“You did what you had to for the company,” Graham said. “Sometimes that means doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.” He and Lily shared a secret smile.“And sometimes, making enemies is part of the job.”
“Like Moretti,” Lily said in a teasing tone.
Graham gnashed his teeth at the mention of the industry rival. And then he wrapped his arm around Lily and whispered something in her ear. She blushed, and I wondered what that was about.
“You did what needed to be done,” Knox said, clinking his glass against Jasper’s. “And you showed them you won’t back down from a fight.”
“Brilliant idea with the sweepstakes,” Nate said, joining us.
“Thanks,” Jasper said, and I could tell he wasn’t used to receiving praise for his accomplishments instead of attention for his alleged escapades. It was nice to see that his family was recognizing his hard work and the fact that he’d changed.
After that, conversation turned to other matters. We celebrated until long after the sun had set. It didn’t matter that we had work tomorrow; it wasn’t often that Jasper’s family was all together these days. And we all had a lot to be grateful for.
I’d been named as SVP permanently. With Tabitha acting as Jasper’s proxy, the family had been able to secure the necessary majority to force a vote on the matter. A number of the non-family board members had admitted that they were more concerned about the perception of bias based on my relationship with Jasper rather than an actual belief that my SVP promotion was unwarranted. Ultimately, most of them had voted in favor. And we were moving forward with the sweepstakes. But most importantly, Jasper and I no longer had to hide our relationship.
“Well, that was wild,” I said to Jasper when we climbed into bed later that night.
Kai had been so wound up that it had been hard to get him to go to sleep. It was late, and I didn’t want to think about how tired he was going to be in the morning when I had to get him up for school.
Jasper slid between the sheets. “All’s well that ends well.”
“I suppose so,” I said, joining him.
He immediately pulled me into his arms. “I hope you’re okay with how things went down. I’d never want you to question whether you deserve to be SVP.”
“Honestly…” I smoothed my hand over his chest, his warmth soaking into me. “I don’t. I know I earned that role, and I’m pretty sure everyone knows it. Not just the board, but the employees too.”
“They do.” Jasper brushed my hair away from my face, smoothing it down over my shoulder. “The board wanted to punish us, punish me, and what they tried to do by putting you on leave was wrong.” His body was tense, so I snuggled in closer. “There might be some drama in the short-term, but everyone will forget about it.”
“I’m not sure the board will so easily forget about it,” I said. “Pretty sure no one saw the secret sister coming. Even me.”
A low chuckle rumbled through his chest. “I’m sorry for not warning you about Tabitha. I’m still reeling from the fact that she’s my half sister.”
“How long have you known?”
“I found out yesterday when Pierce mentioned the idea of using her as my proxy as a sort of Hail Mary. But I wasn’t sure if we could even pull it off. Honestly, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to.”
“Wait.” I pushed up so I could see his face. “You didn’tknow you had a half sister until yesterday?” Jasper shook his head. “Did anyone know?”
“Pierce.”
“None of your siblings, though?”
He shook his head. “Pretty unbelievable, right? We’ve had this secret half sibling all along, and none of us had any idea.”
“She’s younger than you, right?” I asked.
“Younger than Sloan too.”
I shook my head, still trying to make sense of it all. “So how did Pierce know Tabitha was related to you? And how long has Tabitha known?”
“Apparently, Tabitha’s dad needed a kidney transplant last year. She didn’t know that he wasn’t her biological dad, so when she offered to be tested for a match, the truth came out. Tabitha’s mom told her that she’d had an affair with my dad before she’d met the man who’d raised Tabitha. And eventually, Tabitha confessed the truth to Pierce.”
“Why Pierce?” I asked.
“That part wasn’t clear to me, but I guess maybe because she knew he was our lawyer?”
“Wow. So she’s probably just as surprised as all of you were.” After he nodded, I asked, “What about you? How do you feel about it?”
