HIS BILLIONAIRE PROXY BRIDE

CH.14

Expression that she had never thought

that she would see on his face crossed it.

He looked guilty.

"Hey, look. I'm sorry I said all that. I know

this is difficult for you, but it is for me as

well. I'll try to keep out of your way and I

suggest that you do the same with me so

that we do not keep getting on each

other's nerves."

Elise," nodded slowly in surprise thinking

to herself that wonders shall never cease.

She had not known that he was capable of/offering an apology, but it was a good thing.

"Alright,later I'm off to work."

"Okay. See you later. What sort of work doyou do anyway?" She asked, knowing that

he would not answer, and was not

surprised when he walked away as

though he did not hear her question.

Elise sighed softly. She just hoped that he

was not into the same line of business that

his uncle was formerly into. The last thing she needed was for someone to come and

threaten her or her family because of

something her fake husband did.

Once he had left, she went back into her

room ad sat down in melancholy, not

knowing what on earth to do with herself.

Remembering that she had not yet called

her workplace, she picked up the phone

and called her usually surly and evil boss,

expecting the worst.

"Hello, Elide dear." The woman said as

though she and Elise had been friends

since forever before Elise could even get

out a 'hello.

"Hello, Mia. Listen I'm really sorry

about the fact that I did not send in my

notice before I left. I..."

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear. Mr.

Bryce himself called me to inform me

that you were no longer with us. Had it

been you had informed me of the

wedding, I surely would have been there

to lend my support. Congratulations and as I wish you a happy married life, by the

way. The woman said, causing Elise to

wonder if it was the same person she

knew or someone else.

"Um, thanks... I guess.

"Yeah, and oh. I was wondering if Mr.

Bryce would like to put in a good word

for the bakery, or even you as his wife. It

would mean a lot to us. Everyone is

talking about the wedding, you know.

You're such an inspiration to many. Who

would have thought that you were

engaged to such a powerful man and yet

you were still so humble? So please kindly

ask Mr.Bryce about it for us."

"Um sure. Listen, I have to go.

"Thanks a lot and we really miss you. Bye."

Elise sat down in stunned silence and

shook her head. So this was what it was

like to be the wife of a billionaire, even a

pretend one. You'd have everyone

worshipping the ground on which you

walk.

If anyone had ever told her that

Mia would be nice to her, she would

have laughed out loud in their faces. This

was a woman who yelled at everyone for

even the slightest reason and threatened

to fire them or give them queries at the

slightest mistake. Now she wanted Elise

to tell Bryce to advertise her bakery.

Elise had to stifle her laughter at the

thought of going to meet Bryce of all

people and asking him to advertise a

bakery. She lost the battle and burst into

loud peals of laughter. He would surely

have her bundled out of his house in a

jiffy if she dared to mention such a thing.

Since she did not know what to do with

herself, she decided to dress up and go out.

The apology to get some clothes that she would be comfortable enough to wear. She had just finished brushing her hair when her

phone dinged, indicating that a message

had entered it. She picked up the phone,

glanced at the screen, gasped a little, and

then remained motionless for good 5

minutes, trying to process what she was

seeing. All she could do was to keep

staring at the phone as though what was

on the screen was a mirage. In fact,

anyone who happened to see her at that

moment would have thought that she had sighted a snake and was too petrified to move. Right there on her phone's screen

was a message that showed her that she

had just received an alert of $100,000.

Elise, who did not even have up to $3000

in her account thought that her eyes were

playing a cruel trick on her.

Hardly believing her eyes, she used her

fingers to trace the figure on the screen of the phone and counted the number of

zeros behind the 1. No, she was not

mistaken at all. There were five good

zeros at the back of the 1, which meant

that she had just received an alert of

$100,000 as she had thought originally.

Without further ado, she opened the

message with shaking hands and saw that/he alert was from Bryce. It carried

his name as the sender and since she did

not know any other Bryce, it was clear

that he was the sender. Elise was taken

aback. What on earth was Bryce

sending her such a huge amount what for?

She would have called him immediately to find out, but she did not even have his

number, so she had no choice but to wait

till he got back from work or wherever he

went to. Since there was no way that she

could ask him, she finished dressing up as

was her original plan and made her way

out of the estate, even though she did not

know where on earth she was headed. She just wanted to get a feel of the new city in which she found herself. If she was to be

here for over a year, then it was best that

she at least familiarized herself with the

place.

Outside the building looked deserted, as

she did not see even a single soul around.

She walked around a little, but still did

not find anyone, except for an old

gardener who did not speak English and

could only greet her by saying 'Good

morning. , Elise realized that

she should have looked for the maid or

cook inside the house and informed them

that she was going out, but now that she

was outside, she could not be bothered to go back inside just to inform them that

she had to go out. After all, she was not a

child and she did not need anybody's

permission before she went out, least of

all that of the cook or maid.

The walk up the driveway from the house

to the gate surrounding the estate was a

long one, and by the time she got to the

gate, Elise was tired and sweating. She

met a gateman, who looked at her aghast

and stammered out a question at her.

"Ma'am? Where are you going?

"Hello. Good morning to you too." Elise

said. She was not used to people calling

her ma am, but it seemed that she had no

choice but to bear the title, as people here

were hellbent on calling her that.

"I'm so sorry, ma' am. Good morning. Does

the boss know that you are going out?"

"You mean Bryce? Why does he have

to know? Am I a prisoner here?

"No, no of course not, ma'am. It's just that he instructed that you're not to leave the grounds without at least one bodyguard.

Elise burst out laughing out loud at this.

"Bodyguard? What for? I don't need any

bodyguard."

"Okay ma am, but will you at least let one

of the drivers take you where you're

going? The man asked politely. Elise felt

sorry for him. He was only doing his job,

but she did not need anyone policing or

shadowing her.

"No, no there's no need for that. I do not

even know where I'm going myself. So

there's no need to drag the poor man

along with me while I figure it out. Don't

worry, I'll be fine, and I'll tell your boss

that I insisted."

"I'm sure the driver would not mind." The

man said stubbornly, reaching for his

phone to call the driver, Elise presumed.

"I know he won't mind, but I would mind.

The last thing I need to worry about is the

person waiting for me while I'm doing my

shopping." She insisted firmly.

But..."

"Bye now," Elise said and sailed out the

gate which he had no choice but to open

even as he was still trying to convince her

to wait for the driver.