C1 I Don't Really Know This Place

“Find him and bring him here!!!!!” Bryce thundered to the men in black, and they scurried away like little squirrels. I flinched at his voice, raising my head a little, stealing a glance at him, and my blood ran cold. Suddenly, I couldn’t recognize him anymore. Bryce, my father-in-law, just didn’t look like the helpless handsome man I saw a day ago. I had never seen this version of him. I looked around, aware of numerous pairs of eyes on me. Yes, I could see the invisible question marks on their heads, but I, too, didn’t have answers to some of their questions.

“Oh my, was she so horrible that she had to be stood up on her wedding day,” I heard someone say. It was as loud as a gong, but only to my ears, I guess. I turned my head in the direction of that whisper. It was an older woman talking to her friend. To be honest, I never dreamt of being dressed in the most beautiful wedding gown I have ever seen, only to be stood up by my groom. It was not part of my plans, but life has a way of overturning our plans.

“Mr. Gilbert, if your son doesn’t come any moment from now, I’m afraid I will have to call off the wedding,” the priest said to Bryce. Bryce walked to the priest smiling, but the look on the face of the priest was that of horror. Something was wrong. It was when I looked down at Bryce’s trousers, and I saw a gun hanging down, and I froze. He wouldn’t. Bryce wouldn’t even try it. It wouldn’t be right, I thought, but at the same time, what has been right since I came into this church? If the priest was threatened with a gun, what would be my case if I made a wrong move? He probably would blow my brains out. I shuddered at that thought.

“Just what have I gotten myself into?” I thought, remembering when I had agreed to get married to Bryce’s son. I looked from left to right. Maybe there was a secret door or something. Deep down, I prayed that Mark doesn’t show up. Maybe I don’t need to marry him because he doesn’t want to marry him, but one look at Bryce told me otherwise. Bryce was the one who called the shots here, and from our earlier conversation, I dared not run from our agreement.

“Annabella?” I turned to find Bryce staring at me with a soft expression on his face. “Do you need to sit? Do you need anything to eat?” he asked me as he examined me.

“No, I’m okay, thank you,” I replied politely. I didn’t want to sober up to him because I didn’t know what he had in store for me. He nodded and beckoned to one of his men to come. I stared at his suit. It was screaming of affluence. It was then that I remembered what the internet said when I decided to check him up.

BRYCE GILBERT BILLIONAIRE. OWNER OF THE BIGGEST CONGLOMERATE IN THE COUNTRY, RUMORED TO BE THE LEADER OF THE POWERFUL GILBERT MAFIA GANG.

It’s been said that the Gilberts were a mafia family lineage, known to be the most powerful mafia gang. The government couldn’t arrest them because they were part of the government too. Hence their prolonged existence. My line of thought was suddenly interrupted when I heard shouts.

“Mark!” I heard Bryce say as he smiled and clapped his hands like a little child. I whipped my head around, and my jaw came crashing down to the floor. Standing in front of me, though being supported by two men, was the most beautiful man I have ever seen. God! Were people still allowed to be this good looking? He had this coal black hair with dark brown eyes. He was 6ft tall and leanly muscled. I remembered Bryce, and then I knew where he got his looks from. Suddenly, I wrinkled my nose. There was a strong smell of alcohol coming from… Him. Mark. He reeked of a strong smell of brandy or whisky, I couldn’t place my hand on which it was. Wow, he also loved his bottles. Now I was getting married into a family of guns and alcohols.

Mark refused to stand, no matter how the men who held him tried. He fell to the floor, and everyone gasped. We waited for him to stand, but he didn’t move a muscle.

“Mr. Gilbert, we can’t perform this ceremony if he is not conscious,” the priest said as I saw the fear in his eyes.

“Wait,” Bryce said and walked out of the altar. “Mark, stand up,” he gritted his teeth, but Mark didn’t move. “Mark!” This time his voice was louder as he stooped to Mark’s level.

“I want to get married to Annie!” Mark growled. Bryce stood up calmly and beckoned two of his men; they stood Mark up with each of his arms on their shoulders.

“ARRRGH!!!” Mark groaned in pain as he fell to the floor. Everyone gasped in shock. I too was not an exception. I couldn’t just believe it. Bryce had just punched his son in the face.

“Stand, Mark!” Bryce growled, but Mark stood his ground. Then the men carried Mark up again, and then Bryce made it rain punches on Mark’s face. Mark had blood smear his white shirt, and he was smirking at his father with blood-stained teeth. I was visibly shaken. I had to hold my hands together to stop it from shaking. How worse can this get, I wondered. Suddenly I saw Mark glare at me, and my heart skipped a beat. He looked at me like a hungry animal would look at his meal.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled.

Just so you know, I had never seen or met my husband-to-be until today. So I wasn’t surprised at his question. Although I thought that he would have done the math in his head. I was the one wearing the white gown, but Mark just wanted me to go through the pain of explaining myself to him. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words made it out of my mouth. I had suddenly lost the ability to use my brain. Maybe it wasn’t my brain but what my eyes were seeing. The mere sight of Mark all bloodied up made me shudder. I feared for what would become of my life when I get married to this violent drunk. Mark stared at me from top to bottom. He didn’t even try to hide the disgust in his eyes. I waited for the ground to open and swallow me. I lost the bare minimum confidence I had gathered while standing there. Luckily, Bryce saw through my ordeal and came to my rescue.

“She is your wife, Annabella. Now walk to the altar!” Bryce said in a low growl. He held Mark up, and the other two men helped Mark to his feet. I held my breath as they made their way to the Altar. He had blood all over his face, and no one offered to get him a cloth or something to clean up.

“Alright, Priest, you can start now,” Bryce said with a hugesmile on his face. Just like that? I couldn’t keep up with the change of moods in the Gilbert family. Bryce said that like as if he had not been the one who was responsible for the blood all over the groom. I sneaked a look behind me. The horror written on everyone’s face was as glaring as dirt on a white shirt. I mean, it’s not every day you get to see a blood-covered groom, right?

Just as the priest was about to commence, Mark tore out of the hands of the men and left the altar. His actions attracted yet another round of gasps and hands clasped over the mouth. Then Mark broke into a hysterical laugh. “Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt your happy ending.” He turned to his father and smirked. “Father, but I will only get married to one woman, and her name is Anne, which clearly the lady at the altar is not,” he said as he staggered around.

“Mark!” Bryce thundered, and yet again, I flinched. I would need to get used to his voice or it would start telling on my blood pressure. Bryce stormed out of the altar, and so did his other men. They tried to keep Mark hostage, but he began to fight them off. Mark didn’t know the moment his father came from behind and punched him. He fell limp and became unconscious. They tried to resuscitate him, but he wasn’t making an effort to wake up. And then chaos broke out in the church, and everyone began to run away.

I looked at the sight before me and sighed deeply. I carried my gown and found a nearby chair and sat. Today had been a bad day for me. Obviously, I wouldn’t be getting married today, but definitely, I would get married to this beautiful man, who was more of a stranger and less of a husband. Sighing, my mind began to drift back. In the depth of many seas, I began to recall the events that led to the scene that was taking place now.

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“Annabella?!!!” I heard my grandfather shout into the phone. I was in the market, which was miles away from home. We only come to the market if we have a pressing need to.

“Yes, Grandpa, I can hear you,” I said into the phone. We could hear each other well enough a while ago, but then a big truck horned louder and startled Grandpa. He mistakenly flung the phone away in terror. My grandpa might have been the strongest man on Earth, judging with the way he worked, but I knew he hated one thing.

Noise.

He just couldn’t stand it. So when the truck horned, I cursed underneath my breath.

“Annabella, now you have to be on time. The discount sales are about to begin,” my grandpa said.

“Yes, Grandpa, I am almost there,” I replied.

“Do you have all you need? Do you have the list of items we made?” my grandpa inquired.

“Yes, Grandpa. I have them all. Now don’t worry your old self. I’ll get everything done, okay?” I tried to assure him. He had always been a worrisome person. Getting off the phone with him, I increased my pace and walked towards the market. Just as I was about to cross to the other side of the road, I saw an old man. He had with him a bag and paper. He was trying to cross, but the cars would not just let him. I walked up to him.

“Sir, are you okay? Let me help you with the bag, and let’s cross,” I said as I held his hand. He looked up to me and smiled. Actually, he grinned. He looked so handsome. I never knew old people were also this good-looking.

“Thank you so much, you kind heart,” he said. I smiled back at him. I looked left and right, and together we crossed.

When we crossed, I asked him what brought him here; he gave me an address.

“Ah! I don’t really know this place,” I said.

“It's alright, I’ll just sit here and wait for the bus then,” he said, smiling.

“Okay, I have somewhere I have to be. Take care,” I said, waving at him, and he did the same too. When I had gone far, I turned to find him still staring at me. I found that kind of odd but brushed it off.