His Runaway Bride

Cayden Ellish ignored the woman’s question beside him as he fixed his gaze on the priest that would solemnize his matrimony with this unnamed actress as his pretend bride. 

Five days ago, he did not imagine himself to be getting the services of a start-up actress to pose as his fake bride.  

And why would he need to pay someone to marry him when he had a fiance whom he loves and intends to marry? 

But then, his fiance ran away. 

He could still remember the horror he felt when he found out that she was gone. 

“What do you mean she is gone?”  

Cayden Ellish’s left hand formed into a hard fist as he listened to his men whom he tasked to check the hotel room where his fiancee, Tori Hutton had been temporarily billeted. 

“We checked her hotel room, Mr. Ellish.  It was empty when we arrived sir. When we checked with the hotel administration, they confirmed what we found out.  Ms. Hutton left last night.”  

Cayden dropped the call and checked his messages for Tori’s.  He found it and saw the time.  

9:45 am.  

At that time, he was busy in a meeting.  He did not check his phone immediately, thinking it could wait. 

He banged his fist on his desk and rubbed his face in frustration. 

“It’s useless.  Even if you checked your messages earlier, Tori has already been miles away.  There is nothing you can do to stop her.”  

Cayden frowned, looking at his best friend James holding his phone and reading his messages. 

He snatched the phone from his friend’s hand and called someone. When his call was answered he did not mince words and started firing his instructions. 

“I need you to do something for me.  It should be under wraps.  I do not want it to spill in the news, understand?”  He ordered before hanging up.

“Why do you have to look for her? It was clear in her message that she does not want to get married.  She ran away.”  James pointed out.

“Tori was not like that. In all the years I have known her I never saw her cower from any challenge.  If she really wanted out, she would have told me straight in the face. She would not run out of me like a thief in the night.” Cayden argued before he left his seat and went to stand behind the glass door on the other side of his room.

He opened the door and went to the view deck, and his vision was immediately filled with blue skies tinged with gray.  The weather seemed to match his mood, bleak and dark. 

When he seemed to collect himself, he went back to his office, got his phone and keys, and went out with James following behind him. 

Outside his office, his security men stood on alert. One went ahead to get to the elevator while the other five walked behind him and James. 

Several people bowed their heads in greeting when they passed by, but he paid them no heed.  His mind was elsewhere. 

The elevator doors opened and he and James stepped inside, followed by his men. The box was silent.  It seemed like even the elevator knew that their boss was in a dire mood.

The tense atmosphere continued until they reached the lobby.  He walked stiffly outside where a metallic green Lamborghini was waiting. 

He went to the driver’s seat and pressed the accelerator speeding out of his company’s building with the word Ellish embossed on its facade in brass letters. 

James shook his head while his eyes followed his best friend’s speeding car as it grew farther away from him.  Then he went to his own car and went in the other direction.  

____

“What do you mean you do not know where she is?” Marcus Ellish bellowed at his son, who stood stoically near his desk. 

“You heard me, Tori is gone, and the wedding is off.” 

To everyone, Cayden Ellish may have looked composed, but the ticking on the side of his jaw, just below his peach fuzz says otherwise. 

He was trying so hard to control his emotions. 

It was hard to admit to his parents, especially his father, that his fiancee had run out on him a few days before their wedding. 

The pain of Tori’s rejection and the shame of canceling the wedding just when everything has been prepared is something he did not envision for himself. 

And why would he have qualms about Tori?

They were in love. Or so he thought.  A self-deprecating smile curled his lips. 

Tori Hutton has been the love of his life - his first love and just a few months back, he thought she would be his last. 

They were lab partners back in college. The first time they were assigned to a project together, they instantly hit it off.  He felt a sort of camaraderie with her which was quite unusual because he was standoffish.  He only got along with a few people which is why he had a limited circle of friends that included James. 

Then there’s Tori.  They became fast friends and before long, they started going out.  

At first, they go on group dates, and study dates until it becomes more intimate with just the two of them - dinner dates, movie dates, or sometimes, they go to parties together.  

After that semester, they became a couple.  

But she is gone now. 

She ditched him with nary an explanation.  

“I am sorry, Cayden.  I changed my mind.  I can not marry you.’

That is the only message he got from her.  She did not even have the courage to face him and tell him straight in the eye that she was jilting him.

Thinking about Tori, a pain seared his heart.  It was so sudden that he found it difficult to breathe.  

He looked at his father's stern face and forced himself to shove the pain aside. He did not need to acknowledge the onrush of feeling right now. 

Not in front of his father.  He can not show any sign of weakness in front of the OG Marcus Ellish. 

It was a definite no. 

Marcus Ellish raised him to become a fighter in the boardroom. And he was a fighter - always has been and always will be. 

“What about the wedding this Sunday?”  A woman’s voice butted in. 

Cayden took his gaze from his father and transferred it to the middle-aged woman previously sitting quietly on the single couch. She was holding a cup of coffee and sipping from it before she carefully put down the cup and saucer on the adjoining wooden table.  

Alicia Ellish, his mother, has always been the mediator between his father and him. 

