Fated To The Four Notorious Alpha Brothers

Chapter 27: Bonfire

"Let me go! Leave me alone!" I struggled as the strange man dragged me out of the house and toward the ranch.

Why is he taking me there? It’s a long journey from the house, and I don’t want the brothers to see me. They’ll be angry. Parker will be especially displeased. Maybe I shouldn’t have left my room; maybe I should have endured the hunger. Now I regret it.

This stranger won’t listen to a word I say. I think he mistakes me for an intruder or a servant. He finds it suspicious that I was hiding in Bryce’s office.

"Shit, stop struggling, or I’ll rip your head off before we get there," he threatened, tightening his grip on my arm as he led me away.

As we neared the ranch, I saw a bonfire and the brothers sitting around it. Many unfamiliar faces were with them.

The cooks were preparing a barbecue nearby, while female workers served drinks to the men. Most of the workers were women. We don’t have many male workers; the male staff mostly serve as patrol guards.

Oh, and the head chef is also a male—a middle-aged man.

Gavin was the first to notice us, though he struggled to recognize me. Once he did, he stood and approached us.

"What are you doing?" He slammed his fist into the guy’s chest, separating us.

"Shit, what the fuck, man?" The stranger growled, angered by Gavin’s action.

"How dare you touch her? Why the fuck are you holding her like that?" Gavin was furious, but his anger wasn’t directed at me.

Bless the moon goddess.

"Man, what? I saw her sneaking around. You should be thanking me for saving your ass," the guy retorted. freewёbnoνel.com

Their argument drew the attention of the others. When the brothers saw me, they all rose—except Bryce, who remained seated.

"What the fuck!" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"What are you doing here?" Parker was the first to question me.

How do I explain? I didn’t come here willingly; he dragged me here.

"What’s going on, brother? Who is this fine-ass chick?" Another unfamiliar man stepped closer, but Cooper quickly pushed him away.

"Mind your tongue," he warned, clearly displeased.

"Yo, what? Is this your chick? Is she the one?" The man asked, intrigued, but the brothers weren’t having it.

"I asked you a fucking question!" Parker snapped at me. "Why are you here? Why did you leave your room?"

"I... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to," I apologized.

"Shit, I knew this would happen." Cooper ran frustrated fingers through his hair.

"Cooper, take her back and lock her in her room if you must," Parker groaned.

"Yeah, come here." Cooper took my hand and began to lead me away, but before we had taken many steps, someone stopped us.

A man sitting near Bryce stood. "Is this how you do business? Aren’t you supposed to introduce her to us? If you had introduced her, this misunderstanding might not have happened."

He continued, "Everyone here knows my wife. I don’t hide her away or keep her in my closet. I make sure she learns everything about my business—including you, my brothers."

"But the notorious brothers act differently; they’d rather fight us than introduce their woman to us. Is this how you run your business? Don’t you trust your business partners?" Then he turned to Bryce.

"Mr. Brown, you’re surprisingly quiet tonight. As the eldest, I expect you to control your brothers. I expect you to take the lead and clear up any misunderstandings," the man stated.

Some of the unfamiliar faces agreed.

But the four brothers appeared very displeased. I wonder why they look so upset.

What will Bryce say? I’m curious—will he give in or ignore them? His brothers seem to await his judgment, but he remains silent. His silence lingers.

I wonder what’s going through his mind.

When Bryce finally stood, the room fell silent. I guess everyone is as curious as I am.

Bryce cleared his throat and spoke, "First of all, my brothers are not toys to be controlled. ’Mr. William,’" he addressed the man who had spoken, "since we’re talking about trust, can you explain why you stole one billion dollars from the money meant for the general account?" Bryce’s words caused a stir, but he didn’t stop speaking, he continued.

"Business trust?" He scoffed. "Showing off your wife? Your wife was my business partner long before you married her. Everyone here knows this. If you hadn’t sneaked around and gotten her pregnant, you’d still be her poor old dirty driver."

"Watch your tongue!" The man stood, displeased, but Bryce didn’t pay him any attention and continued.

"Hide her in your closet? Do you even have one? More like you should hide yourself in her closet. Between you and your wife, we know who has more power and influence. So don’t come here trying to insult me and my brothers. We won’t tolerate your nonsense."

"Did you have to hurl insults at me? Was that necessary?" The man placed his hands on his hips, raging, but Bryce returned to his seat without replying.

"But wait, you stole one billion dollars? When? When was that?" Another man challenged Mr. William, and chaos erupted. Seeing this, Cooper tightened his grip on me and began to lead me away.

Once we were far from the ranch, he released my wrist and stopped.

"What is it?" I asked.

Cooper closed his eyes, exhaled deeply, reopened them, and fixed his gaze on me.

"What happened tonight... I don’t ever want it to happen again," he began.

"Parker warned you to stay in your room, didn’t he?"

"Ye...s," I nodded.

"Then why didn’t you listen? Why do you keep disobeying our orders? Have we become a joke to you?" He sighed deeply again. "Don’t you know how far we go to protect you?"

"How many more enemies do we have to make to protect you? How many more men do we have to brutally kill to keep you safe? How many?!"