HIS BILLIONAIRE PROXY BRIDE

CH.6

"Um, I'm sorry everyone, but may I have

your attention please?" Once everyone was quiet, Carolina continued, hardly able to hide the tremor or uncertainty in her

voice. "I'm sorry, but we would have to

have dinner without my daughter,

Sandra I'm afraid that she's indisposed

at the moment, but is recuperating. She's

asleep now and we do not want to wake

her up so that she will be well-rested for

the wedding tomorrow.

Oh. I'm so sorry to hear that. I wish her a

speedy recovery." A middle - aged woman

said, placing her hand above her chest

dramatically.

The other people around the

table muttered their condolences and

wished Sandra well, asking her to give

Sandra their best wishes. Elise noticed

one man in particular who looked to be in

his sixties and was sitting next to

Bryce who was seated across from

her. At Carolina's announcement, the

man's eyes narrowed, but he did not say

anything.

He didn't offer any condolences

as the others did, but took up his cutlery

and began to eat after the well-wishers

had had their say. Elise would have

pegged the man as Bryce's father, but

they did not look anything alike. While Bryce looked tall and broad from what

she could see, even though she had yet to

see him standing, this man looked short

and round.

There was no reaction from Bryce the

groom. In fact, he looked terribly bored,

like he could not wait for all of this to be

over. For some reason, this really Elise pissed off."

The least he could do was to act

concerned, after all, his bride-to-be was

not feeling too well.

"But are you sure that she'll be well

enough for the wedding tomorrow

morning?" The fat man said, his tone

suggesting that he did not believe that

Sandra was ill for even a moment.

"Oh, sure she will, Mr. Anderson. It's just a little headache and some fever. Nerves, I suppose, but that's pretty normal. Hell, I

was I'll too the day before my wedding,

and it wasn't as though I didn't love may

Donald. No, I can assure you that that

wasn't the case at all. It was just nerves.

Maybe it's a family thing." Carolina said,

snapping her mouth shut as she realized

that she was babbling and chuckling

nervously.

"Alright then. You may all eat." Mr. Anderson

said, and only then did everyone,

including her parents start to eat, even

though Mr. Anderson had already gone

through half of his food.

Elise watched him quietly. She had not

said a word since she sat down at the

table, something that was easy to do since

everyone ignored her anyway.

That was the way she liked it though. It gave her

the opportunity to just sit and observe

everyone without feeling the need or

pressure to interact with them.

There was something powerful about the man that made one instantly want to obey and fear him. Elise did not know him, neither had

she met him before, but she also felt this

way about him merely by being in his

presence.

The others made chitchat while they ate

except for Elise and Bryce. In fact,

throughout dinner that night, Elise did

not hear him utter a word to anyone in the room.

She began to wonder if he was

deafmute or something of that nature but later noticed him whispering something

that she could not hear over the loud

conversations of the other people into his

uncle's ear. As for Elise, she could not

wait until this whole thing was over and

she could go back to living her life.

They still did not know where Elise was or

where they would find her, and to Elise, it

was better that way. There was something

scary about this family, especially

Bryce's uncle, and now that she had

met the man, she could tell why her

mother seemed nervous.

Alright, everyone. I think we should all

get an early rest so that we can prepare

for the wedding proper tomorrow. Mr.

Anderson said, dropping the glass with which

he had been sipping his wine. By this

time, everyone had finished eating except

for Elise who could not even bring herself

to take more than a few bites of her food,

even though it tasted delicious. She just

didn't have the appetite.

Something was

going on, and she did not for the life of

her know what it was. People nodded

their agreement and finished off their

drinks and then started to leave one by

one, except for Bryce and his uncle

"Donald. We need to talk. Let's go into

your study." Mr. Anderson told Elisel's father,

standing up and leading the way as

though he was the owner of the house and Donald was the guest. Elise did not miss the way her father gulped at this

command.

However, he stood up like an

obedient puppy and began to follow the

man into his study.

"I'll come with you," Carolina said, after

some moments and hurried after them,

leaving Elise and Bryce sitting alone

silence for what felt like an eternity,

although the silence was probably tense

only to Elise. As far as she was concerned,

it wasn't her job to make small talk with

this stranger whom she didn't even know,

but she did not want to come off as rude,

so she cleared her throat to get his

attention.

"Hello." She said when he finally looked at her.

He did not reply immediately but

continued to stare at her as though he did not know what to make of her.

"I hope the food was your like." Elise

tried again and then mentally kicked

herself. What was she doing trying to

make conversation with this man who

couldn't even be bothered to talk to her?

He was a billionaire, after all, and clearly

did not appreciate fraternizing with

low-class people, if the behavior that he

had been exhibiting all evening was

anything to go by.

"Yeah." He said shortly and stood up to go outside, leaving her sitting there all by

herself.

Elise sat there for some minutes after he

left, berating herself for even trying to

strike up a conversation with such a

stuck-up asshole after which she began

dial her sister's number for the attempt

time that evening. To her immense

surprise and relief, Sandra picked up the

phone on the third ring.

"Where the hell are you? Elise asked

without preamble.

"Hey. Hold your horses. I'm almost home."

Sandra replied, slurring her words. She

sounded as drunk as a skunk.

"You're almost home? That's all you're

going to say after being noticeably absent from a dinner that was held for you and

making mom and dad look like fools?"

"Well, that's no fault of mine. They

brought this on themselves, so don't

blame me. I'm actually doing them a huge favor, so pardon me if I decide to drink a little.

"What on earth do you mean by that? Also,

I hope you re not driving in the state

you' re in."

"I'm not in any state. I'm just a little tipsy.

See you later." She said and ended the call.

Elise sighed, wondering what her sister

meant, but deciding to wait for her to get

back before she questioned her. It was not wise to ask her about something that was

clearly upsetting to her while she was

driving and drunk at the same time. Sure

enough, Sandra drove into their large

compound less than fifteen minutes later.

flew down the stairs and met her

sister hallway. "

"Hey," Sandra said coldly, pushing past Elise.

Really? You had us all worried. Where did

you go to? Elise called after her, noting

that Sandra was not as drunk as she had

first thought. At these questions, Sandra

whirled and turned on her sister angrily.

"Who do you think exactly? You're not my

mother and you have no right to ask me

all these questions or monitor my life.

Even my mother does not have the right to do that. I'm a f*****g adult in case you

failed to notice and your constant

monitoring and whining about how I live

my life is really irritating. I've had it up to here.

Elise watched her rant, mouth agape. She

hardly saw her sister in this sort of rage

and it was clear that something was

eating her up.

"Well, I was just worried about the way

you disappeared. I didn't mean any harm.

I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Whatever. I'll just go to bed so that

I can wake up refreshed to begin a life of

misery tomorrow. Oh, and I don't want to

hear anything from you about how I don't

have to do it. I kind of have to, so I'll

rather not listen to any judgmental

lectures or advice from you. My life sucks

enough as it is." Sandra said, and turned

to walk up to her bedroom, before

stopping short. Standing only a few feet

away were their parents, Bryce, his

uncle, and the middle-aged woman from

earlier, who happened to be his wife.

From their expressions, it was obvious

that they heard some of the conversations

between the two women.