Chapter 12
KATE
Monday morning rolled around and I still had a weight I couldn’t shake firmly lodged in the center of my chest. It’d been there since Saturday morning at breakfast, had gotten heavier after the game, and when my parents had apparently been too busy to see me yesterday, it had grown into a boulder.
I’d spent most of Sunday pacing my apartment, replaying every conversation from the weekend, trying to figure out why I felt so uneasy about this deal all of a sudden. Nothing had technically gone wrong.
If anything, everything was moving too smoothly.
That should’ve been reassuring, but it wasn’t.
I still had that nagging feeling that something major was happening behind the scenes, and at breakfast on Saturday, Nate had been out of the loop too, but that didn’t seem true anymore.
I was one hundred percent confident Alex had let him in on the secret after they’d shut the door on me.
No one had bothered to loop me in just yet.
The elevator doors opened onto the executive floor of the Westwood offices and my unease sharpened into something jagged when I noticed the tension humming through the reception area.
Assistants moved quickly, their voices low, like they were trying not to be overheard as they bustled this way and that. I frowned and headed toward Nate’s office, but I paused at the sound of raised voices bleeding through from the conference room.
Well, at least that explains why the assistants are nervous.
When the room came into full view, my heart jumped into my throat. Alex was at the head of conference table with Nate at the foot, the two facing each other down with my parents and their dad sitting in the middle.
“This is not how negotiations work,” Nate argued, his voice so tight and controlled that it sounded a lot more dangerous than if he’d been shouting.
“It’s already in motion,” Alex insisted, calmer than his brother, but no less firm. “We’d be reckless not to consider the long-term advantages.”
Without even taking a single beat to think about what I was about to do, I shoved the door open and strode inside. “Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?”
Every head turned toward me. Alex’s expression shifted immediately into a warm, polished smile rather than the firm resolve he’d just had aimed at his brother. “Kate. Perfect timing. Would you like to have a seat?”
I didn’t move anything but my eyeballs, and that was only because my gaze slid to my parents of its own accord.
My heart started pounding, still in my throat.
It hit me like a bolt out of the blue to see my mom looking nervous, her fingers twisting together in her lap.
My father stared at the table, refusing to meet my eyes.
My stomach dropped, but I still couldn’t manage to convince my limbs to move. Nate looked around the room, sighed, then pushed back from the table. “Give us a minute.”
Without waiting for permission, he crossed the room in long strides, grabbed my arm, and pulled me out into the hallway, half supporting my weight until I managed to get my feet to work underneath me again.
He didn’t stop until we reached our shared office, shoving the door open, marching me inside, and locking it behind us before leaning back against it like he needed the support to stay upright himself.
I turned to face him, my pulse malfunctioning as I took him in.
He was wound tightly, his shoulders filling out his suit jacket in a way that made him look not only broader but harder.
The muscles in his jaw fluttered as he ground his teeth.
The sharp lines of his face were drawn with frustration so intense I could almost feel it radiating off him.
It didn’t take someone who knew him well to see he was on edge, and now, because of that, so was I. Except it wasn’t just nerves whirling in my belly. There was something hotter there too. Something that nearly caught fire when he fixed me with that cutting blue stare.
“Did the deal fall through?” I asked, clearing my throat when my voice came out a little breathy.
“No,” he said immediately. “The final details are being written up this morning.”
Relief tried to bubble up inside me, but it tangled with suspicion long before it could settle. “Then why wasn’t I told about this meeting?”
“I tried—”
“Clearly not hard enough,” I cut in.
“Kate,” he snapped, pushing off the door and dragging a hand through his hair like he was trying to get a grip on himself. “The success of this deal is riding on something I can’t find a way out of.”
Cold prickled across my skin. “What does that mean?”
He stared at me for a long second, and I also didn’t have to know him very well to see the doubt in his gaze. Almost like he wasn’t sure how much damage total honesty would cause or whether I could handle it.
I lifted my chin. “Whatever it is, I can take it, Nate. Just tell me already.”
“Hinds has made it clear what he wants,” he said finally, each word forced through clenched teeth. “He’s seen how successful my family has been, doing it this way.”
My stomach twisted. “Doing what this way? What way?”
His jaw flexed again. “He’ll only sign off on the sale with us if you become family.”
The room went completely still, like even the light shining in through the damn windows had stopped moving. I frowned. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Apparently, he doesn’t think you’re protected enough by our agreement to keep your firm on to handle his account once we buy him out. He wants a permanent alliance. One that guarantees our families are tied together in the long term.”
I stared at him, certain I’d misheard. Certain my brain had scrambled his words into something absurd and impossible. Slowly, I reached down and pinched the inside of my forearm hard enough to sting.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
“Making sure I’m awake.” My voice came out thin and disbelieving. “Because you are not making any sense right now.”
