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“You forgot. And you just remembered now?”
Julia shook her head. “No.”
She bit into her lower lip before she continued her story, her stomach riding a wave of uncertainty. “She confronted me after I got my memories back. She must have assumed I knew everything.”
“Yeah? And?”
“She wanted my help to destroy Grant.”
“Help? Are you kidding me?” Sierra’s features twisted with confusion as she stared at Julia. “And you told her no, right?”
Julia pressed her lips together, her features pinching as she shook her head.
“Julia! How is this happening? How are you still standing here holding Daddy’s hand like you care when you’re helping my mother destroy him?”
“Easy, Sierra, that’s not what’s happening. Lydia threatened Julia to keep quiet and help her. But, thankfully, she told me.” He heaved a sigh. “And then we told Kyle because we needed his help.”
“You needed Kyle’s help? Are you insane?”
“No, we’re not. But…” Grant began, his voice trailing off.
“We weren’t getting anywhere with Lydia,” Julia said. “Outside of really annoying requests, she wasn’t exactly confiding in me. We needed someone on the inside.”
Sierra arched an eyebrow as she shot a sideways glance at Kyle who raised his glass to her. “Oh, right. That makes sense. He’s crazy enough to be perfect for the job.”
With a shake of his head, he let his arm fall back down. “I really never can get any credit.”
“We appreciate what you’re doing. Even Sierra,” Julia assured him.
“Wait, I still don’t understand what’s happening,” Sierra said, wagging her head back and forth. “Mom threatened you. With what?”
Sierra’s eyes went wide and her lips formed an “O” the moment the words left her mouth. “OMG, you are having an affair with Kyle!”
Julia screwed up her face as the words hit her. “What? No.”
“Well, then what does she have on you? What did you do?”
Grant’s words turned sharper. “Sierra, Julia didn’t do anything. She’s not protecting herself from anything here.”
“Well, then what did she threaten you with?” Sierra’s gaze bounced between the two of them.
Julia glanced up at Grant, offering him a consoling glance as her knees wobbled underneath her. Sierra’s reaction wouldn’t be pretty, and she hated that they had to tell her. She couldn’t imagine Grant felt much better about it.
“You, Sierra. She’s protecting you.”
“Me? From my mother? That bitch can walk any day. Don’t bother doing this on my account. I don’t care–“
“Sierra, it’s not that simple,” Julia answered. “It’s not about your feelings for your mother.”
“Then what?”
Julia pressed her lips together. She’d have to say it. She had the feeling Grant couldn’t. “She has pictures…not very nice pictures…of you at the Luxe club a few years ago.”
A ghostly white washed over Sierra’s face, her eyes wide with a dawning horror. “From my birthday party?”
Her voice came out as a whispered squeak, trembling with a mix of fear and disbelief as her knuckles whitened around the chair’s arms.
Julia bobbed her head up and down to confirm it without speaking. Her heart ached for the woman who now had to realize her mother threatened to ruin her reputation.
