Novels by Elle

Ella’s vision blurred.Everything went silent around her. She couldn’t hear the voices of the crowd. The only sounds she could make out were the relentless clicking of cameras, the reporters shoving microphones in her face, and Ethan’s voice as he tried to push them away.Marcus.He hadn’t changed one bit. He stood there looking as if he owned this place, like he’d been invited.She wanted to escape from here, far away from Marcus. He hadn’t seen her yet, and she was not going to allow that to happen.Not today.“Ella.”Ethan’s voice pulled her back.She turned towards him, forcing a smile to her face even though her heart was pounding against her chest.“Can we leave?” She said quietly.He looked at her for a moment.He noticed the slight shake in her voice and the eagerness to leave this place. But he didn’t ask any questions.He knew this world was unfamiliar to her. The cameras, the reporters, the attention, it was probably overwhelming.“Let’s go,” he said.Ella glanced toward th

The dress was borrowed. That was the first thing Ella noticed in the mirror at city hall… pale white fabric hanging off her shoulders, belonging to some stranger from a rental shop two blocks away. It felt about right. Nothing about today belonged to her either.“He has all the money in the world, yet he couldn’t even buy me a decent dress?” Ella muttered under her breath.Her father sat in a wheelchair by the window, three days out of surgery, and he was thinner than she’d ever seen him. His color was back in his cheeks for the first time in weeks.She had asked the doctor for permission to bring her father to the wedding. She owed him that much… to let him be part of her big day. Even if it didn’t feel like her big day, at least to him it did. The doctor had granted it on the condition that a nurse must be with him throughout, just in case.“You look beautiful,” he said, his voice had that fragile, careful sound. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”“I might cry,” Ella admitted,

“Marry me,” he said.Ella let out a small laugh. For a second, the words didn't land well. She was trying to process what he had just said. Is he joking?“Are you out of your mind?” The words came out too fast before she could stop herself.Ethan scoffed. His voice was sharp as he retorted, “Do you want your father to die?”“What did you just say?” Ella asked, anger already rising in her throat.Ethan didn’t bother looking at her. “You heard me,” he said flatly.“How dare you?” Her voice shook with fury. “How dare you use my father’s condition to manipulate me. You don’t get to talk about him like that, and you don’t get to talk to me like this.Ethan didn’t blink. “Talk to you like how?…” his voice was bold.“Talk to me like I’m a commodity that you get to buy with money whenever you want,” her voice was strong as she tried to grasp the strange situation unfolding before her.Ethan's gaze cut into Ella like a blade, his eyes locking onto hers. “Do you want to save your father or not?

Ella’s phone buzzed against the desk before she’d even taken off her coat.Ella, where are you? Daniel’s asking for the file. Her thumb hovered over the screen. Twenty minutes ago, she’d been holding her father’s hand, cold in that hospital bed, listening to the sound of his heartbeat like it might stop between one beep and the next. Now she was supposed to sit here, in this chair, and act as if none of that happened. She texted back with trembling fingers. On it. Sorry, family matters. Family matters… as if these two words were enough to explain everything.She placed the phone down, pressed her hands flat on the desk until they stopped shaking. Around her, the office sounded the same as usual. Printers running, someone typing too fast, a phone ringing over and over again before someone picked it up. None of it slowed down for her. None of it knew.She sat at her desk and started making a contact list of the people she would call.Mom’s sister. Aunt Carol.She hadn’t spoken to her

$284,613.00THE ESTIMATED SURGERY COSTThe bill didn't change.Ella stared at it. Again.And again.$284,613.00.Her fingers shook. She kept running her fingers over the paper, as if that would make the numbers smaller. It didn't. “Th..there has to be a mistake”, she whispered. Her voice came out so faint. She had just received a call that her father was in the hospital… he had collapsed at home, the neighbour said, panic settled in his voice.Across the desk, the cardiologist slowly reached for his glasses and took them off his eyes. It felt like forever. He didn't say anything. He just looked at her. Ella knew that look. The one right before, sorry.“I’m sorry, Miss Wright,” he said quietly. “I wish there was.”The room went quiet.It wasn't a peaceful quiet. It was the kind of quiet you prayed would break. Her mind searched for something to say, but all she could think about was the numbers on the bill.How was she supposed to get the money?Who could she even call? Her father