FLASH MARRIAGE; CHARMED BY THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE CEO

Senator Gregory's eyebrow raised sharply, creating a furrow as his thoughts drifted to that exact year.

It was the same year he officially started dating Fiona Wales.

It was also the same year that he proposed to her, and they got married in a lavish wedding.

A bitter smile spread across Matt's lips as he observed the recognisable change of expression on his brother's face.

"You remember what you did, don't you?"

"You must be kidding me. That was a long time ago, Matt. That matter has been settled."

"You lie!" Matt roared, pointing ferociously at his elder brother.

"Oh god! Not again!" Nana Shawls clasped her lowered head with both hands, memories of that faithful year replaying before her eyes like an unforgiving storm.

"What exactly is he talking about, honey?" Harriet whispered, leaning close to her husband's right ear.

"You are about to find out, baby. But I have a feeling that it is about late Fiona Wales Shawls." Desmond replied in a hushed voice.

"Late Fiona Wales Shawls! Do you mean Amelia's mother?" Harriet's eyes widened.

"Yes, my love." Desmond nodded, unaware of the lethal gaze focused on him.

"Matthew..."

"Don't you dare, mother." Matt rudely cut her off, silencing her. "If it were not for your selfish intervention, this family would not be in this chaos right now. You are mostly to blame for giving Greg your concession."

"But she didn't love you." Nana Shawls broke down in tears, her hatred for her late daughter-in-law resurfacing.

"That is the lie you told yourself, repeatedly." Matt bellowed, his entire frame trembling with enough rage to wipe the entire family from the surface of the Earth.

"Mom, who is dad talking about?" Rosie muttered, wrapping her arms around her mother tighter. She had never seen her father this furious, and it scared the life out of her.

"He is talking about your late Aunt Fiona," Lilian replied, between clenched jaws. She felt nothing but disgust for her husband at the moment. She couldn't believe that after years of being married to him and giving him two beautiful children, he would choose to destroy everything for the memory of a woman who didn't love him.

"You all knew how much I loved her." Matt pointed viciously at every member of the family who partook in that incident. "You all knew that I was the one who brought her into this family. Yet you all stood by and watched this bastard..." He narrowed his bloodshot gaze at his elder brother. "...take my Fiona away from me."

Senator Gregory finally lost it at the mention of his late wife's name. His muscles tensed, and both his fists clenched by his side.

"You will keep my late wife's name out of your repulsive mouth." Senator Gregory barked, moving forward past his mother.

Regina chuckled in her heart, loving this show. She didn't do anything to stop Matt or plead with her husband. It was simply fulfilling watching her heartless husband get a taste of his own medicine.

'If only he knew that his late precious wife was no saint in the first place.' Regina grinned.

"Both of you, stop this." Nana Shawls yelled, unable to stand their quarrelling.

"No mother, let him show me what he has got." Matt repositioned himself in readiness to beat his elder brother blue black. "Let me give you a taste of the hell that you are about to face."

Lilian shook her head, lowering her gaze and weeping helplessly. She knew that she and her children were doomed by Matt's presence.

Senator Gregory closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, suppressing his highly inflammable ire.

"I know what you're doing. But I won't give you the pleasure of watching me break. What happened twenty-six years ago was fate. Fiona and I were destined to be together. Our love was already written amongst the stars. It is not my fault that you were a pathetic wimp who couldn't handle a real and modest woman like my late wife."

"Hahahahahaha..." Matt broke out in hysterical laughter, like someone who was on the verge of insanity. But the senator kept talking, ignoring him completely.

"You may have brought Fiona home as a friend, but she chose me for a husband. Why can't you live with it and stop making a fool of yourself? Why can't you accept the fact that she never loved you or promised you anything like you claimed? You two were just ordinary friends and nothing more. She was never attracted to you. And come to think of it, even when you tried to make things difficult for her by ruining her before Mom, she still forgave you. Even when she didn't have to, she still paid you off to let her marry me. What else do you want?"

"Everything, including her," Matt growled between clenched jaws. "Everything you own right now was supposed to be mine. I was supposed to inherit her wealth. I was supposed to be a senator instead of you bastard. You stole everything from me, and you dare judge me?"

"Please... You two should stop this." Nana Shawls cupped her ears with both hands, crying.

"You know what, I won't waste my time talking to a demented soul like you. From today onwards, we cease to be brothers and get ready to go back to prison because that is were you belong." Senator Gregory spat out. "Now, get out of my house."

Another collective gasp, sharp and cutting through the silence, rippled through the small crowd.

"Brother, please, don't send him away. He didn't mean anything he said." Desmond clasped both hands, begging.

Other members of the family tried to join in the plea when Matt's next utterances stopped them cold.

"I never begged you to set me free and yes I would lovely go back to prison. But have this at the back of your mind. You stopped being my brother a long time ago, you gullible old fool." Matt spat out with so much bitterness and venom lacing his voice.

"I know your b*tch of a wife never told you this. But you should know that she was no modest or righteous woman. She was nothing but a stinking whore, whom I devoured on the night before your wedding?"