My mother blinked rapidly. My father reached for his coffee like it might save him.
“Kate, honey—” Mom started.
“No,” I cut in, my voice low but sharp enough to slice skin. “Let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t. You ambushed me. You blindsided me and made me look like a fool in that boardroom.”
“We didn’t ambush you,” she whispered fiercely, leaning forward. “We were presented with an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”I repeated, incredulous. “To marry a man who looks at me like I belong at the bottom of his shoe?”
“That’s not fair,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “The Westwoods are a good family and Nate seems perfectly nice.”
I let out a humorless laugh under my breath. “That’s your argument? Really? He seems nice, so I should marry him? Well, that’s just great.”
Mom pursed her lips at me. “They’re respected. They’re stable. They are?—”
“They are using me and you helped them do it,” I snapped.
“Lower your voice,” Mom hissed.
“Why? You didn’t even want to risk meeting me at your hotel and you folded like wet cards when Abram decided my autonomy was retiring with him. Why should I give a flying fuck what you want?”
Dad shifted beside her, attempting to disappear into the vinyl booth.
“You’re treating me like a depreciating asset you need to offload before market value drops.” I narrowed my eyes at them. “I’m allowed be livid about that.”
“Oh, honey,” Mom said gently, still speaking so quietly that she was almost whispering. “It’s not like that, but you can’t deny that you’re almost thirty and you haven’t seriously dated anyone in years.”
There it was, her defensive card slapped onto the table. I should’ve known she was going to play that most insulting of all maternal cards, and yet, I still stared at her, stunned. “That is breathtakingly irrelevant.”
“It’s not irrelevant,” she insisted. “We want you to be settled and secure. Happy.”
“Do you honestly think forced proximity toNathaniel Westwoodis going to equal happiness?”
“Any partnership grows over time,” she said tightly.
“Sure, and resentment metastasizes,” I countered.
“Kate,” she pressed, her whisper trembling with urgency. “You’re looking at this emotionally instead of strategically.”
“Because I’m apersonand not a fuckingmerger.” I nodded at her in challenge. “If there’s no emotion involved here, Mom, why don’t you marry him? Dad won’t mind, apparently.”
Dad exhaled heavily and set his coffee down. “Enough,” he said quietly but firmly.
Mom and I both turned toward him as he folded his hands together and looked each of us in the eye in turn. “I’m going to speak now and you’re going to listen.”
My throat tightened, my heart yowling like a wildcat in my chest, but I didn’t fight the way it wanted me to. I needed to hear this. Needed to know why he’d do this without even talking to me about it directly. I’d had to find out fromNate. That was almost worse than actually having to marry the damn guy.
“Our family used to be like the Westwoods,” he said. “Three generations ago, our name meant something. We built industries. We created jobs. We were respected.”
I watched him turn thoughtful and sad, a strange mix of pride and exhaustion braiding through every word. “My grandfather let the original business rot. A series of bad decisions led to a bunch of terrible investments that carried us into a period of reactive leadership, the worst kind there is. By the time he started trying to dig us out of the hole, it was too late. His desperation only made the situation worse.”
My stomach twisted, but I didn’t interrupt him. “When my father inherited the company, there was barely anything left but debt and a last name no one trusted anymore. Luck and poor advice,” he said, grimacing. “That was what they relied on. My grandfather only at the end, but my dad throughout his tenure. I have spent my entire life trying to bring our name back to its former glory.”
He met my gaze. “Every hour. Every risk. Every sleepless night.”
I swallowed. “Dad…”
“This deal isn’t only our way back in,” he said, his voice cracking slightly despite his effort to keep it level. “It’s how we secure our business into the future. The Westwoods have never relied on luck. They don’t even leave who they marry to chance.”
