Chapter 6
JULIA
J ulia stepped into the quietness of Harrington House, her hand still clasped in Grant’s.
Worthington greeted them as they entered. “I trust everything went well?”
Julia grinned at him as Grant wrapped his arm around Julia’s shoulders. “More than well, Worthington, we blocked Lydia from taking HG. She’s not getting a second shot at this.”
“Then it’s over?” Worthington asked.
“All that’s left is getting rid of Lydia. I can’t wait until she’s behind bars for good.”
The door opened behind them, and Alex Stone pushed between them, hanging his arms around them both. “Did they tell you the good news, Gatekeeper? G-Force is still CEO.”
“So, I have heard, Mr. Stone. I have prepared a lovely room for you in the South wing. Would you like me to show you there now?”
“Lead the way, Worthy. I’d like to retire for the night. I’ve got a few…things I need to take care of. Sunshine, see you tomorrow.” He kissed the top of her head before he twisted to face Grant. “Grantster.”
Julia offered him a consoling smile as Worthington and Alex disappeared up the stairs. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t love him, but–” she began.
“He saved my behind today. I’ll deal with it.”
“He has unbelievable amounts of liquid assets. With the short time frame, I just…took him up on his offer.”
“Julia, you bailed me out big time. If you haven’t convinced Alex, I’d have lost that vote. Thank you.”
She offered him a tight-lipped smile as she squeezed his hands in hers.
“And thank you for convincing him to vote for me, not you.”
Her features twisted. “What?”
“He said he wanted you as CEO, but you convinced him to vote for me.”
She flicked her eyebrows up at the news. “Oh. Well, I didn’t say much because I don’t really remember him being very insistent. So, he must not have had many reservations about you.”
“Ha! I’m pretty sure I am one giant reservation for him. We don’t seem to get along. But I owe him. For more than just this bail out.”
She furrowed her brows, rubbing his arms. “Everything go okay during your private conversation?”
“Outside of a small disagreement about you going into that warehouse to find Kyle, yeah.” Grant screwed up his face. “He weirdly said he had no reservations about you going into the warehouse because his wife would have been the better candidate for the job, too.”
Julia flicked her eyebrows up. “Oh, well, Ava is a blackbelt in Jiu-Jitsu, so, he’s probably right. I’m fairly certain Alex wouldn’t know how to throw a punch if he had to.”
Grant flicked his gaze up the stairs again. “Oh. That’s…”
“I told you they were an odd couple.”
“No kidding. Well, anyway, he told me to make sure I remove Lydia from the equation, so I will do just that. I am going to make sure she never touches this family again.” He rubbed her cheek with his thumb.
Julia smiled up at him. She wanted the same thing. Lydia’s power had gone unchecked for far too long. Hopefully, this win would be the start of the end of the woman’s reign of terror. “Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end for her. Now, do you want to share the good news with Sierra?”
“Yes, and I should probably say hello to Kyle.”
“You’re in luck. They’re together.”
He paused, his eyebrows knitting. “Are they still alive?”
“I hope so. Alicia was keeping an eye on them, but…” Julia winced as she glanced at him.
Any amusement on his features left. “What?”
“Ethan’s in town. And…I said it was okay if he stayed here. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Julia. This is your house, too. You’re perfectly welcome to invite people to stay.”
“Yeah, I get that, but…I feel a little bad since there’s so much bad blood between you after what happened in Maine.”
Grant flicked his eyebrows up. “Well, I’m managing to get along with Alicia, so…I can manage Ethan, too. Besides, now that I know you’re staying…it’ll be much easier.”
“Okay, well, I guess we should get up there, then, and make sure both siblings are still alive.” Julia tugged him toward the stairs.
“Why are they together?”
“Sierra decided that since Kyle nearly died, she wanted to be a real sister to him. That includes doing ‘sibling things’ together while he’s recovering.”
Grant tugged his lips into a grimace. “Yeah, we probably should get there pretty quickly. I’ll be surprised both of them are alive.”
Julia chuckled as they rounded the corner into the hall containing Kyle’s room. Voices floated down the hall toward them.
“…can’t do that,” Kyle said.
“Yes, I can,” Sierra answered. “Just because my strategic moves are leading me to a win doesn’t mean you can make up your own rules.”
“I’m not making up my own rules. You can’t stack that card on a plus two, that’s not how it works.”
“It is how it works. It’s called smart playing.”
They rounded the corner to find the siblings playing Uno.
Sierra grinned at them. “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Step-mommy.”
“Hi, baby, everything okay in here?”
“Yes. Kyle is just being a baby because I’m winning at Uno.”
“You’re not winning at Uno because you’re cheating.”
“I’m not cheating,” Sierra shot back.
