From Rags To Riches

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What do you want?” Elena stuttered, her steps drifting backward.

She had recognized the men, her eyes moving from one man to the other.

“Mr. Fabian has asked us to get you. Today is your wedding.” One of them was stated as a clear reminder.

Elena swallowed hard, turning back to see the rest of the men.

She has never seen a situation where someone was forced to marry a man she barely knew. But it was happening to her, and it didn’t look like she had any choice.

“Tell your boss that I am not interested!” She yelled, summoning her courage.

The men scoffed, then they laughed.

“It doesn’t look like you have any choice.” Their leader snapped, and at his command, Elena was grabbed and forced into the car.

They drove straight to Benson Estate, her home where everyone except her was in the mood for marital expectations.

Guests were everywhere, laughter and chattering all over the place.

She was forced into a wedding gown and dragged into the hall.

But just when the ceremony was about to start, someone showed up.

Someone she had least expected.

“This wedding is not going to hold,” Elias said, his voice commanding like he owned the place.

Before the echoing uproar that erupted in the large hall could die down, Fabian had wiped his face three times to be certain that he was seeing right.

Aside from the fact that Elena held onto the Underdog he had looked down on, she smiled at him as though she had been shot with Cupid’s arrows.

“What is this?” He snorted, taking two steps forward. “Tell me that this is a joke, Elena. I will simply forgive you and we can go on with this wedding.” His utterance reeked of so much arrogance, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be getting any response from Elena.

She pressed closer to Elias, holding onto him with both hands.

Fabian turned to Elena’s father. “Are you aware of this?” His eyes glowed with intense annoyance, sparking with rage, even when the middle-aged man shook his head.

Mr. Angelo moved closer to his daughter, eyes wide with dismay. “Tell me that this is one of your usual pranks, honey.” He scoured the entire place.

“Where are the cameras?” He asked, slowly returning his gaze to his daughter.

Elena took a deep breath. “There are no cameras, Father.” She revealed, her voice barely above a whisper.

“This isn’t a prank. This is happening, Elias here is my husband.” Her words ushered in another round of awe, and the guests began to throw in their remarks like missiles.

“What the hell is going on here?!” An old friend to the Bensons, her expression twisting into distaste.

“Maybe this is truly a prank. There is no way a damsel like Elena is going to settle for this scruffy-looking fellow when she has someone as rich and powerful as Fabian.”

It was hard to believe that Elena had made that decision.

Thinking that his daughter may have gotten under the influence of alcohol or something similar, Mr. Angelo moved to drag her away from Elias, but he shielded her at once.

The middle-aged man growled. “Let me have my daughter!” His temper rose, heightened by Elias’s persistence to blocking the way.

“Elena, my dear? Come to your father.” He urged with a smile, beckoning her to come to him.

“Please don’t do this.” He pleaded, wondering what could happen to his reputation if his daughter disgraced him.

“I am sorry, Father.” Elena apologized, avoiding her father’s eyes with all her might.

“Never! This cannot happen! I didn’t raise you to marry such a worthless fellow!” Angelo made another attempt to get to his daughter, but Elias’s towering height stopped him like a rock.

He looked up at him, and mustering the courage to speak, he yelled, “Out of the way, Boy! Let me have my daughter!”

“She already told you that we are married. Why don’t you let her be? She has made her choice.”

“Never!” Her roared, turning to Elena. “Don’t do this to us. Everyone will laugh at us.”

Elena struggled with her feelings, but the firm belief that she was making the right decision was stronger than anything else she could think of.

However, Fabian couldn’t stand the feeling of being embarrassed.

At that moment, he could no longer bear the anger that stemmed from the comments of some of the guests who considered him weak for allowing another man to hijack his fiancée on the day of their wedding.

With thudding steps, he hurried to Elias and reached to grab Elena who was right behind him.

“Let me have my wife!” He demanded, but Elias was ready to tell him the same thing he said to Angelo.

“Don’t push it, Fabian. She is mine.”

“Says who?!”

“Says this…” Elias pulled out the marriage certificate and showed it to him, holding it up so that he could read the contents.

“It is original, signed and stamped.” He added, holding onto his wry smile.

Fabian blinked twice, but the names on the marriage certificate remained the same, especially Elena’s name.

“This can’t be real!” He shook his head aggressively, turning to Angelo who was as stunned as he was.

“Your daughter has been married, and you didn’t tell me!”

Angelo shook his head to express his ignorance. “I am just seeing this for the first time,” He explained, but that didn’t seem convincing enough.

Fabian’s uncle, Ivan drew closer, his eyes piercing like a fiery arrow made of steel.

He looked at the certificate and his brows furrowed. “That is real.” He remarked, turning to Angelo in anger.

“What have you done?!” His fists were balled as though he was about to throw a punch.

Angelo took two steps backward. “Believe me when I tell you that I do not know anything about this. That idiot must have forged that certificate!”

“It doesn’t look like it,” Fabian said, his sharp word cutting through the silence.

Some of the guests who were standing close to Elias took a peek at the certificate, and before long, it was spread throughout the hall.

Anger and utter disappointment swept through the hall. The guests felt very insulted and were ready to leave.

Even the priest seemed to have been given a reason to leave. “I don’t think there is any need for me to be here.” He said to Fabian, heightening his fury.

Again, Angelo turned to his daughter, and pleaded, “Come with me, Elena. Don’t let this happen to us.”

Elena swallowed hard, struggling to find her words. “I am sorry, Father.” She took a deep breath, taking a step backward. “Elias is my husband. Nothing can change that.”

“Not under my watch!” Ivan yelled. “I will put a stop to this madness!” He grabbed his phone and quickly dialed a number.

“I need all of you to come into this place. Now!” He ordered, taking down the phone the moment he ended the call.

“I am going to teach you how to respect boundaries, young man” He said to Elias, but it seemed like he had been disarmed by the young man’s comportment.

Ivan was not just rich, he commanded a lot of power and authority.

He was so ferocious that just the mere mention of his name was enough to send shivers down the skin of anyone who heard it.

It was strange that for the first time, someone as young and meager-looking as Elias had no fear in him.