LOVE BENEATH RIVALRY

(Elisa's POV)

I stormed my way down the hall, headed for my father's office, eyes blazing with fury as I marvelled at the audacity of the Greyhounds to demand my hand in marriage despite our decade old rivalry.

I finally arrived at the entrance of my father's office with only a wooden door standing between me and the impending confrontation. I forcefully kicked the door open, strutting in without a single sense of decorum as my gaze landed on our incredibly unwelcomed guests.

"Elisa! Darling, you're here" my father voiced, signaling for me to compose myself as he walked towards me with open arms, ushering me into the room.

I shoved right past him, taking a seat at the very top of the conference table. All eyes landed on me as I melted into the seat reserved for my father, roughly placing my feet on the table whilst staring directly at the envoys sent from the rival gang (The Greyhounds) to propose marriage. "So...you're the envoys those bastards sent to demand my hand in marriage, right?"

The older looking one of the bunch sighed in disappointment as our eyes met. "It seems the rumors were true, the white rose of the darkhorse clan is indeed nothing but a pretty face masking a nasty personality. Little girl you should try restraining your unpleasantness and show some respect for your elders" he mocked.

I chuckled upon hearing his words. "Elders?" I repeated, pulling out a loaded gun, pointing it directly at him. "Would you like me to show you exactly what it means to be an elder?" I questioned, my fingers teasing the trigger right before his eyes. "When you're an elder, doesn't it mean you'll have the privilege of kissing your gravestone long before the rest of us? Because my nasty personality is really urging me to put a bullet right in that wrinkly old mouth of yours"

My father immediately stepped in, snatching the gun from my grasp. "Compose yourself Elisa" he pleaded in an attempt to calm my anger.

"Sir Eliot, it seems your daughter's presence isn't of much use as it proves difficult for her to show some restraint. I suggest you excuse her in order for us to reach an agreement regarding the matter at hand" the old man chimed.

"It seems you really do have some balls Old man, I mean they might be worn, dried up and wrinkly but it's still there so I commend you for that. Now listen and listen very carefully, I'm guessing my father has already told you this but I'll repeat it once more only for the sake of your obvious hearing deficiency, I will not under any circumstances marry into your pathetic excuse for a bloodline. Now... why don't you take your stupid self and go report everything I've said to your master, like a good dog"

"INSOLENT!!!" He barked, slamming his hands on the table. "Shuuu...don't yell too loud" I interrupted. "You could raise your blood pressure to a dangerous level with that much anger. Please consider you age before acting out next time"

Father's fury finally boiled over as he raised his voice, desperate to call me to order. "ELISA!!!" He yelled "WHAT!!!" I responded, matching his energy. "Apologize, now!!!" He demanded.

"Apologize? Are you seriously siding with him over me? Don't tell me you're actually thinking of entertaining their proposal?" I question but my retort was met with heartbreaking silence from dad that subtly gave away his thoughts. "Tell me you're joking? you really intend to marry me off to the same people responsible for mom's death?"

"Elisa that's enough, the matter hasn't been decided yet" he responded, still avoiding my gaze. "Hasn't been decided? Why are you even considering it!!!? Have you forgotten what they did to mom, how they ruined our family? Why are you..." unwilling to continue indulging my antics, he interrupted. "If you're not willing to sincerely apologize to our guests, then leave. Your opinion on this matter will remain irrelevant as long as you continue behaving in such an undignified manner" just as he responded, the head of the Greyhound's family (Nicholas Greyhound) finally arrived.

"What an interesting girl" he commented.

My father immediately rushed over to his side. "Mr Greyhound, I didn't expect you to personally attend the meeting to discuss such a trivial matter. Please, have a seat"

I watched in confusion as my father attentively severed the same man that had brutally murdered my mother right before my eyes.

"Dad, what do you think you're doing?" I questioned, barely holding back my tears but he completely ignored me and continued tending to his guests. In a fit of rage I stormed up to them, grabbing a cup filled with scotching hot tea and dumped it all over Mr Greyhound. His eyes blazed with fury as he raised his hand to strike me but before he could make contact, my father's hand came crashing down, landing a crisp slap that echoed across the room.

My body went stiff as my vision began to blur, it was the first time my father had ever raised a hand at me and he did it just to defend my mother's murderer. I stared at him in disbelief as tears streamed down my face. Before I could even say a word, he forced me head down whilst apologizing on my behalf. "Mr Greyhound, please forgive her foolishness, after all young kids often tend to make mistakes"

My gaze still remained fixed on the floor as my father roughly shoved me out of his office, the force causing me to twist my ankle. "Dad, it hurts" I cried out in pain, expecting him to support me but instead he shoved me to the ground and shut the door behind him. I sat there silently in pain as I listened to my father sign my life away to my mother's killers. Feeling disappointed, I finally opted to leave but I unfortunately lost my balance whilst heading up the stairs and was about to fall when a strange man caught me, gently carrying me up the rest of the way. I was about to express my gratitude when I looked up at him only to notice a striking resemblance between him and Mr Greyhound.

