Billionaire BWWM Romance 1: The Billionaire's Arranged Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page A

cannot believe you would do such a thing!” Kimiko placed her hands flat on the table and glared at her daughter.
     
    “I forbid you to see him or speak with him ever again. You will not act in such a haphazard way. You know we must approve of any young man interested in you, and you will not date or marry anyone that I have not chosen for you. Do not dare to defy your parents, your family or your culture. You owe us everything. Do you hear me? Everything . You will date who I allow you to date, and I am telling you right now that you will date Carter’s son, and there will be no discussion about it.”
     
    Jillian tried to keep all of her emotions in. She knew she must not treat her mother with disrespect. “Please don’t make my life part of your business dealings, Mother. Our family’s company is doing fine without Mr. Carter. If you want to do business with him, then do business with him, but my life shouldn’t have any bearing on it, and the marriage I enter into should be for love, not for money.”
     
    Kimiko scoffed again. “You know so little. You are young and you cannot see into the future like I can. You are thinking with a child’s mind and a child’s heart and it will make a fool of you and of all of us.” She leaned slightly toward Jillian. “Think, my daughter, think carefully. Who will inherit our family’s business here in the states? Who will run it? You will. You have an obligation to your family and a responsibility to the business that your uncles in Japan have worked so hard to build up. You would throw all of that away for some idiotic romantic notions you are too young to understand? I won’t hear of it. The wise move is to align you with a family who can help our business grow into the future, not with someone who will bring no honor to our family nor benefit to your life. Carter’s son carries a good strong name and he is from a family wealthier than ours. His father has a thriving business that could one day be merged with ours.
     
    “More good business opportunities could be achieved if the families are close. This is your duty to all of your family. We have technological advances in Japan that have no equal in the world, and Carter is interested in them.
     
    “You and his son could carry those advances into the future and be the foundation of the technological world to come. Look beyond your ridiculous childhood fantasies and focus on the future, make your family a priority and uphold your obligation and duty to all of us. Do not even consider shaming or dishonoring us by going against my instructions.”
     
    Jillian heard the words coming at her like hail stones in a freezing blizzard that she could not escape. Honor. Dignity. Respect. Tradition. Obligation. Responsibility. Family. Business. She felt as though her mother’s hands were so enormous that they could fit around her whole body and squeeze until Jillian had no room to think or breathe or live at all. She knew there was no way out of it. She knew she could not go against her mother’s wishes. Her heart felt like every bit of light in it had been squeezed out and there was nothing left but the outer skin of it.
     
    She looked straight forward as her mother spoke on, but she didn’t hear the words her mother spoke. She was thinking of Wilson. She thought of how much she loved him and how much he loved her. She thought of how he had gone on and on talking with her about marriage and their life together. She knew he had nothing to offer her but his love, and she believed that would be enough. Jillian thought of stories she knew in which the lovers ran away together, but she knew that she could never desert her family. She could never leave.
     
    She realized that her mother and father had never actually spent time with Wilson. They’d only met him at the house on a few occasions when he was coming by to pick Jillian up to go out. The tiniest sliver of hope began to glow within her. Perhaps if they got to know him