Four Brothers and a Bride

you say, how exactly are you going to help her?"

"Maddie, Demi doesn't really..."

"Let's start with who her partner really is. What's his name, Maddie?" | ask, matching her defiance. If she’s not

spineless as she’s trying to prove, then she’ll tellwhat her sister can’t.

"If I know who he is, I'll figure out how best to deal with the situation. | have very powerful in-laws as you know.

Money and connections are not a problem for me."

| intentionally threw in the last bit to elicit a reaction from Maddie. | just want her to take the bait and drop

Ashal’s name. If she proves tothat she’s willing to work withto save her sister, then we can discuss next

steps.

Maddie scoffs as | expect. "In-laws? Right." She tosses her head back and stares at Eliana. "Your wonder woman

here doesn’t have any real power. She's dependent on her in-laws. So, what happens if they turn you down?"

She asks me. "What if they don’t want to support your charity work or refuse to assist you? What if they order

you to stay hor lock you up in your room to stop you from playing detective? What then?"

More derisive laughter.

"I have power, Maddie. | may not have my non important documents or a hefty bank account but | am

surrounded by people who do and | know how to work them. Let’s get something straight however. | am not here

because | have a lot of free ton my hands. | am here out of a sense of duty to a fellow woman whom | have

reasons to believe needs saving. Are you going to tellhis nor not?" Maddie blinks in surprise at the

nasty edge of my voice. She’s roughly a year or two younger than me. | will not take her disrespect.

"Fine. | will tell you what | can. | won't give his nthough. If you're as connected as you claim, you should

have no problem finding that out for yourself." She arches her brow at me, as though asking if | am up for the

challenge. Eliana also waits for my response.

"You'll only be slowing us down but whatever. She's your sister, not mine!" That last bit gets to her but she feigns

indifference.

"He's from one of the wealthy families in Danvarr." She begins with a smirk. "He's the poster boy for the most

eligible bachelor. He's devilishly handswith a very low ranking on Danvarr’s most scandalous CEOs list. He

runs a media and entertainment company and is on the cusp of being voted CEO of the year." Her eyes hold my

gaze for another testing minute while Eliana watches us, a little lost. "Any guesses, Mrs. Rollins?"

She doesn’t have to mention his name. Any person who pays the smallest attention to the media and

entertainment news in Danvarr will rank Ashal as the best guess but | will not let Maddie hear it from my mouth.

| can’t trust her yet and | won't give her the satisfaction of absolving herself of the blif rescuing Olivia goes

south.

| know Ashal must have her family on a tight watch. The last tOlivia’s nwas mentioned cursorily online,

they must have been threatened which is why Maddie is being careful not to be the one to drop any names.

She’s smart but so am I.

"A few powerful names cto mind but like you, | won't be dropping any until | have them fact-checked. I'll

warn you though that you had better be sure of the descriptions you just gave. If | start poking around the wrong

people in the corridors of power, | won't spare you."

"I'm sure you won't. You are a Rollins after all." She sips her juice and watchesover the rim of the glass. "I'm

certain of the description."

"And you say your sister is just his girlfriend?"

She hesitates now. "Is there a problem with that?"

"I'm not certain what exactly she’s going through with him, whether it's a case of domestic abuse or house

arrest or worse. However, if there's more to their relationship..."

"That's for you to find out. | don’t know the specifics. Liv is very private. If their relationship status has changed,

she didn’t tell me." She shifts uncomfortably.

| turn to Eliana. "You said she was going to help out. All | see is her dilly-dallying around the issue. | don’t have a

lot of info to work with here so this might take a while."

"Why? Can't you just pass it on to one of your security personnel to run a probability scan or something with all

the high-tech you guys have?"

