and was even serious with a few of them, but we have never really discussed my love life.
I knew that he did not approve of Henry, but he kept the details of his disapproval to himself.
This is the first time that we have ever broached the subject and it's disarming.
"Franklin Parks is a collector, honey. He likes to have things that are exclusive and hard to get and one of a kind. He has built up a large media conglomerate, but up until this point it has mainly been in the online space. He's looking to expand and buy something traditional, perhaps even old-fashioned. That's why he's interested in Tate."
"So, why doesn't he just make you an offer?"
"He has, and it was quite low. It's not enough to get us out from under our debts and it would leave us with very little to spare. Your mother and I did not build this fortune, this empire, to give it away, or worse yet sell it for parts."
"So, why can't you find another investor?" I ask.
"Don't you think that we have tried? We have been trying for two years. Things have been getting steadily worse and, with each quarterly report, things look even bleaker."
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
"I've already been fudging the profits a little bit. All in an effort to keep us afloat."
My chest tightens at the admission.
Putting out reports that do not reflect the truth about a company's profits and losses is a mortal sin in the financial world. Investors rely on that information to make decisions about the stock price and every other investment decision, and CEOs have been put away for many years for doing a lot less.
"So, where do I come in?" I ask.
"Franklin wants you to be his wife," my father says. There's no surprise or intonation in his voice when he says that. He says it in the same flat effect he has said everything else today.
My father is detached, almost as if he's not there at all. He's usually a little cold, a little distant, but this is on a whole new level.
"I don't understand what he wants from me, or why he even wants me to marry him. When I talked to him, he told me that he had no interest in marriage at all."
"I don't know much about his intentions," my father says coolly. "But even if he were to reveal them to me, I would probably not trust them. People in our line of work tend to say things that don't really reflect the truth."
"That's one way of putting it," I agree.
He scoffs loudly and then clears his throat.
"I don't know much about Franklin, and we have investigators working on finding out more about him. But what they did find so far is that you two have actually met before when you were fifteen. He tried to come on to you and you turned him away."
I shake my head, trying to remember when this could've happened.
"It was at your debutante ball. He was hanging out with me and some of my friends from the club. Then at some point, you two had a chat."
Suddenly, I remember the precise moment. It was right outside the main ballroom, and I was standing by the wall, after feeling like I was about to have a panic attack.
I needed some quiet time to clear my head and the last thing that I expected was someone to approach me and flirt with me.
I was there with a date, whom I didn't particularly like, and this older guy came over, at first to just congratulate me. But he kept hanging around and, eventually, his friendliness became a little bit too much.
He made a joke and laughed, touching my shoulder and then my waist. I tried to back away from him, but there was nowhere to go.
Nothing he said was particularly funny, but I laughed along with him just to be nice, the way that girls do when they are uncomfortable.
When I tried to extricate myself from the situation, he didn't want to take no for an answer and I had to physically push him away.
"That sounds about right," he says when I go over the highlights. "He had mentioned that you were the only woman who has ever turned him away and that's why he wants you to be his wife."
"What can I do?" I ask him. “I mean, I want to help but can I really marry him?"
“No, you shouldn’t marry him, pumpkin,” my