AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. I don’t need to sit down. I need answers.”
Grant swallowed hard, his features pinched as he flicked another glance at Julia. She read his emotions easily. Panic, helplessness, fear, and worry. She slipped her hand into his, her other grasping his shoulder in a show of solidarity.
He sucked in a breath before he swallowed hard. “All right, Sierra. You’re right. This concerns you, and you deserve answers.”
She bobbed her head up and down. “Umm, yeah, I do. So, give them to me.”
“You should sit down, Sierra,” Julia said.
“Stop stalling and tell me.”
Grant and Julia exchanged a glance. Her heart thudded as he prepared to tell his daughter about her mother. She could feel his muscles twitching as he clutched her hand. He was fighting the urge to tremble as he broke the news.
“A while ago,” Grant began, his voice low and tense, “we identified someone who is playing a major role in DG Industries.”
Sierra arched an eyebrow. “And no one told me?” She scoffed, flicking her eyes to Kyle. “But you told Kyle?”
“Hey, will you please stop acting like I’m not family?”
“We asked for Kyle’s help,” Julia explained.
Sierra’s eyes went wide again. “What? OMG. You two have finally lost it. Is he drugging you? He must be. That’s the only thing that explains why you’d trust him over me.”
“No, Sierra,” Julia said with a shake of her head. “No. We didn’t tell you because…”
“Yeah?” she prodded.
Julia winced, her heart breaking for Sierra. They had bonded, especially after being trapped together in the cave on their vacation. “It’s going to be very hard to hear.”
“It’s even harder to hear when no one will say it,” she snapped.
Kyle scoffed at the statement, shaking his head as he took another sip of his drink. “Can you ever just be nice about the fact that people are going through a tremendous amount of effort to protect you from your own stupidity?”
Sierra glared at him. “Well, since I have no idea what anyone is talking about, no, I can’t be.”
Grant shot his son an equally disapproving stare. “Kyle, please. Maybe this is better done between the three of us only.”
“Oh, right, sure. Kick me out. I’m not really family, right, Dad?”
“I think maybe he should stay. He’s part of this, too,” Julia answered.
Sierra flung her arms in the air, frustration etched into her made-up features. “Will someone please just tell me what’s going on?”
Grant leaned against the desk, training his eyes on his daughter. “Sierra…a while back…shortly after Julia’s car accident, we managed to track down one of the major players in DG Industries.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice tentative, “who is it? A rival billionaire? Someone from the board? Old enemy? Who?”
Grant flicked his gaze to his shoes, his jaw clenching as his fingers tightened around the edge of his desk. Julia’s heart pounded, each beat echoing her growing apprehension. As she gently squeezed Grant’s arm, her mind raced with worry. How would Sierra process this? She could almost feel the weight of the secret they were about to unload, a burden she wished they could spare her.
He raised his eyes to Sierra. “It’s Lydia.”
“Mom?!” Sierra shouted.
“Shh,” Grant said with a wave of his hand. “She doesn’t know we know. Well, she doesn’t know Kyle and I know. She knows Julia knows.”
“And she’s still here? Why? Julia! You were supposed to protect us. Why did you let her stay? For that matter, why have you been insisting she stay here? You’re on her side at every turn.”
“I caught her meeting with Christopher Metcalfe just before my accident, but then with my amnesia–“
