The Exception Page 15

  I hated when she said things like that and a sick feeling emerged in the pit of my stomach.

  “Everyone will be there, and it’s going to be fabulous.”

  “I’m going to head out before Drew gets here.” She kissed my cheek. “Have fun tonight and I want all the details in the morning. That’s if you and Drew can manage to drag yourselves out of bed.”

  I laughed. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Just as she was about to leave, I heard Drew’s voice. As I walked into the living room, he stopped talking to Kristen and stared at me with a smile splayed across his face.

  “Wow. You look gorgeous.”

  “Thanks. So do you.” I smiled. “Look at that tux.” I walked over and placed my hand on his chest.

  “Are you ready?”

  “I am. Just let me grab my purse.”

  “My mom called today and asked me over for a dinner tomorrow. I would love for you to come with me. I mentioned you to her.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I just told her that I met a beautiful woman and I would like them to meet you.”

  “Parents. That’s a big step.” I grinned.

  “Nah. They’re cool. Don’t think of them as my parents. Just think of them as people I know.”

  “Okay. A barbeque sounds great. I’d love to go with you.”

  ****

  “Wow, look at this turnout,” I spoke as we walked arm in arm into the Bank Ballroom.

  “Connor’s events are always successful.”

  As a waiter walked by holding a tray of champagne, Drew grabbed two glasses and handed me one. We mixed and mingled with his business associates and friends.

  “I’m going to go find the restroom,” I spoke as I placed my hand on Drew’s arm.

  “Okay. I’ll wait right here.”

  Giving him a smile, I made my way to the bathroom. As I was sitting in the stall, the bathroom door opened and I froze when I heard a familiar voice. No. It couldn’t be. I sat there, literally shaking with my heart pounding out of my chest as I listened to the two women have a conversation. My breathing had become restricted while I sat there waiting for them to leave. After I heard the door open and then close again, the bathroom became silent. Quickly leaving the stall, I washed my hands and slowly opened the bathroom door. I needed to get out of here and fast. I had no time to tell Drew I was leaving as I made a beeline down the hallway and through the ballroom as quickly as I could. There was a crowd of people gathered around listening to Connor’s speech. If I could just get past them unnoticed, everything would be okay. My legs were shaking and I couldn’t seem to get a hold of myself. I was almost across the room where the exit doors were located when I accidentally bumped into a man.

  “Oh, excuse me, young—Jillian?” His eyes widened.

  I swallowed hard. “Daddy.”

  He grabbed hold of my arm to prevent me from taking another step.

  “My God. Have you been in New York all this time?”

  “Let me go, Daddy.” Tears started to fill my eyes. “Please, if you ever loved me, you’ll let me go.”

  “There is no way I’m letting you go. What the hell happened to you?”

  “There you are, dar—” My mother stopped mid-word as her eyes popped out of her head. “Jillian?”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “You have some serious explaining to do, young lady!” Her voice grew loud.

  This was it. I knew one day this moment would come, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I needed to collect my thoughts and, for the first time in my life, stand up to my parents. I was a twenty-four-year-old woman with her own life and I needed to act like one. As much as I wanted to run out of the room, I would face them as an adult.

  “What’s going on here?” Drew asked as he walked up and saw the hold my father had on me.

  “Excuse me? Who are you?” my mother asked as she looked him up and down.

  “It’s not important who I am. Please remove your hand from her now before I do it for you.” He glared at my father.

  “Drew, these are my parents.”

  “Oh shit,” he spoke.

  “Like your mother said, Jillian, you have some serious explaining to do. What kind of person does what you did?” My father asked.

  “Yes. Do you know the embarrassment you have caused this family?” my mother spoke through gritted teeth. “Not to mention what you did to poor Grant. He’s devastated.”

  My jaw dropped. “Oh yeah, poor Grant. The two-timing, lying, cheating son of a bitch!” I yelled.

  “Okay. Not here.” Drew placed his arm around my waist.

  “Is this your new boy toy?” my mother scowled.

  “I’m Jillian’s friend and this is not the place to have this discussion.”

  “Fine,” my father spoke. “We can do it in our hotel suite. We’re staying at the Plaza. Jillian, come with us.”

  “No.”

  “Jillian, you heard what your father said. Now let’s go!” my mother harshly spoke.

  “No.” I folded my arms.

  “Excuse us for a moment.” Drew held up his finger and took hold of my arm, leading me away from my parents. “I know you’re in shock right now, but you knew eventually you’d have to face them. They’re here now, so you might as well get it over with. Once you’ve talked, it’s over.”

  “There is no talking to them, Drew.”

  “Jillian, you are twenty-four years old. They can’t hurt you anymore. Tell them how you feel and move on.”

  “Will you come with me?”

  “Of course I will.” He kissed my head. “Take in a deep breath. You can do this. You’re a strong, independent woman.”

  “Fine.”

  I walked over to where my parents were standing. “We’ll follow you to the Plaza.”

  “No. You’ll be coming with us. Your friend can see you another time,” my mother spoke.

