Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 25

Brix was still shaking his head as he returned to his office and took his seat at the desk he was starting to despise. It was too short for him but Keely, his PA, said the one she ordered for him wouldn’t be available until later in the week. She also had not yet emptied it of all of Solomon’s personal effects, though he knew the man had taken anything he valued long before he’d lost the company playing poker against him.

He looked up as Malik entered the office.

“Our girl okay down there?” Concern etched the man’s face as he looked to Brix.

“Yes. The department bought the story hook line and sinker. Jolie played it up in front of Macey who will gossip about it, I’m sure.”

“It’ll give you a reason to fire her.” Malik grunted as he dropped onto the sofa.

“I caught her verbally attacking Jolie and Opal again. I have the meetings starting in ten minutes with the HR team. I need to replace out how much this happens, if it’s new since we got here or if this has been an ongoing thing.” Brix leaned in his seat with his hands folded across his abdomen stretching his legs under the desk. “If it’s been going on for a long time, I want to know why. Get to the bottom of it.”

“You said Jolie told you Elaine didn’t like her because she wasn’t flashy enough. Do you think maybe Elaine fostered the animosity?”

He grimaced, “could be. It could simply be jealousy. Jolie is smart and an invaluable part of Mordecai’s team. She sees and does things automatically and without second guessing. She probably has his entire department running efficiently because she’s on top of everything. Macey on the other hand, well, we’ve already uncovered fraud, nepotism, and plain old bitchiness not to mention the fact she offered me s****l favors. Macey sees Jolie for what she will never be.”

“Organized?”

“Wanted.” Brix shrugged as he verbalized ideas, he hadn’t realized he had until now. “Jolie is valued. She was sought after. Mordecai went against his boss to bring her here and makes sure she is paid according to her worth. Macey got her job on her back and it’s clear she never was given full leadership of her department as Elaine and Solomon were pulling her puppet strings.” He frowned as he continued his train of thought, “just now, downstairs on their floor proved it. I went to the floor and spoke with Mordecai. I gave him the abridged version of our story. He said it made sense then why Jolie was so stressed out on Thursday and Friday and he’d been worried about her all weekend hoping she was okay. He was glad to know things were going to look up for her and said she deserved the world. Can you imagine him saying such a thing about Macey?”

“No.” Malik laughed shaking his head.

“When I stepped into the department and told them Jolie and I were a couple in Vegas before she left to come to Boston and how we were getting married, her department seemed excited for her. Even a few of the HR team were happy but the bulk of HR looked like they drank buckets of sour milk. It made me wonder if the hostility Macey shows Jolie overflows into her team. If it’s jealousy, then fine but if it’s something else, then I want to know.”

“Okay.” Malik nodded. “I’ll get it sorted. Anything else?”

“Yes. Rueda called dad last night for payment on his missing product and gold bars. He wasn’t happy to replace out Val had snorted most of it. Dad has paid him off as of first thing this morning, a foolish amount of money including interest, and he accepted the terms of the payment. Dad made it clear we wouldn’t have found the missing stash without Jolie’s help. Rueda wants to meet her but Dad shut it down quick. Said she is under my protection and will be my wife by Friday. If he approaches her in any way, the family will take it as an act of war.”

Malik leaned forward, “I’ve been looking for a reason to shoot him in the head a long time, Brix. I almost want to use her as bait to start it.”

“Dad would have your balls for the comment,” Brix shot him a glare which let Malik know Elio would have to get in line behind Brix.

“He’s worse than Val and you know it. One of his daughters gave birth to one of his sons when she was barely sixteen and because she was so good to give him a son, he married her. His own daughter. He deserves the bullet. Eight kids, three of them girls and one of them birthed her own sibling. The only reason we were still doing business with him is because his reach is long and he gets good quality product for us.”

“His product slipped over the last three years thanks to the DEA’s joint task force with the Columbians. They burned so many of his fields we had to regroup and replace ways to make cash in other ways. He took it personal when Dad told him he didn’t want any more of his third-rate product.”

“He knew he gave us tainted product. The year after Val died, he gave us a shipment of product and a third of our users ended up sick. Two died.”

“Drugs are bad for you,” Brix rolled his eyes. “We’re drug dealers, Malik. We might only sell signature top-quality product to the rich and famous but we still sell drugs. If you want to put the s**t up your nose or inject it into your body, you take the risk.”

“I’m not complaining about the job, Brix, I’m complaining Dad was feeling indebted to Juan for Val’s fuckups and we didn’t retaliate like we should have. Now the bastard is wanting a piece of Jolie and it pisses me off. I want him off the face of the earth.”

