Chapter 7
GRANT
G rant narrowed his eyes at his wife as she passed the pills off to his son. She’d checked her phone moments ago before shoving it back in her pocket. He’d noticed a fleeting shadow cross her delicate features, but it was gone in an instant, replaced by her usual calm.
She shifted her weight back and forth instead of returning to her spot next to Sierra.
“Julia? You okay?” he 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 smile.
“Hurry back,” Sierra said, “there are too many egos in this room without supervision.”
“I promise,” she said with a smile before she left them behind.
Something about the way she said it, the way her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes made him nervous. He was tempted to toss the cards down and follow her into the hall. With a deep inhale, he decided not to.
He didn’t want to smother her. Maybe she’d gotten a text from her sister and wanted to handle the matter privately. He’d check in with her later.
“Daddy, it’s your turn,” Sierra prompted.
“Right, sorry,” he said as he tossed a card onto the pile.
Sierra studied her cards as Kyle made his play. “You know, Daddy, I think you should call Mitchell Caldwell in the morning.”
“Oh?” he answered as he stared out the door, wondering how long Julia would be.
“To start my adoption papers.”
He snapped his gaze back to his daughter. “Sierra, we need to discuss this more thoroughly.”
“What’s to discuss? I love Julia, and I want her to be my mom. I don’t have a mom–”
“I think Lydia may have something to say about that,” Grant answered as he focused on the cards in his hand.
“Too bad. She doesn’t get a say. She lost that right when she tried to blackmail Julia with pictures of me. Actually, she lost that right when she walked out on us twenty years ago.” Sierra heaved a sigh. “Daddy, why are you fighting me on this? You’ll probably lose.”
He raised his eyes to her. “Probably, but I just…think you should let Julia think about it.”
“She said she was fine.”
“Julia is always okay with everything. She’s the most accommodating person I know. Which is why I think we shouldn’t push this. Let’s just let everyone settle in.”
“Did you somehow mess up again?” Sierra asked.
He heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping. “I didn’t mess up. And with the company safe from your mother’s clutches, I’m really hoping things get back to normal around here.”
“If you’re worried about Kyle jumping on this bandwagon, I already warned him that it would be inappropriate to be adopted by someone you tried to date.”
Kyle glared at his sister. “Thanks, sis. I really appreciate your analysis of the situation.”
“What?” Sierra said with a shrug. “It’s true.”
“Okay, let’s just…put this on the back burner for the moment, okay? Let’s focus on making sure your mother–”
“Don’t call her that,” Sierra warned with a wag of her finger. “Lydia is her name. My mother is Julia.”
Grant rubbed his daughter’s arm, pleased with how close she’d grown to his wife. “Okay. Let’s focus on making sure Lydia goes to jail for a very long time.”
“Or just leaves,” Sierra said.
“I’m kind of with Sierra on this one,” Kyle said. “Is it possible for us to put her in a foreign prison and forget she exists?”
“Unfortunately, Lydia’s connections are fairly extensive. She’d probably end up married to the foreign dignitary, and we’d be worse off,” Grant said, checking his watch.
“We should discuss ways to get rid of her,” Sierra said.
He scrunched his eyebrows as he flicked his gaze up to her, prepared to answer when he realized she’d been talking to Kyle.
“Oh, I have ideas,” Kyle answered.
“If they’re anything like the ones you had for Luke, they won’t work,” Grant said.
“Those ideas weren’t that bad. They just needed to be…revised.”
Sierra tossed her cards down. “What ideas? I want to hear them. We need Lydia out of the way fast.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Grant said with a shake of his head. “No one is going to do anything crazy.”
“Why are you protecting her? Do you want someone to get hurt? Do you want her to steal the company from you? Do you actually think Alex Stone is going to keep bailing you out?”
“He didn’t…okay, look, I don’t want anything to happen. I’d be happy if your mo–Lydia blinked off the face of the earth tomorrow. But I’m not going to let you two do stupid things like slash her tires or…poison her makeup.”
Kyle grabbed a notepad from the drawer of his nightstand. “Oh, that’s a good one I hadn’t thought of. Arsenic would be the most appropriate choice of course.”
“Stop writing that,” Grant said as he tossed his cards down.
Sierra poked her nail-polished nail at the paper. “Write it. I like that idea, too. She wears enough, it’ll kill her almost instantaneously.”