His expression didn’t change. If anything, it collapsed further in on itself, like something inside him was caving under pressure. Nate took a step closer to me, those blue eyes so intently fixed on mine that there could be no mistaking how serious he was.
“You and I have to get married, Kate,” he said softly. “That’s what Abram wants.”
I laughed. It burst out of me, incredulous and borderline hysterical.
The sound echoed off the glass walls of the office, much too loud and too unhinged for my liking.
I waited for him to crack, to smirk, or to roll his eyes before he told me this was some elaborate power play or intimidation tactic, but the laughter died in my throat when the look on his face didn’t change.
He wore a devastated expression, absolutely heartbroken—and still completely serious.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” I whispered.
“Abram wants us to get married,” he repeated, his voice rougher than I’d ever heard it, like it physically hurt him to push the words out. “If we want the deal to go through, we have to do it.”
The room tilted slightly and I gripped the back of the chair beside me, my stomach tumbling straight to my shoes. He dragged a hand over his mouth, then lowered it, very clearly forcing himself to continue.
“The entire bid is riding on this. Hinds will sign off on the sale to Westwood and Sons, keeping the acquisition intact, but only if you marry one of the brothers.”
The words thudded through me, heavy and suffocating. He gave me a little shrug as he pointed at his own chest. “Since I’m next in line, I’m the chosen one.”
I blinked at him, my brain struggling to catch up with reality. “Why?”
The question came out small. I’d never sounded so fragile in my life, but to be fair, I’d also never been told I would be marrying the hot, but insufferable guy in front of me.
Nate’s jaw tightened and he looked away for a moment like he couldn’t stand the weight of my stare.
“Blood is thicker than water, remember?” He seemed utterly crestfallen, but he managed to explain.
“Hinds wants blood ties. Westwood and Sons and Vanderhaul and Marksmith have been rivals for decades, especially in New York. He wants to ensure neither party can back out of what they’re promising. ”
A hollow laugh scraped up my throat. “So we’re the sacrificial lambs?”
His eyes flicked back to mine, full of dark resignation as he nodded. My chest tightened so much, it hurt to breathe. “What happens if we refuse? If I refuse?”
Nate’s gaze dropped to the floor and he chewed the inside of his cheek, his shoulders drawing inward like he was bracing for impact. “Hinds has other offers. Better offers. My company can survive losing this acquisition, but your dad’s firm cannot.”
It would’ve hurt less if he’d dumped me off the side of a cliff, but he wasn’t even done yet.
“Alex wants this acquisition. He’s been pushing for it and he’s willing to take any risk necessary, but it’s different for your dad.
He doesn’t just want it. The way I understand it, Hinds’ account is vital. You need it.”
“And my parents are okay with this?” I asked, my voice cracking despite my best effort to keep it steady.
“It sounds like the deal was cut between your dad, mine, Alex, and Hinds. But by all means, ask them. I wasn’t involved in any of the decision-making.”
The ringing in my ears muted all other sound. Suddenly, I couldn’t feel my fingers, my toes, or my lungs, like my soul had been ripped from my body. My dad? My very own father had pushed this forward, and Abram, my godfather, had thrown me into the line of fire to begin with.
A sharp, splintering ache cracked open inside my chest, spreading fast and painfully to my extremities, which were now the opposite of numb. My whole body felt like it was filled with flames. I swallowed hard, blinking against the burn stinging behind my eyes.
“Kate—” Nate started.
I shook my head, stepping back from him like he’d just threatened to marry me. Oh, right.
If he said anything else, I might shatter right here on the polished office floor and I refused to give anyone that kind of show.
“I need air,” I muttered, not waiting for him to respond before I was brushing past him, my shoulder grazing his chest. Even now, even in the middle of all this, the heat of him burned through the thin fabric of my blouse, but right now, none of that was important.
None of the confusion I’d been feeling or the conflict within that shifted one way or another from one day to the next.
I yanked the door open and strode down the hallway, ignoring the curious looks from assistants and analysts who quickly pretended to be very interested in their screens.
The elevator ride felt endless, the mirrored walls reflecting a woman I barely recognized, wide-eyed, pale, and visibly unraveling.
By the time I reached the street, my pulse was roaring in my ears. I lifted my hand and waved down the first cab I saw, climbing inside before the driver had even fully stopped.
“Where to?” he asked, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Where was I supposed to go when it felt like my entire life was crashing down around me in a city I didn’t know? I had absolutely no clue, so I just shrugged and sank back into the seat.
“It doesn’t matter. Just drive for a minute,” I finally muttered. “Take me anywhere. I just need to get away from here.”
“Ice-cream parlor, it is,” he said, and that sounded like a good idea to me.
This guy would be getting a hell of a tip.