Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
JULIA
J ulia licked her lips as she stared at the gun pointed at her. Her heart pounded out a desperate rhythm against her ribs while her mind stretched to search for a way out. “Lydia…”
“What, Julia? You were just so smug a second ago. What happened?”
Julia’s eyes rested on the gun pointing at her. “Okay. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let you hurt Sierra. But maybe I can still help you. I’ll…find a way to get that flash drive. Maybe not tonight but…”
“Not good enough,” Lydia shrieked at her. “I want it now.”
“Okay, okay, umm, I’m pretty certain I can convince Grant to let me hold on to it for him. And then I’ll bring it up here. No problem, okay? We can still work together.”
“Really?” Lydia asked, her head lolling to the side. “You expect me to believe that?”
Julia swallowed hard, lifting her chin a little. “Yes, because…it’s true. I…didn’t want Sierra hurt, but…”
Lydia arched an eyebrow.
Julia tried to force the words from her throat, hoping they sounded convincing. “I…see your point about Grant. And…the truth is…that’s why I have been…paying a little more attention to Kyle.”
Lydia’s features melted with amusement. “Really? You and Dr. Doolittle?”
Julia sucked in a breath. “You should know. You said you had pictures from our trip to the cabin.”
“I had a few shots of a tender moment in the living room. I don’t have cameras everywhere . Was there more?”
Julia pressed her lips together, her breathing shallow as she continued to lie. “There was.”
She held Lydia’s gaze, hoping to convince her.
“Do tell.”
“What?” Julia’s brow furrowed.
“Details, Julia. How far did it go? A few kisses? Cuddles? Whispered promises?” Her eye arched again. “All the way?”
“We slept together. I just…Grant isn’t who I thought he was and…I needed the comfort.”
“And Kyle was all too willing to provide it, wasn't he?”
Julia let her gaze fall to the floor. Her plan seemed to be working. If she could just convince Lydia that she’d moved on from Grant, she could get out of this. “He was, yes. And I can’t say that I’m unhappy about that. So, as you can see, I’m not as attached to Grant as you think I am. So, if you need something from me…” She flicked her gaze back up to Lydia. “I can help you.”
Lydia’s features twisted into a smirk.
Julia grinned back at her. “Two ladies who have been treated badly by Grant Harrington coming together to destroy him. What do you say?”
Lydia’s features melted from a smile to an angry frown. “I say it’s all bull. You didn’t sleep with Dr. Jekyll. No way. You don’t hate Grant. You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” Julia answered, trying to swing the situation back her way.
“You are.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “My heavens, it’s so obvious you love him, it’s sickening. You’re a terrible liar. You nearly choked on the words about cheating. You didn’t do anything with lover boy outside of those kisses, and I’m fairly certain he initiated those. I’m a woman, Julia. I can read the looks, and you were not interested in the good doctor.”
Julia gritted her teeth, her hands curling into fists. She needed a plan, and fast. Should she keep insisting she had cheated on Grant or switch? “Okay, fine. I didn’t. But…”
“But what?” Lydia asked.
“I could still help you. If only out of self-preservation–”
“Ohh, you will still help me, sweetness. But probably not the way you hoped. Morrison…” Lydia waved the gun in the air between the man and Julia.
Another man grabbed her from behind as Morrison yanked her wrists forward and zip-tied them. She winced as the plastic dug into her skin.
“Take her into the bedroom and wait for my signal,” Lydia ordered.
Morrison grabbed Julia and roughly dragged her across the room into a bedroom. He tossed her forward, and she stumbled a few steps before colliding with the bed.
She pushed herself onto her back and sat up, shifting her wrists back and forth as she tried to wiggle out of the ties.
Her heart pounded, and her stomach twisted into a knot. How had this happened? She’d gone from destroying Lydia’s leverage to becoming it. She hadn’t banked on Lydia being that unhinged, but apparently, her plans to destroy Grant were the only thing she could see.
Julia scanned the space as her mind worked to find an escape. Even if she could make it through the door, Lydia and two other bodyguards stood in her way. She’d never make it to the hall, let alone the elevators.
Her eyes fell on a sliding door to a balcony. But on the thirtieth floor, it was useless to her. With bound hands in a ball gown, she’d never be able to maneuver. She’d fall to her death first.
She fixed her gaze on the man who accompanied her as he settled into the armchair across the room. He smirked, his dark eyes boring into her.
“Morrison, was it?” she asked with a shaky voice.
“What’s it to you?”
“Just wanted to know the name of the man pointing a gun at me,” she answered. She recalled during hostage situations her sister had managed that talking to the captor could help prevent tragedy. She swallowed hard as she flicked her gaze sideways to him again. “So, do you have a family?”
“Don’t try to get cute with me. I’m not going to have a conversation with you, then start to feel bad, and let you go.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all,” Julia claimed. “I just…am trying to pass the time.”
“I’ve got the perfect way to do that,” he answered. The gun slid forward as he leaned closer to her.
She froze, her features registering the panic building in her. They relaxed slightly when he snatched the remote from the table and flicked on the television.
“There we go. Perfect.”
“But–”
Her words cut off as he cranked the volume on the football game a little higher. She let her shoulders slump as she realized that option was out.
She eyed Morrison, searching for any hint of humanity as she drummed her fingertips against each other. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she announced after a few moments.
“Hold it.”
“I can’t. I had a lot to drink. And I really have to go.”
“Too bad,” he answered.
She shifted on the bed with a frustrated sigh. “Call Lydia. I’ll bet she’d tell you to let me go.”
“I’m not disturbing Mrs. Harrington.”
