Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 18

Brix was in his room reading emails on his laptop when the sound of moaning and crying caught his ear. At first, he wondered whether Pia had woken up again and considering he and Malik had left Jolie on the sofa where she had fallen asleep watching a movie, he panicked thinking Pia had woken alone and was scared.

He threw the sheets backwards and raced out of the room to replace Jolie thrashing on the sofa, fighting the invisible demons in her dreams. He immediately crossed the room and knelt next to the sofa, “shh, Jolie. It’s okay. Sweetheart, it’s okay. It’s just a dream.”

They had caused her so much trauma making her relive the nightmares she had endured with Valentin over the last day and a half and evidently it was now rearing its ugly head as she tossed and turned whimpering. He didn’t know whether to touch her or not, knowing he looked so much like her abuser it was quite likely going to make her terrified.

“Jolie,” he whispered again, scared she was going to wake Pia up. He did not want the little one to see her mother so upset. “Jolie, wake up. You’re dreaming.”

“Brix,” she whispered in her sleep, “help,” she begged.

At least she knew in her dreams he would help even though she had been fighting him tooth and nail. He reached out a hand and stroked her hair off her face, “Jolie, wake up.”

Her eyes flung wide open and she focused on him and then flung herself directly at him, her arms around his neck and knocking him on his a*s onto the floor. She gripped his shirt frantically as if trying to drag him somewhere.

“Chiara is coming and she’s going to take Pia –”

“No, honey, no,” he whispered stroking her back softly as he pulled her onto his lap and held her tight. “Shh, it’s a dream. Only a dream. Pia’s safe.”

“I need to see her. She could be –”

He squeezed her tightly. “She’s sleeping in bed. I gave her antibiotics and her pain killer not even an hour ago. She fell right back to sleep. She laughed when I told her you were snoring on the sofa. She is fine.”

“But –”

“No, buts. Chiara couldn’t get into this hotel if she were driving a tank. I have a small army on standby to keep you and my princess safe. It’s okay. There is nowhere safer than right here with me. Nowhere.”

“We’re safe?”

“You’re safe. Nobody will ever hurt you again. I promise.”

He sat rocking her in his arms until her sobs gave way to the occasional sniffle. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes,” she wiped her face off with her palms and pulled away from him to sit on the floor away from his grasp. “I haven’t had nightmares for so long.”

He gave a sad smile, “you’ve been through the ringer the last day and a half. It’s no wonder your brain is in overdrive and you’re feeling vulnerable.”

“Brix, I’m scared,” she studied her fingernails as she inched further away from him until her back was pressed against the sofa. “Chiara is Elio’s wife and he’s not going to throw away four decades of marriage over eight months of my life. She’s the wife of the most powerful boss in the world.” When he flicked a surprised glance at her she shrugged, “I didn’t keep so well hidden by not knowing those from whom I was hiding. Boston is actually one of the few cities in the country you don’t have a direct grip into. When I was in Sacramento, I used a library computer to search all the businesses your father owned or was affiliated with and then did the same with you. At the time I felt it daunting because either the Cacciola or Beckwith names are everywhere. There’s even a small town in North Dakota where the main street is named after your dad. I didn’t want to go anywhere small where I would stick out and people would ask questions like they did in Nebraska. I needed a place I could merge and blend in and nobody would question me. There were four cities with populations I thought would work. Portland Oregon, Memphis Tennessee, Boston Massachusetts and El Paso, Texas. Portland was too close to where I was at the time, I hate country music so Memphis was out. El Paso was too close to home. I picked Boston.”

“I have two offices now in El Paso,” he stretched his long legs out on the floor across from her.

“You’re everywhere, Brix.” She said sadly. “It’s why I know I’ll never be safe from her.”

“Dad is,” he thought of a diplomatic way to explain the situation, “a special sort of man, Jolie. You know who we are and what we do.”

“Drugs, guns, loansharking, racketeering,” she was speaking easily now as if lost in her thoughts. “Murder for hire and bounty hunting.”

“Yes. I was raised from a small boy to be the exact scary violent man you believe me to be in your head and indeed, I am that man.” He didn’t pull any punches as her hazel eyes flitted to his for a quick moment. “I think I need to explain a couple of things about my father and our family.” He motioned to the sofa. “Come let’s sit and talk. The floor is too hard.”

He watched her rise cautiously, in her flannel pyjamas which were easily two sizes too big for her and then sit in the corner of the sofa, tucking her legs under her bottom. He pulled the blanket he’d covered her with earlier when she’d fallen asleep watching the movie with him and Malik and tossed it over her knees.

