Dear? That word from her mouth makes my stomach lurch even more than it already is.
As soon as she's gone, Becca turns to me and says, "You're an asshole. You could've told me. You could've given me some sort of a heads up that a freight train of fucked up news was going to plow into me."
"It's not what you think," I say.
"Is that so? It all looks pretty obvious to me. Do you get off on 'stepdad-stepdaughter' role-playing or something? Is that why you fucked me? Or maybe that isn't it. Are you after my mother's wealth or something? I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this," she says. "What's in it for you?"
"Look, slow down. First, I had no idea who you were that day at the bar," I say. "I had no idea that you were Lorna Lowell's daughter. And second, I have enough wealth without your mother's. I haven't been called the King of Wall Street for nothing."
"So what is it then? Are her tits that impressive? Has the head of your cock swollen so much that your brain has lost all ability to reason?"
This is a side of Becca I've never seen before. I have to say, she looks kind of hot all riled up like this. This girl has spunk.
"None of the above," I reply. "This has to do with my position with the board."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks, tucking her blonde hair behind one ear.
I'm really not in the mood to re-count the whole story to Becca, but I figure this may be my only opportunity. I need to set the record straight.
"Your mother owns a large stake in my company, Kane Price," I say. "So large that according to company bylaws, I had to give her a seat on the Board of Directors. And she's now in the role of Chief Counsel advising all investment matters."
"But I still don't understand," Becca says. "Why would you have to go and marry her? Where's the connection?"
"She basically held my hand to the flame."
Becca laughs. "Give me a break. You're a grown man. Why wouldn't you just say no?"
"It's not that simple," I say, "and if you've watched the news at all, you'd see I recently got myself in a bit of a fucking mess."
"That's putting it mildly," she replies.
"She threatened me. If I didn't agree to marry her, she'd not only bring me down, but the entire company as well. You may not believe me, but I actually give a shit about the thousands of Kane Price employees. Their livelihood is at stake, just as much as mine is."
"Well, I'm still pissed you didn't tell me," Becca says.
"It wasn't my choice," I reply. "That night, I had no way of predicting this."
I can see by the look in Becca's eyes that she still doesn't believe me, but it's too late to convince her any further because I hear Lorna enter the dining room.
"What wasn't your choice?" she asks, her voice sharper than my steak knife.
Fuck my life.
I need to pull something out of my ass to placate her and smooth things over. This should be interesting.
7
Becca
I watch as Mason tries to cover his tracks with my uber bitch of a mother.
"I was talking about this steak," he says casually. "Becca asked how I could possibly eat my steak this rare, and I just said it wasn't my choice."
Mason looks at me, his eyes pleading with me to play along.
I agree to smooth the situation over with him and jump in with the lie. "Yeah, I half expect it to start mooing again at any moment."
"Grow up, Becca," Lorna says.