Page 69 of The Billionaires' Prize

“You were protecting me when you offered me up on a public stage?”

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “When are you going to stop throwing that in my face?”

“When are you going to stop holding Harvard over my head? It’s Harvard, Mother. One of the top schools in the world. I got the degree you wanted?—”

“I don’t have time to go through this again.”

My eyes go wide. I bet I look like a cartoon character.

“Again?” She’s got to be kidding. She built a story in her head about a conversation we never had.

“That’s in the past. Let’s leave it there and concentrate on meeting the terms of your trust. Tyler’s the obvious choice. He’ll understand that you have to go on a date with Alexander and Gabriel.” She sneers as she says his name.

The walls feel closer than they did a few moments ago, and I grip the arms of the chair, trying to breathe through the tension. My bra tightens around me like a boa constrictor, and my vision dims at the edges, panic climbing up my throat. My watch vibrates, and I tip it to see the screen. High heart rate.

Ohmygod. I can’t pass out in my mother’s office with no underwear on.

Oblivious to my distress, she stands and paces over to the corner window. Is she going to forbid me from seeing them? Could she do that? She pulls the strings of my job and my inheritance.

“Your grandfather would lose his mind if he knew you were going on a date with that man. Thank goodness he isn’t here to see it. Or read the papers.”

“He changed the rules, Mother. I don’t really care what he would think.”

She wheels on me then, blue eyes blazing as she closes the distance between us. Bile rises in my throat, but I lift my chin because I learned at a very young age to never cower in front of people like her. My grandfather used it against me more than once.

He lived for confrontation. I like to think he died because of it. Too much stress on the heart.

Stress I don’t want.

Conflict that I happily shy away from.

“It doesn’t matter what you think,” she yells. “If you want your inheritance, you’ll meet the terms by your twenty-fifth birthday.”

“It would have been helpful to know what those conditions were,” I muse. Somehow, I doubt my grandfather updated things the week before he died. Especially since his death was sudden.

“How long did you know?” I demand.

She scoffs and backs off.

I stand, needing to be on a level playing field. “Or maybe the better question is, why didn’t you fight for me? Do you think I need a husband to be a savvy business?—”

“Of course I don’t, Katherine.”

That’s maybe the first honest thing she’s said to me today. Almost a compliment.

“You know Gabe has more money than Tyler,” I say, unable to resist poking the bear.

“Oh, for god’s sake.” She circles her desk again. “You want to date the bad boy, is that it? Get him out of your system?”

She slams her hands down on the thick slab of wood. “He tried to ruin your grandfather.”

“I’m aware. Of Grandfather’s side of the story.”

Her eyes widen, and her jaw drops, ready to refute me.

“What would Gabriel say if I asked him?”

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