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THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 21. STRANGELY GENTLE
~RUBY I didn't think about Ash for too long. I already came to a decision that he was not worth it. Although I'm super grateful for his presence and contribution to my dad's dilemma, and for witnessing me relive the most embarrassing moment of my life, I still wanted to maintain boundaries. We may be civil now, but that didn't make us friends. Ethan didn't leave my hand all through the drive, and few minutes later, I had relaxed. I felt safe with him. He saved my dad. He stood by my side and wasn't freaked out by my stillness. I loved him so much. I thought back the the past few days and how crazy it had been. Even when I pushed his brother into the pool, he didn't hate me. He was not even mad at me. When we got back to the Riverstone mansion, we got off and he immediately came over to my side to help me in. His hands cocooned mine as we walked in, hand in hand, muttering sweet words to help me relax. Ash walked with us to the door before muttering something abo
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 22. SECRET RAGE
~ASH Anger rose in me as I watched Ruby stare at my brother with star crossed eyes. I had to stifle the urge to smash Ethan's face on the steering wheel, to pluck his eyes out, to do anything to stop Ruby from staring at him like he was her world. I gritted my teeth and endured the rising rage. When we got home, I alighted and I gave an excuse of attending a meeting. I doubted that they heard me. They were too bust holding hands and playing love. I've never wanted to kill Ethan so much like I did in that moment. So I left them and walked to the side door that led into the kitchen. My room was on the topmost floor, and I heard them still muttering in the sitting room as I went up. I tried meditating, thinking about things that made me happy. But my thoughts started straying back to Ruby, and how she looked at my brother. She had never stared at me like that before. She always glared at me with anger, disgust, rage, indifference. But never that way. I wanted her
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 23. HER JOURNAL
~RUBY I woke up to a silent, serene morning. There was no loud ringtone distributing my sleep which made me wonder for a moment if something was wrong with Ella. She hadn't called me for a while now. And her number was not reachable. Knowing my impulsive, erratic baby, she was probably too busy with work. Yeah. That must be it. I yawned and was about to roll to the other side of the bed when I noticed a warm body beside me. I whirled around, surprise making my jaw drop when I saw Ethan, snoring slightly. Ethan. On the bed with me. I remembered last night, and how our lovemaking had been so different from what I was used to. And now, he was on the bed with me, when I was expecting to wake up alone as usual. I snuggled close to my husband. He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer, breathing my hair in deeply. This was new. Strange. Unexpected. But I liked it. I decided to stop comparing how different it was, how the contrast was so sharp, s
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 24. ANOTHER FIGHT
~RUBY Ash’s eyes was full to the brim with fire. Rage rippled across his body as he glared at me, fists forming by his side. I swallowed and lowered my hand. As annoyed as hell he might have been, I wasn't going to let him take the journal from me. I knew that I was supposed to say something, anything, to explain my presence in this room that seemed to have been kept as a shrine. A reminder, of whoever this Xena was. "What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He asked again, stalking closer to me. His gait was slow and steady, with fisted hands by his side. In all the times I'd seen Ash angry, he had never been this mad before. "I...I...I was," I gulped, fear preventing the words from coming out. He looked as though he wanted to strangle me. Or even swallow me. I was not going to let that happen, so I swallowed the lump of fear and started talking. "You know. This is a very large house and when I woke up I was so hungry. I was going to come to the kitchen to ge
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 25. A COMPETITOR
~ETHAN The drive to the company took less than two hours, and I was in work way before my formal resumption time. Not that I care about that though. All I'm after is the growth of my company. As I walked through the doors, I noted satisfactorily, the delight of the customers, wives of filthy rich men who had nothing to do but spend extravagant amounts on jewelry. Our jewelry, especially. We knew our audience, and we were known to provide excellent work for them. I nodded to myself as I made my way to the elevator. All the buyers seemed happy. Satisfied. Except for... a frown creased my forehead as I noticed a young, stunning beautiful lady staring at an emerald necklace with a scowl. Taking sharp strides, I got to the spot and the attendant that was seeing to the woman cowered slightly. "Is there a problem, ma'am?" I smoothly stepped in front of her, blocking her view of that dumbass assistant. "Oh," her voice fluttered for a moment as she stared up at me, and
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 26. THE PECULIAR LAWYER
~RUBY Despite Ethan's reassurance, I was still so damn worried about Ella. And now that I think about it, it's been so damn long, so so long that we spoke. Was it twenty four hours? Forty eight? I can't believe it took me this long to notice. Ella could not go a day without calling me. Hell, she called me more that anyone else. Sometimes even five times if she's feeling particularly mischievous. I didn't realise how much I was used to it until now. My heart had caved in completely, and it felt as though someone set fire to me lungs. I could not breathe. 'Calm down. Just follow Ethan's instructions. Ella is okay. She is totally fine. Stop panicking and just call her agency,' I muttered to myself as I took a deep breathe. I dialed Ella's agency contact, and when nobody was picking after the third ring, my panic increased tenfold. Oh God. OhGodohGodohGod! Maybe someone kidnapped the entire agency. Maybe there had been an accident. But if it was an accident,
