Chapter 11
The next morning, I woke up to a pounding on the door.
“Julian, 1 know you’re in there! Open up, let me in!” a woman’s voice shouted.
“Open the damn door!”
I stumbled out of my room, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, just as Julian was shoving the woman, who I later learned was Jessica, out the door.
“Who is she, honey?” I asked.
Rosemary pulled me back inside. “Nobody. Emily, go back to bed and get some rest.”
But before she could finish her sentence, a little boy who was hiding behind Jessica dashed forward and clung to Rosemary’s leg.
“Grandma! Dad! It’s Ethan! Don’t you want me anymore? Was I bad? I’ll be good, I promise!
Waaaah! Don’t leave me!”
Seeing her grandson, Rosemary immediately scooped him up in her arms.
“There, there, don’t cry. Grandma would never leave you.”
Now I was fully awake.
“What’s going on? Who are these people? Julian, are you hiding something from me?”
The secret was out.
Rosemary practically dragged me back into the bedroom.
“What’s happening? Who are that woman and child?” I demanded.
Rosemary stammered, unable to come up with a plausible explanation. She just kept telling
me not to worry.
Oh, I wasn’t worried.
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Too Late to Say Sorry
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Chapter 11
This was just the beginning.
I had already called my parents. They should be arriving any minute now,
I sat patiently and waited.
The commotion outside quieted down for a moment, then I heard a loud slap.
Followed by my dad’s booming voice.
“Julian! My daughter has given you everything, and you’ve been seeing another woman
behind her back?!”
My dad never minces words.
Hearing her son being hit, Rosemary forgot all about comforting me and rushed out.
“Oh dear! let me see, did it hurt?”
“How dare you hit him?!” Rosemary shrieked at my dad.
I strolled out casually, taking my time.
Rosemary was shielding Julian.
My dad was furious. He’d been biting his tongue for days, and now he could finally let loose.
“Damn right I hit him! We heard everything downstairs. Your son has not only been keeping a woman in his hometown, he has a five–year–old son with her!”
“And you thought you could swindle our family out of our money? I don’t think so!”
Julian’s mother, Rosemary, wouldn’t stand for her son being berated.
“What nonsense! Who’s swindling anyone? Let me tell you, it’s your daughter who’s carrying our grandchild! We could just as easily refuse to marry her and see how she fares
then!”
Julian, unlike his mother, wasn’t quite so stuck in the past.
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Too Late to Say Sorry
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Chapter 11
He tried to calm Rosemary down.
“Mom, please stop.”
“Why should I? The truth is out now. Emily, Ethan is our family’s heir. You’ll just have to accept it. As for that woman, Jessica, she means nothing to me from this day forward.”
“Considering you’re pregnant, you’d better tell your parents to apologize to Julian. I won’t press charges for assault.”
“Refuse to marry me? You can’t do that!” Jessica shouted, finally entering the fray.
“I’ll expose everything you’ve done! Just you w
