Chapter 10 #2
She slipped from the room, wondering where everyone was while she made her way to the kitchen. As she grabbed two bags from the drawer, more of the conversation flooded back to her. I can barely stand to look at her.
The words incensed her. If Sierra wasn’t Grant’s, that was no one’s fault but Lydia’s. Her lips formed a frown while she shoved Sierra’s hair sample into one of the bags before she returned upstairs to retrieve Grant’s.
She secreted them away in a drawer in her office before she sank into the chair.
The weight of everything that had happened bore down on her, threatening to crush her.
She sank her head into her hands as Lydia’s taunts echoed in her mind mixed with frightening images of the fire and the many other difficulties she’d thrust upon them over the last two years.
A hard resolve steadied her trembling hands as she considered her options. This war had gone on for far too long, and it had already cost them too much. She wasn’t willing to risk a higher price.
Rising from her seat, Julia’s jaw set in a steely resolve, her entire being hardened with a newfound determination to confront the chaos Lydia had wrought.
She strode from her office downstairs to the foyer. “Worthington?”
She tried again after a few seconds. “Worthington?”
With no response, she slipped from the house and hurried to the garage. She slid behind the wheel of her car and pulled from the garage under the cover of the dark night.
Her fingers tightened on the wheel as she aimed for Lydia’s penthouse. It came into view, and Julia slipped her car into a parking space at the rear of the building.
She rounded the building and pushed inside, hurrying to the bank of elevators and slipping inside before the doors shut as someone exited.
With her elbow, she pressed the button for the top floor. As she curled and uncurled her fists, the car pulled her upward.
When the doors slid open again, she stormed toward Lydia’s door and banged on it.
It opened a second later. Lydia stared at her with a click of her tongue. “What’s the matter, Julia? Didn’t have enough fun last night?”
“Not nearly enough. We never got to finish our discussion about how you’re going to leave my family alone.”
Lydia let out a scoff. “Yes, we did. Unless you’re going to drop off the face of the earth, I have nothing to say to you.”
“Good. Then you can listen. Because I have had enough from you. This ends now. Tonight. You’re not going to hurt anyone ever again.”
With her jaw firm and chin lifted in defiance, Julia faced Lydia, every line of her body radiating a fierce resolve that belied the storm of emotions raging within her.
She was finished being a victim. Lydia’s trail of destruction ended tonight.
Trembling hands barely managed to grip the steering wheel as Julia slid into her car, the weight of her confrontation with Lydia pressing down on her with an almost physical force.
With a shaky breath, she fired the engine and tromped on the accelerator, sending the car flying wildly into the street as she cut off another car.
Her pulse pounded as a horn blared at her. She glanced in the rearview mirror at the snarl of traffic she left behind before her eyes shifted to the building. She forced herself to glance away from it, focusing on the road in front of her.
Wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, she flicked on the radio, cranking up the volume in an attempt to banish the thoughts of the encounter from her mind.
By the time Harrington House came into view, she’d pulled herself together. She’d done what she needed to do. She repeated the words over and over as she slid her car back into the garage and left it behind.
She strode across the lawn and slipped inside the house. Grant strode from his office. “Hey, where were you?”
“Just went for a walk. I needed some air. What about you? I woke up and couldn’t find you.”
“Yeah, sorry. Same. I just…needed some time to process everything.”
She rubbed his arm as she smiled at him. “It’s all over now. Have you seen Sierra? She was asleep when I got up, but then I couldn’t find her.”
“I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
Noise from the living room drew their attention. Alicia stepped into the foyer, her features aghast. “Have you seen the news?”
“What news?” Julia asked, her stomach dropping.
Alicia thumbed over her shoulder, her features pinching.
Julia wrapped her fingers around Grant’s hand as they followed Alicia into the living room. She grabbed the remote from the table and aimed it at the television, turning the volume up on the blonde newscaster who spoke above the headline that screamed brEAKING NEWS.
“…received word of the shocking death of socialite and humanitarian, Lydia Harrington Knight. Mrs. Knight, a prominent businesswoman known most recently for her tumultuous bid for control of Harrington Global, has died after falling from the penthouse of Skyline Towers. Early reports from the police suggest that Ms. Knight’s death is being investigated as suspicious.
Anyone with information is urged to come forward.
Stay with us for updates on this developing story. ”
Julia’s throat parched as she tightened her grip on Grant’s hand, sliding her eyes toward him. The news of Lydia’s death should have brought relief, yet it left Julia with a knot in her stomach as questions swirled in the aftermath of this revelation.