Page 67 of The Exception

The more I thought about it, the more my anger reignited.

It was such a controlling billionaire thing to do. And while I’d always suspected that Graham would go to great lengths to protect his brand and his family, he’d crossed the line. I mean, Jesus. It wasn’t like one luxury-travel blogger was going to make or break an entire hotel empire. Did he truly feel that threatened by me?

I seethed. He’d invaded my privacy. He’d had no right to do that. I didn’t care what his reasons were; I couldn’t imagine anything justifying his actions.

“Well, gang,” Knox said, interrupting my thoughts. When I glanced up, I realized that everyone had joined us, including Graham. “Looks like we’re stuck here for the night. Something’s wrapped around the propeller, and it will not budge.”

Kendall got up to stand beside Knox, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He whispered something to her, but my eyes were on Graham. His jaw was clenched so tight, I thought it might crack.

“So, that’s it?” Nate asked. “We have to stay here until someone can tow us back to shore?”

“Pretty much,” Knox said, calm and collected. The opposite of how I felt.

“And how long will that be?” Jasper asked.

“Tomorrow morning. Maybe afternoon.”

Nate’s eyes widened. “We can’t take the smaller boat back to the marina?”

“We’re too far out to do so comfortably. Not to mention it would be a choppy ride, and I don’t like the idea of leaving the crew shorthanded.”

“This is crazy,” Emerson said, dragging a hand through her hair. We were all digesting the news that we’d be staying on the boat overnight. Something none of us had planned for.

“This is awesome!” Brooklyn said. “It’s like one big family sleepover! And it’s not even Christmas!”

I smiled. Leave it to the twelve-year-old to look on the bright side.

“Oh yeah,” she continued. “We could bring the beds out here and sleep all together.”

“Fun idea, kiddo. But I don’t think that’s happening.” Nate gave her shoulder a squeeze.

She pouted. “Then can I stay with Auntie Sloan in her cabin?”

Nate glanced to Sloan. “I’m not sure Auntie Sloan is feeling up to that.”

“Oh.” Brooklyn’s face fell.

“But we can absolutely hang out together in the morning,” Sloan said, stifling another yawn.

“What about a helicopter?” Emerson asked.

“Not enough room to land safely on the deck,” Jackson said.

If it had been my own family, I would’ve swum ashore. But Graham’s family was lovely, so maybe this wouldn’t be that terrible.

Emerson and Kendall had been the most welcoming. Apart from Brooklyn, who’d already asked if she could call me Auntie Lily. That had been a punch to the gut.

Lying to Graham’s family was bad enough, but lying to a child? To Brooklyn? I wasn’t sure I’d ever despised myself as much as I had in that moment.

I knew his family still had questions about our relationship, and I didn’t blame them. If I hadn’t been so mad at Graham, I would’ve been grateful he had so many people in his life who loved him.

Even so, this time with his family was making me realize how woefully unprepared we were to present ourselves as besotted newlyweds. And I wondered what it would take for them to accept our relationship. There was a lot riding on it.

Graham knew the stakes as well as I did. Here I was, working my butt off to ingratiate myself to his family, only to discover that he’d hacked my blog?Hacked.My. Blog.

No more secrets, my ass.

I was still trying to wrap my head around that. Not only the fact that he’d done it, but he’d tried to make light of it.

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