Chapter 24
Julia gripped the car door as she desperately tried to stop herself trembling. The drugs still in her system twisted her stomach into knots as the lights smeared into streaks of color against the dark canvas of the night. The easy, soft music emitted from the car’s sound system wove through the air, a stark contrast to her chaotic thoughts. Had it been a wise decision to trust Kyle Carter?
He’d gotten them out of a dangerous situation, but she still remained in peril. At least Sierra was safe. Mostly. She glanced out at the city’s lights in the distance wondering if she’d connected with help yet.
Tears pricked her eyes as the car continued to careen further away from anything known to her. She bit into her trembling lower lip as she struggled to squash the rising tide of panic. She needed to be clearheaded when dealing with Kyle.
“Are you okay?”
His voice startled her but not more than the warmth of his hand as he slid it around her shoulders. She leapt in the seat, twisting to face him as a tear fell to her cheek.
“Easy, Julia, I’m not going to hurt you. I helped you, remember?”
“After you made it possible for someone to kidnap us in the first place.”
“I already explained that. I had no idea they were going to do something like this.”
“Who are they?” Julia demanded.
“Someone else who doesn’t like Grant as much as I don’t like him.”
“Who, Kyle?” Julia’s fear took a backseat to her curiosity and drive to free herself.
“I don’t know exactly, okay? I just…had a contact who said they’d love some help making sure Grant pays for all of the things he’s done. When you left earlier, I called them.”
Julia glanced down at her lap, trying to piece together the information as tears threatened again.
“I didn’t know this is what they were planning, Julia, I swear.”
“No, but you were willing to give them our location to make Grant pay for a crime I’ve yet to hear about. And you left Sierra on the side of the road! She’s still scared and sick, and now she’s alone.”
He blinked the comment away. “She’ll be fine. But I could care less about Sierra Harrington. I’m sure her daddy will come swooping in to save her. But you don’t deserve to be another casualty of his recklessness.”
The bitterness of his words struck her as Kyle brought the car to a stop on the wide shoulder of the lonely road. She popped the door open and fled into the cool night. Kyle sprang from the car, skirting around it as she stalked away, her arms tightly wrapped around her midriff both from the chill in the air and her nerves.
“Julia, wait,” he called after her.
She whipped around to face him. “For what?”
He sucked in a deep breath, holding his hands up. “Please calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. If there was ever a time to panic, it’s right now.” She clamped her hands on her head as the reality of her situation pressed in on her.
Kyle tugged off his blazer and moved closer to slide it around her shoulders. She stepped back, putting distance between them.
“Just take it, Julia, you’re freezing.”
She snatched the jacket from his hands and slipped it around her shoulders. He closed the distance between them and tugged her hands forward to study the wounds on her wrists.
“Please stop stalling and say whatever it is that was so important for you to tell me that you had to dump someone on the side of the road at knifepoint.”
“Let me take care of this.”
“Stop wrapping this all in your concern for me. What is so important about Grant that I need to know? And why have you involved me?”
He snapped his gaze up to her. “He just…leaves a trail of destruction always. You’re just the latest victim. And I’m still a doctor. These cuts are not superficial.”
“Maybe you could take me to the hospital.”
“I’m an ER doctor. I can handle this here,” he said as he opened the hatch on his SUV. “Come on.”
She wandered closer as he pulled a first-aid kid forward.
“Sit down,” he said.
She eased onto the cargo space mat as he drizzled a cotton pad with antiseptic and gently pressed it to one of the slices on her wrist.
She winced and sucked in a breath. “Ow. That hurts.”
“Sorry,” he said simply as he continued his work.
She chewed her lower lip. She had to get the conversation moving or try to figure out some way out of this. “You were a surgeon at your last hospital, right?”
He snapped his eyes up to her, narrowing them.
She shrugged. “It was in the report.”
He screwed up his face. “What report?”
She cocked her head. “You think Grant is a terrible ogre, but you didn’t expect him to ask his security team to pull as much information on you as they could after what happened?”
He heaved a sigh as he returned to bandaging her wrist.
“So, why did you leave Texas?”
He ripped open another package of gauze. “I had nothing left there.”
She let her eyes rise to the sky. “Did you come here just to destroy Grant?”
“Do you know everything about him, Julia? Everything?”
“Of course not.”
He wadded the packaging and tossed the ball aside. “I didn’t think so, or you’d know how he treats women. Or anybody he no longer has a use for.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh come on. You’re his fifth wife. Four wives before you, countless women. When the game is over, he just…tosses people away like they don’t matter.”
She chewed her lower lip as the words stung, not only potentially ringing true, but because of the intensely personal nature of the attack. She narrowed her eyes at the doctor. What had Grant done to him?
“I don’t want you to be the next one he does this to. Because he will.”
She shook her head at him. His extreme concern for her didn’t ring true, at least not as his only reason. “Okay, even if that’s true, why do you care? That’s on me. I made my choices.”
“When you didn’t know his past.”
“I knew I was his fifth wife when I walked down that aisle.”
“Yeah, well, you couldn’t possibly have known everything. No one did until recently.” He set his hands on his hips. The pain etched in his eyes spoke to some personal pain.
Her eyebrows knitted as she tried to piece the puzzle together. She flicked her gaze up to him, catching his profile as he stared toward the city.
