Page 141 of The Exception

I really didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with this right now. I was tempted not to respond, but I was trying to keep an open mind, as Graham had suggested.

Me: I’m not ignoring you. I’m at the hospital with Graham. His sister was brought here.

And then Iris chimed in.

Iris: Lily thinks she’s too good for us now that she’s married to a billionaire.

I gnashed my teeth.I could not believe the audacity of my family. I’d wanted to view their presence here as an olive branch, but nothing had changed.

I thought about Graham’s family and how they’d jumped into action when Sloan had gone to the hospital. I thought about the worry and the panic, but also the love. That was the type of family I wanted, and I was done being treated like crap by my parents and siblings.

I could no longer be silent. I could no longer ignore them and the way they’d treated me.

This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have at all, let alone via text. So I headed outside and pressed the button to connect the call. I sat on a bench and set the phone in my lap on speaker mode.

“Lily,” Mom said. “I’m sorry to hear about Graham’s sister. It’d be nice if you put forth the same amount of effort for your own family. Especially since we came all this way.”

I wasn’t even going to dignify that with a response. Was she seriously comparing flying over for a visit to being in the hospital?

“Did you come here to see me or because you wanted a free trip?” I asked.

“Can’t it be both?”

“Like you’d pass up a free trip,” Iris said from the background. “You’re the queen of mooching off luxury-travel brands.”

Mom shushed her. “Your husband’s family seems nice.”

“They are very nice,” I said in a cool tone. Cool. Calm. Collected. That was me.

Was there a point to this conversation? I kept hoping Mom would apologize, ask how I was, something. But it all felt surface-level, as always.

“Honey, why didn’t you tell us you were married?”

“Why do you think?” I asked. Did she truly not understand?

“Is this because of Auntie Jackie’s money? Because that was a silly misunderstanding.”

A silly misunderstanding?

“Really?” I asked. “So it was amisunderstandingwhen Iris called me selfish because I wouldn’t lend her money? It was amisunderstandingwhen you told me to apologize? It was amisunderstanding—” my voice rose with every sentence “—when the whole family ganged up on me as ifI’ddone something wrong?”

“Well, your sister was disappointed. She’d fallen in love with that house. She was counting on you.”

“I don’t know what gave her the impression that I had that kind of money or that she would be entitled to any of it.” Because that was how she acted—entitled.

“Auntie Jackie left you more than enough to share with the rest of us. Because that’s what families do. They help one another.”

Wow. I didn’t even know why I was surprised anymore.

“I’m done talking about this,” I bit out. “The money is gone.”

“Auntie Jackie’s money, perhaps. But now, you’re married to a billionaire. Just think of?—”

“Let me stop you right there.” I stood, more than ready to be done with this conversation. “Even if I had access to Graham’s money—which I don’t, because I signed a prenup. But even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t give you a cent. Not. One. Single. Cent.” Every word I said was punctuated with anger.

“Liliana, we’re your family,” Mom said. “I’m sure you could cuddle up to that handsome husband of yours and convince him to do whatever you’d like.”

Unbelievable.

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