“I wonder where she keeps the arsenic she used on Julia?” Kyle asked as he tapped the pen against his lips.
Sierra wrinkled her nose. “Can’t we just buy new arsenic?”
“Yeah, but if it’s arsenic she bought herself…”
“Ohhh, it can’t be traced to us.” Sierra bobbed her head up and down. “Right. That’s smart.”
“No one is putting arsenic, new or old, into anyone’s makeup. Stop talking about it.” He leapt from his seat and paced the floor.
“Well, we can’t slash her tires, Daddy, that’s just stupid.”
“I didn’t say–that’s Kyle’s idea.”
Kyle shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. You accused me of starting with the plan to slash your tires when I came to town, but that wasn’t even close to one of my plans.”
“What were the plans that you scraped? Is there anything we can use for Lydia?” Sierra asked.
“Nah, they were Dad-specific.”
Sierra lifted a shoulder. “But they both have big egos, so maybe something could be tweaked.”
“Hey,” Grant said as he paused in his pacing, “I don’t have a big ego.”
“You kind of do, Daddy. The fact that you just took exception to my statement suggests that you do, in fact, have a big ego.” She smiled at him. “It’s okay, we still love you.”
He grumbled a sigh as he continued his pacing before he crossed the room and glanced into the hall. “Does anyone else think Julia’s been gone a long time?”
“Maybe,” Sierra answered, “probably her bitchy sister is being her normal self and poor Julia can’t get away.”
“I’m going to check,” Grant said. “Please don’t make any stupid decisions about destroying people while I’m gone.”
“Okay, we’ll just make smart decisions about destroying Lydia,” Sierra answered.
He hesitated at the door before he shook his head. He’d deal with it after he’d located Julia. Maybe she could talk some sense into his children.
He threaded through the halls to Alicia’s room and pounded on her door. No one answered.
He tried again, rapping a little louder this time. “Alicia?”
With a sigh, he stared at the door. He dared not open it. If Alicia was inside and ignoring him, there would be an international incident. Maybe she wasn’t inside. Maybe they were in Ethan’s room. Where had Worthington put the man?
He twisted, scanning the other doors in the hall. Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. He turned to find Alicia and Ethan.
His stomach twisted into a knot as his brow furrowed.
“Hey, Grant. Did you need something?” Alicia asked as her steps slowed.
“Have you seen Julia?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “We were out and just got back. What’s up?”
“She came to check on you. She hasn’t come back.”
“Oh, maybe she’s trying to find us,” Alicia said as she pulled her phone from her pocket. “Ah, yep. Missed call from Julia.”
She held a finger up as she pressed the phone to her ear. “Hmm, going straight to voicemail.”
Grant’s heart thudded faster. He whipped his phone from his pocket and dialed his driver, James.
“Mr. Harrington,” James answered a second later, “something I can help you with?”
“Is Julia’s car here?”
“Let me check.”
He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he waited for James to check on the vehicle.
“No, it is not. Everything okay, sir?”
“No,” Grant said, his mind racing. “Thanks, James.”
He ended the call.
“Grant?” Alicia asked. “Something wrong?”
“Julia left. And she didn’t tell anyone. And when she does that–”
“Something’s wrong,” Alicia answered. “What happened? Did you have a fight, or did something happen with the kids?”
“No, she…” He squeezed his eyes closed for a second as he pictured her just before she left. “She may have gotten a text. I assumed from you. She looked at her phone, gave Kyle his pain meds, and said she was going to check on you. But that was at least thirty minutes ago.”
Alicia shook her head and shrugged. “Why would she leave? Julia leaves when something upsets her.”
“Yeah, I noticed, but nothing upset her. She was fine. We were with Kyle and Sierra playing a game. It was fine. I…we need to find out where she is.”
“How?”
“Alex Stone is here. If anyone can track her phone, it’s him. Although… the last time we tried to track her phone, we couldn’t.” His feet were already moving to the south wing, though.
“I’m coming, too,” Alicia said, racing to catch up with him.
“Me, too,” Ethan added, snaking an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
Within a minute, Grant pounded on Alex’s door. The man tugged it open a few seconds later, clad in lobster-print pajamas. “G-Man, Dynamo, and Badge McGee? Wow, quite the welcoming committee.”
“Alex, I’m sorry to bother you, but we can’t find Julia.”
