Legacy of Love and War

"Everyone, listen up," William said from the head of the table, tapping the edge slightly to catch the attention of everyone. Williams was a family man, and for that reason, he had the entire family back at his mansion every Sunday for dinner to get away. That way, they could discuss and gloss over the events of the week and give each other updates.

After dinner every night, the men got together and watched a sport regardless of what was airing at that time. They all seemed to enjoy the time together. The older women would go out to the balcony and have tea while talking; they called it talking, but everyone knew very well that it was gossip. The younger girls would cluster in Lila's room and try to really catch up on what had been going on.

Everyone raises their head to William at the head of the table. He dropped his spoon to his plate and propped his elbow on the table so he could intertwine his fingers. Seeing his posture, everyone could tell that this was serious business, so they all kept quiet and dropped their cutlery to their plates as well.

"Lila," he said, calling on his last daughter. She looked at him, trying to decipher what he was going to say. She could not read minds, but she was sure this had something to do with her marriage. Both of her elder sisters had gotten married at the age of twenty-four, and she was already a year late, according to her father's timeline, which made her wonder if he was really going to set up a marriage for her as he did with her sisters.

"You are going to be getting married to Levi Beaumont," the smile on her face faded. She understood her father's proposition to want to choose space for them because of their position in society. It was best for them to get married to the rich so they could stay rich longer. That was the only way that the Carrington family has been able to stand and stay rich for five generations now. That was the same with the Beaumont family, but it did not make sense for both families to get married. They could say the name of each, so how could her father suggest that she get married to their enemy?

"William?" Eleanor screamed at him with her eyes open. She was his wife, and he did not want to discuss this with her before springing it up on them at this family dinner.

"Woman, let me be," he said. That was not his usual response, so it made everyone reel in shock.

"Daddy, you must have made a mistake in the name because surely you cannot ask me to marry a Beaumont," Lila said from beside her sister at the tail end of the table with her cousins sitting there.

"I have made no mistake; you will marry Levi Beaumont." They all stared at his face. The youngsters expected him to burst into uncontrollable laughter and tell them that it was all a prank, and he wanted to see the expression on their faces. If he did, that would not be out of his character; after all, that was the kind of man that he was. The laughter did not come, and so Elizabeth spoke. She was his first daughter and had been given to marriage to the Ashbourne family; she held the hand of her husband under the tale and cleared her throat.

"Daddy, we have never been on good terms with the Beaumonts, so how are we supposed to plan a wedding with them?" Elizabeth asked, earning her grunts of approval around the table.

"That is right, brother; that does not make sense. Are you trying to sell your daughter to the devil?" Carrie said and cleared her throat as well. They could all tell that he was being serious, and that was the reason they were all careful to tread. As much as he was playful, he also had a side to him where he hated to be challenged on his orders.

"When it comes to saving the honour and name of the family, does our enemy matter? If we have to dance with them just so we can live, then so be it."

"But dad..." Victoria began but was cut off by him slamming on the table, causing them all to jump a bit in fear. This was not the typical dinner at the Carrington family, and no one liked the turn that this was taking.

"We got an offer from Skyline," he said, and they all gasped. That had been the goal of Grandfather before he died; he always wanted to do business with Skyline; they were too big not to want to do business with them; doing business with them would automatically put the company in the global space, and that was what the Carrington family needed. "But they only offered to do business with us if we get together as contractors with the Beaumont family," he said, and they all frowned.

"I cannot let this opportunity slip off my hand because of the Beaumont family, and they want this as much as we do. To make sure that they do not betray us, I came up with the solution of having our children in a contract marriage for a year; by then we would have gotten what we needed from Skyline and we could go our separate ways," William explained. He did not plan to get stuck with them; he planned to keep pitching to Skyline, and he was sure that all he needed to get them all on board was just a year.

"So you are telling me to get married to Levi Beaumont for a year?" Lila asked, standing up. Her body pushed back the seat she had been sitting in, and the screech rang through the dining room. "I hate Levi with everything I have and own; I have had to come up against him every day, and you think it would be a good idea to put us in the same room and ask us to get married?" she asked. They all looked at her and understood exactly what she meant.

