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Grant let his gaze fall to the wedding photo again, the familiar melancholy filling him as he wondered if he’d lost her or if he’d ever truly had her to lose. “Yes.”
“Sir, if I may, sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Especially when someone like Ms. Lydia is involved.”
“I know. But the doubt…it’s paralyzing.” He took another sip of bourbon before he continued. “And I hate that. I hate that I am thinking this of her. But she was never really mine to begin with, was she? She’s not…cheating. She’s just…following her…” The word heart got stuck in his throat, and he gulped down another swallow of brandy.
“If you were going to say she’s following her heart, sir, remember her heart led her back here even after her encounter with her past in Maine.”
He scoffed as he stared into his empty glass. “Did it? Or did her contract?”
Before Worthington could answer, the phone rang, startling Grant as the shrill tone split the tense silence.
Grant stared at it for a second before he snatched the receiver. “Yeah?”
“Mr. Harrington,” Max answered, “we have the address. Do you want me to send a team up or would you like to go with us?”
Grant sat frozen for a moment as he pondered the question. Part of him urged himself to go, to take charge, to fight for her, but another part feared what he may find.
Images of Julia and Kyle cuddled together as she sought comfort in his arms from the constant tension and danger danced in his mind.
He swallowed hard as he made a snap decision. “No, leave it.”
“Sir?”
“Leave it for now. Don’t do a thing.” He slammed the receiver down, sliding his eyes closed.
“Have they found something?” Worthington asked.
“Max has the address of Lydia’s cabin. The one Julia is supposedly at.”
“And you are not going?”
Grant kept his eyes trained on the woodgrain of his desk, seeking solace in the dark pattern. “No.”
“Are you entirely satisfied with that decision?”
“I’m letting her come home on her own.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Worthington questioned.
He never had the opportunity to answer. Footsteps in the foyer, followed by hushed voices, announced the arrival of someone.
Worthington crossed to the doors of the office and pulled them open. Grant glanced around his butler, spotting Julia, still in the scrubs from the hospital with Kyle at her side.
He couldn’t suppress the image of her in his arms from poking into his mind, unbidden. It twisted his stomach into a knot so tight, he thought he might double over from the pain.
“Worthington, is Grant–” She stopped as Worthington stepped sideways and motioned for her to enter the office.
She slid past him into the room with Kyle following her. Her penitent features landed on him, her face scrunched with a mix of concern and worry. “We need to talk.”
Kyle slid a hand onto her shoulder. The simple action made him question everything that had happened in the nearly two years since he’d met Julia Stanton.
He wanted to leap from his seat and demand answers, yet he also dreaded them. He remained silent, hoping his eyes didn’t betray the tumult of emotions raging inside him as one question burned through his mind. Had he fallen for a woman that he never had the chance to win?
CHAPTER 14
JULIA
Julia licked her lips, her heart thudding against her ribs as she faced Grant. Worthington eased the doors closed, leaving them alone. Kyle slid his hand onto her shoulder, warmth from him seeping through the fabric of her scrubs. Meant as a comforting gesture, she found it both comforting and concerning.
