His Promise: The Mafia’s Babies by C. Tamika
Chapter 277

Chapter 277

Chapter 277

Elena

“Why are you all staring at me?” I asked nervously. Rona held a few strands of my hair between herhands while Tiffany stepped forward. “She has dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and she would fit inthe dress.”

All the girls, including Anya, took relieved breaths and laughed at the situation while I was still confusedabout my involvement. What did I even do to deserve this?

“You don’t mind, right, Elena?” Anya asked with hopeful eyes. Even if I wanted to say no, I had allthese girls staring at me, and Rona squeezing her nails into my back-ready to kill me any second.“These people are paying us a lot, so just nod and smile,” She whispered.

Unfortunately, she was right, they were generous people, and now it was time to do something inreturn. “I mean, sure—why not!” I tried to sound as cheerful as possible.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Anya jumped up and down. “Tiffany, go and get her in the dress!”

Tiffany dragged me out of the room while Rona followed her. She led us to a changing room andwasted no time as she grabbed a dress that was almost identical to hers. “This should fit you!” Sheheld the dress next to my body.

Rona unzipped the back of my dress while I accepted my fate and just went along with it. “Why doesshe needs someone with dark hair and dark eyes?” I wondered as I stepped out of my dress.

“All the pairs have the same hair color, and some of these girls even dyed their hair for the wedding,Tiffany explained. It appeared a lot of time and energy went into this ceremony.

“So the person I’ll be paired with has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes?” I chuckled. “That’s crazy.”Tiffany and Rona forced me into the dress. “It might be Tiffany spoke out of breath. “Anyway, don’tworry, it’ll only be for a while, and after that, we’ll take some pictures-and your partner is nice.”“Really?”

“Yes, it’s Tiago’s brother. He looks scary, and he doesn’t really talk much, but he is handsome andpolite.” “Seems like the two of you are destined to be together!” Rona commented. I knew what shemeant as the combination of Tiago’s brother and me was something I had heard a few times too many,but it was all pure coincidence. Tiffany had a surprised look on her face. “Did the two of you meetalready?”

“No, but I did.” Rona smiled. She did meet him once, and the only thing she had to say about him wasthat he was handsome beyond words and could give Tiago a run for his money. “So he works for thegovernment?” Rona asked.

Tiffany stopped for a second and scoffed. “For or against?”

“Hm? Rona frowned. “I asked him if he was a special agent, and he said, yes, something like that.” Shemimicked his tone while Tiffany shook her head.

“He does not work for the government. Let’s just say he has a connection with bars.”

“Is he a rapper?” Rona blinked. If I had to pick the runner-up for the nosiest person, it had to be Rona.“The only thing that guy is wrapping are dead bodies, Tiffany mumbled. Rona didn’t hear her, but I did-

and I could not quite understand her words.

“I’m sorry?”

“Nothing, he’s a good guy. Look, we’re done!”

I looked into the mirror and smiled at the beautiful dress. The gift from Victoria was already more thanenough, and now I had the opportunity to wear another expensive dress. I touched the material with myhands. Would it be real gold?

“I should head back,” Rona spoke as she looked down at her watch. Not having Rona around me wassomething I wasn’t prepared for. “Wait, what?”

“I’ll take you. Elena, stay here!” Tiffany spoke. Rona gave me a thumbs up and turned around to leave.“Wait-Rona!” I shouted. The idea of having to leave this room with this dress around my body felt niceand embarrassing at the same time.

“Just enjoy this moment, and good luck!” Rona cheered me on. She walked out with Tiffany while Istood behind, flustered.

Minutes had passed, I was slowly getting anxious, and Tiffany had yet to return, so I took matters intomy own hands and exited the room. It was a bit more crowded than before, which was probably due tothe fact that the ceremony was slowly getting closer.

It wasn’t long before I got lost and regretted my decision to wander off on my own. Asking others forhelp was the thing I hated the most, but it seemed like I didn’t have that much of a choice as I did notrecognize my surroundings and found myself in a closed and empty hall.

My eyes moved to one of the rooms as a man appeared to be holding a speech. The door was ajar,allowing me to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“And I will not let anyone ruin my son’s day!” The man spoke. Even though I could not see his face, Icould hear the passion in his voice and noticed how a few of the men nodding their heads. Thatmust’ve been Santiago’s dad, who was probably bragging about his son.

“Our priority is Santiago, and it will always be Santiago-”

I flinched and clutched my heart as I felt a hand on the back of my shoulder. “What are you doinghere?” A deep male voice spoke. I turned around and looked at the man who stared at me with a darkand unfriendly look in his eyes. If it weren’t for the evil look on his face, he would’ve fooled me with hislight brown hair and hazel eyes.

“I got lost, and there’s no need for you to look at me like that,” I told him as I held my head high. I knewthese kinds of men who thought they could intimidate women, but I was not the one. The man seemedsurprised by my ability to hold my own and released a chuckle.

