Bloodline Unknown

Chapter Three

Eli watched as different men walked up to his wife, advertising themselves to her like she wasn’t already married, some even went as far as pecking her cheeks and forehead, and he couldn’t help but feel disrespected, a huge feeling in his heart to go and stand beside Elara as he watched her look of discomfort enveloped him, but he stopped himself, because he didn’t want any look of disapproval from her grandma, and he didn’t want to add a strain on Elara and her grandmother’s relationship, things were already not so smooth for her because she had insisted on sticking with him, and he didn’t want to add to it.

Eli’s face shifted slightly to that of anger and sadness as he watched Dominic Vaughn, the man that had been openly and shamelessly pursuing his wife, give her the Jade necklace he had been eyeing earlier that night and hoping to get for his wife.

“Elara – you know I love you and I can get you the whole world, I don’t know why you insist on staying with that poor man that can barely even feed himself.” Dominic said to Elara, his voice loud enough for everybody to hear, causing Mireille and every guest present to burst out laughing, not bothering to hide their emotions any longer.

Genevieve felt her face swell with embarrassment and she couldn’t stop herself from glancing at Eli with loathing, it was embarrassing enough that he was poor, it was more annoying that he wouldn’t leave her granddaughter alone.

“It is enough I accepted your gift Dominic, but I wouldn’t accept you insulting my husband, and if you think you have any right to talk to my husband in that manner because of this gift you have presented, I wouldn’t mind returning this gift to you.” Elara spoke through the noisy crowd, her voice angry. She was sincerely angry that this man tried to insult Eli, she didn’t mind when it was a family member, but when a stranger tried to do it, she couldn’t help but get annoyed immediately. She saw the insult as not only an insult to Eli, but an insult to her family and herself when a stranger took it upon themselves to embarrass her husband.

“I am sorry Elara, but I was only speaking the truth.” Dominic responded– clearly embarrassed, but not wanting to annoy Elara further, after all it was her birthday, and he was in her territory.

“Apology accepted, and I will pretend not to have heard the other part of your sentence.” Elara responded to Dominic immediately shifting her gaze from him, she didn’t like Dominic, not only because of the insult he had given Eli that night, but for so many other reasons and she never saw herself having anything to do with Dominic despite being wealthy.

Genevieve looked like she wanted to say something in his defence, but a look from Elara stopped her, she could tell Elara was really angry and she didn’t want to do anything to provoke her further.

“Why don’t Eli come forward to present his gift to Elara as well.” Genevieve said suddenly, diverting all her attention to Eli

Eli sighed hesitating, he had been excited to give his wife the gold necklace he had bought earlier, but seeing all the expensive birthday gift she had received that night, he wasn’t confident in his gift.

“Grandma, you know Eli doesn’t have any money and I really don’t care if he doesn’t give me any gifts.” Elara said before Eli could have time to make up his mind. Her face was filled with worry like she really didn’t want to hurt his feelings, her voice also low like she was trying to whisper, but loud enough for the guests around her to hear, and soon they started to gossip about Eli. She looked around a little smile creeping up her face as her plan turned out successfully, turning to Eli with a sad look on her face before mouthing. “I love you – poor or not.” then focused her attention on the remaining people that had gifts to present.

.Eli sighed, turning his head away from the sight that continued to annoy him, but he couldn’t do anything about it, he also didn’t think he was going to be able to take his wife for the dinner he had planned for their anniversary, and staying in this place was suffocating him, plus he was hungry, and the menu had more drinks than food.

“Have you finally realized you have no place here?” A loud voice boomed beside Eli as he stood up and made his way to the exit, frowning he turned to check who the voice belonged to, Cassian Morreau, another of Elara’s cousin, brother to Mireille and son to Luccien Morreau came into his line of view, the frown on his face intensified as he turned forward ignoring the voice. 

He and Cassian barely had any encounter, since  he lived in another part of the state, plus he was always busy with work, so he couldn’t waste his time picking on another man, so Eli was left totally confused and lost on why he was present today, and why he decided to pick on him. Was it something that had been planned by the whole Morreau family and he was lured here to be embarrassed. 

“Darling!!! – Don’t waste your time on him, he is not worth your breath, you shouldn’t be bothered by an orphan like him, who still depends on his wife to survive.” Isolde Virelli said from her seat which was quite far from where Cassian and Eli stood. She stood up from her seat, glancing around her to make sure the guest had heard what she had said as well as she made her way to Cassian's side.

“I know, but the sight of him makes me mad, and disappointed in myself that I couldn’t protect Elara from a blood sucking demon like him– haven’t you noticed ,Elara isn’t as bright as she used to be, plus I don’t know what kind of spell he must have cast on her to make that woman side him no matter what.” Cassian responded to his fiancee, his face scrunched up in sadness, turning to disgust any time it brushed over Eli.

“I have never wronged you Cassian – Why must you embarrass me like this,” Eli finally spoke, not able to ignore them any more. 

“It’s not my fault that my wife loves me and is not as self-centered and selfish as the rest of the family, I do not want to say anything negative about the Morreau family as there are lots of guest here, and spoiling my in-laws names is not in my personality, so please, I would ask you to continue to ignore me as you normally do.” Eli added, his voice low in order for Cassian to be the only person to hear him. Bowing his head slightly as he turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist.

“Who gave you the right to be able to speak about the Morreau family in that manner?”  Cassian asked, his hands raised slightly as if to punch Eli drawing more attention to them, as the guests sat in satisfaction waiting for a fight to occur.

“Don’t even think about it Cassian – Eli is my husband and I demand he should be respected.’ Elara who had rushed over as soon as she had noticed the commotion said.