  I glared at my mother as the rage inside started to consume me.

  “I said we’ll follow you to the hotel. He’s coming with me or else you don’t get to talk to me. Do you understand?”

  “It’s fine, Jillian.” My father sighed. “Let’s go. Shall we?”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Jillian

  I took in a deep breath as Drew placed his hand on the small of my back and we climbed into the Bentley.

  “The Plaza Hotel, Roland,” he spoke.

  “I don’t think I can do this sober. I need a drink. Don’t you keep any liquor in here?” I asked as I looked around.

  “Jillian, you’ll be fine.” He took hold of my hand. “Trust me. You can do this and I’ll be there right by your side.”

  “I still need alcohol.” I laid my head on his shoulder.

  “I can guarantee there’s a fully stocked fridge in their suite. Just grab something when you get in there.”

  Roland pulled up behind my parents’ limo and the four of us got out at the same time. My mother glared at me the whole way up to their suite. Once the door shut, the shit was about to hit the fan. My nerves were spastic and I needed to calm down. Walking over to the refrigerator, I opened it and pulled out a bottle of beer.

  “What on earth are you doing?” my mother asked in disgust as I took the cap off the bottle and took a large sip.

  “I’m drinking a beer. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “You better watch your attitude, young lady.” My father pointed at me. “Now sit down!”

  “No thank you. I’d rather stand. So, who’s going to go first? Mother? Father?”

  “Why did you do it?” my father asked. “After everything your mother and I have done for you, this is how you repay us?”

  “And how dare you say those things about Grant,” my mother chimed in. “He’s heartbroken.”

  “I’m sure he is,” I spoke in a sarcastic tone. “And to answer your question, Daddy, I did it because I wanted out.”

  “What do you mean by that?” he growled.

&
nbsp; “I wanted out from the grips of both of you. You ran my entire life. You never once asked me what I wanted.”

  “It didn’t matter what you wanted. We’re your parents and we knew what was best for you,” my mother said.

  “No! You didn’t know what was best for me,” I shouted. “You never let me explore life and do the things I wanted to do. You were so busy trying to make sure I was the perfect daughter that made you look good that you didn’t give a damn about how I felt.”

  “Oh, stop being so dramatic.” My mother waved her hand in front of her face. “We gave you everything you wanted.”

  “You gave me everything you thought I wanted!” I pointed at her. “You chose my friends, what I ate, what I could and couldn’t wear, what school I had to attend, college, my career, and my future husband! You didn’t give me a choice, and like a fool, I put up with it for far too long. Grant didn’t want to marry me any more than I wanted to marry him. He cheated on me! Did you know that on the night of his bachelor party, he slept with not one, but two strippers at the same time?!”

  My mother looked away with a nasty look on her face. “Grant loves you. He would never do that and what you did to him and to us is unforgivable.” She folded her arms.

  “Well, at least we agree on something because what you did to me is unforgivable.”

  The room became silent for a few moments, and when I looked over at Drew, there was a deep sadness in his eyes. This wasn’t fair to him. He shouldn’t have had to hear this.

  “You’ve embarrassed this family, Jillian,” my father spoke. “And you threw away a million-dollar wedding.”

  “Is that all that matters to you? The money? I didn’t ask for a fucking million-dollar wedding. That was all her,” I pointed to my mother, “doing.”

  “Why did you come to New York?” he asked. “And how did you slip away so quietly without a trace? You haven’t used your credit cards and your bank account hasn’t been touched. What have you been doing for money?”

  “Oh, I’m sure this one over here has been supporting her.” My mother pointed at Drew. “Is that why you left Grant? For him?”

  Narrowing my eyes at her, I couldn’t believe she dragged Drew into this.

  “How dare you! You want the truth?” I strutted over to her and my father. “Because you aren’t going to like it. When I turned twenty-one, my grandmother left me a trust fund with four million dollars in it.”

  The shock on their faces was priceless and it gave me great satisfaction to finally tell them.

  “What?” my father asked in anger.

  “That’s right, Daddy. Your mother made sure that I would be taken care of when I finally decided to break free from this so-called family and prison I was living in. She knew everything.”

  “That wretched woman!” he yelled. “How dare she hide that from me!”

  “She did it because she loved me and knew I needed an out. As long as I stayed in Seattle around the two of you and Grant, I would never know who I truly was.”

  Seeing them sitting there weak and their defenses down gave me the strength to continue. Drew sat back in his chair, staring at me and waiting for what was to come next.

  “What do you mean you would never know who you truly were?” my father asked.

  “You made me into someone I don’t even know! You molded me into what you wanted me to be. You didn’t let me decide what I wanted to be or let me discover myself. You shoved your life down my throat and every time I look in the mirror, I see a complete stranger!”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Jillian. You are such a drama queen,” my mother snarled. “The fact of the matter is that you have embarrassed this family and you need to do some serious apologizing. Not only to us and the community that supported you, but also to Grant.”

  I could feel the fire rise inside my body and the anger I felt grew more intense.

