Chapter 1 #2
A moment of silence stretched between them before Mike spoke again. “As soon as I hear from Mitchell, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.”
Grant ended the call and sucked in a breath. They’d need a strategy session to count votes. His mind whirled as he started to do the math in his head. Could he slide by with the percentages they had at the moment? What if he got the extra two percent and made it up to twenty percent?
Did Mike have a point, though? Did Lydia already have her ducks in a row?
He guessed he’d find out if she hit the twenty-five percent and forced a board vote.
“Daddy? You okay?” Sierra asked from behind him.
He twisted to find his daughter hovering in the doorway. “Hey, baby, yeah. I’m fine. How are you?”
She shrugged as she crossed to him. “I’m okay.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Are you?”
“Yeah, why?” She crinkled her brow as she glanced up at him.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk at all about what happened in that warehouse.”
“Oh,” she said with a nod, “yeah. I’m okay, though. He mostly went after Julia. But I wasn’t going to let him hurt her.”
“While I’m glad you were there, Sierra, I don’t want you doing anything like that ever again. Okay?”
“Of course, I would do it again, Daddy. I have to make sure Julia’s safe, too. She’s my step-mommy. I love her.”
“I know you do. I don’t want either of you doing this stuff.”
Sierra flicked her icy blue eyes up to him again and raised her eyebrows.
“If you want me to promise, I’m not going to.
Not while Mom still walks this earth and has her sights set on this family.
I’m going to fight right alongside you, Julia, and…
well, Kyle is kind of not in fighting form right now, but whenever he is… ”
Grant smiled at his daughter, proud of the woman she’d become since Julia had been with them. Gone were the days of a spoiled, entitled brat who worried more about her manicure than anyone’s well-being. His new family was truly something special. “Well, I am very lucky to have you on my side.”
“So, what’s our next step?”
Grant licked his lips as he avoided her gaze. “Well, we may not have many moves to make.”
“What does that mean?”
His jaw clenched again as he prepared to break the news to his daughter.
She deserved to know. He didn’t want it to be a shock to her.
“DG Industries has been buying stock in Harrington Global. They’ll soon have enough to trigger a board vote.
If they have the votes, I expect I will no longer be CEO after this week. ”
“Are you kidding me? What are you doing to stop it?”
“The best I can, baby, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough.”
Sierra’s face fell, her jaw agape. “But…there has to be something we can do.”
“I’m trying, but she’s got money from who knows where. We can’t outpace her buying. I’m waiting on a call from Mike and Mitchell. Maybe I can still sway the votes my way.”
Sierra nodded, her pinched features still fixed on her shoes. She was disappointed. She didn’t hide it the way Julia did.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he said as he rubbed her arm.
“It’s okay, Daddy. We’ll figure something out.” She forced a half-smile onto her still-upset features as she glanced up to him. “At least we still have Julia.”
“Yes,” he said with a smile as he pulled his daughter into a hug. “Yes, we do. Now, why don’t we head back down to Kyle’s room. We shouldn’t leave Julia alone there for too long. He may try to kiss her.”
“I hope not. He’s in a hospital bed, and he’s been specifically told not to kiss her.”
“He’ll probably still do it and blame his meds,” Sierra said as she looped her arm through his and led him from the room.
“Good point. He’ll say it’s not his fault.”
“Yep. When we were looking for Kyle and we found his car, we thought maybe he’d disappeared somewhere into the wilderness. I tried to lure him out with a kiss from Julia, but it didn’t work because he wasn’t there.”
Grant screwed up his face at his daughter’s words, said so casually. “I don’t know what to say about that.”
She shrugged. “It totally would have worked if he’d been hiding there.”
They approached Kyle’s room. Julia’s laughter floated from inside. A familiar pang of jealousy tore through him before he shoved it aside. Julia was his wife, and his son had nearly died.
They stepped into the room, finding her holding a phone above her as she leaned close to Kyle, perched on the edge of his bed.
“Well, we are doing much better now,” Julia said.
“I am very glad. It just wouldn’t have been the same without you around Mini-Grant.”
Grant recognized the voice of Alex Stone. The man had been instrumental in helping find his son. As much as he disliked his odd personality, he needed to thank him.
“Still not loving the nickname, but thank you,” Kyle answered.
Grant approached Julia, sliding his hand into hers. “Can I say thanks?” he whispered.
She nodded as she twisted the phone. The image of the shaggy, blonde-haired man filled the screen. “Grantster. What’s up, bro?”
Grant clenched his teeth at the man’s strange behavior. “Alex. I just…wanted to say thank you for what you did to help Kyle.”
“No worries, broheim. Happy to do it.”
Grant nodded at him as Julia shifted the phone back to her. “Hey, Alex, do you have a second? I wanted to ask you something.”
“For you, I’ve got time, Sunshine.”
“Okay, just give me a second.” Julia clicked off the video and held a finger over the microphone before she glanced at Grant. “Be right back, okay?”
“Sure,” he answered as she kissed his cheek.
“Alex?” she said as she hurried from the hospital room. “Hi, so there’s something I need…”
Her voice trailed off as she disappeared into the hall. He stared after her before he flicked his gaze back to his son.
“I can’t believe I owe my life to that guy,” Kyle said.
“And Julia,” Grant answered.
“We never would have found him without Alex telling us where to go,” Sierra said. “He totally hacked like every camera in the city to find you. And then he opened the locks on the warehouse. And I’m pretty sure he send the police and paramedics.”
Grant flicked his eyebrows up. Just how good of a hacker was this guy?
“It doesn’t make it any easier,” Kyle said with a shake of his head.
Maybe Julia was right about how alike they were. He also found it difficult to like Alex Stone. “No, I feel the same way. Let’s change the subject. How are you feeling?”
Kyle sucked in a breath as he flicked his eyes up to Grant. “Better. Happy to be alive.”
Grant patted his shoulder. “Good. Hopefully, we can get you home soon.”
“I’m looking forward to that. I now understand why Julia hates hospitals so much.”
Grant offered him a smile.
“We need you at home, Kyle,” Sierra said. “Alicia is still there.”
“Hey, she helped find you, too,” Grant said with a wag of his finger.
“Yeah, she did. And I still don’t trust her,” Sierra said. “I need my brother to help keep an eye on her.”
“Happy to do it, sis. Maybe you can convince the doctors to let me go soon.”
“On it!” Sierra grinned at him as she scurried from the room to hassle the hospital staff about letting her brother go home.
Julia returned a second later, shoving her phone into her pocket.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said as she slid her arm around his waist, “just wanted to finish with Alex. Where’s Sierra?”
“She’s hassling people to let Kyle go home,” he answered.
“Oh, good. You should be out of here in no time,” Julia said with a smile.
Grant’s phone rang again, interrupting the conversation. He tugged it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. “It’s Mike. I need to take this.”
“Sure,” she said with a smile. “Good luck.”
He offered her a fleeting smile as he strode from the room and pressed the phone to his ear. “Mike, what do you have?”
“We need to talk. Can you come in?”
He hated to leave, but if Mike requested it, he may not be able to avoid it. They were at a critical juncture. “Is it necessary?”
“It is. I’ve spoken with Mitchell. I’m not sure we have the votes to withstand this if she takes twenty-five percent. And she’s up to twenty-three right now.”
He let his head fall back between his shoulder blades. There was no avoiding it now. They were at the crossroads. And this may be the end of his company.