"Elisa, right?" ... "I'm Damian, your fiance. It's a pleasure to finally meet you"

I roughly shoved him away, glaring hatefully as I retorted. "You're not my fiance" ... "i don't know what your family might have done to force my father into accepting the alliance but I can assure you that a wedding won't be taking place any time soon , especially not mine"

He chuckled lightly as he pulled out a white silk handkerchief and gently wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. "Judging by the blood on your lips and the finger markings on your cheek, I don't think your father has any plans of entertaining your resistance" With that he turned and left without looking back but just as he walked away, I spotted a strange man secretly watching us from the background, feeling annoyed I decided to pay it no mind.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cooped up in my room, seething in anger when my father finally came knocking.

"Elisa darling, won't you open up and let daddy in" he coaxed but I turned a deaf ear to his words, burying my head even deeper into my pillows.

He eventually got tired of knocking and decided to let himself in with a spare key.

He barged into my room with an apologetic smile as he ushered in several maids bearing lavished gifts.

"Elisa, look what daddy got you" ... "I remember you desperately wanted to get your hands and a pair of those new Cameron cane shoes, right?"

"Umm, sir I think you mean Calvin Klein" the head maid interjected.

"Oh... yes, thank you" he voiced before forcefully prying me from my bed. "Princess, are you still mad at me?" His obnoxious question answered itself when he saw my swollen cheek and puffy eyes. "Oh my" he gasped, his eyes darting around my face. "Hurry, get me an ice pack" the head maid immediately handed him an ice pack wrapped in a soft cotton towel. He dabbed gently on my swollen cheek, ensuring not to hold it on for too long whilst apologizing profusely. I completely ignored his apologies and pathetic attempt at coaxing, refusing to even look in his direction.

The head maid (Nanny Rebecca) chimed in, pleading on my father's behalf. "Elisa, you shouldn't hold a grudge against your father. Give him a chance to explain the situation and why he acted the way he did, I'm sure he had his reasons, right sir Eliot?"

"Of course" father beamed, nodding in desperation but I cut him off. "Nanny, you weren't there to see how hard he hit me, he completely humiliated me and chose to side with mom's killers. And now he's only apologizing with all these gifts to convince me to marry into the family of those murderers"

Dad let out a long sigh as he dismissed the rest of the staff, only leaving Nanny Rebecca behind. "Look, Elisa. No father would wholeheartedly want to give his daughter's hand in marriage to a spawn of his enemy, but it's just... it's just that things are a lot more complicated than they seem. The Greyhounds obviously aren't here with good intentions but this marriage alliance might be our only chance to avenge your mother's death. It'll be easier to take down their entire operation and crumble their empire once we have one of our own within their walls. It wasn't my intention from the beginning to get you involved in something this dangerous but when they came proposing a marriage alliance I saw it as what could be our only opportunity." ... "I already tried sending in spies months ago but none of them have been able to get close enough to the information we need but if you accept the alliance and marry Damian you'll be able to secretly assist my men within their walls. It shouldn't prove too difficult to win Damian over with your looks and use him as a pawn to bring justice to his father's evil deeds"

"No one wants revenge more than I do but this seems a little far fetched, even for me." I voiced, feeling uncertain.

"Far fetched was when they decided to murder my wife." He retorted, his voice rising in fury as he revisited the memory of my mother's demise. "But it's okay if you don't want to go through with any of this, I won't force you to do anything you're not comfortable with. I'm sure I'll be able to find another way to get revenge"

I could help feeling guilty upon hearing his words. After a bit of deliberation, I finally agreed to follow his lead and avenge my mother.

He was overjoyed when I finally agreed and promised he'd bring me back himself once the operation was successful.

After settling the misunderstanding between us I didn't hesitate to accept the numerous gifts he brought along.

I scanned through the items with excitement until I saw something that triggered my dissatisfaction. "Seriously Dad, only 12 gold bars? Are we going bankrupt?"

Nanny tried to urge me to ignore it but I wasn't budging. After listening to my whining for so long dad finally agreed to get me whatever I wanted as compensation. "I'd like my monthly allowance to be increased to $150 million, Deal?" My father's eyes almost bulged out of his head upon hearing the amount I was requesting. "$150 million? That's an outrageous amount besides I already increased your allowance last month"

"But you only increased it to $70 million and it's barely enough for my expenses..."

"What expenses?" He interrupted. " You always use my card to pay for everything, refusing to spend your own money. So what exactly do you need $150 million for?"

