Price of Pretending

"Beckett, it's time you settled down with someone." I looked up from where I was sprawled on my VIG Chesterfield sofa, shifting partway so I wouldn't dent the upholstery, exactly the habit I'd drilled into myself. My mother stood at the end of it, staring down at me with such fierce disapproval that I nearly, nearly sat up straight. Her face looked like disappointment itself. Slim nose tipped high, devil-red lips twitching. I knew already where this was headed, and I let my cheek rest against the cool leather as I exhaled. "Not this again?" I said. "You're pushing thirty, Beckett," she said, folding her arms over her chest, the diamond-studded bracelets at her wrists chiming with the motion. Her dark hair was pulled into a severe bun atop her head, which gave her an all-around stern aura. I cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm twenty-five. I honestly can't call that almost thirty." "Your father and I had already married by twenty-two," she said flatly. "You need to quit fooling around, causing scenes, and making this family look bad—" "I don't make this family look bad—" "—And it's also time for you to start a family of your own so we can give the next successor of our business a head start," she went on. I pushed myself upright, making sure to smooth my waistcoat so I didn't hand her one more thing to criticize. "So you expect me to run into someone today and somehow fall in love for real, marry her, and start a family? Life doesn't work that way. Well, maybe it does now with all the dating apps around, but I'm not like that." "Plenty of young women want you. Vernon's daughter has wanted your hand in marriage ever since you were both five. She's very beautiful, too." I raised a brow at her. "Arranged marriages aren't exactly common in America these days. This is 2015, not 1765, and I'm not going to marry someone solely because it benefits our business." "You want a marriage built on love?" she asked, her voice sharpening. "Rich families marry other rich families to preserve their wealth. It's what all our ancestors did before us, and it's what we'll keep doing. That's how our business stays alive." Arguing with her was pointless. "Marriage isn't something I want right now, that's all." She closed the short distance between us, looming over me in a way meant to intimidate. "I've let you have twenty-five years of freedom. I've already given you every comfort you've ever wanted. All I want in return is that you repay me by keeping our business alive." "And I will, only not right now," I answered firmly. The business wasn't going anywhere for a long time. We were basically like the new Hiltons. What was getting into her? Why was she suddenly trying to push this on me? "You don't have any choice left in this matter. If you refuse to settle this now, I'll strip you of your house and your car."