in your voice, like having a family is the only thing you want.”
“It’s not the only thing I want. But it’s one of the things I want most.”
I’d thought she was different from all the other women I met. Maybe she wasn’t.
She cocked her head slightly, picking up on my tone. “Let me guess. You’re one of those men who never wants to get married.”
“And you’re one of those women who has to get married.”
She shrugged. “I don’t have to get married. If it never happens, it never happens. But I want to meet the love of my life, fall madly in love, and sleep beside him for the rest of my life. If that makes me sound boring, I don’t care. If that makes me sound unoriginal, so be it. Marriage to the wrong man sounds terrifying. It could be a trap with no escape, a commitment to misery. I never want to be married for the sake of being married. There would be no point when a man can’t offer me something I can’t offer myself. But a marriage to the right man…sounds like the greatest experience.” She wrapped her fingers around the stem of her glass and brought her wine closer to her. “Think less of me for it. I don’t care. Just as I don’t think less of you for wanting to be a bachelor forever.”
“You don’t think less of me?” I asked, a note of surprise in my voice. “You aren’t going to tell me all of that will change when I meet the right woman?”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Everyone is different. Not all of us are meant to spend our lives with one person. We’re wired differently. And the second we start making people feel strange for being different, we’re in the wrong. So if you want to be alone for the rest of your life, Cato, then be alone. If you don’t want a family, don’t have one.” She sipped her wine then licked her lips.
My mother always told me how she wanted Bates and me to marry. She said even if she’d known my father would run out on her, she would do it all again in a heartbeat. Having all the money in the world didn’t compare to sharing her heart with the two of us. She said I would never understand until I had children of my own. “Bates and I made a pact never to get married.”
“Married to each other?” she teased. “Good. I don’t have a problem with two men, but I have a problem with two brothers.”
The corner of my mouth rose in a smile. Now that we’d stopped discussing murder, she relaxed. She turned into her flirtatious and playful self. “In our world, we can’t trust anyone but each other. A bad marriage could affect the business. It could destroy our lives. Neither one of us wants kids, so marriage is unnecessary.”
“So, let me get this straight.” She grabbed the bottle and refilled her glass. “Marriage is off the table because of money?” She pushed the half-empty bottle back to the center of the table next to the candle. “Money has dictated your lives so greatly that you can’t enjoy anything else? That you can’t even share it with someone?” She spoke with emotion but not judgment. “I stand by what I said. Money is the root of all evil. Money destroys lives. It’s the monster that swallows happiness whole. There’re so many beautiful things in life that are financially intangible.”
“Only poor people say that.” It was an asshole comment to make, but it was the first thing that tumbled out of my mouth. I would never forget how cold it used to be on winter nights without the heater. I would never forget how raw my mother’s hands were from working in the cannery twelve hours a day. Money had saved my family—not destroyed it.
She didn’t show offense. “Wealth is supposed to give you advantages in life. But from what you’re describing, it sounds like it’s inhibiting you. You can’t go anywhere without thirty armed men protecting you. You can’t trust a woman to love you for you. Men all over the world are trying to infiltrate your ranks to trick you. You’re a prisoner—the walls of your cell, your own cash. I admire everything you’ve accomplished, but above all else, I pity you.” Her pretty green eyes bored into mine, and instead of harsh judgment, there really was pity.