“Excuse me.” He smirked as he leaned forward to close the door with his hand. “So, who are you? Oneof Anya’s bridesmaids?”

“Why?”

“Because you weren’t at the rehearsal yesterday.”

The look in his eyes told me that he was not leaving without an answer. “Things have changed. I’m thenew bridesmaid.”

“And your name?”

He leaned in closer, and I could almost feel his breath on my face. “Elena.”

“Elena, who?”

“Elena, none of your business,” I spoke. I had never asked for any of this, and all I needed weredirections. The man cackled and pulled back his face. “These little college students are crazynowadays.” He muttered.

Just as I was about to attack him for his false statement, I heard two familiar voices behind me. “Elena,there you are!”

I turned around and looked at Tiago’s mom, Linda, while Tiffany walked beside her.

“Tiffany told me about what happened, and she thought you ran off.” Linda smiled while Tiffany clearedher throat. “I thought Anya was going to kill me today.”

The mysterious man cleared his throat.

“Ma’am”.

The man who had been making my life miserable for the past minutes placed his hand behind his backand looked at Linda, who was not pleased to see him. “Victor,” Linda spoke, disgusted. “Isn’t it funnyhow my husband is ‘dad’ and I’m, ma’am.”

I couldn’t ignore the tension between the two as the only thing missing was some popcorn. Betweenthe unstable sister and unwanted brother, you could probably make a reality show out of this.

Victor? Don’t be crazy. I wouldn’t hand my worst enemy to your nutcase of a brother.”

Those were the first words to leave Linda’s mouth after Tiago said he wanted to set me up with hisbrother, and I could finally understand her point. I’m sorry..mom. Victor barely whispered. All hisconfidence had vanished into thin air.

Linda turned to me. “Elena, was he bothering you?”

“No, not at all.” I shook my head. I was here to do my job, and I had no desire to get any more involvedwith their family business as if walking down the aisle wasn’t already bad enough. “Okay.” Linda smiled.“In that case, Tiffany should bring you back to Anya.”

Tiffany grabbed my hand and pulled me through the hallway. “I’m sorry, I got lost,” I explained. Tiffanyshrugged her shoulders. “I’m just glad you didn’t leave because I’m afraid Anya would’ve canceled the

wedding.”

Following Tiffany made me realize how stupid I was for getting lost, and perhaps if I used my eyes foronce, it wouldn’t have happened. We found our way back to Anya’s room, and she seemed way morerelaxed than before. “Elena, you look so pretty!” She gushed as she ran over to hold my hands.

“Thank you!”

I smiled gratefully while Anya did the same. “Mom, Helen-come meet Elena!” Anya called out. Twowomen walked up to me, and it was not hard to tell that one was her mother and the other one hersister.

“This is my sister. She is the one who told me about your cocktails!” Anya introduced us. Her sister,who seemed just as excited as her, grabbed my hands. “Nice to meet you, thank you for everything

your drinks”

“Thank you!” I repeated. It was for the best to just keep my mouth shut and get this over with. Tiffanyplaced her hand behind my back and pushed me forward. “Come on, guys, let’s take pictures!”

I did not know for how long I had forced myself to smile for the pictures, but I could finally breathe whenwe had made our way to a different room which was near the ceremony hall. All the guests werealready seated, and we were waiting for the groomsmen so we could get into our pairs.

“Are you nervous?” Tiffany asked. It was a stupid question because it was quite obvious. Yes, I likedthe attention—but not like this. I felt sick to my stomach, and it almost felt as if I was the one gettingmarried.

“Oh, look, there they are!”

I followed Tiffany’s gaze and watched as the group of men walked through the door. Unlike our goldendresses, they wore dark suits. I couldn’t help but smile at every person who walked in and thoughtabout how much each one of them resembled Tiago in their own way, whether it was the way theypresented themselves or the nervous smile across their faces.

“So which one is Tiago’s brother?” I wondered when the last person walked in. Tiffany’s eyes got big,and she looked worried. “Wait, he’s not here yet-why is he not here yet?”

Tiffany prepared herself for another meltdown, but before that could happen, the door had opened onceagain, and she could quickly recover herself. “Oh, there he is!” Tiffany spoke as she pointed out themale who had just walked in.

1 tried to replace the words to say, but I couldn’t speak as my worst nightmare became a reality. My handswere shaking, and my legs started trembling as the familiar male stared straight into my eyes with astoned expression on his face.

I felt sick, disgusted, frightened, and if my legs would’ve allowed me to, I would’ve crawled out theroom- because there was no explanation as to why that thing was in front of me. How could this be?

Tiffany held up her hand to greet him and grabbed mine in the process. “That’s Tiago’s brother, and hisname is-

“Marvin…”