A Contract Marriage For Revenge

Thwack!!!

The sound of the slap echoed through the room. It was the living room of my parents' opulent townhouse, and like all homes of the rich and influential, the Campry house was decorated heavily with furniture and artifacts of the most exotic origin, after all nothing but the best for my family.

As for the slap, well that was not something of a surprise, my father had a temper especially on this topic, the family of Montgomery.

" I love him father" I said softly, my breath hitching slightly, and I did love Corey Montgomery as much as I loved breathing so giving him up was not an option.

"Young lady I'm not sure how well you understand but you cannot under any circumstances marry into that family. If you do I'll cut you off" he roared and I sighed

" You can cut me off, leave me. I don't care, I'll still marry Corey" I retorted, he roared striding towards me his arms raised and my mother screamed

" Richard, stop that now" he paused feet from me nostrils flaring with temper, arm raised

" This will be the last time I hear of this" he gritted, I opened my mouth ready to speak

" Julienne shut up " my mother huffed. Sighing I did as she asked and ran up the stairs and into my room locking the door shut behind me.

My room was large, spacious and decorated to my specific liking. It was a privilege I was aware of, and unlike the rest of the house it was painted in a soft baby pink. I strolled to my dresser sitting down grinning at the strew of letters that had caused the argument downstairs or at least part of the reasons.

I picked the latest one gripping it in my palm as a silly grin spread across my face. I was in love, I Julienne Campry was in love, flicking open the letter my gaze running over it the urge to sigh I stifled. I rose twirling to my bed and collapsed onto it, my grin widening, my limbs spread out starfished.

I could understand my father a little bit, in our fair city of Canton the Montgomery's and the Campry's were bitter enemies, with feuds dating back as far as the eighteenth century when, the Campry's were a noble house that could trace their lineage to at least one king and a foreign queen. The Montgomery's though not destitute had been of the common class, only becoming nobles when King August had bestowed on Charles Montgomery the title of duke in honor for his service. There were stories of murdered family members on either side, the Montgomery's blamed my family for the death of their first born son in 1867, almost a decade later my family had gone on to accuse them for the death of their daughter and a famous singer cousin which had only deepened the rivalry. To my ancestors though they would never be on the same level and so the feud had continued each family trying to one up the other in tasteless matches of power, only now in the twenty first century, with the monarch long gone and titles mostly redundant, the families competed with one another via their business ventures.

So the thought of even a marriage between these family's was unthinkable and normally I would have adhered to that rule but I couldn't, not after I'd met Corey spoken to him, had him confess his feelings which mirrored mine. I believed in love and there was no way I could let this get away from me.

I remember the first day we met, it was at a family event, my cousin Ken was opening his new restaurant. Corey had strolled in the middle of his big speech, I'd been intrigued. Corey had stood around for a while. I caught a random glimpse and then for a spilt second in time, our eyes met, he'd smiled at me, a lopsided grin , picking a drink from the tray and striding towards me. The closer he got the more I realized he was quite handsome, his brown hair was tousled as if he'd just woken up from sleep his eye a pale blue making him look warm and inviting

" I've never seen you before " he said softly and I grinned in return

" I can say the same about you" he laughed and my heart skipped a beat, he looked even more handsome smiling

" I'm Corey Montgomery" he said softly and I huffed leaning on my palm

" And just what is a Montgomery doing at the event of a Campry"

" I don't confine myself to just people who like me. "

" You like to live dangerously then" I asked and he shrugged

" I can't complain,it brought me to you." I couldn't help it. I blushed, my cheeks burning hot. I was twenty years old and while I wasn't totally innocent, I wasn't that experienced with dating.

" That's quite a line , do you say that to all the girls " I asked and he grinned

" Only to those that mean something to me" he replied and I smiled

" We haven't known each other long enough for that "

" What are you doing here Montgomery" my cousin growled behind me, Corey winced and straightened

" I heard you were opening" he grinned

" Hello, Ken. Your place is beautiful" I muttered and he smiled pulling me into a hug his frame towering over mine

" Thank you, you shouldn't be talking to strangers " he admonished shooting Corey a hard look

" Oh come on, you can't seriously mean we should avoid each other forever." Corey grumbled and I smiled if Ken had his way, Corey would be banished from the face of the earth

" Besides I'd love to see her more, you never mentioned you had a gorgeous cousin" he replied and Ken growled

" You'll keep my sister out of this if you know what's good for you" I sighed

" Let's go Ken, it's your opening you can't get into fights" I urged, grabbing his arm and leading him away.

" You really need to learn to control your temper" I muttered and he growled

" Stay away from that idiot" he warned as if he could somehow tell, ignoring him I glanced towards Corey shooting him a small smile, he winked as he watched us leave.

That was the beginning of my love story. I rolled over on the bed folding the letter.

It didn't matter what anyone said, I would marry Corey Montgomery and no one would stop me.