Chapter 11
GRANT
T he words scrolling at the bottom of the screen as the newscaster spoke seemed surreal. Reports of his ex-wife’s death echoed in his mind as they provided a brief update about the breaking news story.
It wasn’t so much the news of her death that left the hollow feeling in his chest, but the reports that it was being investigated as suspicious. Those words twisted his gut into a knot.
A tangle of emotions rushed through him. Relief, certainly, but a pang of guilt and a storm of unresolved anger. Lydia’s shadow still loomed large, complicating his feelings even in her absence.
He tightened his arm around Julia. At long last, his ex-wife would no longer be able to hurt her or anyone in his family.
He breathed a sigh of relief at the idea that he’d no longer need to worry about his family’s lives. Lydia had made her last move on the chessboard, and he’d countered. Check and mate.
Next to him, Julia’s features paled as the newscaster continued on her spiel, her jaw unhinging.
“Wow,” Alicia said as they moved to the next story. “Didn’t see that coming.”
She twisted to face her sister, her features pinching. “Juju? You okay?”
“Y-yeah. Just shocked.” Julia shifted her weight, her gaze falling to the floor.
“Sit down,” Alicia said as she wrapped an arm around her and guided her to the sofa.
Grant poured her a brandy and delivered it, sinking onto the couch next to her. She seemed to be taking the news badly. He couldn’t understand why after what Lydia had put her through.
She sipped the drink, a far-off look in her eyes as the news played in the background.
“Julia, you okay?”
She shifted her gaze to him, her features taut with an emotion he couldn’t read. “Yes, just…shocked.”
“So am I. Though I can’t say that I’m upset about it. She’s put us through hell these last two years.”
“Yeah, after what I’ve seen in the short time I’ve been here, I’d say crack open a bottle of champagne,” Alicia agreed. “But I’m a bitch, so…”
“You’re not,” Julia said as she grabbed her sister’s hand.
“I kind of am, and I don’t care what anybody says, I’m with Grant. This is good news. Ding dong, the witch is dead.”
Grant rubbed Julia’s back as she stared into space again. What was bothering her so much about this?
“I wonder why the police think it’s suspicious?” Ethan asked as he rubbed his chin. “She fell. It could have been an accident or suicide.”
Julia shifted in her seat as she raised her eyes to her brother-in-law. “That’s not normal, right? They must have some reason for that.”
“They must have a hell of a good reason for it,” Alicia said. “Most cases like this would be assumed to be suicide until proven otherwise.”
“So, they have some evidence?” She lifted the brandy to her lips again, and Grant couldn’t miss the tremor in her hand.
Alicia rose from her seat and paced the floor. “I’d say they do. I wonder if we can pull anything using our logins at Harbor Cove.”
“We don’t need that,” Julia answered.
Alicia twisted to eye her. “Oh, right, I mean, if you don’t want to know, that’s fine. I thought you may be curious, but maybe you’d just prefer to put this behind you and move on.”
Grant pulled Julia closer to him, noticing the stiffness in her body. “I think that’s for the best. After what she put this family through, we deserve to put her out of our minds and move on.”
He rubbed Julia’s shoulder as he glanced down at her, his brow furrowing at her reaction.
She shifted her gaze to him, offering him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’re right. We shouldn’t dwell on it.”
She offered him another less-than-genuine smile before she returned her gaze to her sister.
“Sure,” Alicia said. “Well, I guess I don’t need to worry so much about you now, which is a huge relief.”
“I agree.” Grant rubbed Julia’s arm as he kissed the top of her head. “I won’t have to pull you out of any more fires.”
“Hey, I think, technically, I pulled you out of that fire.”
“Really? You’re going to knock my heroic efforts to save you?” he said with a chuckle.
She shrugged, her grim expression finally melting into a genuine smile. “I’m not a damsel in distress. I saved myself…sort of.”
“Sort of?” Ethan asked.
“Okay, I had some help.”
Alicia wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t tell me a ghost.”
“Alex called, and Ava talked me through it.”
Grant screwed up his face. “Alex called you while you were trapped in a burning building?”
“Yeah. Apparently the 9-1-1 call from my phone triggered an alert for him.” She paused as her fingertips tapped the outside of her glass. “I guess I should talk to him about that. It’s kind of weird that he’s monitoring my calls.”
“And stopping anyone from tracking you,” Grant said with a sigh. “That needs to stop, too. Max couldn’t find you or Sierra when you went rogue to find Kyle.”
“That wasn’t rogue.”