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 27. CUT OFF
~ASH I stared at the painting, longer than I should have. What came over me? Why did I end up drawing Ruby instead of Xena? The plan was to paint Xena. I made a vow to never draw anything else. Anyone else. Anyone except Xena. And I had failed at that. I felt so disgusted and angry at myself for being such a fool. For allowing myself to get so distracted enough by the she devil my brother married that I drew her instead. I took a deep breathe. It's okay. It's fine. I could just draw another one and pretend this one never happened. I closed my eyes and tried to conjure image of Xena, the shape of her eyes, the slope of her jaw. I gasped softly as I opened my eyes. I was beginning to forget what she looked like. The images that came into my head was grainy and unclear, as if I was looking at her through a badly fractured camera lenses. 'I'm sorry, Xena. I...I don't know what you look like anymore,' I whispered painfully. I felt the need to apologise. I jus
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 28. LOSING MY MIND
~RUBY I didn't look back as I stormed away from Ash, anger pounding in my bones. He thought he would just apologise for being shitty to me and I'd just laugh it off and be nice and friendly to him? Ah. As if. He was the worse jerk ever, even worse than my high school crush who turned out to be a bully. I would never, ever forgive him for hurting me. I don't care what Ethan thinks is best, as long as Ash doesn't care about my feelings, I certainly would not care about his. And he had the audacity to look sincere! Like he actually wanted to apologise. The nerve! An apology can never solve our enmity. To hell with him and whatever crawled up his ass. I opened the bedroom door and collapsed on the bed, still heaving with anger. I wanted to strangle him. Oh. I wanted to strangle him so bad. I thought back to how small and pathetic I sounded when he was gripping me, crushing my bones beneath his fingers and suddenly, I had the urge to make him suffer.
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THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE EPILOGUE
~RUBY ~FIVE YEARS LATER~ I was flipping a pancake when I heard a loud splash, immediately accompanied by a squeal, and I sighed as I walked and poked my head out of the pool door. “Jesus Christ. Ash. Jules. Keep it down,” I chastised, but Ash just looked up from his painting and grinned at me. “I don't know what you're talking about, fireball. As you can see, I'm innocent,” he winked and went back to painting. “Mummy see. I can do a backflip,” my daughter squealed and before I could stop her, she ran to the pool steps, closed her eyes, and flipped back into the water with a loud splash. “If you keep doing that there'll be no pancakes for you,” I said and she popped her head out immediately. “Oh no. I love pancakes!” “Then stop making such a loud noise,” I snapped and walked back to the kitchen, hiding a smile. The only way to get Jules into submissiveness was to threaten to take away her food. Soft footsteps pattered behind me. “I'm sorry, mum. I won't ma
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 96. THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
~RUBY I watched in horror as Ash lunged at Richard. The move took Richard by surprise and he stumbled backwards. He glanced up and spat, a trickle of blood running down his jaw. Ash's attack had taken him in the jaw, and he cursed as he glared at my husband's brother. “You bastard,” Richard growled and he attacked Ash with a ferocity that scared me so much that I took a step back, my legs trembling. They exchanged blows that left Richard reeling, but Ash was taking the worst of it. He had been beaten and bruised, and even though anger fueled his movements, his body was badly battered, making his movements sloppy and clumsy. Richard landed a blow on Ash's face, and a sharp crack filled the air. My horror grew as I saw blood trickle down Ash's nose, and I realized that his nose was broken. My hands started to shake as they continued to beat each other, and the grunts made me flinch. I had to do something. If I stood there and watched, helpless and useless, som
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 95. HEROIC FIREBALL
~RUBY I knew deciding to go to the location was me walking into a trap, but this was Ash. There was no saying what that man could do to him, and I honestly could not stand losing another member of my family. He was my husband's brother. And my friend. Besides, I would not be able to go on for long as a member of the Riverstone's family with no one to help me. But the greater factor of all, that made me pick up a pen and write a note to Ella, that made me decide that I would go, even when it was glaringly obvious that there was nothing I could do to help, was because he had always been there for me. Ash had always, always given me a shoulder to cry on. He had comforted me countless times, being there for me, took risks for me, and loved me all the same. The least I could do was to be there for him, too. So I placed the note I wrote on the bedside table where Ella's phone was, took a deep breath, and picked up my phone. The location he sent was a secluded area not
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 94. THE SILENT PROTECTOR
