Marriage, a curse.

Visiting the family solicitor was the last thing Ethan Westbury wanted to be doing after laying to rest his grandfather. If his grandfather was alive and was to know that his descendants were going to discuss his will when they should be mourning his loss, the old man would surely show his legendary frown.  

Abraham Westbury, his grandfather, had lived for a whole hundred years and it was something worth celebrating. Who would have thought that the man who just slept after cutting the cake for his hundredth birthday wouldn't wake up the following morning?  

As he entered the room, the solicitor stood up to shake hands with Ethan Westbury. Mr Jonas had known the Westbury family for decades and all he could say at this moment was that the eldest grandson was not going to take the news well. It wasn't just the eldest son, but no descendant of Abraham Westbury was going to take the news peacefully.  

The demise of the old man was going to start a bloody and twisted war of inheritance and only time would tell if it was for the better or worse.  

"Mr Westbury, there is something you need to know," Mr Jonas said as soon as they took their seats. He knew that it wasn't the right time for him to be beating around the bush. Ethan was mourning the loss of a man who wasn't just his grandfather, but a friend, guide and philosopher.  

"I reckon it has something to do with the grandfather's will," Ethan said, his face devoid of any emotion.  

It was not that he was a cold man but at this moment he didn't know what kind of emotion he should be feeling. He lost the man who had raised him and shaped him into what he was today. It was natural that he would be sad but he wasn't supposed to show sadness on his face. Westburys were not taught to show weakness on their faces. And what could be a greater weakness than emotions? 

Currently, all he could muster up was a fake smile.

"Mr Abraham Westbury wanted me to present his will to you first thing first once he passed away," Mr Jonas said. "He had left something for each of his grandchildren."  

Abraham Westbury had three children and five grandchildren. From his first wife, he had two daughters and from his second wife, he had a son. Ethan was the son of his eldest daughter who had passed away many years ago.  

The solicitor began to read out the will of the old man. It didn't come as a surprise to Ethan that his grandfather had wanted him to step up to the role of CEO of Westbury industries. He was thirty-three this year and had built an empire of his own. He had no interest in his grandfather's company or estate.  

Why would he keep an eye on his grandfather's estate and company when he had created a billion-dollar empire of his own? 

"So, according to the will, I will be able to inherit all these things that he had left me on my thirty-fourth birthday?" Ethan asked once again. He had a feeling that everything was not as simple as it seemed. It didn't make sense to him.  

If there was one thing about Abraham Westbury that everyone knew it was his dislike for simple and easy means. There was no way he would let his grandson inherit his everything so easily. There had to be a but or if…

"Yes," Mr Jonas said with a nod. "But…" 

This was the but that he had seen coming.  

"You have to be married by your thirty-fourth birthday in order to claim your inheritance, " The solicitor informed the man.  

"Married?" Ethan uttered the word as if it was a curse.  

If marriage was not a curse then he didn't know what it was.  

"Your grandfather wished for you to have a family of your own," Mr Jonas replied.  

"I have a family," Ethan quickly retorted. He had two brothers and his younger sister. They were his family. What other family did he need? Okay, he would reluctantly take his uncle and his asshole of a cousin to be his family. What else or who else did he need? 

"Your grandfather wished for you to have a wife and children of your own," Mr Jonas said as if it was not clear to the young man in the first place.  

Ethan inwardly sneered.  

Wife and children?  

And him?  

It didn't fit his personality. 

If Ethan Westbury had a wife and children…  

Lord knows what would become of their world… 

How could he be married to a woman? All the examples of marriage that he had seen before his eyes weren't worth following.

 Marriage was something he was going to avoid at all costs. 

His own father left his mother because he felt the mapped-out life wasn't for him.

 Marriage was a cage and he had learned this from his runaway father. 

As much as he hated his runway father, he had to agree that just like his father, the idea of a mapped-out life was not something that fit his personality.  

Marriage was a curse and he had learned this from his mother. Her marriage killed her. Marriage was a poison that took away his mother's life. Her soul was already dead and the accident only crushed her shell.  

Marriage was endless pain and he learned it from his brother. His brother was dying a painful death every day.  

He would be a fool to jump into this abyss of marriage.  

No money in this world would convince him to sign up for the life that his grandfather had mapped out for him, no matter how much he loved him.

_____

A/N: It would be fun seeing how two people burned by love are going to join each other in the journey of love. How will Ethan react when he would meet Esmerelda? Will it be good? Will he be his usual cold self or....