“She’s not–” Julia pressed her lips together as she resisted the urge to point out that she technically was no longer Mrs. Harrington. “Just call her. I have something I want to tell her.”
The man shifted his dark eyes to her. “No.”
She was getting nowhere fast and her frustration was building by the second. “Fine, I’ll call her myself. Lydia! LYDIA!”
The man leapt to his feet and raced toward her, pressing a hand over her lips. “Shh, stop that.”
The door opened a second later, and her eyes went wide. Lydia stepped inside. “What is going on in here?”
Julia tugged the man’s hand away with her bound wrists. “I have to go to the bathroom, and he won’t let me.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. You are high-maintenance. Just let her go, but keep an eye on her. She’s a little wily.”
Julia rose and thrust her wrists out. “I need these off.”
“No,” Lydia answered.
“I can’t go with my wrists bound together. I couldn’t even lift the dress!”
Lydia lifted a shoulder with a nonchalant glance. “It’s not my fault you picked that hideous dress to wear. Figure it out or hold it.”
The door slammed shut a second later, startling her.
She glanced up at her captor who waved toward the en-suite bathroom. “Go ahead, princess.”
She took a step toward it when he grabbed her arm and yanked her back. With the end of his weapon, he traced the outline of her cheek. “Let's get one thing straight. If you ever do something like that again, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later.”
She yanked her arm from his grasp and hurried to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her, leaning against it as tears stung her eyes. She refused to give in to them.
Crying wouldn’t help her. Action would. She needed to find a way out of this. But first, she needed to see if she could use something in the bathroom to break the zip tie that held her wrists together.
She desperately scanned the space for anything of use. Her eyes lit as she spotted a toiletry kit amongst the items laid out on the vanity. She threw herself against the marble top and snatched it. After a brief struggle, she snapped it open and found a small metal nail file inside.
Her hands shook as she clutched the nail file, her every movement fueled by a mix of fear and determination. She sawed against the plastic with a fervor born of desperation, each stroke an echo of her racing thoughts.
“Come on,” she said as her slow progress failed to live up to her expectations.
Her mind raced twelve steps ahead. Once the zip tie broke, what could she use to disable Morrison? If she could knock him out, she could take his gun, and she had a fighting chance of escape.
She refused to let herself be used as collateral in the war against Grant. It put him in a bad position.
A curse escaped her lips as she dropped the file. She retrieved it and began to saw feverishly, sweat beading on her brow.
Before she could make much progress, though, the door popped open. Morrison’s eyes swept the room, spotting her with the file. She tried to dance away from him, but he was too quick. He pinned her against the vanity, crushing her hip into it until she cried out in pain.
“I don’t think so,” he answered as he ripped the file from her hands and tossed it across the room. He grabbed her by the hair and tugged her back to the room, tossing her onto the bed again.
She collapsed on it with a sob.
“You try a stunt like that again, and I’ll kill you.”
She swallowed hard, her heart still pounding as she eyed him warily.
A second later, the door popped open, and Lydia’s voice filled the space. “Morrison! Bring out our little piece of persuasion, please. Seems Grant needs a little motivation to help him do what I asked.”
The man grabbed her roughly and hauled her to her feet before he dragged her across the room. He hauled her into the living room. Her heart stopped as she spotted Grant.
His eyes went wide with shock. “Julia?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, tears shining in her eyes.
“Aw, isn’t this touching?” Lydia said.
“Let her go, Lydia, she doesn’t have anything to do with this,” Grant said.
“Oh, but she does.”
Grant shook his head. “No. She’s innocent in all of this. Let her go. We’ll handle whatever’s going on between us alone, okay?”
“I don’t think so. And she’s hardly innocent. She’s actually been playing on my team for several months now, but she’s outlived her usefulness. It seems she actually cares about you and Sierra, which means this is the only way she can help me. Now…how much do you love Little Miss Muffet? Enough to give me the Solaris plans or is Harrington Global your one true love?”
Grant swallowed hard as he stared at Julia. “I’ll get the plans.”
“Wow,” Lydia said with a cackle, “that was easy. Had I known it would be this easy, I would have done this a long time ago.”
“Don’t, Grant. You can’t let her win.”
Lydia wrapped an arm around Julia and pulled her closer. “Aw, she’s just so sweet it makes my teeth ache. Now, run along and get that flash drive. Us girls will be waiting for you.”
“Look, I’ll give you the flash drive, but you give me Julia.”
“I don’t think so, Grant. I’m not that stupid.”
“Lydia, promise me you won’t hurt her. Please.”
“I’m not going to do anything to her as long as I get what I want.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, shoot. I’m running late. Meet me on the roof with it. I’ve got to jet.”
“Why don’t you come with me downstairs and we’ll–”
“I said get the flash drive and meet me on the roof,” Lydia growled through clenched teeth. “This isn’t a negotiation unless you’d like me to do something drastic.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding up his hands in defeat. He flicked his gaze to Julia, concern etched into every line of his face. “I’ll get the flash drive.”
Julia’s heart broke as she watched Grant walk out of the door. She was alone again with an unhinged Lydia. DG Industries would succeed in destroying Grant thanks to her.
Lydia grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door. “Time to go, sweetie. I’ve got a chopper to catch.”
Julia stumbled alongside the woman as they exited into the hall, her bodyguards in tow. She led her to a stairwell, and together, they climbed to the roof level where the helipad sat empty.
On the roof, the wind blew her hair around, and a shiver shot down her spine as the cool air tickled her bare arms.
“Now, we wait. I wonder if Grant will actually save you or if his company means more to him. I know what my money’s on. Care to place a bet?”
Julia swallowed hard as she stared at Lydia’s hardened features, wondering if this was the end of the line for her.