ASHER
"Olivia? How the hell does Demi know about Olivia?" Ashton bites down on his lower lips and this tells he’s been keeping this from for a while. I stop myself from giving the hospital wall a bad-tempered kick. "How long? How long have they been in contact?"
"I don’t know. Ashley confided in a few weeks back after Ashal found Olivia’s text in Demi’s phone."
I break out into a short, manic laughter. "So, everyone knew about this except ? Why exactly am I just hearing this? Do you guys not know how livid father could get if your little secret causes a huge ss? Do you know how big a ss it will be if Demi actually finds out the truth about Olivia?" I prance away with a hand on my head and another on my hip.
How could my brothers have kept this from till now?
"I thought I had it handled." Ashton adds, walking up to .
"Handled?" I fire back, whirling towards him. "Then why the fuck are they still talking? Olivia doesn’t listen. She is a stubborn woman. The only language she understands is violence and threats. That’s why she’s in the ss she finds herself today." I clench my fists. "You should have told , Ash. I would have made sure to nip this in the bud!"
I can’t trust my brothers to handle anything, especially not a potential family crisis. Olivia is my ss to begin with. Whatever she does will always ricochet back to . I shouldn’t have been kept in the dark for goodness’ sake.
Ashton is usually very persuasive so it beats how Olivia could have defied him knowing fully well what problems it could cause her with my family and especially Ashal. It makes little to no sense.
Ashal. I can’t imagine what he would do if he finds out what Olivia has been up to. I don’t have ti to think about all that now. I have to find a way to get to Olivia, convince her to behave for her own good and possibly ensure she no longer has access to any phones. She’s proven she can’t be trusted ti and ti again.
"From now on, I’ll deal with this Demi and Olivia problem." I tell Ashton. "Tell Ashley to keep an eye on Demi. I want to know where she goes and who she ets or talks to outside of work and her aunt’s." I might need to have her phone tapped but I don’t share this with Ashton yet.
"Mr. Rollins?" Ashton and I turn in sync to find the nurse assigned to Anna’s room standing a few ters from us in the hallway. "The patient is awake. She’s asking for Mr. Asher Rollins."
Ashton and I lock eyes that gradually crinkle in smiles. Finally, I exhale. The frustration and anger surging within over Olivia’s latest stunt with Demi dissolves to give way to relief. We follow the nurse all the way back to Anna’s room. In there, doctor Ezra is already examining her quietly.
The color has returned to Anna’s face. Her bandage is still on but she looks more alive than yesterday. Doctor Ezra finishes checking the color of her eyes and her vital signals.
"Everything looks normal." He confirms.
"Anna?" My voice is no more than a whisper as I edge close to her bed. Her eyes shift towards .
"Asher, is that you?"
I clutch my chest and exhale.
"I’m glad you’re okay." Anna continues with a weak smile.
"Her mory is restored." The doctor says with a smile.
"How? Under twenty-four hours?"
He nods at . "Her amnesia was caused by the blow to her head. It led to her confusion and problem rembering information. Thankfully, the head injury wasn’t severe so her mory loss didn’t last. In my practice, I’ve seen a number of similar cases of temporal amnesia going away in less than twenty-four hours. Still, I always deem it a miracle." He turns to Anna. "So details might still be foggy but with enough rest and dicine, you’ll be back to your old self in no ti."
"That’s good to know." Ashton quips. Anna beams at him. Doctor Ezra leaves with the nurse. Alone with us, Anna twitches on her bed with discomfort. I guess she does rember us after all. Ashton thanks her for saving my life and leaves the room. I bury my hands between my thighs and stare at my feet.
"Why did you do that? You could have...died."
She exhales. "I don’t know. I didn’t have ti to think it through. I just...acted." Her voice is low and weak, making look at her. "I am never saving your life again so don’t be too grateful. I have a family that depends on . I’m all they’ve got." She stares at her hands. "Iman. Did you find him?"
"Not yet. I’ve been too busy worrying about your state of health." She looks up at , her eyes warm with tears. "He’ll pay. I’ll make sure of it." I add.
"I hope he doesn’t hurt anyone else since he couldn’t get to you."
"He’s too lily-livered to go bursting soone else’s skull open while he’s on the run. My guess is he is hiding away in so shithole with the help of friends. I’ll find him and if I can’t, I’ll have to lure him out." When I look at Anna, she’s visibly terrified over the look on my face as I fu about Iman. I smile at her. "I’m glad you made it."
"Thanks"
Her eyes widen and instantly starts searching the room. "My mom. She must be worried about . I call her once every day. What’s today’s date? Shit. Where’s my phone." She tries to get down from the bed but I clamp her knees in place with my left arm.
