Page 126 of Four Fiances & I

Looking around them, I don’t miss the exchange of glances and a few chewing on their lips. Mykela is the first to put her hand up. I nod at her once to signal for her to go ahead.

“Will you require us personal guards at all? Or are we also on leave?” She glances at Gordon and Layton sitting on the opposite side of the table.

“You will be on leave as well,” Terry answers, stepping forward and leaning on the table. “The O’Reillys and Jaz will not be leaving these premises, so you will not need to be here. I will stay in the security hub to ensure they are safe, especially after everything in the last forty-eight hours, but they want space to help young Jasmine.” He looks at each member of the team, and I don’t miss how a few look genuinely upset it has come to this.

Gordon lifts his hand a little, and I nod for him to continue.

“Will we get to speak to the others before we leave?” Knowing that although they don’t have the relationship Jason and Calvin have, Gordon is still protective of Jason and thinks highly of him.

“I’m sure Jason will be happy to speak to you before you leave. I already know Jasmine doesn’t want to see anyone other than Layton who will see her before he heads off.” That’s not true; Layton is going nowhere and moving into one of the spare rooms in the security hub. But again, it’s a lie we will uphold for as long as possible.

“What will happen with pay?” I hear someone ask, and I see Justin looking at me. “I hate to be the one to ask, sir. But I have a baby on the way and-”

“I completely understand,” I interrupt, surprised it’s taken this long for anyone to ask. “You will all receive full pay until you return to work full-time. You will not be using any of your holiday time either. This lockdown is a decision we made as a family, and we would never leave any of you out of pocket because of our choices.”

“That being said,” I add, leaning forward on the table again. “If I find out any of you are the reason all of this has occurred, and you have been giving others our personal information, I don’t care whether you have family or not; you will die for what you have put our fiancée through. She is completely heartbroken, and it is purely down to those who have betrayed us and, more importantly, her.

“Jasmine has suffered her whole life thanks to those who have used and abused her. Some of you present even helped me to make some of those abusers pay. But there are still things about her past that no one, other than the four of us, knows and she wants to keep it that way. To say she suffered at the hands of those who should have loved her is an understatement. She finally had her own way of getting away from the years of pain, a way of starting afresh, losing the name of those who abused her, and having the name of the family who love her for who she is. To the four of us, it was just a wedding, a piece of paper that told us what we already knew: Jasmine is ours. But to her, it was shedding the past and starting afresh with a family who worship the ground she walks on.Thatis what someone has taken away by doing this, not the wedding, or the dress, flowers or celebration, but the thing that was to be the turning point in Jasmine's healing. For that, I will not rest until the person is found and made to pay.”

Call me overdramatic; I don’t care. I want whoever has done this to know what they have done, and I will not rest until they pay for it. I’m done pretending that someone in here isn’t betraying us. I want them to hear what they have truly done to someone they all claim to care for.

“Is there anything else you wish to mention?” I ask Terry. He shakes his head and looks at everyone.

“You all know the protocol for a complete lockdown and what is expected of you. The cabinet in the office is unlocked; leave your work mobile and firearm in your slot and sign them in, as well as anything personal guards have, tablets and so on. If anyone doesn’t, I will be knocking on your door to find out why. I will email you all when I know what it will look like once the O’Reillys and Jaz are coming home. All passwords and emails on the server have been changed, and phones are locked. You will not have access to anything until you return to work and a new password is chosen, as explained in the lockdown protocol you have all signed at the beginning of your employment.

“Also, so you are all aware, if I find out anyone has been involved in this attack against any member of this household, I will see to it personally that you pay. Do not assume you have gotten away with it because you have not.” He looks at each of his people, and I know this is far from the end. Terry will be going through everyone's emails and phones with a fine-tooth comb to hopefully find who is responsible.

“Everyone has finished for the day and can go home as soon as everything is signed in. If you have a question, I will be in the office in five minutes to answer them.” He turns his attention to me and signals that he’s done.

“You are all dismissed,” I announce, pushing back my chair and standing.

For a few minutes, it’s chaos as everyone wants to shake my hand and ask me to pass on their love to Jasmine. They ask that if we find anything out, I let them know. It’s tough, as I’m sure they all know that someone on this team is the one to let us down. I’m sure everyone has their suspicions about who it is, but there isn’t enough evidence to confirm it. Other than Gordon and Layton, the rest have worked with us for years. They all watched as we became who we are today, and there were so many ways they could have taken us down; I will never understand why they have waited until now.

“You okay?”

I look to Layton and nod.

“I am so ready to lock down and have a strong drink,” I sigh as I watch the last few people leave.

“Yeah, I can imagine,” he nods, watching the others disappear, leaving the three of us alone. “Everything is going well upstairs, and I will be heading off in a bit before coming back in an hour,” he adds quietly, hoping no one is listening.

“Thank you,” I reply before looking to Terry.

“You really think it’s one of them, don’t you?” he asks. I nod whilst forcing myself to relax my jaw.

“I can’t think of any other explanation. How else would the bastards know which dress shop Jasmine had used or the florists? Sure, anyone can find out about the hotel, but I’ve received notification that the suit shop was also broken into during the early hours of this morning. If the owner hadn’t called us to pick them up early, I have no doubt they would have also been vandalised.” Both Terry and Layton curse under their breath.

“What about what I found at the dress shop? How many of the others know?”

My jaw clenches as I look at Layton.

“My brothers and I are the only ones other than the two of you that know,” I answer as I feel the piece of paper burning in my back pocket. I need to put it somewhere before Jasmine sees it.

Layton had discovered it in the dress bag, which held Jasmine's wedding dress. He made the decision not to tell anyone until Terry arrived. It's something we’ve decided she doesn’t need to know, as it's more of a scare tactic than a threat.

Run before they spill your blood too.

“We will get to the bottom of it, but in the meantime, it will be harder for anything to happen while we are all locked in here,” Terry says, rubbing his face. He looks as tired as I feel.

---