Chapter 363 - 363: Another Trick of Supremo

"And for my second announcement, I would like you to meet my lovely fiancee, Aliyah Ross." James proudly announced to everyone as his gaze was locked on Elle's stunning figure.

His shocking announcement garnered different reactions from the people who were inside that banquet hall.

They peered at Elle and James with their slacked-jaw and unblinking expression. The brief silence was followed by the sound of murmuring and whispering around the hall.

"James Arison came back with his fiancee."

"Did the two of them meet in the States?"

"We didn't hear any news that Chairman Arison had a girlfriend."

"Who's this lovely maiden? From which family she belongs to? Her surname is Ross." 

"But I can't think of any wealthy and influential family with the surname Ross. Is her family living abroad? Is she a royalty there?"

But aside from the curious spectators, there were two people who were really shocked to see Elle tonight.

The first one was Selena Arison. She looked at her brother and to the woman whom he called Aliyah Ross, his fiancee.

She had mixed emotions as of now. She was surprised and at the same time she was upset. How come her brother didn't inform her about this? She knew that her mother was also clueless. She could tell by just looking at their mother's expression alone.

What made her more upset was that the woman beside her brother and the woman who killed their father had the same face. She couldn't accept that her brother fell in love with someone having the same look as Elle!

But Selena was not the only one who suffered from this shocking announcement. Erick who was silent in his spot was just looking at Elle with a blank expression.

Though his face was void of any emotions, deep inside, his heart wanted to go berserk. There was a storm of thoughts haunting his mind right now.

He didn't know what he should feel anymore. The pain was now unbearable to the extent that his heart became numb, incapable of feeling any emotions.

'Fate… how cruel you can be for doing this to me? What I have done wrong in my past life that you are making me suffer this much? What I felt when I saw that ring and she denied that she was Elle... was the same feeling I have as of this moment.'

Erick wanted to walk away but he couldn't move his feet. He stayed rooted on his spot while his eyes were still staring at Elle's direction.

Erick's mind was in shambles that he failed to notice the confusion in Elle's eyes upon seeing the people around her. Her heart suddenly felt that something was wrong.

This was not the scene she was expecting to see the moment she entered that door. Her confused eyes roamed around her surroundings. She felt a surge of panic when she saw familiar faces from the distance.

Badum! Badum!

Her heart started to race the moment her eyes found the man whom she badly wished was not there in the venue. When her eyes met his expressionless eyes, Elle suddenly felt weak on her knees.

'No! No! What's happening here? Why am I here? I am not supposed to be here!' Elle was screaming in agony inside her mind. 

She almost collapsed fortunately James was there, catching her and supporting her to steady her footings. Her face became pale but when he gazed up to look at James, her eyes were burning with rage.

"WHAT. IS. THE. MEANING. OF. THIS?" Elle asked him through her gritted teeth. Her voice was low but firm as she emphasized her every word.

She was mad! James had tricked her. This was not the plan. He told her that they were meeting his people, his men and his alliance. These people around them were not the Skull Gang members nor the members of his alliance. This was not the f*cking Alliance Meeting!

Seeing the rage of Elle, James started to regret what he did. But he couldn't undo this. He already started this. No backing down now.

"Let's talk after this. As of now, just play along with me. Besides, we already agreed that you will pretend to be my fiancee so that Skull Gang's members would acknowledge you as the Queen. I promised you that you can use all the powers of Skull Gang for your revenge." James whispered to her, trying to calm her down.

"These people are also my people. There's nothing wrong for announcing to them that you are my woman." James added.

"No! I. AM. NOT. YOUR. WOMAN!" 

James was hurt by those direct words coming from her but he tried to endure and conceal it.

"I know. But you are pretending to be my woman. Please… calm down. Don't make a scene here, Elle." James softly said, desperately begging her.

Elle peered at her surroundings. The guests were still watching them. When Elle glanced back at Erick's direction, he was not looking at her anymore. He was now conversing with Diana.

Elle clenched her fists. Her heart tightened as she felt like Erick didn't care. 'Does he only consider me as a complete stranger now who just looks like his deceased wife?'

On the other hand, Selena and her mother were now walking towards them. Elle had no choice but to comply with James's request in the meantime.

"We should talk after this." Elle said after she finally calmed down.

James gave her a grateful look before nodding at her.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Those are my two important announcements tonight. I have to end my message now because I think I have some explaining things to do with my Mom and my Sister." James said jokingly as he watched his mother and sister approaching them.

The guests laughed again, oblivious of the on-going tension between James and Elle.

After that he signaled Josh to give the microphone back to the emcee. With that, the host introduced the famous artists who would perform tonight to divert the attention of the guests away from James and his 'fiancee'.

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Meanwhile, On Black Shadow's end, his assumption was right. This alliance meeting was a boring occasion for him.

Everyone was expecting to see Skull Gang's Supreme Leader who was also known as Supremo. But it turned out, Supremo just let his representative attend this meeting.

Of course, they couldn't voice out their complaints and unhappiness since the person in front of them was Black Shadow. They couldn't afford to offend him or else they might end up being dead.

Though he was part of Skull Gang now, he was still considered a notorious assassin. They also feared him as they feared Catseye.

As usual, their topic was all about how to win against the Dark Knight Organization. As per advice by Supremo, Black Shadow suggested to the alliance that they should make a move and target the bio-weapon facility of the Dark Knight Organization.

Black Shadow also mentioned that Supremo was willing to reward the person or group who would be able to get or steal antidotes from the bio-weapon facilities.

But in order to do that, they should find first the location of those hidden facilities. Supremo assured them that he would reward them greatly once they accomplished the mission.