Her brain slowly connected the dots. The chiseled jaw, the piercing blue eyes. His adoption. No father listed on the birth certificate.
Her features melted as she came to the only realization she could. She ran a hand through her hair before she studied him again, a chill racing through her as she grappled with the revelation with a mix of disbelief and horror. Her pulse quickened as her stomach knotted. The eerie silence of the quiet spot added to her shock. “Are you…Are you Grant’s son?”
The mere mention of it caused his features to twist with a mixture of anger and upset. “He contributed to my DNA. Beyond that, he’s not a father to me.”
Her mind whirled as the implications spun a web of confusion and doubt in her mind. Why had he never mentioned a son? They didn’t know much about each other, enough that a meeting with her brother-in-law had been mistaken for a romantic rendezvous, but still…a son?
Did he not know? The woman hadn’t listed a father.
“Yes, as you can see, I’m just another one of Grant’s rejects.”
“Does he know?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.
Nothing about this situation aligned with the Grant she knew. Barely knew, her mind added. But still, he didn’t seem the type. He was wonderful with Sierra.
Kyle swallowed hard as he refused to meet her gaze. “I assume so.”
“So, you aren’t sure?” Julia leapt from her seat and paced behind the car. If Grant didn’t know, maybe he should. Would he abandon a child?
“I was adopted. I didn’t find that out until my adopted mother died. She told me on her deathbed. And when I went to find my real mother, I had less than a month with her. She told me about my father: Grant Harrington. She said they spent one night together. She said when she found out she was pregnant, she tried to talk to him, but he was conveniently unavailable. The next day, Grant’s father showed up and paid her ten thousand dollars to keep her mouth shut and get rid of the problem.”
Kyle jabbed a finger at his chest. “Me, I was the problem.”
Julia’s mind spun as she tried to search for a solution, both to her current situation and the problem looming for Grant. Had he wanted the problem swept under the rug? Had he assumed it had been?
Julia ran her fingers through her hair again before she set her hands on her hips.
“So, as you can see, Julia, he’s a real stand-up guy. Once you’re beyond your usefulness date, he’ll destroy you, too.”
Julia fought to keep her mind clear as the astounding revelation combined with Kyle’s emotionally charged hatred of Grant threatened to cloud her judgment.
“Okay, look, I know you don’t want to hear this, but–“
“If it’s a defense of him, I don’t.”
“Kyle, I don’t think he knew about this.”
Kyle rolled his eyes as he slammed the hatch shut. “I can’t believe this.”
“I’m serious. Because the Grant I know would not do this. He’s a wonderful father to Sierra.”
“I guess kids from a real marriage make all the difference.”
Julia shook her head. “I disagree. I don’t think he knows you exist.”
“No, he thinks he paid my mother to get rid of me. The problem.”
“But she didn’t. And he doesn’t know that. Maybe he doesn’t even know she had you. You said she didn’t speak with him and his father handled it. He may not even realize.”
Kyle’s features twisted with frustration at her words.
“Kyle, please, he deserves a chance to make this right.”
“No!” he shouted at her, causing her to stumble back a step. “He doesn’t deserve anything. Not his big house, not his billion-dollar company, not you.”
She licked her lips as she tried to vet through options to calm his very frayed nerves. “So, what are you going to do?”
He refused to meet her gaze, the upset still etched into every line of his face.
“Because you can’t keep going on like this. This isn’t going to solve anything. It’s not going to erase the hurt. If you succeed, what then? Will you feel better?”
“Maybe,” he spat back.
“I doubt it,” she said, lowering her voice to be calm and steady. “I don’t think you want to destroy him.”
“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Julia,” he warned with a shake of his head.
Julia shrugged. “Well, someone has to. Before you destroy your own life trying to destroy Grant’s.”
“And what is it that I want?”
Julia studied him for a moment, allowing her mind to sort through and find the best words. “Acknowledgement, at least. Acceptance.”
Kyle shook his head as he stalked a few steps away. “No. The last thing I want is anything from him.”
“So, you just want to strip everything from him? That’s it?”
“It’s a start.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“I don’t care. Get in the car.”
She crossed her arms as she refused to budge. “Not until we’ve settled this.”
“There is nothing to settle, Julia. Not with you, not here.” He stalked to the passenger door and tugged it open, motioning for her to enter.
“Explain to me how destroying Grant helps you in any way.”
“Payback. It’s time he got a taste of what he’s been doling out all these years.”
“But he hasn’t. Kyle…all right, look, why don’t you tell him and see what he says? And if I’m wrong…you can do whatever you planned to do.”
Kyle let his head drop between his shoulder blades. “And how do you propose I do that, Julia? Waltz into Harrington House and say, ‘Hi, Dad, it’s me your long-lost son.’”
“I wouldn’t use those exact words, but yes. I think you should tell him.”
“And what makes you think he’ll listen? The minute I get anywhere near him, his security will likely take me out if he doesn’t do it himself.”
“I won’t let that happen. I promise.”
He flicked his gaze to the city lights humming in the distance. Had she convinced him?
When he glanced back at her, the pain still burned in his icy blue eyes, but there was something else, too. Something unreadable. Did he agree or had she just talked herself into an early grave?