"Contrary to what you might think, | HAVE A LIFE too. | am not devoting a hundred and ten percent of my tto

a ‘maybe’ type situation. | know you know the answers to all the questions we have. If you are not willing to push

forward fast by givingspecific details so we can help your sister, why should | care so much how fast | jump

on this?" | grab my purse and rise to my feet. She’s so rude and arrogant. Eliana joinsat the door.

"Demi, I'm so sorry. Maddie can cacross as blunt and..."

"She's a rude piece of shit, that’s what she is." | cut off her patronage. "How dare she sit there and talk toso

disparagingly simply because | offered to help. Maybe Olivia is doing just fine if her sister isn’t taking any of this

seriously. I'm sorry for wasting your tEliana but | don’t think | want any part of this anymore."

Then turning to Maddie on the couch. "My best to Olivia and her happy life." | note how the light wanes in her

eyes before leaving despite Eliana’s frantic calls.

| am so pissed at her. She has no right to talk tolike that. She’s no braver than Olivia. She just pretends to

be. If she is, she would have boldly declared Ashal’s name. Why didn’t she?"

When | get into my car, Eliana’s door bursts open and Maddie comes jogging after me. She taps on my glass and

gestures that | roll down my window. With a silent oath of disgust, | oblige her.

"WHAT?"

"IT'S ASHAL ROLLINS."

| becspeechless, not because | didn’t know that already but because I didn’t expect her to be so brave.

"What?"

"THE GUY WHO HAS MY SISTER IS ASHAL ROLLINS, YOUR BROTHER-IN-LAW. | SWEAR IT. Now, are you going to

help her or not?"

ork

Shock waves run down my body as | make my way home. Maddie had somberly broughtup to speed on

Olivia and Ashal’s relationship. The details she shared withdon’t sound anything like the Ashal | know. No, |

just can’t reconcile that image with the perception of Ashal in my head.

If any of the brothers is capable of hurting someone out of anger, I'll give it to Asher. Even so, he has a great

capability for restraint. Unless he can get away with it, Asher wouldn't risk anything that would put his family

and the business in a bad light.

Ashton might be a hothead but he wouldn't punch a woman. | just can’t see him doing that. He mostly throws his

fist at guys who deserve it. Ashley is not much of a physical brawl kind of guy. He'd rather hire hands to do the

dirty work for him than risk sullying his designer clothes or his face and hair.

Ashal has always struckas a bit of an open book but one written in Chinese. Though he appears to be

harmless, | have always felt there was more to him than he lets on but this? A fucking rage? I just can’t picture

him like that.

"You're mistaken Maddie, you've got to be mistaken." | had countered Maddie.

"I'm not."

"Ashal doesn’t even have an official girlfriend. Aside from that, he’s the calmest and sweetest guy you'd ever

meet. He can’t beat up a woman to a bloody mess. He’s not got it inside him."

| couldn’t outrightly jump on her support train and leave my family to hang dry which is why I insisted she was

wrong. She would have to givemore evidence or proof to back her claim.

"Those are the most dangerous guys, Demi, don’t be so daft. Your in-laws are keeping you in the dark about a lot

of things. Ashal is married to my sister. He's been keeping her in his penthouse and hidden from everyone else

for two years now. At first, they claimed they didn’t trust Olivia not to tell the world what their ostensibly perfect

son had done to her. When she tried to convince them to annul the marriage and set her free after signing an

NDA, they still wouldn't let her go. Ashal even started gaslighting her about being in love with her and wanting

their marriage to work. That was when his mother made it about Ashal’s desires and demanded my sister stay

with him since the chances of getting another woman to marry him and keep his secret would be a long shot."

I ran my hand through my hair. "I can’t see it, Maddie. | just can’t. Ashal is not a sick person. He's a lot of things

but not what you're accusing him of."

"You said you'd help if | gave you specifics. Why won't you check it at least?"

"You wantto run a secret check on my own family? Do you know what you're asking?"

