Four Brothers and a Bride

Chapter 191: Chapter 191

ASHAL

"Where have you been? | couldn't reach you on phone." Maddi snapped when | returned to the mansion and tried

to sneak into my room at night. | didn’t expect her to be sitting in the dark, waiting for me. "You knew I'd be

worried. I'm sure Ashton informed you that | went all the way to his company to enquire about you. Yet, you

didn’t deem it fit to callonce? Why?"

| tossed my jacket on the sofa and stared at her. She had definitely been crying. "I'm sorry. | didn’t..."

My door swung open and Olivia entered.

"Maddi, could you excuse us? | have to talk to Ashal."

Maddi craned her neck towards her sister, shocked at the audacity. "Excuse me? Can't you see he and | were in

the middle of a conversation before you rudely interrupted us?"

| ran a hand over my face as both sisters exchanged heated looks.

"Your lovers spat can wait but my baby can’t."

"Really? Your baby?" Maddi brushed past me, shoving my hand away when | tried to stop her. "Now, you care

about your baby? Liv, you tried to end your life earlier today, right in front of your baby’s father! You didn’t think

of anyone but yourself. You didn’t think of your innocent child, me, our parents, Ashal or even his family who are

eager to welcthis child. You haven't spoken a word toall day or bothered to give anyone an explanation

as to why you did what you did. Now, you barge into my man’s room without knocking first and demand to have

a conversation with him. Are you being serious right now?"

"It’s just a private conversation, Madeline. What are you so insecure about? He's not going to knockup

because guess what? He already did." She rolled her eyes. "FYI, you don’t own the man. You're not his wife or

anything."

Maddi couldn't believe her ears as she turned towith eyes the size of sauce pans. | could tell she was holding

back her tongue from spilling expletives out of sheer respect for her sister.

"What the hell is going on, Ashal? Why aren’t you saying anything to her right now? Did you not hear what she

just said?"

"Yes, Ashal. Tell her now or | will." Liv interjected.

Somewhere at the back of my head, a nasty headache was starting to brew.

"Tellwhat?" Maddi slanted a heated gaze at her sister, then back at me.

"Maddi, givefive minutes and I'll ctalk to you in your room."

"Stalling won't help...."

"Shut up, Liv." | warned Olivia with a glare. "Don’t you dare test my patience!" To my surprise, she clamped her

mouth shut and went to sit on the sofa. | turned back to Maddi. "I have a few things to say to her concerning this

morning. Can you excuse us a moment?" With my thumb, | jerked Maddi’s chin up so she looked atinstead of

her sister. "Please?"

She unfolded her hands, pulledclose and crushed her lips to mine. The kiss was rough and possessive with a

tiny bite at the end to carve her initials on my lips.

"You've got three minutes. Don’t you dare keepwaiting." Her eyes held a lot of promises | would have given

anything to see before the event of that morning. When she flicked a gaze at Liv, her sister's jealous face gave

Maddi sterling pleasure before she walked out. | turned to Liv with renewed ire.

"First thing, don’t you ever cinto my room without knocking first!" | took a step towards her. "Second thing,

you're not welcomed in here unless | invite you."

"But Ashal..."

"Third thing," | continued, ignoring her protest. This time, | was standing right in front of her. My stomach

clenched seeing her doe eyes staring up at me. "Don’t you ever disrespect Maddi like that again, especially not

in front of me."

"I'm sorry. I'll apologize to her. I'll apologize to everyone. | wasn’t thinking." She grabbed my fingers. "I won't

hurt your feelings ever again. I'll be mindful of it." Her eyes lingered, hoping to hear more. "And about this

morning?" | slowly pulled my fingers away from her and retreated to ease a hip on my drawer.

"| already called your parents. They're eager to have their daughter back home."

A smile broke out on Liv’s lips. "Okay. Then you better go tell Maddi so she can get packing."

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My eyes were flat as | stared at her. "Maddi isn’t going anywhere, Liv; you are."

