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25. A COMPETITOR
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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.
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 29. SEDUCING MY HUSBAND
~RUBY But nothing happened! I opened my eyes and was about to start whining when Ethan suddenly gripped my waist, lifted me up and threw me on the bed. I gasped at the swift action as my body bounced on the bed. But I didn't get the chance to protest when he started tickling me. "Ethan! Stop! Stop tickling me," I squealed as laughter bubbled out of me. His eyes were shining with mischief and he didn't stop. "You cheater. I told you to kiss me," I was screaming now, laughing uncontrollably. "At least you're laughing now. Which is a very welcomed contrast to the look on your face when I walked in," he replied, as his hands assaulted my neck, my armpits, underneath my knees. He knew all my ticklish spots, and took unfair advantage of them. I squirmed as I laughing, trying to block his hands when— due to the way I was moving around— his hands landed on my breasts. The air in the room changed immediately. His blue eyes burned into mine, and the room felt hot. The
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 30. THE MISSING FRIEND
~RUBY I yawned as I opened my eyes, and realised a very warm body was plastered to mine. I smiled sleepily and leaned back to stare at my husband. He looked so perfect and angelic as he slept, and his hands wrapped around my waist felt perfectly comfortable. My husband. My Ethan. His skin was smooth and I raised a hand to touch his cheek. Soft, warm, human. Mine. His hair was rough and sexy, a result of what we did last night, I suppose. Thinking about last night...I couldn't stop my giggle as the memories flodded me. He had been so gentle and considerate and so different. And I think I prefer him this way. Now that I think about it, he was probably just shy. Which would explain why he ran away the first few times we made love. But now that he was getting comfortable with me, I realised how much I loved waking up in his arms. I threaded my fingers through his air and loved how silky and soft it was. His eyelids quivered beneath my touch, and I didn't w
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 31. THE BREAK IN
~RUBY My heart pounded against my chest as the footsteps grew closer. Someone was in the house. The person who broke the handle and overturned the furniture was here, and I was alone with no means to defend myself. Fear overturned my insides. I had been foolish enough to think Ella was home and I had raced over without telling anyone where I was going. But…what if it was Ella? What if she had rushed home because something happened and overturned the house in search of something? What if she needed me right now and I was about to jump to conclusions and leave? I held my breath and listened again. The footsteps had stopped. The person was rummaging through something and I slowly crept towards the sound. The sound was coming from Ella’s bedroom. Hope blossomed, and I held a hand to my chest as I walked over to the door. I think Ella was the one in the room. I sincerely wanted it to be her. I knew she would have an explanation as to why the whole house was in dis
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 32. RESCUING THE FIREBALL
~ASH When I walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water, I was not entirely surprised. Of course, this was Ruby. She was the most impulsive person I had ever known and probably the most reckless too. I sighed, dropping the glass of water. Ethan had asked me to watch over her, but what was the point of watching over someone who did not want to be watched. “Well, let her go and do something stupid, as usual. I’m sure Ethan would be more than willing to clean up her mess,” I muttered to myself. I settled down on the couch, preparing to watch a football match, but I could not concentrate enough to turn on the TV. What if she went and did something dangerous? What if she went and hurt herself because her friend was nowhere to be found? What if she went and got into an accident? There would be no purpose to using her as a punishment to my brother if she accidentally ended up in a hospital, right? And besides, that was not the type of punishment I wanted for my brothe
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDE 33. IS SHE VICTIM OR SUSPECT?
~RUBY The police arrived in record time, and I watched numbly as the thief was taken away. We were standing outside now, and Ash had wrapped his arms around me. I was too tired to push him away, again. The tears had stopped, as well as the shaking. But I was still trembling lightly. "You alright?" Ash asked softly and I nodded. "Okay. They should be here any moment," he said, mostly to himself. "They? Who are you—" I started to ask but was cut short by the sound of the ambulance siren blasting noise as it entered the neighborhood. Ash must have called the ambulance, and I felt grateful that he was here, with me. I shuddered to even imagine what would have happened if he had been late, even for a minute. Or if he had not come at all. The medics came rushing down and started attending to me, taking care of my bruises and cuts. They asked no questions as they led me to the back of their van, and a female medic, who must have noticed my slight tremors wrapped me
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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