"I thought this was about saving a woman's life? Why do you think Liv asked for your help? You've gained

traction online ever since your accidental marriage or whatever it was. Billion-Err loves to spread news about

you. Maybe Liv was hoping you'd use your traction on the platform and your closeness to the family and their

secrets to draw attention to the injustice being meted out to her. Please Demi, you have to try."

"I don’t know how | feel about this. | can’t just trust your word and betray Ashal by suspecting him."

"Then test him. Go over to the penthouse where he keeps my sister as see for yourself if he’ll let you in. He has

never even let us in to see Olivia. We barely speak to her on phone and when we do, she pretends to be fine.

Test Ashal to see if my claims check out, and when they do, you have to helpsave my sister. Promiseyou

will, Demi."

| pull into the mansion after briefing Liam on the phone. When | head for the entrance, father’s car comes up

right after me. | walk in to go get srest and figure out what | am going to do with the information Maddie

just unloaded when | bump into one of the quads. His hand is reeled backwards to deliver a fatal blow. | lose my

balance and fall on my back with dread in my eyes.

Ashton?

Asher runs up behind him, calling his name. Ashton’s eyes are onbut he isn’t seeing me. Asher findson

the floor and quietly coaxes his brother but his efforts seem futile against the blind anger in Ashton’s eyes.

"Ashton." | call him softly, getting on my feet. He looks terrible. "What's going on?" Asher says nothing when |

edge close to his brother and lay a hand gently on his chest. Ashton’s breath evens and he blinks atwith

teary eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He repeats before storming up the stairs. As father and mother start to make their way in,

Asher grabs my hand and mutters.

"Go help him. Make sure he doesn’t cout of his room until | get there. Please."

| have never seen Asher beg and never thought he would begfor anything in this lifetime. It must mean the

matter is severely serious and the other brothers aren't hyet. | nod at him and make for the elevator while

he rushes to intercept his parents.

Upstairs, Ashton won't letinto his room.

"Ashton, con, open up. It's me." | listen close to the door and make out sounds of someone crying. My heart

breaks now as | intensify my knocking and punch the doorbell like a maniac. "Please letin, Ashton. Talk to

me. You're scaring me."

Still nothing.

| relentlessly knock on his door for almost five minutes before | hear him jiggle the lock. | rush in before he can

change his mind.

"Ashton." | moan with tears glistening in my eyes. He looks pitiable. | cup his face with my hands but he moves

away from me. "Ash, talk to me."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Look at you. What's going on?"

"Leave Demi. | can’t do this right now."

| can tell he is in a lot of emotional pain. Something is eating at him but he’s not ready to share with anyone, not

even his brothers.

"Just talk to me..."

"I SAID LEAVE. | DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE YOU OR ANYONE RIGHT NOW. WHY CAN'T YOU GET THAT? USE THE

FUCKING DOOR..."

| cut him off by planting my lips on his. | have no idea why | am taking such a risk but | know it’s not just for

Ashton. | also need this. | need him. | grab him by the lapels of his shirt and pull him closer to feel the warmth of

his body. My mind goes numb following the soft kiss we share. This is the only thing | can think of that will blank

his mind of whatever turmoil it's under, even if briefly.

Slowly, | feel Ashton relaxing into our slow kiss but he still doesn’t wrap his hands around my waist. He's holding

himself back and merely responding to the kiss. When | let him go, | take his face in my hands and wipe the tears

off with the pad of my thumbs. He sniffles a bit.

"You're okay. I'm here." | mutter softly before touching our foreheads together. Finally, his hands reach for my

cheeks as he sighs weakly. He leans forward to brush his lips against mine again. My heart thuds in my chest as

he pours himself into this rough kiss he initiated, as his hands scrape my back and fist in my hair.

"Ashton?" Someone calls behind us. Immediately, the familiar voice snaps him out of his horny state. His hands

fall from my face as we both turn to his door.

"Mother!" Ashton breathes, staggering away from me. Next to mother, Ashley stands with a look of

disappointment directed my way.