“Whatever. When you two were in danger, we couldn’t find out because the great Alex Stone decided only he should know your location because only he can be trusted with your life.”
Julia tugged her lips back in a wince. “Sorry. Anyway, thank goodness for him and Ava or I would have broken the window in the room I was trapped in and probably made things worse.”
“I guess I have to thank him…again,” Grant said with a shake of his head as the front door banged shut. “This is really becoming a habit.”
Sierra wandered into the room, scanning it. “What’s a habit?”
He stiffened as he spotted his daughter. He’d have to break the news to her about her mother’s death. He wondered how she’d take it.
Next to him, Julia must have been pondering the same thing because her posture straightened as she stared at Sierra.
“Uh, let’s let them talk, Ethan,” Alicia said, grabbing her husband’s hand and tugging him toward the foyer.
“Did someone thaw Officer Frost? She seemed almost… nice?”
“Sierra…” Grant began, rising from his seat along with Julia.
“Yeah? What happened? Why does everyone look like someone died?”
“Why don’t you sit down?”
“Oh, no, here we go again. Sierra, sit down. Sierra, I have bad news. And then no one will tell me the bad news forever. You’ll just keep staring at me.”
“I think you should sit down, too, Sierra,” Julia said with a consoling glance.
Her features turned wary as she eyed them both. “What happened? Is it Kyle? Did something happen to him?”
“No, he’s okay,” Julia answered.
She turned pale, her eyes going wide. “Oh, no. Are you leaving Daddy?”
“No,” Julia said with a shake of her head as she reached out toward Sierra. “I told you in the hospital that I’m here to stay.”
Sierra clutched her hand, tugging it closer to her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, so it can’t be that bad then. That’s the worst news I could get.”
Julia set her drink on the coffee table before she wrapped an arm around Sierra and led her to the couch, easing them both onto the supple leather seat.
“Look, I’m serious. If you’re not leaving Daddy, I probably won’t be upset. That’s literally the worst thing in the world that can happen.”
Julia offered her a smile as she took her hand. “I’m very glad you feel that way. But this news may still be shocking.”
Grant perched on the edge of the coffee table, balancing his elbows on his knees. “Baby…”
Sierra crinkled her brow. “Yeah?”
Wincing, he flicked his gaze to the floor, pondering the best approach to break the news of his ex-wife's death to her daughter.
“Daddy, just say it already.”
“Your mother–”
Sierra flung a hand in the air. “Wait, stop…Lydia or Julia?”
“Lydia,” he answered.
“Oh, okay. Well, she’s not my mother, so you could have just said Lydia. And honestly, if this has something to do with her, I really couldn’t care less.” Sierra looped her arm through Julia’s. “As long as my real mother is okay, I’m good.”
“Sierra, you need to hear this,” Julia said as she pushed a lock of hair over her shoulder.
Grant nodded at his wife before he flicked his gaze back to his daughter. “Lydia…died earlier this evening.”
Sierra stared at him for a moment. He reached out to grab her hand, uncertain if he should expect an emotional outburst. Her eyebrows knitted, her features hardening. After a second, she shrugged. “Okay, so?”
“Honey…” Grant searched for the words to try to delve into his daughter’s feelings about it, but found none.
Truthfully, he didn’t much care either outside of the relief that she’d no longer be a wrecking ball in their lives.
The relief of that alone was enough for him to want to celebrate right alongside Julia’s sister.
“Sierra, I know you are very angry with her right now,” Julia said, her voice soft and even, “but she was still your mother.”
“No,” Sierra said with a shake of her head. “No, she wasn’t my mother. She was the person who gave birth to me, but that’s where our connection ended.”
“All right, but she still played a big role in your life, and–”
Sierra rose from the couch with a vehement wag of her head. “No. That’s the point. Outside of being a major threat, she played no role in my life. I hate her. And if she’s dead, good. Now, she can’t hurt any of us anymore.”
“Sierra…” Grant began, understanding her anger toward Lydia, but still doubting her indifference.
“Daddy, stop. You don’t need to be concerned. I really couldn’t care less. Lydia is dead. Okay.”
Julia rose and reached for her. If the situation wasn’t serious, Grant would have smiled at the scene. She really had a way with his daughter.
“I think you should know how she died,” Julia said.
Sierra arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Sierra, she fell from her penthouse,” Julia answered.
“Okay,” Sierra said with a shrug. “Look, I don’t care if she fell, or drowned, or overdosed. As long as she won’t be making our lives miserable.”
“The police think it’s a little suspicious,” Grant added. “They’re doing an investigation.”