Page 25 of Believing in a Billionaire (Hearts and Holdings #7)

JULIA

J ulia sighed as Grant strode from the room, the tension still obvious in his shoulders. Something was wrong, and it had started well before the pictures were leaked to the board. What was he holding back and why?

As soon as they were alone, Julia focused on her sister. “Did you check the room? Or did you just knock?”

“I checked the room. He’s not there.”

“Are his things there?”

“There are things there, yes.”

“What things?” Julia asked.

“What? Julia, calm down.”

“I will not calm down. Clothes? Phone charger? What things?”

“Uhh,” Alicia said as she scratched her head. “I think there was a phone charger on the nightstand. I didn’t check the closet, but there were things hanging on the clothes tree.”

Julia bit her thumbnail as she tapped her foot in the air, her features pinching.

“You know, I hate to say this,” Alicia said as she shuffled to the bed and collapsed on it, “but I actually think your husband is right.”

Julia flicked her gaze to her sister. “Seriously? You pick now to agree with Grant?”

Alicia shrugged. “You need to stop worrying about this kid.”

“Ally, I can’t. He’s not here, he wasn’t at the hospital, he’s not answering calls or texts. This is highly unlike Kyle.”

“Is it, though?” Alicia asked as she leaned back, her eyes narrowing.

“Yes,” Julia insisted with a vehement nod. “Ally, you don’t know him.”

“No, I’ve never kissed him, so I guess you know him better.”

“That’s not helpful,” Julia said with a shake of her head.

“Okay, okay. Lay out the evidence for me. Let me pick it apart so you can feel better.”

Julia crossed her arms. “No, I’m not going to give you the evidence to pick apart unless you promise me something.”

“What?” Alicia asked.

“If you can’t pick apart the evidence, you help me find him.”

Alicia winced and wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I don’t know about that, Juju.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not because I really don’t want you getting sicker. Those two days in the hospital were awful. I don’t want to do that again.”

“I won’t get that sick if you help me. I may get that sick if I just do this myself because no one will help me.”

Alicia held up a hand. “Fine, fine, fine. If I can’t blow holes in your so-called evidence, I will help you find him. Even if Grant kills me over it.”

“He’s not going to kill you. Because he’s never going to find out. Not if I can help it.”

“He’d better not.” Alicia patted her sister’s leg. “Now, lay it on me.”

“Okay,” Julia said as she fidgeted in the bed. “Kyle does not let things go, okay? He just doesn’t. Especially with me.”

“Ohhh, someone thinks they’re important.”

“Not funny, Ally. I’m not joking, though. He’s not the type to let things simmer. He’s got to confront things head-on. No matter how much you tell him you need space, he doesn’t do space.”

Alicia arched an eyebrow.

“Listen, the first time he kissed me–”

“First time? There was more than one time?”

Julia winced, her mind flitting back to the photo leak. “Yeah, there was. Once was…organic. The next was when Lydia insisted he get some damning photographs of us.”

“What?” Alicia squealed.

“Yes, and she got it, too. A few pictures of us kissing that have now been sent to Grant’s board.

It’s a nightmare, and that’s what the fight was about.

Grant was upset. He accused Kyle of kissing me because he wanted to, not to prove himself to Lydia.

And Kyle argued with him. It just blew up from there. Their relationship isn’t easy.”

“Okay, so, the kid ran because he got into it with Dad.”

“That’s not normal for Kyle. They’ve argued before. He’s still been around and usually spends more time with me. Anyway, the first time he kissed me, he and Grant had a major argument and Grant threw him out of the house.”

“Did he leave?”

Julia nodded, recalling his departure and attempts to smooth things over. “Yes, but he texted me that night. I told him to give me some space. The next day, he showed up at Harrington Global while I was CEO and insisted he talk to me. He literally waited in the parking lot.”

“Wow, that’s…stalker behavior, sis.”

“I told you. Kyle crosses lines all the time. The day after Luke showed up, he and Grant had this big plan to ruin him–”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, and they didn’t go through with it, but they talked about it.

I found out and Grant and I argued, then I texted Kyle that I was disappointed in him.

I called you after and, when he couldn’t get a hold of me, he left his shift at the hospital, came home, and burst into my room insisting we talk. ”

“Okay, so, the kid normally pushes himself in with you if he thinks you’re upset with him. Would he think that now?”

“Maybe. After he and Grant argued, I got up to go after them. He put me back in bed, but then Grant came in and they got into it again. I had suggested they spend some time apart, and he took that as me saying I didn’t want him there. He left.”