~ETHAN I staggered out of the hospital room, my vision swimming and my head pounding. But I didn't stop. Every step was agony to my limbs, and I was sure the pain was going to rip me out from inside. But I continued to walk. I had ruined everything. Memories of how I acted that day played over and over in my head, so frequently that I thought I was going to lose my mind. I wanted to scream, to shake myself out of the pain. But I didn't. Doing that would only draw attention to me, and I really needed to get to Ruby. To salvage the situation. But if I let out this scream of horror and pain that was building in me, they would detain me and stop me from going to Ruby, so I swallowed it. Gritting my teeth in pain and dizziness, I made it to a side door that led outside the hospital. A cab pulled up as soon as I managed to drag myself to the sidewalk, and I stumbled inside. “The.. River…Riverstone's Villa, please,” I gasped in short breaths as I spoke, and the cab man
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 93. THE WALKING DEAD
~A FEW HOURS EARLIER~ ~ETHAN My body felt as though it was being dragged through mud as I tried to regain consciousness. Straining against the strange sensation, I opened my eyes. I was in a hospital. The ‘drop drop’ sound of the drip sounded like a ticking bomb to my ears, and I closed my eyes, trying to shut the sound away to no avail. Wires ran across my body, connected to different types of machines, and my heart rate picked up as I tried to remember what happened. My head hurt so bad though, and it made it so hard to think, so I relaxed a bit, trying to coax the information out of my brain. Something was at the edge of my brain, something important, but I couldn't access it. It was as though my brain was asleep, and reviving it would take a lot to work. Footsteps sounded down the hall, and I closed my eyes immediately, pretending to be asleep. Two people stepped into my room, and I could feel their scrutiny as they peered down at
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 92. FALLING INTO PLACE
~RUBY Everything clicked into place for me. How he always seemed to know when something happened, how he always appeared out of thin air whenever Mr A struck. It explained how he knew about my allergy. He must have read about it in the marriage document I exchanged with Ethan. Oh my goodness. My knees got weak and could not hold me up any longer, so I slid down the floor, the coolness grounding me a little bit. Ella was worried, and she stood up from the couch to join me on the floor. “Baby. What is it again? What did Patrick say?” Her voice was choked with worry and panic, while my mind whirled at the extensiveness of Richard's cruelty. “Mr. A. Richard is Mr. A,” I managed to whisper, and the tremor of shock that went through Ella reverberated in me. “How…why…” she wanted to talk, but words eluded her, as they did me. “God. Richard's scheme was so…” I tried speaking too, but I could not wrap my head around it. Everything that has been wrong, that ha
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 91. A FEW MINUTES
~RUBY It's been twenty four hours since the trial, Ash's kidnap, and the accusations, but it felt like years to me. I laid on my hospital bed and didn't say a word. There was nothing to say, anyway. Ella and my father exchanged worried glances all the time, but they could not help me. So they waited for me, and I waited for my husband. If only Ethan had listened. If only I had been strong enough to save them both. If only I hadn't found the diary. If only… Damnit. There was no point in wishing things had happened differently, but I couldn't help myself. If I had a genie, I would not even ask for three wishes. What I would have wished for was for Ethan to come back to life, and set things right. If he came back, I would make him listen, and the three of us would raise the kid together. I would not even give a damn about Richard and his shenanigans. He could go to hell for all I care. All I wanted was Ethan. But a dead person always remain dead. They never ca
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 90. THE NEWS
~RUBY I was shaken from facing that crowd and telling the truth, but I was glad I did it. I was so scared, that I feared I would not be able to speak, but I did it. “My darling. I'm so proud of you,” Ella whispered as she hugged me, and I sagged against her, watching them lead Ash away. Cole went with them, and the courtroom bustled around me and Ella. No one paid attention to us though, so I let my facade down, and let her hold me. I felt weak, since I didn't allow my body to recover before rushing all the way here, letting Ella brief me in the taxi. The short burst of energy that carried me through the whole process of running here and giving my account was gone now, and my body ached so bad. “I'm so tired. I feel like my legs are going to give out any minute,” I groaned and Ella shifted her weight slightly away from mine. “Come on. Let's go back to the hospital,” she said and I nodded. We made our way slowly through the court room, Ella calling for a taxi as we wal
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 89. MY STRONG FIREBALL
~ASH I was shocked. Surprised. Befuddled. Stunned. I didn't expect Ruby to wake up soon, and from Cole's expression, he didn't expect it too. But she was here and she was awake, and that was all that mattered. I was happy. She seemed okay, no matter how weak she looked. She was okay. Even if I was sentenced to jail or death, I would die happily. The judge started at her words. “You are a witness to what happened?” He asked. “Yes, I am.” The prosecutor stood up with an uncomfortable expression, and Ruby, standing in the witness box, took the oath of truth. “Speak, witness,” the judge ordered. “Ethan, my husband, invited us both to the restaurant. He was acting weird, but I was too absorbed in the information I wanted to pass across to them to notice. It was when he showed us the pictures and started acting up that I noticed. I tried reasoning with him, but he was too far gone in his answer to listen. It was when he wanted to hit me that Ash stepped in and s