He took a breath. “Our family started many generations ago in Sicily and it was a hard fight for our family to gain the power they had. When America was first getting started, our family split in half to take advantage of a new market. Half of us here and half of us there, all ruled by one man. The eldest son of each head of our family has always taken over. Always. There is no discussion on this. If a son wasn’t born to a wife, then a mistress would be had to ensure only b***d ruled this family. It hasn’t happened in many generations though. My great-grandmother, my father’s grandmother, was from another family and they were a cruel lot. She came to my great-grandfather as an arranged marriage but every time he approached her, she would curl into a ball and scream. My great-grandfather made a very hard and fast rule during this time no woman or child would ever be subjected to the violence of our families. Women and children have no business in the business.”

At her surprised glance he shrugged, “my great-grandfather adored his wife. It is said he won her over slowly and with a lot of patience. He was the man who could go out, kill a man with his bare hands and then go home and get on his knees and beg his wife to love him. In the end, she did but it took time. She gave him eight sons in her life and all nine of the men in their house and their offspring made her their queen. They revered her. Nobody touches a woman because it was ordained by them.”

“If your family has such rules and they were enforced, why did Val?” she looked away blinking.

“My father accepted an arranged marriage from another family before I was born. Chiara was cold and miserable and she refused every advance. I believe, in his mind, he thought it was the same situation as his grandfather went through. Unfortunately, she hated his guts for at least the first five or six years they were together. He took a mistress, my mother, and then when my mother discovered he was married and she was quite possibly a homewrecker, she ran. She is a very pure heart.”

“Your poor mom. You could be a legitimate businessman and never be the bad guy.”

“My mother loves me, even when I’m a bad guy. It’s what makes her the best mom in the world.” He told her proudly. “She made me a sandwich once when I came home at three in the morning after doing a job. She’s a good mom.”

“Dear god,” Jolie rolled her eyes.

He chuckled. “Once my father found me, he named me as his heir. Our family has never cared for legitimacies. I was immediately put into training. Nothing violent until I was fourteen but the business side, I knew all about. Chiara was pissed he had me and eventually demanded they consummate their marriage after many years. They tried for two years to have a child. She had Valentin on Valentine’s Day when I was seven.”

“What an auspicious occasion,” she spoke dryly.

“Definitely a load my stepmother should have swallowed,” he said darkly and she gave a horrified shriek before untucking one of her feet and nudging him with it. He grabbed her foot and pinched it, holding it captive. “She felt she had done her duty to my father to provide an heir and wanted the illegitimate heir dethroned. My father refused. I don’t know if she ever let him touch her again after. He always felt sorry for her, given the abuse he knew she’d endured as a child and young woman under her father. My father thought he was saving her, rescuing her, I don’t know. He’s a damn bleeding heart sometimes. He loves her in the same way I guess one would love a pet.”

“A pet?”

He began massaging her foot, holding it tighter when she pulled away and then eventually, she sighed and let him. “Yes. They aren’t exactly a romantic couple. He takes care of her. Provides for her. Gives her food and water,” he was laughing now as Jolie scowled outright. “Chiara is kept and while she holds the title of wife, she is nothing more than a pet. He has a mistress who has been with him for nearly thirty years in Italy. She is lovely and I quite like her and she, I can say with all the confidence in the world, is loved by my father.”

“Does Chiara have a lover?”

“Who would want to f**k her?” he made a face of disgust.

“Brix!”

“If she has a lover and my father is aware of it, he has never said anything. I try to not meddle in their marriage.”

“Is that what our marriage will be?” She asked suddenly. “Will you have a poor mistress who loves you to pieces but can never be your wife because you have a pet at home?”

He paused in rubbing her foot, “perhaps. It is possible and I never say never to anything now. I will never disrespect you, Jolie. If there is a woman I meet and I feel they might be worthy of being my mistress, you will know and I will keep them as secret as my father has his mistress.”

“Will you introduce her to Pia?”

He frowned at the question. “Why would I do so?”

“You’re claiming Pia as yours, right? You’re going to adopt her. You’ve evidently met your father’s mistress considering you said you like her so much. I want to know if another woman is going to try to compete to be Pia’s mother.”

The fear in her voice seared his soul. “Jolie, never would I try to replace you. You are her mother. You carried her life in you and you brought her into this world when by all accounts you had every right to not do so. Nobody will ever take your place in her life. I will never introduce Pia to any woman without your express permission.”

She blinked away tears and he g*****d, “come here, little one.” He held his arms out as she shook her head against his request and then changed her mind and almost flung herself at him. “I do not know how else to make you understand we are not out to take Pia from you.”

