Chapter 24
JULIA
J ulia swallowed hard as muffled shouts sounded outside, but no clear words could be detected through the thick layers of rock. Her heart thudded against her chest as panic rose within her. She was trapped.
She crawled closer to the rock wall preventing her from leaving and pressed her ear against it. She couldn’t make anything out. “Ally?” she called.
No one answered. Her hands shook as she pressed one to her mouth. The rocks didn’t budge, no one called to her. She knew what that meant. They couldn’t do anything.
Her breathing turned ragged as reality crashed down around her as hard as the rocks had moments ago.
She forced her heart and breathing to slow. They wouldn’t leave her here. They’d come back. They’d find a way.
This was a setback. But a temporary one.
She forced her mind to repeat that phrase over and over as she grabbed the flashlight and settled back against the stone wall again. After a minute, she clicked off the light, plunging the cave into an eerie blackness that made her feel even more closed in.
She fought the urge to turn the light back on. She needed to conserve the batteries in case she needed the light later. With no idea how long she’d be trapped, she may find use for it.
She tugged her raincoat around her again to keep the damp chill out, nestling down inside it as she wrapped her arms around herself.
Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked them away. She tried to focus on the positive. Sierra was safe. After a harrowing experience, at least she’d now get the care she needed.
That didn’t make it any easier for Julia, though. A part of her wished they’d both have been trapped in here. At least, then they’d have each other.
Guilt made a tear fall to her cheek over the selfish thought. Sierra would never have survived being trapped inside this cave for hours with no clear shot out. She’d barely made it through the experience when they could still see the outside.
Her mind drifted to her stepdaughter now. Was she okay? Did they find anything wrong at the hospital? Were there any injuries from her experience?
All questions she’d not get answers to for what would likely be several hours. At least she was safe. Her mind focused on that bright spot again. She recalled the relief in Grant’s voice as she’d emerged from the cave.
A smile curled her lips as she imagined him holding Sierra’s hand in the hospital, pleased to have her back.
What a mess this trip had been, she thought as she shook her head. Most of it had been her fault. She slouched down, drawing her knees to her chest and setting her chin on them.
Out of all the places Sierra could have picked, she picked Harbor Cove, her hometown. And the disasters had started before they even stepped foot off the plane.
Between her sister’s anger, first toward her, then toward Grant, to the complication with Luke, her behavior had directly put Sierra in danger and now landed her in a prison of her own making.
Why had she argued with Grant? She should have simply explained the situation. He would have likely understood. Or at least only been mildly angry that she’d risked the appearance of their marriage at a critical time with Lydia.
She had broken the rules, after all. They’d agreed to no outside relationships. Though no one would have known if she hadn’t stupidly fallen asleep and slept for hours.
She wondered if Kyle had overheard the argument. Obviously, Sierra had. Grant blamed her leaving on it. Amazing that the woman who had insisted on holding her at arm’s length at the start of this contract had become so attached that she’d storm out of the house when Julia left.
Though, in the darkness, Julia let herself admit that she’d become attached to them, too. It was the reason she hadn’t gone any further with Luke on their sail.
Maybe she should have, though. Maybe she should have given in to that kiss. What if everything she felt for Grant was just an illusion? The whirlwind lives they led made it easy to get wrapped up in things that weren’t real.
And none of this was real. Their relationship wasn’t real. Their marriage wasn’t real. And even if it was, it would be a ticking time bomb until it fell apart, and he was on the hunt for wife number six.
The only thing they had going for them was the fact that none of this was based on any romantic notions. The piece of paper binding them together for one-year periods was the strongest note in the symphony of their relationship.
She lamented that fact. Would it have been any different if they’d met organically, she wondered.
Probably not. If she’d allowed herself to get caught up in the whirlwind of trips to Paris and expensive gifts, she’d only have found herself let down when the chase ended, and he moved on to a new target, eager to win another chess match.
But whatever she felt for him felt as real as the relationship she’d had with Luke for so many years. Her mind shifted to the other man.
Things had been so easy with him. So real. So uncomplicated. Was there a reason they’d never moved on? Were they meant to be? Or were they merely each other’s fallbacks, the easy way out of being alone?
Julia let her head thud against the hard rock behind her as her features pinched. She smacked her head against the rock a few more times as she chided herself for being so caught up in the emotion of it all.
And on top of the entire mess with Grant and Luke, there was Kyle. A man who had expressed his devotion to her. Their relationship was less complicated than Grant’s and didn’t have the baggage of Luke’s, but she didn’t feel anything like what she felt for the other men with him.
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she allowed herself to break down in the quiet darkness surrounding her.
Random thoughts darted through her mind, from the complicated personal relationships she’d ended up navigating to the fact that none of this may matter anymore when she died of starvation stuck in this cave.
Or would it be dehydration first? Her jumbled mind couldn’t remember what her father had said. Either way, she’d pass away huddled in a ball awaiting rescue.
She wiped at her cheeks, trying to shove the panic aside. Her sister would find a way. Alicia would never give up.
But what if there wasn’t a way? What if they couldn’t get her out? People got trapped all the time and died because they couldn’t get them out in time.
Her heart began to pound, and she resisted the urge to turn on her light and begin clawing at the rocks that prevented her from escaping. It wouldn’t help. In fact, it may hurt.
She was better off leaving Tony and the team assess the options from the outside. If they weren’t able to clear the stones away to rescue her, there was a reason. Her panic wouldn’t help.
