Chapter 8 Bishop #4
“That’s right.” King reached over and set a hand on her knee and squeezed.
“Look, if the money is going to keep shit going just fine, cool. Will it set us back a little, yes, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind it’ll give us and in the long run, we’ll make the money back tenfold.
Since she would have had to wait two years to get the money anyway, I’ll talk to her about letting us pay it off in two years.
We can split the grand total into three, excluding Knight in honor of him welcoming the next generation of Barrons in just a few months, and put up half of what we owe each year.
Any objections?” King looked around at each of us.
I shook my head. Xavia didn’t even meet his gaze.
“If I need to come up with some of the money, I’m sure we can, but I just don’t know about a full fourth of it,” Knight said.
“And we’ll accept whatever the three of you can donate but I’m not going to commit you to it,” King offered.
Knight nodded.
King looked over at Rook. “After tonight, Rook, you are on thin fucking ice with me. I want you to understand that,” King said.
“Can we have the room?” Rook countered.
My head snapped in his direction.
“What?” Xavia’s mouth fell open.
“Can we have the room?” he repeated.
Knight didn’t hesitate. He walked over and hit me on the shoulder and I cast a confused look at Rook before the two of us headed toward the door. Xavia followed us out soon after.
Flora and Winnie looked shocked to see us.
“What’s going on?”
“Rook and King are discussing the situation,” Knight said simply.
I walked across the hall to the opposite wall and crossed my arms over my chest. The fact that the two of them were alone had me on edge. There was no telling what was going on and Rook was the one who’d called a private meeting while his fucking head was on the chopping block.
I knew he was his own man but that shit had me on edge anyway.
It took forever and no time at all simultaneously for the door to slowly open and Rook didn’t speak to any of us. He just gestured for all of us to enter the room again and we all trailed to where we’d been before.
I kept my eyes on Rook trying to get a read on him while everyone settled back in.
“We’ll cover our mistake,” King said after a while.
“Seriously?” Winnie looked from King to each of us and back.
“If you’ll have Rook as a husband, he’s willing to marry you and stay married to you until your money is given to you.”
A shock I didn’t think was possible flew through me and I looked over at my brother who had his eyes locked on his new bride to be.
I didn’t know what the fuck King had told him in private but it had to be something serious for him to be willing to give up his freedom on a whim like this, the man who had just hours ago made it clear how little he wanted to get married.
“Since I’m the one that fucked up your original arrangement, it’s only fair that I take his place in all this,” Rook said.
The tension in Winnie’s body visibly left it as she seemingly deflated. She melted into the couch, her shoulders falling. She closed her eyes and wiped at them before nodding and forcing them back open.
“Thank you,” Winnie sniffed.
“You realize the deadline to get married is tonight, right?” Flora looked from King to Rook and back.
“We can get married right now,” he offered.
Flora’s mouth fell open. “I— It— Everyone has left already,” she stuttered.
“You really think I can’t get someone to marry the two of them and push through a marriage certificate legally in less than twenty-four hours?” King asked seriously and a smile took over his face. “Let's head to the Barron estate and we’ll get this taken care of there.”
“You’re serious?” Winnie asked.
“Unless you don’t want to marry Rook.”
“No. I do.”
“Then, let's go. We have a deadline to meet.”
We shuffled our way to the front door and out of it. Flora and Winnie stated they would follow us and we all climbed back into our designated vehicles to head back to the house.
The car ride was silent for the first half, all of our minds racing with the events of the night. What was supposed to just be a diplomatic trip out had turned into a makeshift wedding for the youngest Barron son.
I looked over at my twin.
“What are you doing, Rook?”
“I’m securing myself time to figure shit out.” He shrugged.
I didn’t comment.
We weren’t alone and this was a horrible fucking plan.
Getting married to this woman was a commitment even if it was for only two years.
She’d be living with us. She’d be integrated into our family and our life and unlike the plan I had that would require complete openness on my end, she was going to be blindsided with what came with our family and my brother.
He wasn’t the easiest motha’fucka to be with.