“If we take him out, we have to take out every one of his sons. All of them. They will all come for retribution. Do you want that? He has them all working for him. Five sons. Each one of them slipperier than the last one. He’s groomed them well. Dad said the last time he was there his eldest son had two of his cousins in his bed. Keep it in the family.”

“It’s so f*****g gross.” Malik shivered with revulsion.

“I agree. I have many cousins and not one of them evoke any kind of desire for my d**k to be near them.” He mimicked the shudder Malik had made. “Anyway, if Juan tries to get near Jolie, it’s war and there will be no mistakes.”

Brix’s cell phone rang on his desk and he observed the display with irritation. “f**k. Not now.”

“Not now what?”

“It’s mom.”

“Why is she calling?”

“Based on the twenty text messages I’ve had in the last half hour I’m going to guess it’s because Dad told her I’m marrying Val’s ex-wife. She isn’t happy. Apparently, I’m her only child and she didn’t raise me to have an arranged marriage. She wants me to love and adore my bride.” His words dripped with sarcasm, “does she even know me? I haven’t been in love a day in my thirty-five years of life. If I ever considered marriage it was going to be for convenience and an heir.”

Malik snickered, “you don’t love her yet but you will. She’s perfect for you and you know it.”

He glared at him while his phone kept ringing and when it stopped, he started to breath a sigh of relief when it started all over again. “f**k!” he punched the desk and then answered it, his voice calm and sweet and in stark contrast to his grimace he shot at Malik’s smirk. “Hey Mom. You’re up early. It’s only six there.”

“You little s**t,” she started immediately. “Did it not occur to you to give me a heads up before I had to hear it from your s***m donor?”

“Mom, don’t be rude.”

“Elio needs my foot up his a*s,” she snorted. “Forcing you to marry this girl,” she started in.

“It was my idea.” He cut her off and earned silence in reward. “She’s hurting mom. She’s hurting and a target and this will keep her safe. It also allows me to get to be with Pia. You’ll have the grandchild you never knew you needed.”

“A child?”

He looked to Malik. Evidently Dad had not filled her in completely. “Yes mom. She has a little girl courtesy of Val’s last night on earth when he beat her nearly to death. She’s teeny tiny and needs fattening up. I promise mom, you will spend ten minutes in both of their company and be as whipped as the three of us are.”

“You like her,” his mother said suddenly as if reading his mind.

“Very much so,” he admitted noting the eyebrows arching on Malik’s face and the broad smile. Now who was the a*****e? “She’s tough mom. She gave us a rundown of what the bastard did to her and I have to say, the fact she still laughs and lives for her child, who by the way, has the Cacciola nose, is a testament to her strength. She goes toe-to-toe with both me and Malik.”

She sighed, “do you think you’ll learn to love her more than like her?”

“I’m not sure it is an emotion I am equipped to have with anyone of the female persuasion apart from my mom,” he contradicted Malik’s earlier statement and chuckled when she cursed under her breath, “but as I’m sitting here thinking about it, I think the reason I like her so much is she reminds me of you.” Malik choked on his spittle as Brix laughed at him, “she’s tough like you, Mom. She ran from a Cacciola. She kept her baby hidden. She told us to go f**k ourselves when she thought we were trying to take Pia.”

“She’s not a doormat then?”

“No.”

“Then why the hell is she marrying you? Surely, she can replace a man who will love and protect her like she deserves?”

“She has issues, Mom. After Val. We are the only men she’s ever been alone in close quarters with where she hasn’t frozen up. I overheard,” he grinned at Malik knowing they had openly listened in on her conversation with Opal, “she once had a man approach her in a grocery store and flirt with her and she freaked out and panicked and cried. Men, especially ones bigger than her make her nervous.”

“What did he do to her, Brix?” Her mother asked quietly. “I know you had mentioned years ago Val’s girlfriend he had abused had run and you needed to replace her but what exactly did he do?”

He looked to the ceiling fighting the familiar rage as he remembered the one time, he had stood over her hospital bed while she had been unconscious with the drugs, they’d pumped her with. He was still surprised she had managed to replace her way out of the hospital with her eyes swollen so shut. “Mom, he took her as a payment when someone stole from Dad. He raped and tortured her for eight months and when I say tortured, her back is covered in hundreds of scars several of them an inch wide.”

“Why?”

“I can’t speak for him nor would I want to. What I can say, is we, as a family, have an obligation to make sure she never feels the darkness of such a thing ever again in her life and to protect her and Pia with our lives. I do not want you doing anything to make her feel uncomfortable or upset. Though you think I should marry someone for romantic reasons, nothing is further from the truth for me. This is the right thing and I do not feel like a sacrificial lamb. I want this. I want her. I want Pia. Do not try to make waves.”