“We can not cancel the wedding and become a laughing stock in the industry.”  Marcus Ellish declared, earning a frown from his son Cayden. 

“It will not look good to our business partners and investors. I will lose face.”  He added, his cheeks getting redder as he got angrier. 

“Marcus!” Alicia exclaimed.

She rose from her seat and walked over to her husband to pacify him. 

Cayden snorted. 

He wanted to confront his father on where he figured in all these. If his feelings as his son mattered in the slightest.   It appeared that his father only cared about the business.  

“Are you done taking this out on me?”  He spat out. 

Cayden felt a little satisfaction seeing his father’s stupefied expression when he faced him.  His jaw is dropping. 

Without waiting for any reply, he marched out of the room.  His footsteps were heavy on the wooden floor. He was determined to get out of his parents’ mansion fast. 

He had to look for Tori.  

She could not just walk out on him like this.   

He needed her explanation.  He needed to know why she was suddenly rejecting him. 

He thought she loved him.  

The Tori he knew was not like that. 

“Cayden.”  

He stopped in his tracks without looking back.  He heard the soft staccato sounds of heels meeting the floor and waited. 

“Cayden Ellish.  I am talking to you, please turn around to face me.” She commanded in a voice that brooks no argument but still sounded soft and melodious to his ears. 

Cayden’s shoulders tensed before he reluctantly turned his body around.

When they were face-to-face, Alicia Ellish sauntered to where he was standing, the sounds of her heels clicking.  

She took Cayden’s right hand and enveloped them on her own. 

A pain crossed over his face at the tender touch.  He was reminded of that time long ago when she comforted him when he learned that she was not his real mother - that his real mother died while giving birth to him. 

Something pricked his eyes.

Alicia let go of his hand to cup his cheeks as she would always do when he was a child and he comes to her for comfort. 

“I am fine, mother.”  He said evasively, looking away. 

Alicia sighed, patting his cheek before taking her hand off him. 

“I hope you won’t take this out on your father.”  

At the mention of his father, something inside him rebelled. 

His head whipped around to face his mother, anger lacing his voice. 

“It is best that you say that to him.  I think father needs to hear that more than me.”  He muttered under his breath.

“Please.”  Alicia Ellish looked her son in the eye, begging for understanding.  

Cayden sighed. He knew that when it comes to his mother, his defenses usually crumbled in seconds.

His mother has always been a kind soul and he does not have the heart to hurt her.

“What shall I do?”  He asked in a resigned voice. 

“Will you trust me?” 

Cayden paused for a while and then after a deep breath slightly nodded his head in assent.  

Alicia smiled. It was not a full-blown smile. Just a lift in the corner of her eyes and slightly crinkled eyes. 

“Don't worry. We will resolve this matter and your father will let you off the hook.” She promised. 

She patted his hand one last time before turning back to where she came from.

____

“What are these?”  Cayden was surprised to see his mother in his office very early that morning.

She shoved in his face a stack of papers and when he perused them, he saw pictures of women - lots of them. 

“Mom, what are these?”  he asked while in his mind, an idea had already taken hold. 

“Good morning, son.  As you must know, we will get from that list your future Mrs. Ellish.”  Alicia announced, unperturbed at her son’s stupefied expression. 

“But mom!  I love Tori.  I do not want to get married to some girl just because I have to save our family’s face!”  

The outrage in Cayden’s voice reverberated in the four walls of his room. Then he threw the stack of papers as if scalded by them.

“What are you even thinking?” 

“Son, listen to me.  Your father said that he would disown you if you cancel your wedding.  I could not let him do that.  This company is your heritage, your rightful place as your father’s firstborn son.  Besides, this would not be permanent.  You can divorce within a year.”  

“Why do you care so much?  If I am out of the way, your sons will benefit if that happens.”  He shot back angrily, miffed at the idea that they wanted him to forget all about Tori in a snap.  

A slap landed on his right cheek. 

“You are my son.  I may not have carried you in my womb, but I cared for you as a mother would.” Alicia snapped back.  

The hurt in her eyes was Cayden’s undoing. 

“I am sorry, mom.” 

Alicia sighed.  “It’s alright.  I know what you are going through.  Just leaf through the pages I gave you.  Those ladies are willing to become your wife for a fee.”  She added.

“What about the press?” Cayden interjected while his eyes and hands were busy scanning the pages he was holding. 

“They were all paid to be silent.”  His mother intoned before leaving him alone in his office. 

When his mom left, Cayden let the documents sit on his table and called his best friend James, rushing him to come to his office immediately. 

While he was the CEO of Ellish Film Productions, James is the COO.

Ater ten minutes, Cayden heard a knock on his office door before it was flung wide open and his friend came to his full view. 

“What’s the rush?” James asked while he sauntered to his desk. 

Cayden sat up straight and reached for the stack of papers on the corner of his desk to hand it to James.   After a moment, a frown appeared on James’s face as he flipped through the pages that contained vital information about the most beautiful women on the planet.

“What are these?” James could not help but ask when he came to the last page. 

“That my friend is where we are going to look for my substitute bride,”  Cayden said matter-of-factly.