“Okay, well, at least you’re having fun,” Julia said.
“That’s debatable,” Kyle said as he stared at the dozens of cards in his hand.
“Don’t listen to him. The pain meds are making him cranky.”
“They are not.”
Sierra lifted a shoulder. “They are so. You didn’t laugh once when we watched the rom-com.”
“It wasn’t funny.”
“Daddy, Julia, do you want to join us?” Sierra asked.
Grant winced as he stared at the cards. “Uhhh, I don’t want to–”
Sierra shot him a pointed look, and he tugged a chair closer. “Sure. Julia…”
The pleading glance he gave her as he eased into the chair almost made her laugh out loud. She climbed onto the bed next to Sierra. “I’d love to play.”
“You won’t once you get a load Sierra’s tactics.”
“Oh, I think Julia can hold her own,” Grant said as Sierra collected the cards. “She’s quite the corporate shark.”
“What’s that mean?” Kyle asked as he shifted with a wince.
Grant collected the cards Sierra passed to him as he leaned back in the chair. “I mean, your mother’s attempt to replace me as CEO has been blocked.”
Sierra snapped her gaze to him. “Really? You got the votes? How much stock did you get? Did someone switch votes? Veronica?”
Grant shook his head. “Julia convinced Alex Stone to buy twenty-five percent of HG’s stock. That combined with the nineteen we got in the buy back made it an easy win.”
“Wow, I bet Lydia was really mad. She’s losing on every front.”
“Finally,” Julia said. “Let’s hope it continues.”
They played several rounds of cards, laughter and jokes flowing freely as the tension of the last two years released with Lydia’s latest plans foiled. For those few simple moments, they enjoyed each other’s company as a family.
“Daddy,” Sierra said as she shuffled the cards for another round, “now that Lydia is out of the picture, more or less, I think Julia should adopt me.”
Grant stared at her, his eyes wide before he pinched his eyebrows. “Uh, Sierra, I think–”
“What?” she asked, tilting her head at her father before she slid her gaze to Julia. “You’d be okay with it, right, Julia?”
Julia smiled at her. “Of course.”
“Then Julia can never leave me. She’ll always have to be responsible for me.”
“Sierra, you’re an adult. You’re responsible for yourself,” Grant said.
“You know what I mean. I just want to be a family.”
“I think it’s a lovely idea, Sierra,” Julia said with a rub of her shoulder. “Let’s talk about it another time, okay?”
Kyle shifted in the bed.
“Tired of losing yet, loser?” Sierra asked.
“I wouldn’t have lost so much if you weren’t cheating,” he said, his forehead creasing.
Julia studied him with narrowed eyes. “Need your pain meds?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I’ll get them,” she said with a rub of his arm. She climbed from the bed, tugging her phone from her pocket and glancing at it. Her forehead crinkled as she spotted a text from an unknown number.
Heat washed over her, but she shoved the phone back into her pocket before she grabbed Kyle’s pain medication and shook two pills from the bottle. After delivering them with a glass of water, she hovered at his bedside.
“Julia? You okay?” Grant asked.
“Yeah, deal me out of the next round. I just want to check on Alicia and Ethan and make sure they’re settled. I’ll be back.”
“Okay,” he said with a grin.
“Hurry back,” Sierra said, “there are too many egos in this room without supervision.”
“I promise,” she said with a smile before she darted into the hall, pulling her phone from her pocket again. With trembling hands, she swiped into the message. You think you’re so smug. Well, look who is having the last laugh.
A picture followed of Alicia tied to a chair, along with another message. If you want to save her life, come alone to 538 Silvertree. Tell anyone about this, and you’ll never see your sister again.
Julia swallowed hard as she blew up the picture, her eyes tearing. How had this happened? How was there another attack on her family?
She wasn’t certain how much more her heart could take. She shoved the phone into her pocket as she hurried down the hall. With labored breathing, she burst into Alicia’s room.
“Ally? Ally!” She tore across the room and raced into the darkened bathroom, finding it empty.
Her sister wasn’t here. She swallowed hard as she left the room behind and raced to Ethan’s room. She found it empty, too.
Her heart ramped up as she slid her phone from her pocket and dialed her sister’s number. Her call when straight to voicemail. Her breathing turned ragged as she bobbled her phone in a desperate attempt to dial Ethan.
His voicemail played in her ear as worried groan escaped her. Her knees wobbled, but her feet drove her forward. She was, once again, playing the game by Lydia’s rules.
With her stomach twisted into knots, she fled from the house into the night air. The coolness couldn’t soothe her frayed nerves. Visions of the shape they’d found Kyle in danced in her mind, making her worry about how she’d find her sister.