She was in charge of the food subsidy of the Carrington Group, and Levi was also in charge of the food subsidy in the Beaumont Group. They met more often because they always wanted to, and that made their own relationship even more special. They all knew that there was no way they would survive being in the same house without one of them turning up dead.

"That is what I want you to do."

"I can't do that."

"You are asking me Levi Beaumont to get married to Lila Carrington?" Levi asked for the tenth time in just a few minutes. He was standing in his dad's home office. Daniel was sitting behind a huge wooden table, and Levi was standing across from it. He had been called in by his father to give him some news.

When his father asked him to come into the office after dinner, he expected anything else, but this was not on his bingo cards, and he was sure that he must have heard it all wrong. There was no way his father, Daniel Beaumont, who was the chairman of the Beaumont group, was asking him to marry a Carrington.

"Dad, Beaumont's and Carrington's do not mix; they have nerve mixed for one day," Levi said before his father could say anything. Daniel took off his glasses and let them hang from his neck with the glasses rope, dangling it gently in the air.

"They have never mixed for six generations."

"Exactly, so I am confused as to what you are implying," Levi said, pulling out one of the chairs in front of him and sitting down. When he got into the office, he was convinced that there was no way he would spend so much time in there because his father was a man of few words, so he chose not to sit even when his father asked him to, but now that he heard the reason he was summoned, he could help it; he had to sit.

"Skyline wants to do business with us," Daniel announced.

"That is wonderful news, but I do not see what this has to do with Carrington," he said, making an expression of disgust even by the sound of the name.

"They would only do business with us if we collaborate."

"I still do not see the reason why we have to get into this marriage. We do business with them all the time, even though we do not like it." Levi said. That was one of the major reasons he always had to see Lila; they were always crossing paths in this line of business; it was almost inevitable, but they had never ever thought of finishing a way to see more of each other. If he gets married to Lila, he will have to see her every day; how is he going to ever survive that?

"This project is the biggest thing that any of us have ever seen; it is the biggest thing that the country has seen, and we would be fools to let it go without finding a way to stamp our name on it," Daniel said.

"Dad, I get it; it is Skyline; we can't let this slip away, but what I still do not understand is the reason why we need to do a wedding; the project is not going to last forever, so why do I need to be joined with someone like her?" he asked.

"Williams suggested the marriage."

"And you agreed to it?" Levi asked, leaning into the table. He could swear that there was no way that was his father; he had been switched out by some alien because how could he just easily agree to a term by William just because of a deal with Skyline? They had not even been interested in Skyline before, but as soon as the Carrington family showed interest, they began to pursue it as well.

"I had to; how can I miss out on this? Don't worry, it is a contract marriage and will only last a year," Daniel said with a nod. Levi looked at his father; he could tell that a plan was forming in his head, knowing the kind of person that he was. He was sure that he would not say anything about his plan until it was fully formed.

"I understood that you had to, but must it have been marriage? Why would William Williams suggest marriage when he loves family so much he carefully curates who can get it? Don't you think that this is a bit suspicious? Don't you think he might have an ulterior plan?" Levi wondered if he was the only one worried about this. His father should not be that relaxed, though.

"He might have his own plans, but that does not mean that we do not have ours," Daniel replied with a head nod.

"I know you have your plan, but I still think that this cannot work," Levi said simply. The families were at war, but especially for him, Lila was his archnemesis; they could never be tied in marriage no matter what plots their parents were trying to do. He was sure that she would be saying the same thing as well.

"Levi, if you still have interest in being the chairman of the group, I will advise that you do as I say and can put you in charge of the Skyline project. That way, you will have a better edge at becoming the chairman." Levi heard the threat behind his father's words loud and clear. His father was saying to him, 'If you let this fall through, then I would take the company, which is your right since you are next in the succession line and I would give it to your cousins.' It was not the first time he had been such a threat, but he knew that his father was capable of doing anything that he said he would do.

"This is for you to tell me if you like it or not. This is for the family and the group, so you would do it."

