Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 26

Jolie was admittedly ready for the day to be over. Between the nasty glances she kept getting from the HR team and the curious ones from her own department, she’d already been overwhelmed before nine am. However, going to lunch with Opal had resulted in three realtors from the realty department sitting at the table next to them in the sandwich shop making direct comments about Jolie f*****g her way to the top. Stupid for them because her two bodyguards were sitting behind her in the other table and she knew it would have been reported to Brix and even if she said nothing, which she intended, Brix was going to find out. It was clear they had forgotten the penalty for gossiping about the boss was termination. Despite Opal wanting to speak up she had encouraged her to let her security team deal with it.

Then when she’d been walking back to the office with Opal, she had gotten a glimpse of the federal agent who had been assigned to her case. She had sent Brix a text immediately to let him know the FBI was following her again. He had messaged back telling her to stick close with her team and to return to the office immediately.

When she’d gotten back to her desk, she’d found a candy bar had been left on her desk. A black marker had changed the name of the Snickers to Snitchers and she knew it came from one of the HR team. Opal had been pissed but Jolie was even more so. She deliberately walked to the floor where their offices merged, unwrapped the bar and took a huge bite.

“Thanks for the snack. Nice of you to waste your pennies on me when it’s quite possible this department is going to be downsized and a few of you will be jobless. Hope whoever thought it so kind to buy me chocolate is aware,” she pointed to a camera, “my long-lost fiancé is insanely overprotective and over the weekend put cameras over our work area. If you were near my desk delivering threats coded as treats, I hope you smiled pretty for the camera.” She winked deliberately at Celia who had gone pale.

Opal had been snickering at her desk when she’d given the little performance but inside Jolie was seething. Why did people who had screwed up always point the fingers at other people when they got caught? It wasn’t her fault Elaine had encouraged bad business practices in the HR department and Brix had caught it on day one. She might have been put on the spot but it wasn’t her fault they were the ones screwing over the company.

While the rest of the afternoon had been quiet in terms of direct commentary, she knew the journalist who had gotten the exclusive the day before had released his story. The entire world now knew she was engaged to marry Brixton Beckwith and, true or not, Pia was his daughter. It felt weird to consider such a thing and while she had been okay with the adoption, lying to the world about Pia felt dirty. Brix reassured her as Pia got older, they would explain why they changed her story but for now, it was necessary.

Her phone rang and she grimaced at the name on the display. Her landlord. She answered it quickly, “hi Mr. Snow.”

“Ms. Haversham. I wanted to talk to you about your rental agreement.”

“What about it?”

“I have to terminate it.”

“Excuse me?” She shouldn’t have been annoyed considering Brix had promised the new house would be ready by the time they had dinner this evening but his cold tone was irksome. “Why?”

“I can’t have criminals living in my house. A cop came by today and said you were running from the law and I was harboring a fugitive.”

“Really, Mr. Snow? What was the cop’s name?”

“I have his card here and he told me to call him right away if you showed back up. An officer Miguel Acevedo. He asked us to let him into the house and he looked around and told us you were hiding from the LVPD.”

“Mr. Snow, I haven’t been on the run from the LVPD. Whoever you let into my home lied to you. It was probably a journalist you i***t. Did you not see who I got engaged to over the weekend?” Rage was rolling off her and she felt more than saw Opal round her own desk to approach Jolie’s and sit on the edge. “It hit the news this morning which means journalists are trying to get to me. You’ve just let a stranger into the home I have with my five-year-old. You had no right. Did he have a warrant?”

“No,” he stammered, “he had a badge.”

“Probably a phony one you can get at any dollar tree,” she scoffed furiously. “I’ll tell you what, Mr. Snow. I’m going to go have a chat with my fiancé and have him send a team over to remove all of my belongings from your home. I’ll have the keys dropped off. Considering you,” she spoke snidely, “were the one to call me to cancel my rental agreement, then I expect all of my post-dated cheques to be hand delivered. I had originally intended to pay out the length of my rental agreement when I came to see you this week to give you my three-month notice which was required in our contract but now, I don’t think so. You let strangers into my daughter’s safe space. Oh, and Mr. Snow,” she knew her patience had finally reached the end of it’s tether, “my fiancé is Brixton Beckwith. Google him.”

She ended the call and bit back an impatient scream. “F**k.” She dropped her face into her hands as Opal reached out and rubbed her shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“He let a man into my house. They showed a phony badge and said I was a fugitive from the LVPD and he let them in my house unchecked.” She pushed away from the desk and rubbed her forehead angrily, “I have to go tell Brix.”

She made her way to the elevators and could feel the trembling of her body as she marched clutching her cell phone in her hand.

“Leaving early?” Mavis, Elaine’s cousin and one of the two women who had been told of their pay cuts today shot out of her seat near the elevators. “Must be nice to have special privileges.”

She punched the call button for the elevator. “Do you know what, Mavis? Go f**k yourself. You’ve been defrauding the company for years at Elaine’s behest. You got caught. Don’t blame me the new boss doesn’t intend to let you continue. If you don’t back off and leave me alone, it’s not Brix you’re going to have to worry about. I’ll file harassment charges against you and it won’t be with the company. It will be with the Department of Labour Standards because technically, you are my superior since you are the HR junior manager responsible for the PA’s and realtors. Try me. See how much I care if I drag the company through the mud because HR is full of mean, vile high school girls who forgot how to grow up. Imagine what the news outlets would report if they came in and investigated the hiring process for the women in this department. How are your knees holding up, Mavis?”

She stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for Brix’s floor glaring at the woman whose mouth opened and closed in surprise at the way Jolie had gone for the jugular. Her hands were shaking so hard she dropped her cell phone and she bent down to pick it up cursing under her breath. Hot tears fell down her cheeks and she wiped them away furiously.

