She should've seen it coming. The whole thing felt like a setup from the very start, but young Danielle was too blinded by the idea of running away from her family's expectations, too caught up in the notion of making her own choices. Now, here she was, running from the life that she was supposed to have, and there was no turning back.
The ceremony was supposed to be beautiful. At least, that's what everyone had told her. " A perfect union between two powerful families," Her father had said. It was all orchestrated perfectly. Lucien Stone, the heir to a billion-dollar empire, and her, the heiress of the Diamond empire, spoiled, and over-pampered daughter of Charles Diamond, the ruthless multi-billionaire businessman who single-handedly ran half of the United States of America. A match made in some twisted corner of her father's mind.
Her troubling mind was interrupted by the sound of the priest clearing his throat. " Do you, Danielle Luna De' Silva Pearl Diamond, take Lucien Damini Stone to be your lawfully wedded husband?" he asked for the second time.
Danielle stared down at the crippled man right in front of her. His face was slightly covered, and staring daggers into hers. " Answer the priest. " He had said to her softly but it sounded in her ears like a command.
When the words "I do" were supposed to escape her lips, she couldn't do it. She couldn't marry someone that she barely knew, not when she knew her heart wasn't in it. The vows would be empty. The ring would be another chain on her wrist. She knew this wasn't the life she wanted, but she was trapped, suffocating under the weight of her family's power and expectations.
" I do not, " Danielle announced, facing the entire congregation and they gasped in shock.
She had a plan. An unthinkable plan. She would run. She would take control of her life right in front of everyone. They wanted a bride present, she would give them a bride but there would not be any vows exchanged tonight.
The moment she saw the door to the church, her heart raced. The cool air hit her face, and there she made her decision. There was no turning back. Danielle pushed past the wedding coordinator, the staff, and everyone who was there to make sure she stayed in line, and she ran.
Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she sprinted, not caring if anyone saw her, not caring if the world thought she was insane. She didn't care about the inheritance, the legacy, the family name. She just wanted freedom.
The grand hall doors of the chapel shook with a loud bang as her white satin wedding gown swept across the floor, she hurried out of the hall with an immense amount of tears filling her eyes.
Panting profusely and trying to gasp her breath, She looked like her world was already ending. This was the first time she had ever dishonored one of her father's many wishes. After all, all her life she has always been taught to take up her duties as a daughter and carry the weight of being the future heiress of such a prestigious family.
But today was different, today, the little obedient young woman chose to defile her father's orders and instead take a step into becoming her own woman.
As she stormed out in great fury, walking hastily down the hall with a bouquet in his hands, her steps were followed by another man who wasn't looking very pleased.
A middle-aged man with long grey hair screams her name but she ignores his calls and doesn't seem to be bothered by what he has to say. " Danielle! I am speaking to you. Come back here. " He continued, trying to catch up with the runaway bride.
" You must go back to the holy chapel at this instant and agree to this arrangement and take back every single word you said in front of your soon-to-be husband. You will not bring shame to this household!" The man instructed strictly but Danielle didn't seem to flinch.
" He is not my husband, Father! And I will not take back my words. Can't you see he is crippled, Father? I want to have a full family, a happy one with the man I love. How do you expect me to bear you heirs with a man who can barely walk? " She questioned.
" That is not the point, Danielle. You can always adopt children. We owe it to Lucien, we caused the accident that made him cripple." Her father answered.
" And I am to be blamed, Father?" She queried and her father fell silent. " Call off the wedding, the wedding is over. I can not marry a man I do not know nor do I love, father. All for what?! All for some stupid senseless betrothal that I didn't even consent to. You have stolen a lot from me already, Father. I beg you, don't steal the freedom to love whom I choose to." She begged tirelessly but yet fearlessly.
Her cries were never new to her father's ears so it never bugged him. " Now I see what this is about, it is because of that useless godforsaken boy, Jake Devon, that boy with no future in his name. I knew that I was making a mistake letting you attend that college, you should have been homeschooled. " Her father continued.
" And now, you want to give up everything to chase after a man who doesn't know who you are. Who doesn't know your worth? You want to give up your status for a pauper, I thought I raised you better." He spat, holding her chest with his rage all over the place.
"No! You never raised me, father. You made me your doll. I live my life just to please you, just for your approval, Father. I do not love the man you want me to marry, I will not marry a cripple man, I do not care if he's a billionaire heir and I have no care for your debt to his family." She simply stated to her father.
Her father walked closer to her and just as he was about to raise his hands and smack her on the face, he had a heart attack, holding his chest tightly, causing him to collapse on the bare floor. This was her chance to run away from the church and meet with Jake at the airport, just like she had planned.
Jake was the only person she could think of. He was the only one who'd ever made me feel like she mattered and she was ready to disappear with him even though he didn't know who she was.
He was the one person who wasn't part of her father's network and the one person who made her feel alive.
Danielle had met Jake when she was in college. He wasn't rich, not by her standards as heiress but he worked a dead-end job at a coffee shop and spent his nights painting and creating marvellous masterpieces. At least, that was the one thing they had in common and what drew her to him.
Jake was messy, unconventional, and wild but he made her laugh and feel normal. He made her feel like she was more than just a diamond on a pedestal. He saw her and she saw him, too.
Danielle didn't care if her father was in pain at the moment because he had only caused her pain all of her life, but she began to have second thoughts. He was still her father after all but just as she tried to revive him, a group of guards were running towards her with the crippled billionaire by their side.
She couldn't take the risk of being caught by them and dragged to the altar so she did something that she never thought she could.
Danielle picked up her wedding gown and ran into the thick night with nothing but her love for Jake Devon and leaving her father at the point of his death.
The guards chased her through the night but her steps were quick and overly planned. Danielle raced through the night in her wedding dress, heart beating in a thousand rhythms.
Catching the flight before Jake leaves for his home was the only way to escape the clutches of her father. She was ready to strip herself of all the names and start a life with Jake.
She eventually arrives at the local airport and searches for the plane Jake had once told her he was boarding. With tears in her eyes, an already dirty wedding gown, and bare feet on the floor, Danielle wasn't ready to give up. She walked all over the airport like a mad woman with no care of what people might think of her.
Finally, she found him, the love of her life, Jake rolling his luggage towards his plane. " Jake!" She called and he turned.
He looked at her, his eyes filled with confusion. " Elle? What are you doing here?"
She didn't tell him what she was about to do. She hugged him, breathless and shaken. " I can not go back, Jake. I don't have anything or anyone else back there. You're my only family. Let me come with you. " She said, pleading with her arms wrapped around his.
" Don't worry, I have my flight ticket already. All I want to know is if you would have me?" She asked and just then, the flight announcer announced.
" Florida, boarding in Fifteen minutes."
Jake didn't say no. He didn't try to stop her. He just pulled her into his arms and held her like he always had, like she was the only thing that mattered in the world.
She couldn't explain it, but at that moment, she felt safe. She felt like maybe, just maybe, she was making the right choice.
Danielle wipes off the tears in her eyes and says the one thing she has always wanted to say since she fell in love with Jake Devon. " Let's get married. "