  “An embarrassment? Me?” I calmly spoke. “If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you, Daddy.”

  “Me? Why me?”

  “Do you know why I came to New York?”

  My mother rolled her eyes. “I’m sure it was for him.”

  “LEAVE DREW OUT OF THIS!” I shouted. “I came here because of my sister! You know, the child you created with another woman?” I glared at my father.

  My mother looked at him and swallowed hard while my father sat there and blankly stared at me. Finally, they were speechless.

  “How did you find out about her?” my mother asked.

  Cocking my head, I narrowed my eye at her. “You knew about her?”

  “Of course I did. Now answer the question.”

  “She contacted me two years ago after her mother passed away. She told her everything. We bonded and became close like sisters should be. I can’t believe I had a sister and you never told me!”

  “You were never supposed to find out about her,” my father softly spoke as he looked down.

  “Well, too fucking bad. I did. What kind of father just ignores the fact that he has another child?”

  “I’m not rehashing the past, Jillian. Drop it and you are never to speak of her to anyone.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about that because she’ll be dead in six to nine months.” A tear formed in my eye.

  My father looked up at me. “What do you mean?”

  “She has brain cancer and there’s nothing more the doctors can do for her. So I hope you feel like shit, but I’m sure you don’t. Neither one of you has a compassionate bone in your body.”

  My mother raised her brow and looked away.

  “I’m sorry,” my father spoke.

  “Sorry?” I leaned my ear towards him. “You’re sorry for what? That I found out, that she’s dying, or that you never got the chance to know your own daughter?”

  “Maybe all of it.” He looked down.

  I stood there and slowly shook my head.

  “I thank God every day that I’m nothing like the both of you. How I’m not is a miracle.”

  They both sat there in silence and Drew looked at me with a small grin. He knew I had won.

  “I want to meet her,” my father spoke.

  “What?” my mother lashed out. “No! You are not meeting that woman.”

  “Will you shut the hell up for once in your life, Patricia!” he commanded at her. “I never should have listened to you in the first place. Now I’ve lost two daughters.”

  “Jillian will be coming home. We’ll work this out. She’ll apologize and we can all move on.”

  “The fuck I will!”

  “Don’t you dare use that language in my presence,” she spoke in anger.

  “Oh, I will use that language in your presence. You cannot and will not tell me what to do. I am a grown woman who makes her own decisions. If I want to say ‘fuck,’ I will and I’ll say it as many times as I want to.”

  “What happened to you?” My mother narrowed her eyes in disgust at me. “What happened to my daughter?”

  “The daughter you created is gone and she’s never coming back. She’s dead and buried deep down in the depths of the Earth. By the way, that man sitting over there that you keep referring to, his name is Drew Westbrook and you will respect him.”

  I grabbed my purse from the table and Drew followed me to the door.

  “Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Bell. Oh, and by the way, Patricia, Kellan helped me plan my little escape. He knew where I was the whole time. You are to stay away from him. If I even catch a hint of you going anywhere near him again, I will leak to the press about Daddy’s illegitimate child and how the two of you went to great lengths to keep her a secret.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She glared at me.

  “And you never thought I’d skip out on my wedding day either.” I smiled. “Don’t underestimate me. I learned from the best.”

  Walking out the door, I let out a deep breath and fell into Drew’s arms.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Drew

  I held her as tightly
as I could and ran my hand up and down her back. I expected her to break down and start crying, but she didn’t.

  “I’m so proud of you for holding it together in there and standing up to them.” I kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay?”

  She broke our embrace and looked up at me.

  “I’m fine. Actually, I feel great. Is that fucked up?”

  I let out a light chuckle. “I’m not sure.”

  “Let’s get out of here before one of them opens the door,” she spoke.

  As we climbed into the back of the Bentley, Jillian laid her head on my shoulder.

  “Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked.

  “Of course I will. I wasn’t planning on leaving you anyway. Where do you want to stay? My place or yours?”

  “How about your place? But can we stop by mine really quick so I can grab some clothes for tomorrow? I really don’t feel like putting this dress back on in the morning.”

  “To Jillian’s apartment, Roland,” I spoke.

  After stopping by Jillian’s apartment, we headed to my townhouse. Jillian went upstairs while I grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. When I walked into the bedroom, she was in the bathroom washing her face and letting her hair down. I poured us some wine, climbed under the covers, and waited for her.

  “I brought some wine. I figured you’d want some.”

  “Thank you.” She softly smiled as she climbed in next to me.

  Taking the glass from my hand, she brought it to her lips.

  “So now what?” I asked. “What are you going to do about your parents?”

  “Nothing. I said what I had to and it’s done. I’m never going back to Seattle. I’m sorry you had to witness all that and I’m sorry for ruining your night.”

  “You didn’t ruin my night and don’t be sorry. Your parents. Wow.” I shook my head.

  “I told you. They’re something else. I lived my whole life like that.” She finished off her wine and held her glass to me.

  Grabbing the bottle from the nightstand, I refilled her glass.

  “Are you still up for going to my parents’ house tomorrow?”