"Take it easy. That mory loss shit wasn’t funny. Just tell what you need and I’ll get it for you."
She moistens her lips coyly. "M-my phone. It was in my b-bag."
I reach into my pocket and hand her the phone. Though she’s surprised I have it on my person, she doesn’t question but proceeds to go through her call logs. She gasps at how many people have tried to reach her and begins calling her family back. Right after, she calls Demi. I don’t know why Anna casually omits her accident and hospitalization but her eyes did glance briefly at while she told the white lie.
"She was worried about you? Why didn’t you tell her the truth?"
Anna shrugs. "It’s the sa reason I didn’t tell my mom. I’ll tell them later, in person so they don’t freak out too much."
I say it before I can stop myself. "Thank you, Anna. You’re a life saver, literally." Her response is a sweet smile.
***
When doctor Ezra had speculated that Anna’s mory loss might be short-lived, I had doubted him. Still, I had nursed hope. The guilt over her condition ate at the whole day at work. I couldn’t even look Demi in the eye unless it was accidental or necessary, like when I snapped at her for taking Nessa’s calls and when mom showed up to whisk her away.
I am glad Anna is making a full recovery. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. After settling everything to do with Anna’s transportation back ho with a plan for her to get regular checkups by a private nurse, I make a few calls to ensure she resus work with no troubles with her boss.
By the ti I return back to the office, I am in a lighter mood. Demi looks up as I make my way to my office.
"Welco sir."
That’s new. She must be in a jolly mood after hearing from her friend. I acknowledge her greeting with a brisk nod and go into my office. Nessa follows closely behind.
My uneasiness returns because of the awkward energy between us since I stood her up at the hotel. She has been weird around ever since. We haven’t had a chance to revisit that conversation because I haven’t allowed it. Even now, I can tell she’s itching to talk to about personal matters. Still, I keep a straight face to dissuade her.
"What did I miss?"
"Nothing much sir. Your father was just here."
"What did he say?" I ask, whipping out my phone. No missed calls or texts. It was probably not urgent.
"He said he’d co back."
"I’ll go see him now." I quickly brush past her to head for my father’s office, ignoring her calls. I don’t want to hear anything about that night. She might not know it but it was traumatic for . I could have been killed and an innocent woman almost died because of . Obviously, I can’t tell that to Nessa so I’d prefer we never speak of it. When she’s ready to move on from my disappointnt, she will. This wouldn’t be the first ti. So ti in the future, we will have another bed-breaking sex that will make up for everything and things will be good with us again.
"Father? Nessa said you stopped by?"
Father looks up from his desk. Next to him are his secretary and across from him is the head of the legal departnt. "I’m sorry if this is a bad ti. I’ll co back."
"No. We are done here." Father’s guests excuse themselves, beam at before leaving us alone. I help myself to a chair. "Did you just arrive?"
"I had so business outside the office."
"I see."
"You wanted to talk?"
I’m guessing this is about him inviting Josh to have lunch with our family. He’s been seeking an audience with since then. Just recalling the incident makes my body hum with anger and disappointnt. The whole point of keeping father’s dirty little secret was to spare mom the pain of his infidelity. She is never supposed to know about Josh. With father’s selfish and insensitive action the last ti, mom will have a face to put to the na if this secret ever cos out. Our lunch date will forever be a mory that will make her feel like a fool and that is sothing I am not ready to forgive.
Father takes off his glasses and steeples his fingers on his desk. "This is about Josh."
I knew it. I sit up in my chair. "You finally want to talk about it, huh?"
HIs eyes dim with surprise. "Let paraphrase that; this is about Josh and you."
"What are you talking about?"
Silently, he makes deft strokes on his iPad before passing it to . I don’t have to click play on the video. It’s and Nessa kissing in my office. "Tom is temporarily suspended. Josh brought this to my notice and I couldn’t ignore it."
"You couldn’t or you wouldn’t?"
"Asher, you know better than to do this. I didn’t expect this from you. Thank God Josh was the one who found this feed and brought it to my notice first so we can deal with it quietly. Imagine if it was soone else? How could you be so reckless?"
I can’t believe my father or Josh. "You’re seriously going to sit there and pretend you do not know that your son is trying to discredit so you that he can usurp my birthright? Really father?" I lunge to my feet and pace the office. "Josh didn’t bring this to you because he wanted to keep anything quiet. If he really gave a fuck about , he would have brought it to !"
"Mind your language."
"That sneaky bastard!"
"That’s enough, Asher. I won’t hear another word against your brother."
"My brother?" I cackle as father rises. "Just say it. You won’t hear a single bad word against your real son!"
"You are both my sons."
"You don’t believe that. If my brothers and I weren’t useful to your empire, you would have cast us away the second you discovered Josh."