I dramatically fell into Nanny Rebecca's arms as I began sobbing historically. "Nanny, I'm already doing some much for him and all I request is a mere $150 million in return and he's refusing"

Under the immense pressure from me and nanny Rebecca's persuasion, father eventually agreed.

(A WEEK LATER)...

In the blink of an eye, the memories of my father's generous bribes were far behind me as I stood frozen at the entrance of the Greyhounds family estate.

(Damian's POV)

A week after our visit to the darkhorse family estate, I was abruptly summoned by my father, requested for a meeting in his study with a few of the upper ranked clan officials. The moment I arrived I was ushered to sit next to my father as the meeting commenced.

"Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind me asking, what's your opinion on the young Miss Elisa?" The head official enquired.

Father let out a chuckle before finally responding. "She's just like her mother, an ill-mannered brat but my opinion of her won't matter much when she's six feet under." He mocked as laughter erupted amongst them.

"Is it really necessary to involve her in any of this? Don't you think it's a bit low using her to bait her father?" The entire room went silent upon hearing my words.

Father's eyes darkened as he stared at me with disdain. "Are you feeling sympathetic or was that supposed to be a poorly composed joke?" he voiced, his eyes sending a warning through his glare.

Understanding the message he was trying to pass across, I remained silent for the rest of the meeting. I watched in disappointment as they revised their plan to use the marriage proposal as a font to take Elisa hostage. "After the alliance is accepted and Elisa is in our custody then we'll be able to strike the darkhorse family until there's nothing left of them, and if that bastard Eliot tries to retaliate we'll threaten to eliminate his beloved daughter, after completely crushing Eliot we'll take over his operations, seizing his bases before getting rid of his useless spawn. Maybe we'll even toy with her a little, just as we did her mother" father rejoiced, basking in the glory of his early victory.

Unable to continue listening to their schemes, I excused myself from the meeting, faking exhaustion. I headed back to my room in silence.

I tossed and turned in bed, unable to remove the image of Elisa from my mind. Our first encounter looped in my head as I blushed at the memory of her beauty and strong headed nature. I couldn't help but chuckle as I remembered the manner in which she spoke to father and the envoys. My heart falls in turmoil each time I think of how closely I held her, going up the stairs. I could barely suppress my excitement at the thought of being married to her but despite my happiness I didn't dare outwardly show my feelings towards her, it would only complicate things if I fell in love with the daughter of the enemy. Regardless of the fact that I was completely opposed to the schemes of my clansmen, I have no choice but to agree in order to gain my father's approval and the recognition of the clansmen. My understanding of the decade old rivalry between our clans is more than enough for me to put my feelings aside and fight alongside my father.

After finally managing to push my thoughts aside, I fell asleep only to be awoken minutes later by the sound of gentle knocking on the door.

In a daze I answered, only to be shoved aside by none other than Sophia (my stepmother and ex fiance).

I stared down at her in disdain as she barged into my room uninvited, making herself comfortable as she laid shamelessly on my bed in a revealing lace night gown.

"What do you think you're doing?" I voiced, barely restraining my anger as I walked over, ready to throw her out.

I grabbed hold of her arm, yanking her off the bed, causing her to fall to the ground.

Just as I tried reaching for her again she averted my grasp, finding her way back to the bed. "Damian" she called out, yanking me by my belt buckle causing me to fall on top of her in a rather intimate position. I tried prying off but she rapped her legs tightly around my waist as she pulled me in, forcefully claiming my lips. Her hands were firmly placed around my neck forcing us even closer together as she deepened the kiss. Whilst mid kiss she forced a strange pill into my mouth, shoving it deep into my throat with her tongue before finally releasing me. I wiped my lips in disgust as I roughly grabbed her by the neck, squeezing tightly. "What was that?!!!" she smirked at the sight of me provoked, whispering something inaudible. I loosened my grip on her neck, giving her a chance to speak. "Choke me harder, I like it a little rough" she whispered.

I released her completely, taking a few steps back as I stared emotionlessly at her. "I'm giving you one last chance to get out of here, or else I'll bring your advances at me over the past few months to father's notice. You of all people should know exactly how he would react, after all I believe you're no stranger to being abused by him."

Her face darkened upon hearing my words, she hesitantly drew closer to me in an attempt to coax me once more but froze mid way and silently headed for the door. Just as I took a step forward to ensure her departure, a wave of dizziness washed over me as my vision blurred and before I could understand what was going on, I was knocked unconscious.

By the time I regained consciousness, it was already noon the next day. I laid in bed disoriented as my head throbbed. It was only after taking a few minutes to regain composure that I noticed I was completely naked in bed with a familiar figure laying beside me, buried underneath the sheet. Before I could fully assess the situation my father barged in angrily.

"DAMIAN!!!" he yelled, staring directly at us both in our disheveled state. It took me a moment to notice he wasn't alone. His gaze shifted from me to the figure standing by the doorway, Elisa.