Under The Cover

Under The Cover

Chapter 1

The Marriage of a Beggar

Tony Bruce stood in the grand foyer of the Scott mansion, dwarfed by its towering pillars and intricate chandeliers. His ragged reflection stared back at him from the polished marble floor. Despite the fine suit he wore, Tony still felt like the homeless man who had wandered the streets only months ago.

He shifted uncomfortably as the maids passed by, their hushed whispers filling the air. He wasn't deaf to their comments.

"That's him?" one maid murmured, casting a sideways glance at him. "Eleana's husband? The beggar?"

"Unbelievable," another replied. "What was she thinking?"

Tony clenched his fists but remained silent. He had heard worse. Ever since his marriage to Eleana Scott, the most beautiful woman in the city, people couldn't stop questioning how a man like him-poor, penniless, and powerless-had won her hand. He hadn't won anything, though. Not really.

A deep, familiar voice echoed from the grand staircase. "Tony."

He turned to face Henry Scott, Eleana's father. The man's eyes were cold and calculating, his mouth twisted in a smirk that barely hid his contempt.

"Yes, sir," Tony replied, his voice low but steady.

"Sir?" Henry chuckled, descending the staircase with deliberate slowness. "You may be married to my daughter, but don't forget your place. You'll never be more than a beggar in my eyes. I don't know what spell you cast on Eleana, but I'm not fooled."

Tony's throat tightened, but he forced himself to meet Henry's gaze. He wanted to say something, anything, to defend himself. But what could he say? The truth was, even Tony didn't understand how Eleana had agreed to marry him. The whole situation felt like a cruel joke, one he was living day by day.

"Leave him alone, Father," a soft voice interrupted.

Eleana appeared, her elegance and beauty as breathtaking as ever. She wore a flowing silk gown, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders. Her expression, however, was distant, as if she were speaking out of obligation rather than love.

"Eleana," Henry said, his tone softening for his daughter. "I'm just reminding your husband of his responsibilities. He seems to forget them quite often."

Tony felt Eleana's eyes on him, but there was no warmth in her gaze. No love.

"Come, Tony," she said, her voice emotionless. "We have guests to attend to."

He followed her in silence, the weight of her coldness pressing down on him. They entered the grand ballroom, filled with the city's elite. Laughter and conversation flowed around them, but Tony felt like an outsider in his own marriage.

As they moved through the room, Eleana walked ahead of him, her distance growing more than just physical. Tony tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled away subtly, her eyes never meeting his.

"Eleana, can we talk?" Tony whispered, his voice thick with the need for answers. "I don't understand why things have changed between us. You... you barely look at me anymore."

She paused for a moment, her lips pursed. "This isn't the place for that, Tony."

"Then when?" he asked, his frustration boiling over. "When can we talk? I feel like I'm losing you, and I don't even know why."

Eleana sighed, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "You don't belong here, Tony. You never did. I... I don't know what I was thinking. We come from different worlds, and I've realized that."

Tony recoiled as if she had struck him. "Different worlds? You didn't care about that before. You said it didn't matter."

"I was wrong," she said coldly. "I'm sorry, Tony, but I can't do this anymore. I thought I could love you despite everything, but... I can't. This was a mistake."

Tony's heart sank. The words hit him like a sledgehammer. For a moment, he stood there, frozen, unable to process what she was saying. This wasn't the Eleana he had fallen in love with. The Eleana who had once looked at him with admiration, who had told him that their love was all that mattered. But now, she couldn't even look him in the eye.

"I see," he finally said, his voice barely a whisper.

Eleana said nothing more, her silence louder than any words could be.

The evening passed in a blur. Tony floated through the crowd, his mind numb to the conversations and laughter around him. He felt like a ghost, invisible, as people mingled and exchanged pleasantries. No one spoke to him, no one acknowledged him. He was a mere accessory to Eleana, an afterthought in her grand, gilded life.

Later that night, after the guests had left and the mansion had fallen quiet, Tony stood by the window of their lavish bedroom, staring out into the night. Eleana was already asleep, or at least pretending to be. The distance between them felt insurmountable, like a chasm that had been growing wider with every passing day.

"How did it come to this?" Tony whispered to himself. His thoughts drifted back to the life he had known before Eleana, before the Scotts, before the mockery and the shame. Back when he had been just Tony Bruce, a man with nothing but his pride and the memory of a family that had been ripped from him.

His parents had been murdered when he was young-killed in a plot orchestrated by his heartless uncle, who had wanted to take control of the Bruce family fortune. That's when Tony had fled, forsaking the wealth and power that could have been his. He had wanted nothing to do with the empire his family had built, not after seeing what it had cost his parents.

Now, he was here, in a life he hadn't asked for, married to a woman who no longer loved him, surrounded by people who saw him as nothing more than a worthless beggar.

Maybe that's all I'll ever be, he thought bitterly.

He glanced over at Eleana, her back turned to him. For a brief moment, he considered waking her, asking her to give him one more chance, begging her to remember the love they had shared. But he knew it would be futile. That love, if it had ever truly existed, was gone.

Tony sighed, feeling the weight of his decision settling over him like a heavy cloak. He couldn't stay here any longer, living in a world where he didn't belong, with a woman who no longer wanted him. Tomorrow, he will leave. He didn't know where he would go, but he knew he couldn't stay.

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End of Chapter 1