Chapter 24 #2
“I would have still tried to destroy you,” Kyle said with a shrug. “So, that would have happened.”
“But we probably would have just…destroyed each other instead of getting to know one another,” Grant said.
Kyle sucked in a breath. “Yeah. I guess. Not certain that’s a great thing, but…”
“I think it’s a great thing,” Julia said before she nudged Grant.
He straightened as he nodded. “Yeah, really great.”
“I saw her nudge you. That doesn’t count,” Kyle said with a shake of his head.
“I’m serious. And so is Grant. If you hadn’t come into our lives, we wouldn’t be here, Kyle. You saved Grant after the explosion. You saved my life twice.”
“And you helped me when Alicia came,” Sierra added.
“She’s right. And you offered to sink all of Luke’s tour boats to help me,” Grant said.
“Which makes you a valuable part of this family,” Julia added.
“Thanks,” he said as he squeezed her hand. “I’m…sometimes glad I found you guys.”
“Sometimes?” Sierra asked, her features tugging into a frown.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Better?”
“Much,” Sierra said with a curt nod. “Although, I really think the best thing Lydia gave us was Julia.”
“That I can agree with,” Kyle answered.
Grant pulled Julia closer to him again. “That’s the one thing we can all agree on.”
She smiled at them, warmth building in her at the statement. “That’s very nice, but I feel the same about each of you.”
“Then maybe we should be glad we all found each other,” Sierra said.
“I agree,” Julia answered.
Kyle glanced at his phone. “Well, that conversation wasted…eight minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes to go,” Sierra said as she let her head thud against the wall.
Julia settled back against Grant again. Her eyes fell on the table in the middle of the room. She tilted her head as she stared at the slim laptop sitting on top. A power cord attached to it, snaking down to the floor, but she focused on the second cord trailing from it.
She sat straighter. “What is that cord?”
“What cord?” Grant asked.
“On the laptop.”
“Probably the power cord,” Sierra said as she crossed her arms.
“No,” Julia scrambled to her feet. “The black one is the power cord. But this one…” She touched the white cord. Heat rushed through her as she yanked it from the machine. A grin crossed her lips.
“What is it?” Grant asked as he joined her at the table.
“An Ethernet cable.” Julia’s trembling hands plugged it back in before she lifted the lid.
“Huh?” Sierra asked as she rose from her spot on the floor along with Kyle.
“An Ethernet cable. It connects this machine to the internet. Which means we can send a message for help.”
“You need a cable for that?” Sierra asked.
Julia eased into the chair at the table as she waited for the machine to boot up. A password screen popped onto the display. “Great.”
“Try zero zero zero zero zero zero,” Kyle said as he stared at it over Julia’s shoulder.
Sierra joined them. “Or password.”
Grant screwed up his face. “Neither of those are going to work. We probably need Alex Stone for this.”
Julia chewed her lower lip before she tapped on the keyboard and pressed enter. The machine unlocked.
“Which of us was right?” Sierra asked.
“Neither. The password was DestroyGrant.”
The display loaded, and she furrowed her brow at what appeared on the screen. Her lips parted and her breath caught in her throat.
Grant leaned closer. “Is that…”
“Lydia’s hall. This is the security footage from the night she was killed.” Julia pointed at the time stamp.
Julia pressed the play button, then sped the footage to triple speed. The footage rolled forward, showing Kyle coming and going, followed by Grant, then Julia. Worthington arrived, then Alexander, then Sierra.
Julia slowed it to watch for the interruption in the footage, but it never came. Her eyebrows raised toward her hairline as a new figure came onto the screen. “This is the original footage from that night.”
She froze the video as the person twisted to face the camera.
“Showing Alexander Knight as the last person to enter Lydia’s apartment,” Grant said.
Kyle shook his head. “Wow. Her husband killed her.”
“I’m not surprised,” Grant answered. “I nearly killed her when we were married, too.”
“I can’t believe this,” Julia said, her voice breathless as she stared at the figure frozen on the screen. “We have the proof we need to clear everyone’s names.”
“If we can get out of here to use it,” Kyle answered as he stood.
A muffled sound reached their ears. Julia’s heart skipped a beat as she stood. “Did you hear that?”
“I did,” Sierra said with a nod.
The sound echoed again. Julia raced to the pile of dirt blocking them. “That’s Ally! Ally! We’re here!”
“Julia!” Alicia called. “Sit tight. We’re going to get you out of there.”
“Okay,” she called back. “Please hurry.”
She twisted and flung her arms around Grant’s neck. “We’re going to be okay.”
“And we’re going to bring down DG Industries once and for all,” he said with a grin.
Julia squeezed him tighter before she pulled back and wrapped an arm around Kyle as Grant pulled Sierra closer. They stood together as a family, waiting for their rescue.