Page 37 of Believing in a Billionaire (Hearts and Holdings #7)

GRANT

H is stomach clenched, not only at her tone but at her words. The tremor in her voice hinted at something tragic. Had they heard from him? What had happened?

As the phone pressed against his ear, Grant felt an icy dread coil in his stomach. Julia’s voice, usually so calm and assured, trembled with barely contained panic.

“Julia, what happened? Did you find him?”

“Yeah,” she choked out. “It’s not good.”

He heard the upset straining her voice, and it tore at his heart. “Okay, tell me where you are.”

“St. Mary’s,” she answered.

“I’ll be right there,” he said. The call ended on her side, and he twisted to face Mike. “We have another problem. I need to get to St. Mary’s.”

“Something happen?”

“Yeah, I don’t know the details, but Julia needs me.” He flicked his gaze to the man sitting in the booth who waved his knife at him.

“What do you want to do about the loan?”

Grant shifted his weight, his instincts screaming at him to get to Julia as quickly as possible. With a shake of his head, he answered, “I’m going to pass.”

“If you do that, we won’t have the capital–“

“I know. I’ll figure out a way. But I’m not comfortable with this.”

Mike glanced down at his shoes, his eyebrows raising before he nodded. “Understood. I can handle this.”

Grant shook his head again. “I’ll do.” He pushed past his corporate security head and approached the table again.

“Trouble on the home front, Mr. Harrington?”

“Yes,” he answered, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut this short.”

“Well, all we need is a handshake, and I can have that money over to you–“

Grant waved a hand in the air with a shake of his head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not happy with the terms. Thank you for your time, Mr. Malone.”

Grant spun on his heel to walk away.

“Hey, I thought we had a deal.”

Grant continued forward through the restaurant, the heavy burden of losing Harrington Global hanging around him like a mantel. But at least he didn’t owe his soul to the Malone crime family.

They pushed into the cool, still dark night air.

“That was Mrs. Harrington?” Mike asked as Grant set a hard pace for the hospital.

“Yeah.” His heart hammered in his chest as he recalled her shaky voice, thick with upset. She’d said it was about Kyle. What had happened? Had he misjudged his son?

“And?” Mike prodded.

“And I don’t know much more than that. Julia was nearly in tears on the phone. She said it was about Kyle and that she was at St. Mary’s.” Saying the words out loud shredded his heart. He had to get to her.

As he put more distance between himself and the restaurant, his mind wandered to his business decision. He’d been uncomfortable with it all along, but when Julia called, he made a snap decision.

He knew he might’ve tanked Harrington Global’s future, though. He wouldn’t be able to hide it from Julia anymore. He’d have to admit to her that he’d soon lose the company he’d built.

He imagined the disappointment on her face as she heard the news. He couldn’t even manage to keep his company safe. Or his son, apparently.

Each step closer to the hospital matched his pounding heartbeat. Guilt gnawed at him, a relentless reminder of his initial dismissal of Kyle’s absence.

Julia’s frightened voice echoed in his mind. It’s not good .

He’d failed on every front. He only hoped it didn’t cost him his brand-new marriage.

The bright lights of St. Mary’s Memorial Hospital came into view. Flashing lights painted the scene in deep shadows and tones of red. His stomach turned over as he approached, wondering what he would find.

“I’ll wait here in case there’s anything you need,” Mike said as Grant approached the triage desk.

“I’m Grant Harrington, my wife called about my son.”

“She’s in the waiting room at the end of the hall, sir,” the nurse said as she signaled toward the double doors leading into the emergency room. “I’ll buzz you in.”

“Thanks.” The doors swung open as he approached them, and he strode inside. His eyes focused on the doors at the end of the hall. Each step he took echoed more loudly in his head. His heart rose into his throat, and he clenched and unclenched his fists.

His breathing turned labored as his chest constricted, wondering what he would find when he walked in.

He approached the doors and swallowed hard before he peered inside.

Julia sat perched on the edge of the chair, the look in her eyes distant as she chewed her lower lip.

He felt a profound urge to wrap her in his arms and shield her from every storm they faced.

Yet, the tremor in his own hands betrayed his attempt at strength.

“Julia?” he asked as he stepped inside.

She snapped her gaze up to him, tears filling her eyes as she rose and crossed to him. Without a word, she flung her arms around him as she sobbed.