Alicia sucked in a breath, her eyes narrowing as she waded through the evidence. “Okay, so this is the first time he thinks you don’t want him around. Maybe he split.”

“Ally, there have been plenty of times before. Oh, case in point, your little stunt in Maine with the restraining order. He broke into the house to see me despite thinking I never wanted to speak to him again. And he’d called and texted all day.” She held up her phone. “Radio silence isn’t Kyle.”

Alicia’s head bounced back and forth as she puckered her lips. “Okay, all of these other incidents have occurred before you ‘picked’ Grant, right?”

Julia focused her gaze on her sister. “Yeah. So what?”

“So, Julia, I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but…maybe the kid has given up on being your knight-in-shining lab coat and moved on. Maybe he gave up. I mean, before he may have been interested in winning you. And now…now that he can’t have you, he’s not going to waste his time.”

Julia’s heart sank as she considered it. Was her sister correct? Had Kyle given up on their relationship and moved on?

She shook her head.

“Wow, you have an ego, sis! I mean, you’re cute, but dang, girl. How many men do you want on the hook?” Alicia offered her a playful grin.

“That’s not it. Kyle is clear on the terms of our relationship. But that’s my point. We had a conversation after Grant and I decided to remain a couple. And he was just as insistent that we stay close.”

“Maybe now he’s not.”

“Come on, Ally, you’re a cop. I know you mostly police garden gnome height in Harbor Cove, but you were with the FBI.

You don’t think this is weird? This is odd behavior for Kyle.

His things are still here, but he isn’t.

He’s not answering calls or texts. And Lydia is attacking us at every turn. What if she did something to Kyle?”

Alicia pressed her lips together before her eyes rose to the ceiling. “Okay, I may be slightly uncomfortable with this situation only because I literally just brought you home with arsenic poisoning after someone injected your toothpaste with a deadly substance.”

“Yes, exactly. And this on the heels of Lydia nearly tossing me off a roof. Kyle was there. She has to know he was playing her. And she probably wants revenge.”

“Okay, okay, now I’m not on board. No, I don’t think this could be beyond the doc simply deciding he’s had enough of this crazy family and ducking out for a few days.”

Julia’s features pinched, and she opened her mouth to speak when her sister cut her off.

“Julia, he could have. It’s a possibility.

At least admit that. You chose his dad, you had a big fight…

over pictures of him kissing you. Maybe it brought up some bad stuff for him, and he just ran off.

I know you don’t think that, but in many missing persons cases, that’s exactly what happens.

And the other family members never see it coming.

They don’t think the other person would do that. ”

“Fine, okay. You’re the cop here, but please, please can we look into it?”

“Sure. If he’s not back in a few days–”

Julia slapped her hands against the bed, her frustration building. “No, not in a few days. Now!”

“Whoa, sis, you need to calm down. If no one’s heard from him by morning–”

“Now, Alicia,” Julia insisted, her voice breaking with worry. “You know in a missing persons case hours can make the difference.”

“Okay. Fine. Now. What do you want to do? Go check out his room? Call a few hotels?”

Julia shook her head. “If he’s not in his room, he’s not here. We can try his apartment.”

“He has his own place?”

Julia nodded as she tossed back the covers. “Yeah. Near the hospital. Come on.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t go. Give me the address, I’ll go.”

“No, I’m coming, too.” Exhaustion coursed through her, but the worry overrode it. She pushed her muscles to move as she rose from the bed.

“Juju, I can go check his place. I’ll call you from there.”

“I’m going, Ally.” The insistence in her voice made her sister back down.

“Okay, fine. Just wait here. I’m taking my gun.”

Julia eased onto the side of the bed and pulled her shoes on as she waited for her sister’s return.

Agitation built inside her, tightening her grip on her phone.

She hoped her sister was correct, and they’d find Kyle at his apartment, hiding from the conflict, but the majority of her knew they wouldn’t. Something was very wrong.

Alicia hurried back into the room. “Please tell me we don’t have to sneak past Grant’s office.”

“No, we’ll go out the back, past the pool, and to the garage.”

“Okay, but I draw the line at you driving.”

“So, do I. You drive.”

“Oh wait, drive what?”

“My car,” Julia said as she crossed to the door.

“The Porsche?” Alicia said, her voice incredulous.

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

Alicia wrinkled her nose at the idea as Julia pulled her hair into a ponytail and led her through the halls to a back staircase. They sneaked from the house and hurried across the lawn to the garage.