Chapter 9
NATE
Emma’s email sat open on my laptop. She had completely ignored my request to meet up, just talking about regular stuff in her life. I’d read it three times already, tracing each sentence like there might be a hidden meaning tucked between her words, but there never was.
Emma wrote the way she seemed to live, honest, warm, and unguarded.
My heart was thumping in my chest as I looked at the screen.
I felt absolutely fucking terrible because, even though I’d never technically said anything untrue, I still felt like I’d been lying to her for all these years.
They were lies by omission, but in my defense, they were things we’d never really talked about.
But they were massive, life-altering things.
Like the fact that I would be getting married soon.
There was no two ways about it anymore. It wasn’t just something that would eventually be happening someday.
It was now inevitable that I’d be putting a ring on a finger that wasn’t Emma’s and I would probably be doing it before the end of the year.
Since I’d never told her what my family was like, there was no way that she’d see it coming. As far as she knew, I was entirely single—which was true if this email relationship didn’t count, but it wouldn’t be true for long—and there was no denying that I’d be blindsiding her completely with this.
Why hadn’t I just told her?
Emma talked about her life constantly, her apartment, her friends, and the tiny details that made her world feel real to me despite the distance. I’d only ever given her pieces of mine. Work. Hobbies. Thoughts. Never so much as a word about the strange familial obligations I was expected to honor.
Mostly because saying it out loud would’ve made it real to her too, and I almost certainly would have lost her earlier. Now, however, my silence meant that continuing whatever this was between us was cruel.
My life could be changing rapidly. Against my will, sure, but that wouldn’t matter when I finally told her the truth. I just wanted to do it in person. Was that so crazy? Probably.
My phone buzzed across the desk, dragging me back to reality. Alex’s name flashed across the screen and I sighed but reached for the device. “Yeah?”
“Jane and I are already at Dad’s,” he said without preamble. “Are you coming over early so we can go over the plan?”
I stared at Emma’s email one more time before closing the laptop. “No.”
There was a brief pause. “No?”
“I’ll get there when it’s necessary for me to be there.”
“Are you sure that’s smart? We need be aligned about what to do if tonight gets complicated.”
I stood and grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair. “Kate won’t keep being nice long enough for any strategy we come up with to matter. And if this bid gets messy, her father’s support won’t hinge on some rehearsed speech. It’ll depend on her.”
Alex exhaled slowly. “Just don’t be late.”
“I won’t.”
After the call ended, I remained standing behind my desk for a moment, still seeing Emma’s words even though the laptop was now closed.
I needed to talk to her. Soon. Before decisions started getting made for me.
I was going to lose her. The best I could hope for was that I could do it on my own terms.
When I finally arrived at my dad’s house, my brothers, Kate, and her parents were already there.
Dad was holding court at the head of the table, Kate sitting across from her parents beside him.
I’d braced myself for negotiations disguised as small talk and Kate sharpening verbal knives beneath polite smiles, but her parents disarmed me within minutes.
“Nathaniel,” Dad said magnanimously, waving me into the vacant seat beside Kate’s. “Come meet Pete and Courtney Vanderhaul.”
Both of them stood up, and I instantly knew where Kate had gotten her unique flavor of hazel eyes, that dark, whiskey-hued amber I’d spent too much time looking into this week. Her mom had passed that down while her father had given her the rich red color of her hair.
“Nate,” I said as I shook hands with them both. Then I sat down where I’d been told to and quickly fell into a conversation with them.
Pete Vanderhaul spoke quietly, every sentence measured like he’d already evaluated three possible outcomes before he’d even opened his mouth. He listened more than he talked, which I respected immediately.
When he did speak, it was thoughtful, deliberate, and layered with intelligence that didn’t need volume to command attention. We drifted into conversation about market volatility and the subtle psychology behind long-term investments, and I found myself genuinely engaged.
He asked questions that made me think instead of defend, which was rare in this industry. Beside him, Courtney was formidable in her own right. She smiled easily and laughed often, but there was calculation beneath it.
Quick wit with razor-sharp instincts. Every time she spoke, I caught flashes of Kate. They had the same timing and that same ability to read a room in seconds. It explained a lot.
Kate hadn’t become this relentless force in a vacuum.
As my conversation with Pete fell into a comfortable lull, Courtney suddenly leaned forward, her eyes sparkling as they met mine. “Kate mentioned you and she have a spirited working relationship.”
She said it lightly and then took a sip of her wine, but Kate stiffened. Since I was being tortured with the faint citrus and vanilla scent of her hair on every inhale, I decided against simply shrugging off her mom’s comment and smirked instead. “That’s one way to describe it.”
Kate shot me a warning glance, but Pete let out a quiet, amused chuckle. “Competition can be healthy.”
“That depends on who’s winning,” I said.