With tear-stained cheeks, she tightened her grip on the flashlight. Just hold off on using it for another five minutes, then you can turn it on for a minute to reassure yourself.
She counted the seconds, forcing herself to move slowly between the numbers. Before she reached the five-minute mark, exhaustion set in. Her eyes slid shut, and her head lolled as she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, panic immediately sent her heart racing. Her breathing turned ragged before she recalled where she was. She couldn’t see because it was pitch black in the cave.
With trembling hands, she clicked on the flashlight, gulping in breaths as it blinded her. She clicked it off again and swallowed hard. She could still see, but she was still trapped.
She stretched her legs out, working out a cramp as she rolled her neck to ease its stiffness. She wondered how long it had been. Minutes? Hours?
The growling of her stomach suggested longer than a few minutes, along with the stiffness in her muscles. How many hours had she slept? Was it night? Had anyone been back to try to help her?
She shifted onto her hands and knees and crawled to a new spot before she settled in again. Her hands tightened around the flashlight as unanswered questions poured through her mind.
She shivered as an icy burst of air tickled her cheek. Instinctually, she ran a hand across her skin before she froze. She stretched her fingers out in the darkness, her eyes going wide. Air.
“Air!” she cried, her voice echoing in the small space.
Air from somewhere. But where?
She flicked on her flashlight, squinting against the bright light as she searched the cave for a passage that could lead out. Was the air merely coming from a small gap in the rocks that prevented her escape?
She crawled toward them, waving her hands in front of them. No air.
She whipped around and crawled toward the back of the cave. Her features twisted into a grin. Air. Air came from somewhere in the back.
She flicked off the light and shoved it into her pocket before she reached for the cave wall, letting her fingers trace the cold, damp rock. Each inch she searched brought a mixture of hope and fear as she sought some escape.
Finally, her fingers slid forward. Her heart skipped a beat as she dug into her pocket with her other hand and brought out the flashlight, clicking it on.
She waved the light around, searching for the opening her fingers had found. She identified a skinny crevice. With the flashlight between her teeth, she dropped to her belly.
The opening looked small, but she may be able to squeeze through. Would it lead her to anything or just another dead end?
She had to take the chance. She hoped it didn’t trap her more. With the light clamped firmly between her teeth, she shimmied forward in a belly crawl and slid into the opening.
Her heart pounded as she continued forward in the small space. Keep going, don’t stop .
She pushed herself to move forward as her shoulders scraped against the sides in the tiniest part of the passage.
After a few tense seconds, it widened in all directions. A few more feet forward, she was able to crawl on her hands and knees. She spilled into a larger chamber at the end.
A quick search of it sent her scrambling through another passage, this time on her feet instead of crawling.
Her heart lifted with every step, as hope of escape filled her. She wondered if this cave had another entrance, and where.
Her mind stretched ten steps ahead, trying to plan for her eventual escape. A momentary pang of doubt came as she wedged herself in a tight spot, trying to squeeze through.
She found herself unable to make it through. A quick search of the ground turned up a stone that she used to hack away at the rocky wall until she managed to slide to the other side at the expense of tearing her raincoat.
She rounded a sharp curve in the cave, and the scent of damp air smacked her in the face.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she hurried forward toward it.
She clicked off her flashlight, her heart soaring as she spotted dim light at the end of the corridor.
She continued forward, trying to stop herself from running until she spotted the sky above her.
She clicked on her flashlight and shined the light around her. The cave spilled out of the side of a cliff face. The ground lay several feet below her. It looked too far to jump, but she may be able to slide to it.
She sat on the edge of the opening and pressed her feet against the rocks, bracing them before she pushed off.
Her slide turned into a tumble, and she rolled in a ball before she spilled onto the ground below with a groan. She spent a few minutes staring gratefully at the canopy of trees and star-studded night sky above her before she forced herself to her feet.
They’d never find her in her new location. And they didn’t need to remove the rockslide anymore. She had to find her way back to town.
She clicked off her flashlight and studied the stars, trying to find her reference point. She’d known roughly where she was in the cave, but where she’d come out remained a mystery. She’d move north until she spotted something familiar.
With tired muscles and a growling stomach, she pushed herself to move forward. Thankfully, her ankle didn’t protest too much.
It took her longer than she had hoped, but she finally managed to identify a clifftop in the distance. Using it as her new reference, she recalibrated, heading west until she hit a road.
She could have kissed the pavement, but instead, she forced her legs to keep going, afraid if she stopped, she’d never get back up.
Every step she took was a battle against exhaustion. Her muscles screamed in protest, her breaths short and ragged, and a dull headache throbbed in sync with her heartbeat. The physical toll of her ordeal was as relentless as being trapped.
She followed the winding road to an intersection where she veered off, heading for town. Tears filled her eyes again as the first few buildings filled in around her. She’d go to the police station. It was closer, and someone from her family was likely there.
The building finally came into view. She wrapped her fingers around the metal railing and tugged herself up the stairs. She tugged the door open as exhaustion coursed through her and stumbled into the station.
The soft, warm lights assaulted her senses after the cave’s darkness, followed by the moonlit night’s trek. The buzz of voices from the conference room made her head throb.
She stumbled back toward them, hoping for a familiar face.
As she slid into the room, she spotted several people grouped around a messy table. “Oh my God, Julia!” Tony said as he spotted her.
She tried to smile, but the world spun around her.
“Julia!” Kyle shouted as he turned toward her.
She took one stumbling step toward him before her knees buckled, and her world turned black.