A dreaded hush fell over the room as she looked up atwith pained eyes. "What did you say?"

| expelled a deep breath. "I spent the better part of the day calling up institutions that can get you the help you

need to find a new path after the birth of our baby, since that seems to be the scariest thing for you. | also set up

an account with more than enough money for you to start a new Chapter of your life, wherever you so desire. I'm

also going to buy you any house of your choice, inside or outside the country, and a car to help you get around."

"ASHAL!"

"But what | wouldn't do," | added, straightening my stance, "is accept a woman who risked her own child's life to

keep a man she clearly doesn’t love on a leash just so her sister doesn’t have him." Eyes sizzling with anger, |

gritted my teeth at her. "I also filed a police report seeing as this is the second tyou've inflicted harm on

yourself just to garner attention and sympathy from us. Yes, the doctor also mentioned that the first incident was

no accident either."

| honestly couldn't believe her. Tears streamed down her face as | exposed her.

"How can you be so selfish, Olivia? You're not the woman | fell in love with years back. She’s changed, and so

have I. We didn’t work out and despite how hard it was forto accept that, | did eventually. | went through a

lot to get to this happy place in my life, with the woman my heart beats for now. I refuse to be your puppet. |

won't walk away from everything just to end up being frustrated with you."

"But | love you..."

"Even if | could believe that, it wouldn't matter because | am not in love with you, Liv. When | was tied up in that

basement and the certainty of returning hto my family dwindled with every hour, the only other person |

thought about aside from my family was Maddi. How can you be okay with spending your life with someone like

me? How's this going to be any different from the miserable two years we spent together?"

"She rises to her feet only to go down on her knees. "Please Ashal, don’t do this to me."

"Or what? You'd take your life and my child with you? And what do you think will happen afterwards? Let me

enlighten you. We'll be hurt by your death and that of our child’s no doubt. We'll mourn for a few months but

after that, life will go on. Maddi and | will still be together, and after she’s done with her education, I'll propose

we take our relationship to the next level. I'll eventually be a father again. But if you take what | am offering right

now, Liv, you won't just be a memory in our hearts. Two to five years from now, that hollowness in your heart

and the bleakness of the future you envision will be gone. You could find someone and be happily married by

then. We could all live happy, different lives. | once felt as lost as you. | never envisioned that | could find love or

be happy like others but life is always full of surprises."

| pulled her to her feet while she trembled in tears. "I'm begging you, Liv, give it two years. | promise it won't be

as bad as you think. Things will look up for you too. You just have to exercise sfaith."

It's been a few days since that conversation and Liv has barely said a word toor her sister. As | watch her

over the rim of my glasses at the sit-down, | am slightly worried about her silence. She apologized to Maddi as

promised but since then, she recoiled back into her shell, speaking only when spoken too.

Maddi wasn’t pleased to discover what her sister had planned but she was mature enough to let it slide. She's

been showing up for Liv since then, assisting her where she can.

The arrival of Demi and Monaco Vaughn replaces the awkward silence in the hall with a palpable tension.

"What are you doing here?" Asher questions Vaughn.

"I'm here for them." She replies, jerking a chin towards the victims. "I told you, didn’t I? They all took my

business card and later called to ask that | represent them at this meeting. Having your own lawyers here but

not theirs seems a bit selfish, don’t you think?" She continues before Asher can reply. "I'd have loved to have this

filmed but Demi here doesn’t need more media attention." She gestures Demi to a seat and the latter silently

obeys.

"So, shall we begin?" Monaco asks Asher with a smirk.

An hour later, the victims are all given a chance to express their feelings and tell us the pain they endured and

how it was rightly due to Rollins Group or our family particularly. Olivia refuses to speak so Maddi offers to do so

on her behalf.

It hurtsto realize just what a monster | was to Olivia. Maddi tries her best to tell the truth while being mindful

of her words in a bid to preserve my reputation. Tears almost seep into my eyes. She emphasizes on my

condition as the major driver for my past actions and finishes by mentioning the steps | took to tackle my

demons.

Ashton shifts uncomfortably as Demi’s turn comes.

"I'll pass." Demi mutters with a weak voice.