“Lost track of the leading lady?” He stepped back from the door and motioned for them to enter. “Please, step into my temporary lair.”
Grant’s forehead creased at the man’s odd personality as he stepped inside. “I don’t know if you can help or not. The last time we tried to track her phone it came up in some strange location.”
“Let me guess…Singapore?” Alex asked.
“Yes.” Grant narrowed his eyes at the man.
“Yeah, that’s because I’m running a blocker on her phone. No one’s going to track Sunshine’s location but yours truly. A man who can be trusted with her life.” He plopped into a chair and whipped open a laptop. “Give me two seconds, and I’ll tell you where your fair queen is.”
“You’re running a blocker?”
“Indeed,” he said as windows whipped around his screen and his fingers clacked against the keyboard. “With the crazed first First Lady, I didn’t want anyone to find her easily.”
Alex tapped at the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen. “You know, G, it’s not just about finding her, it’s about getting her safe.”
Grant clenched his jaw, the reminder of his past failures to keep his wife safe a sharp sting. “Just find her, Alex. Please.”
Alex finally met his gaze, his expression softening. "I'm on it. Nobody messes with our Julia. Not on my watch….Here we go…looks like little miss sunshine is at 538 Silvertree Lane.”
“538 Silvertree? Why would she be there?”
“Hmm, let us peruse the lovely Julia’s incoming calls and texts.” He pounded on the keyboard as Grant leaned over his shoulder.
Alex stopped, slowly sliding his eyes to Grant. “Do you mind?”
“Uh, I’m not going to steal your hacking skills.”
“As if you could. But I meant the messages. They may be private.”
“I’m her husband,” Grant argued.
“A man she chose not to share her current location with,” Alex answered. “Until I know why, I’d prefer to remain discreet.”
“Just look at the damn messages,” Alicia said.
“Okay, Dy, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
Alex shifted the screen before he typed again. “Ah, here we go. Mystery solved. A restricted number told her she wouldn’t have the last laugh, sent a ridiculous bad deep fake of Ally Cat tied to a chair, and told her to come alone to 538 Silvertree or she’d never see her sister again.”
Grant felt a cold dread wash over him, heavier than any he'd known. His heart thrashed against his ribs, each beat a loud echo in the silent void of his panic. He pressed his phone to his ear, the line already ringing for his head of security.
“Mr. Har–”
“Max, get everyone to 538 Silvertree. Lydia has Julia.” He ended the call, already heading to the door.
“Whoa, we’re coming, too,” Alicia said.
“Fine,” he answered as he dialed James.
“I’ll alert the cops and be here for tech support,” Alex called as they hurried into the hall.
“Mr. Harrington, she’s not–”
“Get the SUV ready. Julia’s in trouble.”
He didn’t wait for an answer before he hung up. He couldn’t move fast enough through the house and out into the night air. Alicia hurried behind him, her phone in her hands. “Alex? How long until police are on scene?”
“Estimate is fifteen minutes.”
“Damn it,” Grant said, pushing his feet to move faster to the garage. “That’s way too long.”
James had the car outside, engine running as he sat behind the wheel. “Get in.”
“You got the address from Max?” Grant asked as he hurried around the front of the vehicle and hopped into the passenger seat.
Alicia and Ethan slid into the backseat. “Go.”
James tore off down the driveway. Worry for Julia gnawed at Grant as he stared at the estimated time to arrival. “Can you go any faster?”
“Yeah,” James answered as he urged more speed from the SUV.
Silence stretched between them as tension grew. Each mile that passed twisted Grant’s stomach into a tighter knot.
James swung the car onto Silvertree Lane.
“Oh my God,” Grant exclaimed as he stared at what he assumed to be the location. Flames leapt from the house. James pulled into the driveway, slowing the car as they spotted Julia’s Porsche sitting near the house.
Grant stumbled out of the car, his gaze fixed on the raging flames engulfing the house.
The once-grand Victorian mansion now appeared like a wrathful beast consumed by fire.
Fiery tongues of orange and red licked at the dark sky, while windows shattered as though the house itself were crying out into the night.
"Julia," he whispered, her name a prayer and a plea. The thought of losing her, of the light she brought into his dark world being snuffed out, was unbearable. He fought against the rising tide of despair, clinging to a sliver of hope that he wasn't too late.