Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 17

Jolie accepted the glass of wine Brix held to her and settled into the plush armchair. She looked up in surprise when Malik tucked a throw blanket around her legs and rubbed her shoulder softly.

Elio watched the movements of the two men pandering to Jolie’s nerves and smiled. “You have them wrapped around your finger as easily as Pia has done.”

Her eyes widened at his words, “no!”

Brix shrugged, “can’t be helped. She’s so tiny it brings out the cavemen in us. She needs to be protected.”

She stared at him in surprise and took a gulp of the wine.

“Jolie, I need you to explain what happened with your father and Val. I’m not understanding why you are so angry with your dad.” Elio cut to the chase. “Can you explain to me everything from the moment you first saw Valentin?”

She nodded and looked to the floor fighting the panic and terror which automatically rose in her each time she recalled the night she had first been taken. She felt Brix’s presence beside her as he moved to sit on the arm of the chair. She had told him much of this but not all. Rehashing was not going to be cathartic and she knew it deep in her gut. This was going to hurt.

“I was out with my girlfriends. I had gotten a promotion at work. I’d been working for a law office as an admin assistant and had been promoted to work for one of the senior lawyers. The girls had taken me out to celebrate. I had too much to drink. When I got to the house, there were four cars outside and I was surprised because since Mom had died, Dad never had guests or company. He’d been hiding and sulking for nearly nine months but knowing what I know now he was more likely laying low.”

“Probably,” Malik agreed as he sipped what she presumed was vodka. He seemed a vodka kind of guy.

“Anyway, I was excited thinking he was finally coming out of his funk because mom had sworn us to not stop living once she was gone. I got into the house and he was tied to a chair in the middle of the living room. He was barely conscious and Val was pacing in front of him, yelling at him about stealing from you.” She felt her hand shaking and watched the red liquid slosh in the glass and used her other hand to steady it.

“I screamed and I immediately had a bunch of guns pulled on me and I was shoved to my knees in front of Val. Val,” she inhaled and closed her eyes, “immediately decided he liked the vision of me on my knees in front of him and told my father he had decided how he was going to pay the Cacciola family back.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I knew the name. I mean everyone in Vegas knows the name. I asked Dad what he’d done and he said he’d been working for the family for years. I never knew. He never once told me. In all the time he supposedly worked for you, I had no idea.”

“I replace this surprising,” Elio leaned forward. “He had brought you around us and yet you never knew?”

“No. I remember being at a party or two where you had been, Elio but our paths never crossed.”

“I’ve known your father since I was a small boy. My family helped bring his family over from Italy.”

“I would hazard a guess my mom wasn’t a fan because she was pretty straight and narrow.”

“That she was,” Elio agreed. “She also hated Chiara very much so we never once had dinner together once your parents were engaged. She always said she could not pretend to respect a woman who was so cruel and it was simply easier to not be around her. Your father adored her and as a result, he kept her away at her request.”

She nodded, “mom always said she was like a dog.” She gave a chuckle, “she was a vet tech you know,” she looked to Malik who was smiling at her softly. “She said dogs were excellent judges of character and she felt she had the same gift.”

“Could be truth to this,” he tipped his glass at her. “Considering what we know now,” he cast an annoyed glance at Elio.

She considered for a man who was a mere enforcer, he was very familiar with Elio. There was no fear of the man sitting across from her coming from Malik or Brix. In fact, they had been joking, teasing, and tormenting each other since Elio’s arrival. It was a stark contradiction to the violence and abuse Valentin had told her about.

“Let’s get back to the story,” Elio said gently. “Val mentioned you could pay him back?”

“No. He told Dad to spare his life, he was going to take me as a payment. He told dad he would make me his wife and I would live the life of luxury but when I screamed and begged for him to let me go, he punched me in the face. Closed fist. My dad begged him to take him to you instead. He’d rather face you and then Val put a gun to my head while he had his men put guns to dad’s and told us both to choose. In the end, I went with Val to try to save my dad and dad sat there saying nothing more.”

“Then what?” Brix pushed her.

“In the car, Val forced me to give him oral s*x. Split my l*p wide open because my teeth touched his junk. When we got in the condo, we played his game of hide and seek and then the rest was what it was. Rape every day. Torture every day.”

“Torture?”

“Multiple forms. He had his favorites though. He liked to hold me under water until I passed out and then revive me and do it again. Said he felt like Prince Charming bringing me to life with a k**s.”

Elio’s hand tightened on his glass as he gave a single angry shake of his head. “Chiara was aware?”

“As I said before on occasion she would participate.”

Something in her tone made Brix and Malik both turn to her with wide eyes. Brix leaned forward, “Explain. Jolie, explain now.”

“She would bring gifts for Val for him to use on me,” her voice shook. “The n****e clamps were a gift from her and she insisted watching while he put them on me. There was a leather flogger, it was bright red. She bought it and gave it to him, telling Val it was meant to p***y whip me. Her words, not mine. I always knew when she was angry at Val for cancelling on her because she always showed up with a gift for him. She blamed me for his absences or his tardiness. If he stood her up, I was the reason and I had to be punished. She brought the weaponry. More than once she was in the room while he raped me. She never looked away.” She took a breath, “once she told Val it was too bad, he had killed our baby because it would have been fun to punish me by beating it to death in front of me.”

“Jesus f*****g Christ!” Brix lost his cool and stormed away from her. He turned and pointed at his father. “I want her head on a pike.”

Elio himself was sitting with his eyes closed and his fingers steepled in front of his nose as if willing himself to remain seated. “Brix, calm down. Your anger is not going to help Jolie now.” He exhaled and opened his eyes and looked to her. “What else? How does your rage at your father come into this?”