I didn’t say any of that though. Instead, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Novalie’s father who was my second in command as it related to security giving him a brief run down of the night since he’d been left at home base to protect and defend and asking him to pull files on Winnie, Flora and their entire family.
I needed to know everything about them as soon as possible if they were going to be a part of our lives for the next two years.
When we got to the family house, our parents were waiting for us at the loop in front of the front stairs. They were both wearing formalwear and our mother looked like she was ready to snap Rook’s neck with her bare hands but she greeted us with a forced smile and little hugs.
King, Knight, and our father headed inside of the house immediately and my mother grabbed Rook’s arm to stop him from following them.
“What do we know about this woman?” she asked quietly.
“Not much,” he admitted.
“Anyone pull a file on her?”
“It’s in progress,” I offered.
Our mother nodded then plastered a smile on her face when the car Flora and Winnie were in pulled up in front of the three of us.
“Get it as quickly as you can, Bishop,” she hissed and I nodded once discreetly and excused myself.
Novalie’s father, Hawk, nicknamed for his security work, was already locked in our surveillance room when I reached it. He had all three of my computer screens lit up and I glanced from monitor to monitor back and forth, taking in the different photos he had pulled up, bios all around them.
“What’d you find out?”
“Winnie is one of two children.”
“Yeah. She has a sister. Flora, right?”
“Yeah.” Hawk slid a picture of Flora over to the screen on the right side where there already was one of Winnie. “Flora is already married to some dude named Sean. They own a restaurant together and Winnie lives with the two of them in a nice sized house in a good gated neighborhood.”
“Any other family?” I tilted my head while Hawk plucked up a picture of Sean.
“Nah. Their parents were gone.”
“Figured. What’s up with that trust thing they claim is around?”
“It exists and the rules to receive the money are exactly what you sent me earlier. There are three different trustees in charge of the money and each of them have their own doctor that the women are required to see.”
“Where’d the trustees come from?”
“Different branches of their family. They were put in place to stop them from being bought off. The clauses in the trustee stipulations were well thought out and from a first glance look airtight.”
“Send a copy to our family’s lawyer just in case.”
I looked around at the other screens in the room, taking in each of my family members on varying cameras while I waited for whatever was coming.
“I need to know everything about them,” I stated. “I have to actually attend the wedding so I need you to pull every file you can get your hands on while I’m gone.”
“Alright.” Hawk nodded. “I can do that. I’ll have them waiting for you when you get back.”
“Thanks.” I hit him on the shoulder and slipped out of the room to rejoin my family.
The area we usually reserved for weddings looked nothing like it had when we’d welcomed Xavia and Novalie into our families and no one in our family seemed to share any of the excitement.
I stood beside Rook while he married Winnie, letting a chaste kiss to her cheek seal the deal for them.
Even though I’d been mentally preparing myself to get married, seeing Rook do it wearing the face that we shared made me feel sick to my fucking stomach.
My chest tightened and I felt like I was going to throw up so I focused on breathing, just breathing.
My body took care of everything else. I worked on autopilot, smiling and being as welcoming as I could to my new sister-in-law and her sister.
I stood around and played my part as dutiful brother for as long as I needed to and when shit wrapped up, I told my family bye the way I usually did and resisted the urge to run to my car afterwards.
The drive home to Asante’s place was a quiet one. I didn’t call him to talk during my drive. I didn’t listen to music. Instead, I let my brain run rampant and my anxiety bubbled up inside of me.
I cut the lights on my car and pulled into my usual spot. I kept my eyes focused on the garage wall while everything replayed in my head, from the dreadful look on Rook’s face to the way he’d repeated his vows like he was doing that shit with a gun pointed at his head.
I felt like I’d seen the future… and I fucking hated it.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I punched my steering wheel three times then let my head fall backward.
I closed my eyes and tried to even out my breathing, taking long deep breaths to gather myself before I headed into the house, using the key Asante had given me.
I sighed as I pushed my way inside and walked through the living room in the dark. I trailed to the dining room and yanked open the large glass display case where we kept our liquor. I grabbed the first bottle of brown I could make out in the dark then collapsed on the nearest couch.
“Check?” Asante called from the room.
“B,” I answered and flipped the top off the bottle in my hand.