Kate nudged my ankle under the table and I slid my foot against hers in response, pressing just enough to signal careful. She paused before reaching for her water glass, clearly registering the message.
“Who would you say is winning?” Courtney asked, interest glinting in her eyes.
“Both of them,” Alex cut in smoothly. “They’ve done incredible work together this week. Both our families stand to make a fortune off this deal.”
“I’d say so,” my dad agreed with a satisfied smile spreading across his lips. He turned to Kate. “The boys tell me you’ve been tremendously helpful.”
“Helpful?” she asked sweetly. “I’d say I’ve been the key to achieving what we have, but I’m too modest for that.”
“Is that what you’d say?” I asked, my voice even but not snide. “I thought there was no I in team, Katie.”
Everyone else chuckled, but her heel slammed into my shin with surgical precision. Pain exploded up my leg and I grunted before I could stop the sound from coming out. Alex glanced over at me, a slight frown creasing his brow. “Are you okay?”
Without breaking eye contact with Kate, I pressed my shoe down onto her toes beneath the table. Her inhale was sharp but quiet enough that I was sure no one else had noticed it.
“I’m fine,” I said calmly. “Swallowed wrong.”
Kate jerked her foot back, glaring daggers at me while reaching for her napkin like she was plotting murder. The rest of dinner unfolded with merciful civility, though.
Conversation shifted to travel, architecture, and the upcoming events on the social calendar both here and in New York.
All safe territory, but every time Kate moved beside me, I felt hyper-aware of it.
The brush of her elbow. The faint scent of her perfume.
The controlled way she laughed with her parents, softer than I’d ever heard it.
After dessert, Dad rose and gestured toward the study. “Pete, Courtney, would you join me for a nightcap?”
They followed him out, Courtney tossing Kate a look that felt suspiciously like maternal approval before disappearing down the hallway.
Alex lingered beside me where we stood near the drinks cart, both of us watching Jane and Kate drift toward the far corner of the room, already deep in conversation.
Jane gestured animatedly and Kate leaned in, her expression open and bright. It was disarming to see her so relaxed and friendly. I shook it off when Alex pulled me aside.
“Pete is closer with Hinds than I realized,” he said.
“So?” I crossed my arms. “Is that good or bad for us?”
“Good. For now.”
I nodded slowly, but then Alex lowered his voice a little more. “It turns out Hinds is Kate’s godfather.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You’re kidding.”
“No.”
I stared across the room at her again, everything I’d thought I understood about this deal suddenly looking completely different.
“He’s agreed to come to Chicago,” Alex said, raking a hand through his hair. “We’ll need to be ready.”
My head snapped toward him. “When?”
“He’s flying in first thing. We’re all meeting back here tomorrow for a formal discussion.”
“That’s fast.”
“It means he’s serious.”
Or it means something else entirely.
A tight knot suddenly formed in my stomach. I couldn’t name what had caused it, but it settled there anyway. Something about this didn’t feel right. Like I was playing a game I didn’t know the rules of anymore.
At the thought, my attention drifted back to Kate. She hadn’t told us that her family was quite that close to Abram Hinds, but if he was her godfather, there was more history there than we’d realized. So why didn’t she say anything?
Early evening sun filtered through the dining room windows, catching in her hair as she turned toward Jane again. Copper and gold threads were wound through the red, which was glossy and fluid as it slipped over her shoulder when she laughed.
The sound drifted over to me, and it was so much warmer and more genuine than any other laugh I’d heard from her that it caught me off-guard. I’d truly never seen her like this, and although I would have given anything not to feel it, heat raced through me as I watched her.
Jane reached out to touch her arm and Kate’s grin widened, her head dropping back on another unguarded laugh. For some absurd fucking reason, the sight sparked the same irrational flare of jealousy I’d felt watching her joke with Will days ago.
My mind tangled instantly. Kate was standing there, radiant and infuriating, and somewhere in the background, Emma’s words from her last email echoed, gentle and steady. The distance between those two realities suddenly felt vast, Kate’s presence somehow making Emma feel even farther away.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Alex asked, very real confusion thickening his voice. “These last few days, you really haven’t been acting like yourself. You keep zoning out. Do I need to send a doctor over to give you a checkup?”
I tore my gaze loose and shook my head at him. “No. I’m fine. We’ve just got a lot going on, but I’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Good.”
I grabbed my coat from the back of my chair. Slipping it on, I headed toward the foyer. Halfway there, instinct pulled my attention over my shoulder one last time. Kate was already looking at me, not smiling now but watching from the door leading into the dining room.
For a split second, the noise of the house faded, the entire hallway narrowing to the space between us. Something flickered across her expression. I just couldn’t tell what it was.
I gave her a brief nod, the closest thing to acknowledgment I trusted myself with. Then I turned and walked out into the night, the unease in my chest following me all the way to the car.