She got off the top floor and walked straight to Brix’s office. She noted the young woman sitting at the desk where Solomon’s PA used to sit. “Is Brix in?”

“He’s on a call,” the woman smiled benignly, “he doesn’t have any other scheduled appointments with staff today so he won’t have time.”

“He’ll make time,” she cut the woman off angrily. “Tell him –”

“I will not,” the woman cut her off. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with Bostonians but Mr. Beckwith is a busy man. He is not going to entertain a woman in his office. I don’t care how many of you come up to this floor, none of you are getting in.”

“Lady, you, and I haven’t met yet. I’m sure, at some point, we might be friends because I really appreciate how blunt you are but I need to see him now.”

“The name is Keely, not lady, and I doubt it. He’s on a call. You’re not going in.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

It was clear Keely thought she was going to simply barge into the office and she rounded the desk angrily as if to stop Jolie from entering the office and she shook her head. Jolie fought her smirk as the woman appeared confused when Jolie flopped down in a chair and sent a text on her phone. She sat there kicking her foot impatiently while Keely eyed her curiously and went back to her own seat. Jolie looked up when the elevator dinged again.

A gorgeous blonde woman with heels which Opal would have drooled over strutted towards Keely.

“I need to see Brix.”

“Take a seat,” Keely waved to the empty spot near Jolie.

“I’m his fiancé. He will want to see me.” The woman said smugly.

“What department do you work in?” Keely asked the woman not backing down.

“Excuse me?”

“In this building. What department do you work in? Mr. Beckwith’s fiancé works in this building. Where do you work?”

“Are you daft? Do you not know who I am?”

“Oh, I know who you are. You’re the floozy he was with in London weeks and weeks ago. He kicked you to the curb. Did you think he didn’t actually bring me from office to office? The entire premise of me being his PA is I accompany him. I know who you are and I know the last time he saw you; he had Malik throw you out on your a*s because he caught you blowing your manager. If you want to see him, take a seat. I’m not disturbing him for you. I understand you think you’re going to be his fiancé but you’re so far off the mark it’s ridiculous. You should check the internet, sweetie. You’re too late.”

Jolie snickered at the woman and when Keely lifted an eyebrow in her direction, she held her hands up defensively. She was really liking Keely now. Feisty.

The woman huffed and flung herself down next to Jolie. “Brix is going to be furious with you.”

“I doubt it. I’ve been his PA for nine years. I know him better than he knows himself.”

The blonde elbowed Jolie, “she thinks he’s secretly in love with her.”

“Nope,” Keely cut in and waved at herself, “Gay. Not interested. It’s why we get along. Nobody likes a woman who throws herself at a man. Self respect is a respectable quality.” Her glance flicked over the two women sitting in the chairs.

Jolie couldn’t help it and she giggled. She really liked Keely. She was almost forgetting why she’d come upstairs. She grimaced with the thought and considered Brix had not texted her back. “Hey, Keely, is Malik in his office? Did he take Elaine’s old space?”

“He’s with Brix in there,” she thumbed at the door and then narrowed her gaze.

“Look, at this point I don’t care which one I see but can you try to reach one of them for me? It’s important.”

Keely appeared annoyed. “I have way too much work to do to play messenger girl. You’re so desperate to see one of them, you’ll have to wait until their call is done.”

She rolled her eyes at the woman and sent Malik a text message.

Not sixty seconds later the door to Brix’s office pulled open.

“Hey sweetie, what are you doing out here?”

“Waiting to see you or Brix. Keely is doing her job very well of keeping the hoards of women trying to offer their bodies to Brix in exchange for job security.” She shot a grin at Keely who seemed immediately to grasp who she was.

“Oh s**t, I’m sorry,” Keely stood up.

“It’s all good.” She waved her off as she rose from her seat.

The blonde pushed her out of the way. “Malik! Tell Brix I’m here.”

“Honey,” he frowned at her. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Why? Brix and I had a misunderstanding. I’m here to tell him he’s forgiven and we can start over. I heard he’s ready to settle down and get married. I’m ready to take the plunge.”

“Yeah, not happening, Honey,” Malik laughed outright as he extended his hand to Jolie. “Come on gorgeous. Brix said to bring you right in. He missed your text because he’s been on a call with his stepdad.” He looked to Keely, “Keely, please call down to security and have Honey escorted out of the office and let them know I’ll be personally dealing with them for letting her up in the first place. She is not on the approved list.”

“Malik, I want to see him now!” the blonde woman named Honey stomped her feet furiously.

“Not happening. See,” Malik stepped closer to her, looking down at her condescendingly, “my job is to keep my boss safe and you are a poison, toxic and nasty and I will not let you near him.”

“And who is she to get your blessing? She’s nothing!” Honey glared at Jolie who was now tucked under Malik’s arm.

Brix cut in from behind Jolie and she looked over her shoulder in surprise at the sound of his voice. His words made her blink incredulously.

“She is the mother of my daughter and the woman I’ve been looking for over the last six years. I’m not certain where you got the information, I was ready to settle down, Honey, but I’m not looking to settle down, I am settled down. Nothing on this planet would make me desperate enough to get between your legs again, not even all the vaginal reconstructive surgery you’ve been bragging you’ve had. Now take your plastic chest and sewn shut cunt and leave my offices and don’t ever come back.” He motioned to Jolie and Malik, “come in sweetheart. You wouldn’t have come up if you weren’t upset about something. What happened?”

Malik kicked the door shut on the loud laughter of Keely at her desk.

Jolie looked to the closed door and wondered what the heck the woman had done to warrant such wrath.