"Are you sure?" Monaco asks her, worried.

Demi’s red eyes find her lawyer's face. "I think by now the tragic story of my parents’ death is more popular than

the national anthem in this country so please, can we kindly move on?"

Monaco nods with understanding, patting Demi’s thigh.

We continue with Lily. She’s been sitting still, occasionally slanting a gaze my way. | have no idea why but | can

sense her contempt forand literally everyone here.

"Lily?" Monaco hums.

Lily draws a deep breath and shudders. "Can we take a break? | haven't had anything all morning."

Monaco flicks her wrist to stare at the time. "Sure, let's take ten. Is that okay?" Our lawyers nod in agreement

after communing with us. Then Monaco continues, "Okay, everyone. Let's take a ten minutes break. Help

yourselves to swater, drinks, refreshments. We'll reconvene soon."

Everyone leaps to their feet and begins to advance to the refreshment table. While Asher pulls Monaco to the

side for a chat and Ashton steers Demi to check on her, | follow Lily. She only grabs a simple bottle of water from

the table to drink.

"Hey, are you sure you don’t want anything else?

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hands. "I'm fine, sir. I'm not hungry. Besides, | can’t keep anything

down right now."

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes follow my hand on her shoulder. "I'm just anxious."

"I'm sorry, Lily. | never apologized for the way | treated you. Liv wasn’t the only one who suffered in the

penthouse. | know | toyed with your emotions. I'm sorry for everything, including the reason for your grudge

against my family." Her big eyes bulge as she shakes her head in denial.

I" I : I"

No, no." Her hands grab mine. "You

have it all wrong, Mr. Ashal. | hold no

grudge against your family. | mean,

my own account is ales the

) : i

gory CRY they Ve | shared.

Shedhiuckles with tears in her eyes.

I" :

Sure, my career was ruined courtesy

of Rollins Group, my life went

g , 3

downhill from there but that's nothing

: n

compared to them, right?" Her eyes

stray to Demi, then narrows as it

settles on Maddi and Liv who are

both having sboba tea. The

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the latest chapter there!

"You're not making any sense, Lily. What are you trying to say?"

Her eyes return to my face. She cups my chin with her hands, startling me. "Working for you was the highlight of

my life. | loved every bit of it. | loved you, no, | LOVE YOU. That's why | made up stragic story to get Liam to

ropeinto his plot. Frankly, | was only looking out for you. | planned to alert you of his schemes."

| remove her hands from my face and edge backwards. | knew she had stype of feelings forbut

everything else she’s saying makes zero sense.

"You fabricated your claim against us? Then why are you here, Lily?"

My blood runs cold when she shoots

an icy glare towards Maddi and Liv.

I" 3

Because | wanted to face the sisters

"

that stole you away from me.

Everyone can literally hear her now,

and they watch in pgitementas she

diy

ppints Acting y at Maddi and Liv.

=x q a8

First, it was Olivia who came

between our love. | honestly hated

watching you beg for her love every

single day when my heart literally

beat for you. You never saw me

because of HER. And when |

managed to convince her to dump

you in hopes of reigniting our love

story, her sly sister entered the

q . )

picture. Those sisters...they're the

ones that have ruined my life and not

I" :

you." The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

"Lily, you're delusional." | tell her. "Here | was thinking that you actually had a real claim against us..." | run a

hand over my face. "You shouldn't be here."

I" PB : n

No? Then neither will they." She

laughs hysterically as one of our guys

: nt

starts showing her to the door. is

)

too late for therpnof ike fate for

us, That Will be the last tea they

g " q 3

drink." Just then, Liv and Maddi start

coughing gutturally, their teas

slipping from their fingers and

spilling on the floor. Everyone rushes

to them. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

Blood oozes from their mouths and noses. Maddi locks eyes withmoments before she passes out. Everything

else happened in a blur. In a flash, my entire family is outside the ER, panicking and awaiting the doctor's report.

After an hour, doctor Ezra steps out. | take one look at his somber face and my heart bleeds.

"I'm sorry. Only one sister survived."