HIS BILLIONAIRE PROXY BRIDE

CH.9

The drive to the church was a tense one

that seemed much longer than usual

because of the reason they were headed

there. Elise sat stiffly in the backseat with

her mother, while her father sat in the

front seat beside their remaining driver.

They had had to send the other two

drivers away more than four months back.

It was now everything made sense to

Elise.Her parents were in serious debt.

Looking at them, however, especially her

mother, one would never guess. She was

always class in the latest, most expensive,

and most fashionable clothes there were.

Elise guessed that every single dime that

they managed to get went to supporting

her mother's ridiculously expensive sense

of fashion. How dumb and stupid. She was

not surprised, though because her mother

had always had her father by the balls and

it was only whatever she wanted that they did.

It did not bode down well at all with Elise that they had to resort to using her as a sort of payment for their debt, sacrificing her chance of ever being happy the way they were doing. She did not think she

could ever be happy being the wife of that snob that she had known for all of what?

Thirty seconds? However, she could not

let those bastards kill her uncle for

something that he did not know about.

Besides, even if they killed her uncle, she

had no doubt that they would follow

through on their threat to kill off the rest

of their family. She only hoped that Mr.

Anderson would keep to his word and would

help pay off her dad's debt.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her

mother check her wristwatch for the

fithteenth time since they got into the

car. She kept doing that as though

checking her watch will make the time

pass slower, and for some reason, this

annoyed Elise to no end.

Dear God! I just hope they all wait for us.

Carolina fretted, smoothing down her

dress with her hands, even though the

dress was already perfectly smooth and

well-ironed without any wrinkles.

"We're almost there. dear." Donald

soothed from the passenger's side,

throwing her a reassuring look over his

shoulder. He avoided Elise's gaze, as he

had been doing all morning. and she felt a little pity for him. but whatever pity she

felt for him was drowned out by the great

anger she felt toward him and her mother.

"Yeah. We're almost at the slaughter

where I'm going to be sold like a slave

the highest bidder." She muttered under

her breath, but she was sure her parents

heard it because her father coughed

gently in embarrassment and her mother

looked out the window.

In no time, they were at the church, wh-

everyone was waiting for them to show

up. Elise got out of the car on shaky legs

feeling for all the world like a sheep being

led to the slaughter. This was in no way

the way she had ever imagined her

wedding would be like and it all felt so

surreal. She kept looking around, wishing

that it was all a bad dream from which

she would soon wake up, but it was all

real, and it was happening. Mr. Anderson met

them outside the church, his round,

normally pleasant face firmly set in a deep

frown. Elise took one look at him and

shuddered. Even with the frown on his

face, one would never guess the things

this man was capable of by merely looking at him.

People are already talking. You're late."

He said without preamble, looking Elise

up and down. The expression on his face

said that he did not like what he saw one

bit. It was very clear that he would have

preferred to have Sandra, who was more

beautiful, was tall, and was

Outgoing... until she got angry, that is.

Elise looked away, hating the blush that

stained her face at the rude way this man

was staring at her.

"That dress would have looked better on

Sandra. but I guess it would have to do.

Now, I didn't tell my nephew about the

change of plans. Let's just hope that he

would not back when he notices that she's not Sandra." He said, and walked away,

dismissing them. Elise wished that she

could give the man a piece of her mind,

but that was out of the question, so she

just walked on with her parents, hoping

and praying that the groom would not

make a scene when he found out that she

was not Elise. That would be too

embarrassing for words.

The rest of the time passed away in a blur,

with Elise hardly aware of what was

going on. It felt as though she were in a

trance. The ceremony was a very short

one. Bryce was already standing at

the altar with his groomsman, a guy

whom Elise did not know. She saw the

exact moment he noticed that she was not his supposed bride to be. She was still

walking toward him then, but she had to

commend him for his extreme

self-control. The only outward sign he

showed was a slight widening of his eyes

and the confused frown which creased his

perfect brow, and then his facial

expression was back to the bored look

that she had come to associate it with.

The pastor must have been informed of

the change of plans because when he

joined them together, he used her name in place of Sandra's, a confused look on his

face, no doubt because of how strange the

whole thing seemed. Bryce said his

vows, then Elise said hers in a dazed

voice, and the crowd at the church

erupted in a thunderous cheer, most of

them oblivious of what had transpired

behind the scenes. Elise kept her gaze

carefully away from that of people so that she would not see what they those who

knew that Sandra was the one who was

supposed to be wedding thought. Soon, it

was time for the reception, and Elise was

bundled into a flashy car with her new

husband, who still had not said a word to

her since they got married almost an hour ago.

The interior of the spacious car was quite

beautiful and as soon as they were seated and the car started moving, Bryce

loosened his tie and gave a sigh of relief

or tiredness... she couldn't tell which.

Elise,who was feeling really

uncomfortable and embarrassed, opened

her mouth to speak. but he beat her to it

"Well, my uncle certainly has a weird way

of doing things."

"What on earth do you mean by

that?" Elise wanted to ask but didn't. He

seemed to be talking to himself, not to

her, although she couldn't be sure. She

sighed inwardly. This marriage was going

to be something else, considering that she

was married to a billionaire snob when

she did not even have $5000 to her name.

"Hi." She said instead and then slammed

her mouth shut, her face turning pink,

especially when Bryce raised an

eyebrow at her and shook his head.