“It’s all so fast and I’m so scared,” she sniffed into the collar of his t-shirt.

“I know. It didn’t help I came in all heavy-handed Friday night but you threw us for a loop. You knew who I was the minute you stepped into the boardroom and played us, especially when I called you Julie and you didn’t correct me.” He smiled at her chuckle. “I had told Malik we would give you until the end of the day Friday to come to us and confess but you went home instead. Our initial thought was you were going to run again and we needed to know what you knew and who you told. Then you pulled Pia out of the car and really f****d with our minds.” He stroked her back softly. “I had no intention of killing you even before I knew of Pia. Scare you, yes. For certain. I want you to keep your mouth shut. But I could never hurt you, especially after what my brother did to you.”

“I walked into the boardroom and it took all of my willpower not to run. Val told me pretty scary things.”

“He has seen me do lots of pretty scary things,” he kicked his feet onto the coffee table and hugged her to him. “But never to a woman. Not ever. You have no reason to fear me, Jolie. Nor my father and Malik. Any of the men in our organization will fight to the death for the pair of you.”

“How does this work? They all agree?”

“You do not ever disagree with an order from Elio Cacciola,” he chuckled, “and the minute we said we found you, he put out an order to protect you at all costs.”

“He is not what I thought he would be. The press and the FBI make him out to be so awful.”

“He is awful.” Brix joked with her. “I once watched him set a man on fire for stealing.”

“What did he steal?”

“A package of diamonds.” Brix chuckled at her rounded eyes. “I was fifteen or sixteen at the time. He took me for fast food after. It was a great day.”

“You’re awful,” she pushed at him. “Did the man die?”

“After he was consumed by the fire, dad put a bullet in his head to put him out of his misery.”

She sighed, “this is a lot of darkness.”

“It is and after tonight, you will never hear of it again. Women do not belong in our business, Jolie. We work with men and strong ones at this. You need only trust we know what to do to keep you safe. Obey our requests and do not fight us on security issues.”

She nodded and met his gaze, “what will your father do with Chiara?”

“What most men have to do when their pets go rabid.” He pointed his fingers like he was holding a gun, put it to her forehead and made a clicking noise.

“No!”

He gave a half shrug. “It’s better than what Malik wanted to do. He has a catalogue of the toys found in the hidden drawer of the closet. He wants to use the vilest ones on her. My father has vetoed his request.”

She looked away, “what is the relationship with you two? Are you a couple? Have you made out?”

He chuckled, “this one time in college.” When her eyes popped, he laughed, “Malik and I have had plenty of women between us, literally.”

“Have you,” she flapped her hands nervously, “you know. Have you ever done it with him?”

“What are you, six?”

“I’m curious to know whether I’m going to walk in on you two doing something nasty. You’re both going to be in the house.”

He smiled, glad to know she was coming around to having them underfoot. “Malik and I have shared lovers and have been intimate in ways but if you’re asking me if I’ve ever given it to or taken it up the a*s, then the answer is no.”

“So, you’ve blown him but not f****d him.”

At her words he sat up straight, certain his own eyes were popping from his skull, “Jolie Haversham! Your mouth.”

She giggled and covered her lips with her fingers, her cheeks-stained bright red. “Can’t blame a girl for asking. You two almost move as one person. It’s clear you’re close. Even the bitches from the playground thought it.”

“Hm, terrible manners,” he sniffed and shook his head at her spunkiness, not even remotely put off by her questions. She was relaxing with them and it was important she did so. Her eyes were bright and shiny with mischief knowing she’d shocked him and he could see where Pia got it from. Jolie was not, despite all the horrible things she’d endured, a stick in the mud. “You’re not going back to sleep anytime soon, are you?”

“Not really. I’m wide awake. If I watch television, would it disturb your sleep?”

“How about you come to my room with me?”

“Excuse me?”

“I was working on the damn report Mordecai sent up to me yesterday before he left for the day. Perhaps you can help me make heads or tails of the numbers?”

“Gosh yes!” she clapped her hands excitedly. “This I can do for days.”

“Then, my sweet bride-to-be, let me take you to my bedroom so you can look at my numbers,” he wiggled his eyebrows playfully while she laughed.

She stopped almost to the room and turned to face him. “I had a plan you know. I decided I was going to make your life a living hell until you decided to cut us loose. I figured if you did, I’d be able to disappear again. I’ve changed my mind. Please, Brix, don’t make me regret trusting you.”

Brix considered her words were the sweetest ones he’d ever heard and he would make sure she never regretted offering her trust.