"Dad, you are making this so hard for me," he said, running his hand through his hair and teasing down his face. He bent his head to the floor, thinking it through and weighing all of his emotions with the silent room. He raised his head and took a deep breath.

"I guess I really do not have a choice."

"Sit back down this instant," William commanded. She looked around at the faces of the people she shared the table with, and she could tell that they were all telling one thing, and that was that she better sit down at once. She swallowed and sat down, facing her father. In as much as she always tried her best to obey him, she was not going to let him have his way this time around. This was not going to be in her favour in any way, and she could not just knowingly walk into it.

"You would listen to me, and you would do what I say," he added. She shook her head at him.

"Lila, listen to your father," Eleanor said.

"But mom..." Lila whined. She could not believe how easily her mother had switched sides. She was just definitely on her side a moment ago, but all of a sudden she was telling her to bow her head and listen to her father because apparently, he was the one who had the final say.

"There is no but here. I think it would be best if you listened to your father," Tom said for the first time that night. He had been quiet but also super grateful that his daughter was not the one being sent in there. He would definitely not be as daring as his brother to send his daughter into the camp of the enemy.

"Uncle Tom, why don't we let Amelia get married to him? I mean, she is way older than I am and she is yet to be married, I do think this would be a very great opportunity for her to finally start a family."

"Lila, why are you being so insolent?" Tom asked, slamming his palm to the table. He was not a fan of her bringing up his daughter.

"Insolent? Are you not planning to give Amelia away in marriage?" she asked now, facing her uncle. Amelia was her cousin, and she had spoiled every single wedding arrangement that had been made for her. Everyone in the family knew that she had always wanted to live an unmarried and childless life, and everyone just avoided it as if it were not really important. "What have I said that is so wrong? She should have been married at the same time that Victoria got married," she added with a shrug. She took up her spoon and scooped up a spoonful of soup and shoved it in her mouth before dropping it down aggressively to the table.

"LILA!" Willaims said calling his daughter to order. "I know that you think that you are special and big enough to do whatever you want to do, but I promise you right now and right here that if you refuse to get married to Levi Beaumont, you will lose your job as CEO and would be removed from the family registry," he said.

She knew he was not joking, but at this point, she only cared about herself so much; she was going to keep pushing; she did not know how it was going to end, and if she won, she would beat herself up if she did not fight now. "Mom Dad, if I get married to that man, I am going to have to kill him," she pressed her lips together and closed her eyes tightly before opening them. "Do you want to have to visit your daughter in jail just because you had to sell her off in marriage?"

"Sell off in marriage?" Eleanor asked, dropping her cup to the table. "You have chosen the wrong words to describe the situation, so for your own good, I would advise you to switch up the words," she said before licking her lips and leaning into the table so she could catch a glimpse of her daughter's face.

"My bad, not sell off, given to in marriage," she said, flashing a half-hearted smile at them. She looked around the room and wondered if it was worth the fight anymore. Her father was going to have his way anyway. "It is my fault for being so comfortable with the single life; maybe if I had taken time out to remind you that I was yet to be married, I would not have been the victim."

"Get ready because tomorrow you must meet up with Levi," Williams replied, ignoring her statement. This was not his choice anyway, but this was the best option for them now.

"I do not only have to marry him; I also have to meet up with him before the marriage." Why don't we just skip to the part where we get married?" she said sarcastically.

"If you do not take off that sarcasm this moment, you will regret what will happen," Willaims said in a final warning tone. He did not expect that after that she would be insolent and rude at the table. She made a sound of agreement at the back of her throat and shook her head back and forth. "I am sorry about the ruckus on the table this evening," William said, lifting up his glass and downing the entire contents of it.

"It's no worries." "It is fine." "It is something that needs to be sorted out," they murmured around the tables. They were all worried about Lila, but each of them was grateful that they were not the scapegoat being offered.

"Thank you all for being so worried about me. I do appreciate your kindness," she said, standing up. "I am done with dinner, so I will be retiring to bed now," Lila added with a frown on her face. She turned and marched out of the room in anger. "She will get over it."