Four Brothers and a Bride novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Four of Him

Four identical brothers deny marrying her and offer half a million to make it go away; she works out they took turns with her all night and refuses to leave, and Cian says one of his brothers is lying.

The board left fast and pretending not to look.

The assistant shut the doors behind them.

Then it was me and four of him.

Four faces, one face.

The same black hair, the same straight nose, the same gray eyes, the same mouth that had said "Ask me" at the rail last night.

My stomach turned over.

"Okay," I said. "I'd like to sit down."

The one in the loose tie pulled out a chair for me with a flourish.

"Cian," he said. "Hi. Welcome. This is a lot."

"Cian," said the one at the head of the table, flat as a ruler.

"What? She's going to need names. She can't call us One through Four."

"She isn't going to need anything." The man at the head of the table folded his hands on my certificate. "None of us married you."

"Your signature's right there."

"That signature belongs to Wyatt Chisholm."

"And which one of you is Wyatt Chisholm?"

Cian opened his mouth.

"Depends on the day," said the one in the glasses, softly, and then looked like he wished he hadn't.

The one at the head of the table closed his eyes for a moment.

"I'm Ewan," he said. "Fenn. Bram. Cian, you've met. Our father gave the world one son. We share him."

"You share a person."

"We share a name. It's simpler than it sounds."

"It sounds insane."

"That too." He slid a pen across the table toward me.

"Here is what happens now. You sign an annulment and a confidentiality agreement this morning."

"You receive five hundred thousand dollars. Nobody ever hears about last night."

Five hundred thousand dollars.

I thought of the bookstore, the cracked front window, the owner's arthritic hands counting change.

I thought of Whit telling his fiancee I was nobody.

I didn't touch the pen.

"Last night," I said, "a man sat down next to me ten minutes after I got dumped. He sent back my wine."

"He said my ex was an idiot, and I was going to tell him everything wrong with him."

Nobody moved.

"Then he took me down to the casino, and he bet me four hundred dollars I'd laugh before midnight."

Cian whistled through his teeth, very quietly, and then stopped.

I looked at him.

He looked at the ceiling.

"Then he found me a room full of books, and he drew my hands while I talked about my grandmother."

The one in glasses, Fenn, pushed them up and rubbed his left eye.

"Then he took me up on the roof," I said, "and he kissed me against the rail."

The one in the security shirt didn't flinch.

He went still, which was worse.

His right hand closed on the back of a chair, and I saw a pale split scar across the knuckles.

I'd felt that hand on my waist eight hours ago.

I sat back.

"You took turns," I said.

The room was so quiet I could hear the air conditioning.

"I got dumped on your roof, and you made me a party game."

"It's called the swap," Cian said, and Ewan said, "Cian," and Cian said, "She already knows, Ewan, look at her."

Ewan looked at me.

"We trade the Wyatt seat at parties," he said. "Every hour. It's a stupid habit from when we were twenty. Nobody has ever noticed."

"I noticed his tie was tighter after ten."

"Nobody has ever said so."

"Well. I'm saying so."

"Then you understand why I'm offering money."

His voice didn't rise. It got colder.

"Last night was a mistake made by four idiots with one face. Take the money. Be the only woman ever paid for it."

Idiots.

Something in the way he said it snagged on me, and then slid off before I could hold it.

There it was.

The same tone as Whit's text.

Be an adult about this.

I stood up.

"Here's what I understand," I said. "One of you stood in a chapel at 1:40 this morning and promised me something."

"He meant it, or he did a very good impression. And this morning he let his brother offer me a check."

I looked at each of them in turn.

Ewan's gray eyes didn't move.

Cian's did, everywhere.

Fenn's dropped to my hands.

Bram's stayed on my face.

"I'm not signing anything," I said. "I'm staying married until the man I married tells me so himself. To my face. With his own name."

"That's not how this works," Ewan said.

"It is now."

I picked up the certificate from under his folded hands.

He let me.

I pulled the gray jacket tighter, turned, and walked the whole length of that table with my chin up and my shoes pinching.

The elevator was at the end of the hall.

The doors were closing when a hand caught them.

Cian slid in beside me, tie hanging, smelling like last night's cologne and somebody's cigar.

The doors shut.

We rode down in silence for eleven floors.

Then he said, without looking at me, "For the record, I'd have remembered marrying you."

"Is that a no?"

"It's a no." He finally looked at me, and he wasn't smiling now. "It wasn't me. I wish it was."

The elevator slowed.

"And Rosalind?"

He knew my name.

Of course he did. He'd had a whole hour of me.

"One of my brothers is lying," he said. "To you, and to the rest of us."

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend