Chapter 9: Arianna

When we arrived at the banquet center it was beautiful. We exited the car and walked up the big wood hall that led into the banquet center. When we entered I watched Crew hold out an arm for Genna to take. I looked at Elijah hoping he would do the same. He groaned and rolled his eyes as he stuck out his arm for me. I smiled at him as he glared at me.

Approaching the second door, it opened. A Butler standing holding it open. I looked at Elijah. He was smiling. I was so confused. Why was he smiling? Then he looked down at me with his smiling face. I realized his smile was fake, there was zero emotion in his eyes. He looked back at a cheering crowd. I put on a fake smile as we headed toward a table in the front of the room. Looking around at the smiling and cheering crowd. I wonder how many of these people would be happy if they were in the situation I was in? Would they be fine with marrying a man like Elijah? Thoughts raced through my head, we took a seat at the head table. Genna sat to my right, Elijah to my left. On Elijah's left a bigger man sat down. I did not know who he was or what he was doing here. I examined him closer and I recognized his sapphire blue eyes. He must have been Elijah's father. I did not get a good vibe from him. He scared me.

Servants started to dash around the room serving food. The food smelled delicious as it aruma filled the air. I looked at Elijah. He was looking out in the crowd. His face set in a scowl. I rested my hand on his arm. He looked at me like he wanted to yell at me. I looked up at him, concern filled my eyes.

"What's wrong?,'' I asked in a hushed tone. He did not reply. He shook off my hand. "What's wrong? I know something is wrong," I asked a second time, my voice still quiet. He did not respond again. A servant came up to us. The servant asked,

"Soup or salad my Ladie?,"

"Soup," I replied. The servant placed a bowl in front of me and left. I turned back to Elijah who was still scowling. I placed a hand on his and gave a little squeeze. He ignored it. "I know something is wrong. Normal out what i have observed when you are unhappy you usually just glare and roll your eyes, but now you are scowling. Your jaw is clenched and a muscle in it is twitching. You also have a vein starting to show by your eye. So I am going to ask one more time, what's wrong?,". He smirked, squeezing my hand a little and turned to me.

"I will not tell you so deal with it," he said to me in a harsh hushed tone. I huffed out a breath while a smirk grew on my face. I pulled away my hand and waved at someone fake in the crowd. Turning back to him i said shrudly,

"Then you might not want to show our lovely crowd here that you are upset, because it is a little obvious,". He just rolled his eyes and put his fake smile back on.

Another servant approached me, and asked if I wanted steak or shrimp. I chose shrimp. One last servant came up and asked if I wanted water. I happily accepted. Once everyone was served the man next to Elijah stood up and raised a glass. I did not catch what he said because I was too focused on Elijah's reaction. His fake smile disappeared and another scowl replaced it. Reaching under the table I clasped his hand with mine again. I gave it a little squeeze, that i understood. He looked down at our hands then at me. His face filled with confusion in how I figured it out. I gave him a small smile of understanding.

"It's okay, I understand. Just smile and pretend he is not here," I said to him in a whisper. His confusion faded and his fake smile returned. Before letting go of my hand he gave it one last squeeze.

The food was to die for. The soup was just the right temperature. It was a gumbo and it had just the right amount of spice. I started to eat my shrimp. The shrimp was still warm. It was grilled chili lime shrimp. It made me want to cry. This type of shrimp was my dad's favorite. The dish made me think of all the barbeques my dad used to host in the summer. I loved the shrimp he made as well. A silent tear rolled down my face as I finished the shrimp. I felt a comforting squeeze on my thigh. Looking down I saw Elijah's hand. I looked up at him. He gave me a genuine smile.

"Smile, our loving crowd can see us," he said with a bit of sarcasm. I smiled and shook my head looking away from him.

When we were done eating, Elijah held an arm out for me again. Together we walked around the room. Elijah introduced me to many people. I met the queen of England and her husband. We had a good and long conversation about rugby. Apparently her sons all played rugby when they were in highschool. I met the prime minister of Japan. We discussed our favorite desserts from his home land. His favorite was matcha chocolate cake. I remembered the first time I tried matcha chocolate cake. I was ten.y dad had a business trip that took him to Japan. He brought back a bunch of different kinds of desserts. I loved all of them but my favorite was mochi. The chewy dessert was so delicious it made my mouth watered just thinking about it. I told the prime minister about that experience from my childhood. He promised that he would send me some of Japan's best mochi the next time he got a chance. I thanked him and we moved on to talking to more people.

Although as we walked I could not stop thinking about my father. He had once promised me that we would take a trip to Japan, but that was a long time ago. Shaking the thought out of my head, I looked up at Elijah. His fake smile was still present on his face.

"Why don't you smile for real," I asked, getting his attention.

"What do you mean this is my real smile," he said with a serious tone hidden under his voice.

"Yeah right. It's just as real as that man standing over there is my father,'' I said sarcastically, pointing at a random man in the room. Elijah rolled his eyes. Was that his signature move or something. It is kind of annoying. That's when I noticed that we were specifically staying away from the side of the room. That the earlier man was on. The man who sat next to Elijah during dinner. Deciding on not asking Elijah about it we kept moving.

At one point we were talking about having a lovely conversation with France's prime minister. When that man came up to us.

"Hello prime minister, may I talk to my son alone. If you do not mind," the unknown man said. His voice was scary. It was husky, deel, and had a booming quality to it. It sent shivers down my spine. The prime minister wished us a nice farewell. Elijah's face went tense. His brows furrowed in diguest. His body turned ridged as stone. He was clearly not happy about this situation. I gave his arm a nice gentle squeeze, to let him know I was here with him. To let him know everything was okay. His sapphire eyes met my brown ones. His face softened. He finally addressed the man.

"Father this is Arianna," he spat harshly at the man.

"Oh, Elijah there is no need to be harsh," the man said nicely, looking at Elijah. Then looking at me he said, "I am Henry, Elijah's father,". He stuck out his hand, I shook it hesitantly.

His hand was dry and scratchy. It was also cold as he gave me a firm handshake. My body was telling me to run as far away as possible. This man was no good. I made my body force a nice smile and say, "it's nice to finally meet you,".

I looked at Elijah. He was still visibly unhappy. Patting his arm with my free hand I said cheerfully, "if you don't mind Elijah owes me a dance,". I dragged Elijah out of the situation before Henry could even answer. Elijah resisted my pulling but he did follow. On the dance floor he looked at me like I was crazy.

"Do you even know how to dance?," he asked, mildly concerned.

"Nope, but you're going to teach me," I said. He looked at me surprised. "What? I am a fast learner, and you should be thanking me for getting out of that situation. You cut the circulation off in my arm, because of how rigid you were,".

He rolled his eyes. I giggled. We started to move in a circular motion around the room. I picked up real quickly that this was a waltz. I know how to waltz a little. This made it easier for Elijah to guide me around the floor. He was not enjoying this one bit. He was not even paying attention to what we were doing. It probably did not help that I stepped on his foot a few times. He winced but that was all.

We exited the dance floor after one song. I wish he would have danced longer. I left him there and I left to find a bathroom. Exiting the banquet room I walked back to the main doors. Where I had seen a bathroom last.

I returned back to where I left Elijah, but he was not there. Panicked, I looked around the room. I spotted him on the other side of the dance floor. He was talking to a pretty girl. She was smiling and laughing with him. He was smiling at her. An actual smile not some fake one. They looked like they were having a wonderful conversation. My blood was boiling. I was so furious. My jaw clenched so tight I could feel muscles twitching in it. I wanted to walk over there and yell at him, but I knew that was not a good idea. It would only cause a scene.

In my fury I hardly noticed the servant sprint along behind Elijah. I noticed just enough where I was now on alert. I saw another servant running this one in a little bit of a different uniform. Worried, I started making my way across the dance floor toward Elijah.

Bang, Bang Bang!

Gunshots and screams echoed through the room. I felt an agonizing sensation of pain slice through my arm. I fell to the ground. My vision went back. I woke up to a terrible pulling pain coming from my scalp. I was being dragged by my hair. A blood curdling scream tore from my throat. I thrashed back and forth. An excruciating pain shot up my right arm. Looking at my arm a large gash stretched horizontally crossed my arm. Blood oozed from the wound, flowing down my arm, like a red river. I felt sick at the sight. My scream worsened. I was thrown against the wall. The wind was knocked out of my lungs. I was coughing and I tried to stand up. A man slammed my back against the wall. His burrly hand around my neck. I started screaming again. My arm throbbed with every heartbeat. The man got in my face. His hand was tightening around my neck. I coughed.

"Where is your lovely fiance," he yelled at me with a scratchy voice. I coughed out I didn't know and processed to scream. He hit me with the butt of his gun. Pain shot through my head. "Screaming is going to get you nowhere! WHERE IS YOUR FIANCE!," he shouted at me, his spit landing on my face. I frantically looked around trying to find something I could use as a weapon. On the man's belt sat a kitchen knife. I screamed and thrashed. Make a big enough distraction to grab the knife.

"I AM GOING TO ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME!! WHERE IS YOU FIANCE!," he furiously shouted at me. His grip tightening again as he started pulling the gun up. His finger on the trigger.

Holding the knife i thrusted it into his neck. His eyes grew wide with surprise. Letting go of my neck and clutching his he started to choke up blood. Raising his gun at me I scream covering my face. I gun fired. A searing pain traveled through my leg. I opened my eyes. The man in an off looking servant outfit was on the ground died. No life in his eyes. I felt a warm liquid flowing down my outer thigh. Looking down at my leg I saw a gouged out line across my thigh. From it oozed fresh red blood, flowing down my leg and dripping on the floor.

My chest felt tight. I could not breathe. Gasping for air the room started to close in. my knees felt weak. Gunshots still filled the room as I leaned against the wall and slid swiftly to the ground. Shallow, short breaths shot in and out of my mouth. Hot tears poured from my eyes. Leaving hot lines across my face in their absence. I left my chest increasing and decreasing in size rapidly. I looked around the room, bodies scattered around. I left light headed.

Blurry silhouette came running up to. Resting a hand on my cheek. I tried pulling my head out of its hand. It jerked my head in its direction. A man was in front of me. Sapphire blue eyes full of worry stared at me. Blinking at the figure I realized who it was kneeling right in front of me. Elijah's face was full of concern.

He pulled out his tie and tied it tight above the gash on my leg. I let out a little scream of pain. He covered my mouth with his hand and whispered something about how they will hear you. He ripped off his shirt. Using his sleeve like a makeshift tourniquet and tied it tight above my gash on my arm. I groaned in pain.

Picking me up into his arms. I rested my head under his chin as he carried me to the nearest table that had cloth on it. Sliding me under the table,and climbing under shortly after. He pulled me into his lap. Holding me while everything turned to black.