He pulled her closer, holding her tight as he stroked her hair. His own heart raced with worry, but he forced a steadiness in his voice. “I’m here, Julia. I’m here. Whatever’s going on, we’ll face it together.”

Her body shook with a few more sobs before she pulled away from him with a nod. Tears stained her cheeks. She wiped a few away, and he rubbed at one with his thumb. “What happened? Where is Kyle?”

She wrapped her fingers around his hands and squeezed. “He’s in surgery.” Her voice shook ahead as she barely choked the words out. “He’s in critical condition. He was barely hanging on when we brought him in.”

Her voice cracked again. “Grant, he stopped breathing.” She pressed a hand over her lips as fresh tears fell to her cheeks.

His stomach twisted into a tight knot at the words. His son had been in trouble, and he’d misread the situation entirely, thinking he had rushed off after their argument. “Oh my God.”

He pulled her closer to him, stroking her hair as she clung to him. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

She pulled back, sniffling and wiping the moisture from her face away. “He made it here. He made it into surgery. The longer this goes, the better because he’s still alive.”

Grant’s features twisted with upset, his mind racing. “How did this happen? Sierra said you were…at a warehouse. Alex Stone was involved. I don’t know what happened.”

His brow furrowed as he tried to piece together the details, searching the room for any sign of his daughter. “Where is Sierra?”

She wrapped her fingers around his hand and squeezed. “James took her to get a coffee. She was really wound up.”

He pulled her into a tight hug again before he guided her to a chair and eased her into it. He perched on the edge of one next to her, taking her hands in his. “Julia, what happened?”

Her features pinched again. “Alex found some other footage from the hospital that looked…questionable. Alicia and I both thought it raised some questions about how voluntary his departure really was. Alex offered to do a little digging.”

“Alex Stone? What did he dig into?”

Julia licked her lips, sniffling again. “Using Kyle’s license plate, he searched the city’s CCTV and found Kyle’s car. He followed it through town–”

“Wait, what? He hacked into the city’s traffic camera?”

Julia nodded. “Thank God he did because without him…we never would have found Kyle in time. We still may not have.” Her features twisted again.

He slid a hand up and down her back, trying to offer her comfort.

She swallowed hard, reaching for his hand.

She threaded her fingers through his and blew out a long breath before she continued.

“Anyway, he found Kyle’s car at an intersection, but it never showed up anywhere else.

So, Ally and I went to check it out…well, actually, Sierra caught us leaving, so all three of us went. ”

“And?” he asked.

“We found his car abandoned on the side of the road.

The front door was open, keys were still inside it.

Ally found tire tracks leading away. Alex matched them to a van that appeared at the next light.

He followed it to a street of abandoned buildings.

One of them was owned by Nightfall Dynamic.

And I thought Nightfall, Alexander Knight, maybe they were somehow connected.

“So, we went to the warehouse, Alex hacked the lock and let us in and…”

Her features pinched again. “Kyle was there. He was tied to a chair. He’d been beaten…” She squeezed her eyes closed.

His heart broke for her. She’d never get those images out of her head. “But he was alive.”

“Barely. Someone was there…he…called Lydia.”

Grant’s eyebrows flicked up at the mention of his ex-wife’s name. “Lydia. I can’t believe what she’s doing.”

“She was so awful. She…said so many horrible things to him. She told him no one loved him, no one cared, that we weren’t looking for him.” The upset rocked her voice as she ran her fingers through her hair.

The words cut deep as he realized he hadn’t been looking.

Not really. He’d made a brief phone call, but he hadn’t taken it seriously either.

His son could be dead if it hadn’t been for Julia’s insistence that something was wrong and Alex Stone’s less-than-legal investigative skills.

“She really knows how to twist the knife.”

Julia bobbed her head up and down. “And after all that…she just…” Her eyes turned glassy as she paused. “She just told that thug to kill him. Like he didn’t even matter.”

She let her head fall into her hands as she cried again.

He inched closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, Julia. He didn’t kill him. You found him. You found him because you knew he wasn’t okay, and you were right. You’re always right.”

She lifted her head, tears still shining in her eyes as she pressed her clasped hands against her lips. “He almost killed him. I just…I couldn’t let that happen.”

Her voice cracked as she recounted the harrowing events.

His stomach dropped at the words, and his brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”