Page 2 of Her Exception 3

“What?” Flex chuckled. “You’re leaving?”

Jeremy smiled as they left the conference room. “You don’t think I will?”

“I think they’ll have to pull you out of the rubble. That’ll be the only way you leave this place.”

Sucking his teeth, Jeremy shook his head. “My pops left and did his own thing after realizing how far he would advance here. Maybe I need to as well.”

Flex didn’t respond either way, and Jeremy was grateful for that. He needed time to fully process the meeting and what it would mean for their future. HGP2meant a lot to his family and their legacy. He’d promised his grandfather that he would not only keep Phoenix on the wall as a named partner but put it first again as a managing partner as well. Regardless of how well Violet ran the place, Jeremy was determined to keep that promise.

One

Jeremy

Present Day

Mid-December

It was becoming more difficult to spend time with my parents without confronting them to speak my truth. Ever since Amelia barged into our family dinner and spoke hers, the blinders had been taken off my eyes. I loved my parents, but I could no longer ignore how toxic my upbringing was. I could no longer ignore how shallow my connection with my father was and how dependent my relationship with my mother was. Every time I looked at them now, I had to keep myself from blurting question after question, accusation after accusation. I used to live for Fridays and Sundays—our time at the country club and family dinner—and now, I couldn’t wait for this day to be over.

My eyes shifted toward the nearest window. We were seated at a table in the center of the country club café. That was Mom’s doing. She loved being in the center of the room to watch everyone who came and left. I preferred being in the back. Pops preferred being in the front. As with all things, we gave in and gave Mom what she wanted. While she babbled about one of her friends hosting her daughter’s engagement party here at the club, my eyes zeroed in on the golf course. The amenities here made the high ass annual membership fees worth it.

Along with golf, there was space for basketball, pickleball, and tennis. There were several pools and saunas along with game rooms for chess, checkers, and cards. The food was decent. The best part of being a member, outside of the activities, was the networking that could be done here. A lot of my most valued connections in and out of the courtroom came from this club.

“Speaking of weddings,” Mom said, regaining my attention by placing her hand on top of mine. “When will I have the pleasure of planning yours?”

I forced a smile and flipped my hand over so our fingers could connect.

“My focus right now is work, Ma. You know I want to be managing partner before I get married.”

Her head shook in disapproval. Those hazel eyes closed and her light skin reddened. One of the quickest ways to make Mina Phoenix upset was to mess with me. And she hated when I did things she didn’t like because, to her, I was messing with myself. She’d always been protective—the kind of mother to do what she believed was best for her child even if they didn’t agree. I’d never cared for that style of parenting, and that was why I was in no rush to have children of my own.

“I don’t agree with that, Jeremy, at all.” Her eyes opened and stared into mine. “I think you should have your family established before becoming managing partner. That’s why I told your father not to retire officially and offer you the position of managing partner at his firm until you were married.”

My head jerked in the direction of my father as he casually sipped his latte. We’d been talking about me taking over his firm next year, because this year made five years of me being named partner at Hunter, Phoenix, Genesis, and Prime. I made a promise to my grandfather that I would not leave, but I also made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t stay there if Violet didn’t make me senior managing partner or co-managing partner. It was tough choosing to keep the promise I made to myself over the one I made to my grandfather, but I would.

Pops told me the position was mine if I wanted it but there was no clear timeframe, and now I knew why. Technically, he had already retired, but he was still managing partner. His responsibilities had been given to his senior managing partner temporarily. Dexter had no desire to run the firm permanently, so it worked in my favor to have him as interim managing partner. That meant when I took over, I wouldn’t have to worry about him making the transition difficult.

“Is that why you haven’t given me an official start date?” I confirmed.

The man who looked just like me stared at me with a nonchalant expression. I had my mother’s cashew brown skin tone and round eye shape, but other than that, I was the replica of my father.

“That, along with the fact that you haven’t even mentioned leaving to Violet.”

“I was trying to give her a chance to do the right thing.”

He chuckled. “She is, in her mind. So unless you offer her something better than the position she currently has, she’s not going to change anything.”

I knew that in my mind, but my heart wouldn’t allow me to accept that. The only flaw Violet had was her immense need to be in control. If she could only surrender to the fact that she wasn’t a one-woman show, I would stand by her side forever.

“Why didn’t you tell me that me being married was a stipulation of being managing partner at your firm?”

With a sigh, Pops looked over at Mom, who nodded and urged him to continue.

“Because, quite frankly, I didn’t agree. I knew eventually I would have to tell you, but I was hoping by then you would have gotten Violet to change her mind or met someone and fallen in love.”

“How will he have time to find love as much as he works? I had to beg him for years to give us this time on Friday mornings into the afternoon, and when he has trial, we don’t get this. He will never find love as long as he’s working crazy hours like you used to. It’ll only get worse when he becomes managing partner, and I don’t want that for my son.”

“What about what I want?”

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