Father slumps back on his chair. "Why do you hate him so much? He is not a threat to you or your brothers."
"Is that what he told you? Why would he show you that video if he wasn’t trying to make lose face?"
"He didn’t manufacture this video Asher. So far, I haven’t heard deny being the one in this clip so I take it that the video is real. If you hadn’t conducted yourself so poorly, Josh wouldn’t have anything to discredit you with if at all he is trying to. This is all your fault. Don’t bla the poor man."
I snicker at father’s blind denial. He would support his biological son in everything. I have to make peace with that. And here I was thinking he wanted to apologize about lunch.
I shrug lazily. "I’m sorry for my poor behavior. Do you need to put that in writing, sir?"
He sighs and leans back in his chair with a hand on his chin. "Don’t get cute with . You might be my son but you’re also an employee here. I don’t care what you’ve got going on with that secretary of yours but it ends now. If you can’t keep your hands off her, fire her and hire an old but efficient hag." His brows knit together as his face hardens. "If I get a whiff of any other insubordination from you, you’ll face the consequences. I’ve been too lenient with you and this is the result; you making out with your secretary during office hours or disappearing from work without notice."
"What are you saying?" My breath clogs in my lungs. "Don’t beat around the bush, father. Spill it out."
"You and Josh are both my sons. Unlike what you want to believe, his birth was no accident. I love him as much as I love you and your brothers. Rollins Enterprise is my brainchild and legacy and I have decided to pass it on to the son who proves the worthiest."
I forget how to speak for a few seconds and just hold my knees, gasping. "You...you can’t an that. You...p-promised ."
"It still can be yours. The only difference now is that you have to work harder and fight for it rather than be complacent and wait for it to fall into your lap."
Does he even recall the bargain that led to him promising Rollins HQ? Like he can read my thoughts, father cos around his desk to place a hand on my shoulder.
"I still love your mother, Asher. I made a mistake by cheating on her but Josh is a blessing. You’ll only be breaking your mother’s heart and ruining our ho if you tell her the truth. Nothing has to change. I just want you to be up and doing like the Asher that used to live to please work wise. Once I recognize that diligent young man again, the decision about who succeeds will be a no brainer."
I pull my shoulder away so his hand slips down. "Make those empty promises to your son, Josh. I’m sure he’ll believe them." With that, I storm away from his office. My head spins just as I enter mine. I stagger towards my drawer and reach for the handle to grab my pills but it’s locked. In the haze, I fumble for the keys.
"Are you okay?" Nessa asks rushing in.
"Stay away." I yell at her. I can’t have more clips of us. I manage to unlock it and grab my pills. Backing the cara and Nessa, I pop one in my mouth and down it with a bottle of water on my desk. Sweat coats my forehead. How could father do this to ? My whole life has been about inheriting this company. I won’t let anyone take it from . I can’t!
I remain in the office after closing hours. Demi clocks out and leaves when I wouldn’t budge. Nessa lingers. As the employees on the floor thin out to just us, Nessa steps into my office by seven pm.
"What are you still doing here?"
"You won’t take my calls if I called you from ho."
I hold my head. "Nessa, I don’t want to hear it. Trust , now’s the worst possible ti ever. Just get your things and leave. I want to be left alone."
Nessa still doesn’t leave. Instead, she wrings her hands and sobs quietly. "I am sorry but it can’t wait." The tone of her voice makes look up at her. True enough, tears shimr in her eyes as she stares at . She moistens her lips. "I’m pregnant Asher. I’m carrying your child."
All I do is stare at her like I would an uninteresting wall. It takes a mont before her words register and the first hint of shock seeps into my face. I grit my teeth.
"You said you were on the pill."
"I must have missed..."
"You missed what?" I want to stand and shake her violently but since I am not certain how far I’ll go given how angry I am right now, I clutch my chair instead and remain seated. "You know what? It doesn’t matter. Get rid of it. I’ll send you enough money. Take the fucking week off and call in sick. Make sure it’s gone before you resu next week."
"Asher!"
"It’s SIR to you." My voice echo down the empty floor. "What did you expect? That I’d be over the moon with joy and offer you a ring? That we would have a little family? You’re delusional. If you want to keep this job or any job for that matter in Danvarr, you’ll do as I say." Her tears flow heavily as she closes a hand over her stomach.
"Don’t act like it’s your first ti." I continue with the caustic remarks. "Get rid of that thing. You have seven days. We’ve got busier weeks ahead of us and I need you to be ready."
I grab my car keys and suit jacket before I head for the door. When Nessa tries to touch my arm, I give a scalding look. "Get it done or I’ll make you regret it." I fling my jacket over my shoulder and wrench open the door only to find soone standing behind it.
The blood drains from my face.
Fuck!
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