“For eight months I waited for my dad to come get me. To tell me he went to you and found a way to repay you what he stole so I could go home. He never came. Then Val got shot. The FBI told me he had been shot point blank right in the forehead. I think they wanted to know my reaction to see if I would admit to what I didn’t do. I don’t know. They took great delight in showing me photographs of my beaten body as if I didn’t know what he’d done. f*****g idiots,” she muttered under her breath.

She missed the amused look exchanged by the men at her insult.

“In the hospital, when I was first brought in, I was in and out of consciousness. They’d given me a lot of drugs and the doctors and nurses were talking. I started to come around and one of them commented to the effect it would be for the best if I was not awake for a long time because Brixton Beckwith was coming to talk to the last person who saw his baby brother alive and if they wanted to save my life, they’d better make sure I couldn’t talk quite yet.”

He gave an annoyed twist of his lips, “I’ve never hurt a woman in my life. The rumors are bullshit.”

“Regardless, they knocked me out with a good sedative and in the morning the cops were there to take my statement. Dad was sitting there in the chair. They took his statement first. He told them I had gone with Val willingly and he’d checked in with us all the time and I had been fine. He speculated to them whoever had murdered Val had also beaten and raped me. He made sure I did not contradict his statement.” She grimaced, “when the cops left, I asked him why he lied. He didn’t have an answer. I then asked him why he didn’t come to save me. At first, he gave me some song and dance how he talked to Val all the time and Val said I was doing great and was shopping or eating out with friends when he called. Then when I called him on his bullshit, he admitted he was afraid if he had gone to you, Val would have found out and either he or one of his cronies would have killed him in retaliation. He said, so long as he knew I was still alive, it was all that mattered.”

“You believe your father knew what he was doing to you?” Elio’s question was direct.

“When I mentioned they shoved me to my knees in front of Val and he liked the view, he straight out said it. Said he liked the way I looked at him begging and he was going to make me beg every day for the rest of my life. He shoved my face into his crotch with my father looking on and rudely said he’d make me beg for his d**k like a good wife should.” She held Elio’s horror-stricken gaze. “My father knew. He knew what Val’s intentions were and he did nothing to stop it. The minute Val and his thugs were away from him, he should have done something. Call you. Called the cops. Called anyone. Instead, he waited for the news of my death so he could be set free from the worry.”

“What do you want us to do with him?” Elio asked quietly. “He is complicit. He knew what was happening and did nothing. It is your choice, Jolie. He needs to be held accountable. What would you have me do with him?”

“Nothing,” she looked away. “Unlike him, I will never condone anyone hurting another human being on my behalf.”

“What about Chiara?” Malik asked ignoring Elio’s exasperated huff.

“I ask only for you to keep her away from me and Pia. She blatantly told Val it would have been fun to murder my baby in front of me. I wouldn’t trust her anywhere near Pia. She’s not right in the head.”

“I will personally deal with my wife,” Elio said bluntly. “She will never lay eyes on you or Pia let alone hands. You have nothing to fear in this regard. As of right now, she is under the Cacciola equivalent of house arrest.” He heaved a large sigh from his chest, “I have one last question. Did Chiara know of the safes?”

She shook her head, “I doubt it. Val was paranoid. In one of his more tender moments,” she rolled her eyes, “he confessed to me he trusted nobody, especially his mother. He wasn’t high that night. He was laying there next to me in the bed and talking nonstop. He went on and on about how she was driving a wedge between us and she was jealous and how important it was for me to keep my mouth shut when she was around so she didn’t kill me. He told me to never mention the safe or the closet to her. He said if she knew about the closet, she would personally use every device he had on me.” She looked away in embarrassment, “he said she wanted to f**k me herself and he had denied her so it was important to never tell her where anything was if she asked.”

Elio rose from his seat at her words and gave her a sad sigh, “my sweet Jolie. Earlier today you told me how strong you are after I called you weak. It is no wonder you panic in just seeing her photograph. Knowing she is alive and aware of you, must terrify you.” He tilted her chin upwards so she met his gaze. His eyes were soft, gentle, and very much like the way Brix had been looking at her all day. “You are strong but with us,” he waved around the room, “you are untouchable. You do not ever have to fear anyone or anything again. I will keep your father away from you. I never had a biological daughter though I did have Sonya, Malik’s sister. I would have torn the world apart to bring her back and I cannot understand why he did what he did but know this, child. You are now my family and should anyone ever consider taking you from this family, they will not live to see the next day.” He leaned forward and pressed a gentle k**s to her forehead.

He looked to Brix and Malik, “watch over her please. I need to tend to business in my room downstairs.”

“Of course,” Malik squeezed her shoulder, “we’ll take good care of her.”

“I’ll walk you down to your room,” Brix told his father. “There is something else I wanted to discuss with you unrelated to all of this.” He looked to Jolie, “I’ll be back soon. Try not to miss me too much,” he gave a playful wink and she shook her head at him.

When he left, Malik settled into the couch, “you are one badass bitch.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have the two most powerful men in the world eating out of your hand,” Malik kicked his feet onto the coffee table. “If you would have told Elio to put a bullet in his wife of forty years’ head, he would have.”

“I would never!”

“Which is why you’re a badass, Jolie. All this horror and trauma and you, inside, are still as pure as the driven snow.” He gave her a big smile and then grabbed a remote. “Now, we’ve had enough serious stuff for one day, no? Let’s watch a comedy,” he turned the television on. “I think we could both use a bit of laughter.”

As he picked a movie for them to watch, Jolie nestled into the chair, feeling strangely comfortable with all which had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Perhaps the best way to gain her freedom was to embrace the Cacciola family. Only time would tell and she was grateful for once, time appeared to be on her side.

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