A Fate Foretold

Chapter 15

Several months have passed since Elizabeth was living inside the castle-like house, she spent her days reading books, eating, sleeping, swimming and sipping tea in the huge greenhouse garden full of fragrant flowers which was specifically made for her by Arif

Sometimes Arif would stay with her for a whole day, most of the times he would went out for work and made sure to return by dinner time

Carefree and quiet days like that passed by for Elizabeth, until one day she woke up in the middle of the night

"What time is it?" she mumbled as she looked at the clock on the bedside table

"It's still 1:30, why is my husband not sleeping beside me?" she uttered in confusion as she got up from the bed

She went out of the bedroom and walked towards the living room, only to find big men in an all black suits sitting around the wide table and there were also standing on the side

Elizabeth shook in fear upon seeing such scary faces

There was a man with a huge scar on his right eye, a bald big man and more men with a lot of scary looking tattoos

Just then, a gentle voice suddenly called out to her making her trembling body soften

"Eli darling, why are you awake this early?" Arif uttered

Elizabeth turned her gaze to the man sitting at the center and was relieved to find her husband, she didn't even noticed him as fear overtook her first

"Come here" Arif stated as he signalled her to sit on his lap

With small steps, Elizabeth walked towards him and gently sat on his lap

"Don't worry, as long as you're this close to me then no one can ever lay their hands on you" Arif stated while gently stroking her hair

"Isn't that right?" he stated as he coldly gazed on the men in front of him

"Yes boss" all the men stated as they bowed their heads in unison

"Is there something you like that my men could get for you?" Arif asked as he softly gazed at her

"I can ask for anything?" she asked in return

Arif picked up a strand of her hair then placed it on his lips as he said "Anything you want, you can have it all"

"Then, can I see your friends' daughters?" she asked

"My friends?" Arif asked in confusion

Elizabeth pointed at the men in front of them as she said "Your friends"

Arif turned to look at his underlings as their soul almost left their body after being mentioned as 'friends' of Arif

Arif chuckled as he said "Ah yes, my friends"

The men in front of them shivered at the those words thinking whether they were about to face a life of misery after being mentioned as friends by their boss

"They seem to be a lot older than you so maybe they have daughters around my age" Elizabeth stated

"Why would you want to meet their daughters?" Arif asked

"I want to have a friend, just like in the books I've read" she replied

"I've always wondered what it felt like to have a friend you can always get along with, the book made it seem magical so I want to experience it at least once" she added

"Alright, I'll get it ready for you in 2 days" Arif stated

Just like that, all the daughters of the men present that day that are around Elizabeth's age was gathered together the next day in a huge hall