“Yeah.”Jillian dropped the bag and turned to Lex.“Let’s get out of here.And don’t ever scare me like that again.”
Lex palmed her arm and led her toward the door, grinning.“I promise.Why don’t you go with the guys while I finish here?”
His friends stood behind her father and brothers, towering over them.Cian and Ricky looked worried while her father looked ready to commit mayhem.She followed his angry gaze to Mrs.Petrosian.Jillian noticed her tearful eyes.In her anger, she hadn’t really paid attention to them.They were turquoise.Like hers.
“What do you need to finish?”Jillian asked Lex, her eyes locked with the old woman.“She has the money my father owed her husband.End of story.”
“Your father was my son, Jivan,” the woman said.“Not this circus clown.”
“Do not call my father a clown,” Jillian snapped.She might be angry with him for disowning her, but no one was allowed to belittle him or what he did.
The woman reached inside her bag and whipped out something.“Look at his picture and tell me you don’t remember him.”
Jillian ignored the picture and studied the woman instead.Turquoise eyes were unusual, but that didn’t mean jack.She could be wearing contacts.Her complexion was dark.She had dark hair and regal bearing.She also had no problem setting thugs on people.She was everything Jillian wasn’t.
“I don’t know you, lady, or your son.Stay away from me and my family.”Jillian gripped Lex’s hand and started to turn away, but the woman made a mewling sound and clasped her chest as though she was having a heart attack.Jillian shook her head.She had seen better acting.
“You and your mother, Mira Lipinski, left New York when you were seven,” the woman called out.
Jillian’s heart squeezed.She stopped and turned.“Don’t you dare—”
“She was running away from my husband.It was right after she received the news that your father—my son Jivan—was dead.”
Running away?Could that explain why they’d kept moving?Her mother had never acted scared.She was smart and brave and resourceful.Part of Jillian wanted to look at the picture, but another didn’t dare.She’d suffered enough disappointment in the parental department.Hope was a terrible feeling to squash.After a while, you stopped believing, dreaming, or wishing.She had very few dreams left, and she wasn’t about to let anyone squash them.One of them was spending the next year with Lex.Maybe he’d grow to care for her like she cared for him.
“Listen, ma’am.Uh, Mrs.Petrosian.Your people have terrorized me and my family, hurt Lex, and destroyed his car.So why don’t you just take the money and stop with the lies.”
“I’m so sorry for how I handled things,” the woman said, moving closer.“I just learned about you six months ago, and all I’ve thought about since then was finding you.You and I are the last Zakarians, direct descendants of Prince Zakare.”As though she realized that Jillian was still skeptical, her eyes swept the faces in the room before coming back to her.“I apologize to all of you for the way my nephew conducted the search for Jillian.It was barbaric.But without him, I would not have located, uh, Mr.Finnegan.”
Her eyes returned to Jillian.Lex was tense beside her, but he didn’t speak.
“He is the one who found online videos of you and your mother’s performances and tracked down the circus here.I will replace Mr.Fitzgerald’s car and compensate him for his injuries and discomfort.”
“I don’t want your money,” Lex said coldly.
Anger flashed in the woman’s eyes when she glanced at Lex, and Jillian’s gaze flew to his.He smiled calmly at her.Yeah, Mr.Poker Face wasn’t fooling her.What the hell had happened during that tea?No, she didn’t want to know.Now that she knew he was safe, nothing else mattered.
Jillian dragged her eyes from Lex to the woman.She didn’t need this.“Listen, it’s over.I don’t care what your reasons were for what you did to my father—”
“Daniel Finnegan will also be compensated,” Mrs.Petrosian said quickly.“Not just for what we put him through the past month but for raising you, my only granddaughter.I just wanted to meet you.Maybe get to know you and tell you about your people.”The woman’s face crumbled, her haughty bearing disintegrating.Her eyes begged for forgiveness.“Please, listen to what I have to say first.If you still don’t believe me or choose not to forgive me, I’ll leave.”
Jillian sighed.She glanced at Lex, but his expression was unreadable.She wondered what he was thinking, but she wasn’t the type of girl to run to a man for reassurance.This woman claimed to be her grandmother, sent a group of thugs to harass her father, and scared her niece.She was Jillian’s problem, not Lex’s.
She eased her hands from Lex’s, took the picture from the woman, and studied it.A handsome young man with a swarthy complexion and dark hair stared back at her, his cocky smile frozen for eternity.
Jillian closed her eyes, but his face stayed etched in her brain.More appeared.This time, they were memories of the man who’d visited her and her mother in New York.Same dark-complexion.Same dark hair.Same smile.She tried to remember the color of his eyes but couldn’t.Not that it mattered.It was the man in the picture, laughing as he read to her.Pushing her on the swing.Opening presents.She gulped, her eyes opening and tearing.
“Did you remember something?”Lex asked.
Jillian nodded and glanced toward the door.Her father still stood in the doorway, and from his expression, he knew the truth.He’d known and never once said anything.Why?
She focused on the old woman.Her grandmother.“You said he died?”
“He was killed twenty years ago.We never caught the men responsible, but I hope one day we will.”She tilted her head to the side and studied Jillian, her expression sad.“Would you like to hear his story?”
Jillian swallowed, not sure she wanted to open that door, yet she couldn’t pretend the woman didn’t exist or that she’d actually known her father.Why hadn’t her mother said anything?Jillian never called him Dad.
“Yes.I’d like to hear his story.”Jillian moved to the couch, and Lex reluctantly followed her.He gripped her hand, his presence anchoring her.She was happy he was here with her.
