Page 79 of Betrayal of a Billionaire

With a sense of disbelief as the shock of her loss set in, he slowly closed the door.

“Daddy!” Sierra shouted at him again, making his head throb worse.

“Sierra…”

“No, Daddy! Go after her.”

“She’s gone,” he said as he stepped closer to his daughter.

“No,” she said, her features twisting. He recognized the pain; he felt it, too.

“You heard what she said. She doesn’t want this anymore.”

Her lips tugged into a frown, and she desperately tried to stop her lip from trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself. “But you can’t just give up. You have to go after her. Change her mind.”

“Baby, I don’t think I can.”

Sierra’s forehead creased as she refused to look at him. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself, her eyes betraying a vulnerability Grant rarely saw. “No, Daddy, you can’t just give up. If you won’t do it for you, do it for me. I need Julia. She’s…like a mom to me.” Her voice cracked with a mix of anger and desperation.

He wrapped his arms around his daughter and pulled her closer, stroking her hair. He needed her, too. But he’d have to learn to live without her. While he tried to face that, he desperately clung to the hope that she wouldn’t completely abandon his daughter. Sierra had grown attached to Julia. It would be cruel to rip that relationship away from her.

He couldn’t imagine Julia being cruel, though he also couldn’t imagine seeing her from time to time with Sierra. It would kill him. Visions of her sweet smile, visiting them with a new ring on her finger, danced through his mind. She’d give him that half-shrug. “He proposed the night I left. I…said yes. We’re getting married next month. We just want something simple, but Sierra’s insisting on helping me plan.”

“No,” Sierra said again as she pushed away from him. “Why won’t you go after her?”

“Sierra…” His mind slid backward to a time when they were happier. He recalled dinners where Sierra’s genuine laughter filled the room, a stark contrast to her upset now.

“Tell her…tell her she’s still under contract. Tell her she has to come back for that or…you’ll sue her.”

“Sierra, I don’t want to do that.”

“You don’t have to do it, Daddy. She’ll probably come back if you just threaten it.” Her plea remained desperate despite her plan.

“And resent us. I don’t want that. I don’t want her in New Orleans hating us for the next eight months. All that does is prolong this until she leaves again.”

“But…” She tipped her chin to stare up at him. “Maybe she’ll stop resenting us once she’s away from here, and it’ll all go back to normal.”

“Oh, baby, I don’t think so.”

Her features twisted, her arms stiffening as she lowered her fists at her sides. “You are such a coward, Daddy. I thought youwere so strong, but you aren’t. You’re just going to let her walk away without a fight.”

A cool breeze rushed past them, sending a chill up his spine. Lydia strode into their foyer. His stomach turned over at the sight of her. She was the last thing he needed to deal with right now.

Lydia arched an eyebrow as she eyed the scene in front of her. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing that concerns you, Lydia,” Grant said, venom lacing his voice as his frustration poured out toward her.

Lydia leaned to peer around him. “Sierra? Has something happened?”

“Like you care,” Grant said.

“Of course, I do.”

Her threat to ruin Sierra loomed in his mind as he shook his head at her, ready to tell her to get out. How dare she pretend to care about Sierra?

“Sierra, darling? What is it? What has Daddy done to upset you?”

“I didn’t–”