She sighed loudly, “fine but I want to meet her and I want to be there when you put a ring on her finger.”

“We’re signing for our marriage license tomorrow but we’re doing the ceremony itself at the courthouse on Friday at noon. We need seventy-two hours between the certificate is issued and the actual ceremony. You’re welcome to be there but we’re going there from work and returning to work after.”

“She works with you?”

“She’s the PA to the head accountant of the firm I took over.”

“Does Daddy know?”

He grimaced at the way his mother referred to his stepfather. He was quite sure his stepdad loved being called daddy by her for all the reasons which made his skin crawled. Even Malik’s lips were twisted with disgust. The notion his stepdad spanked his mother during s*x made his stomach lurch in an attempt to empty its contents. “Will does not know. I took over the company so he could retire with you. I no longer keep him up to date on every takeover or merger the company makes.”

“You don’t think he should know you’re going to marry one of the employees of a firm you’re taking over?”

“Mom, I had fully intended to call you both this afternoon and let you both know I am getting married on Friday to a lovely young woman who has a child who looks remarkably like me and to let you know the spin we are putting on the story. It is not my fault Dad beat me to the punch and texted you for what I can only presume was excitement because he also very much likes Jolie. Now, I have meetings I am late for, making my staff wait on me because I’m talking to you on the phone. Can I go do the job Will entrusted to me to do?”

“Fine but I’m coming to you.”

“Fine, mom. I have to go.”

“I love you, my son.”

“I love you too, mom,” he hung up the call and looked to Malik. “I’m going to strangle my father.”

Malik laughed, “do not make me have to fight against Keely’s father for not trying to stop you. He’ll feed me to her.”

“You could take him,” Brix chuckled as he got on his feet.

“I’ll be in my office doing the rest of the background checks and dealing with the s**t from the London office. Enjoy your one-on-ones with HR.”

“I’ll have Keely with me and she already hates Macey. Two minutes with her this morning and Keely asked me to permit her to beat her into the concrete.”

“Keely?” Malik appeared stunned. “She’s not normally violent. She’s so sweet. Weird but sweet.”

“Macey didn’t appreciate Keely not verifying her schedule before booking the one-on-ones. Keely tried to explain I told her to schedule them and get it started but Macey felt Keely should have made sure they didn’t already have meetings scheduled at the times Keely proposed. Keely reminded her my schedule was far busier and more important than hers. Macey didn’t like being told her opinion was irrelevant and started to argue but Keely shut her down hard and sent her on her way.”

“Was this before or after you made out with Jolie in front of her?”

“After,” Brix grinned at the question, “poor Jolie looked like I stole her first k**s.”

“Is she a good kisser?” Malik made wide eyes.

Brix shook his head and pointed to the door, “go to your office, a*****e.”

“You’ve kissed her twice Brix. I only wanted to know if you’re enjoying it.”

He held his friend’s gaze, noting the joking was gone and he nodded, “Malik, she’s special. I can’t say I can or will fall in love with her but the way she is with Pia makes me want to make this marriage real. I can’t tell her this yet. I feel like I’m channeling my great-grandfather and my dad trying to tame a skittish horse but,” he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “any son she gave me would be one of strength and fortitude I would be proud of.”

“You and your father have ordered me to protect her Brix. I’ll protect her from you. I won’t let you break her heart. I care for her Brix. She has become important to me over the last several days. If you hurt her,” Malik said warningly his facial expression stern.

Brix nodded with a serious expression, “I would expect nothing less from you, my brother.”

“Good. Now I have to go conduct an investigation into Macey’s behavior pre-takeover. Keep me posted.”

Brix stood for a moment as the truth of his admission to Malik settled in him as his best friend walked away. From the minute he had listened in on her conversation with Opal this morning, watching her blush and question what would happen if she fell in love with him, he’d been aware of what he needed to do. It had filled his heart with an emotion he had never felt before and he felt the strangest sense of peace overcome him. He wanted Jolie. She might not have been the type of woman he typically dated but she was exactly what he needed. Leave it to Malik to pick it up ahead of him but damned if he hadn’t been on the money.

Malik was on his mind as he stared at the door. It was clear he was feeling affection for the woman. Was Malik wishing they were in each other’s shoes? He didn’t know but what he did know, his friend was rarely wrong with his intuition.

Jolie was what he needed in his life. He was going to do everything he could to break down the barriers of Jolie’s terror one k**s at a time, slowly and with the tenacity his grandfather had exemplified as necessary qualities of a Cacciola man. Jolie was going to learn what the definition of a true Cacciola man was and it was going to be the complete opposite of the first one she had been exposed to. Let the seduction of Jolie Segreto Haversham begin.