to prevent the tarnishing of this family’s image. That's what it truly

means to be a part of this family. If you aren't up for it, you're welcto sign the divorce papers!"

"Brett." Mother nudges him but he remains unfazed. Ashley coaxeswith his eyes. | stare from one family

member to the other, my eyes full of tears.

"Do it, Demi." Mila chimes in. "If you consider this your family, it shouldn't be that hard to make sacrifices for

them." Father and mother turn in her direction and give her nods of approval. She’s not even officially married

into the family and she’s already gunning for my position and licking asses.

| turn to Ashley and grab his shoulders.

"I know you don’t lovebut Nicci? If you have a shred of love in your heart for her, you wouldn’t cause her the

pain of losing a child. She might have hurtbut | could never wish such sorrow on her. You can’t do that to

her, Ashley."

"He can and he will. That child is his and deserves the best that only this family can give such as a great last

nfor starters." Father replies.

"Mother, you are also a woman. You must understand how devastating all of this must be for Nicola. | don’t want

any part in this. Please, make everyone understand. I'll forgive Ashley if that’s what you're worried about but we

don’t need that baby to save our relationship."

Father scoffs. "You think your marriage to Ashley is what anyone is worried about here? This conversation is

about my grandchild and a rightful heir of this family. Ashley can always remarry. You're not special in any way,

Demi. Don't flatter yourself."

"Father, enough." Ashley utters with sagged shoulders.

"Talk ssense into her, Ashley before | lose it." Father warns him. When Ashley tries to console me, | refuse

his touch and head for the door. Three bodyguards block my path.

"What's going on? Ask them to letthrough." | bark, staring at Ashley who only dips his eyes.

"You're not leaving this mansion until we know whether you're with us or against us." Father thunders. With the

subtlest of hints, my phone is snatched from me. "Take her to her room and see that she is monitored."

"What? Why?" Arms link between mine and forcefully steertowards the staircase while everyone watches.

"Father, is this really necessary?"

"Stay out it, Ashton." Father bellows at him with a sizzling look.

"Mother, please. Don’t let them do this! ASHLEY! HELP ME!" | cry out but no one moves a muscle to help me

even when one of the bodyguards eventually throwsover his shoulder and carryup the stairs. Mila

watches with a lopsided grin on her face. | kick and scream until | am carried over the stairs and curved towards

my room.

| can’t believe this is happening. | am shoved into my room and the door slammed shut in my face. My security

code is changed. | keep banging on the door and yelling at the top of my voice but no one comes to help me.

Oh God! What if they go through my phone and my call logs, my chats with Liam and Anna. How do | stop that

from happening while locked in my room? My secret will be revealed soon. What do | do?