Page 82 of Betrayal of a Billionaire

His heart thudded faster as he typed a response. Sierra wasn’t with Julia.Hours. No one’s seen her in hours.

The chat bubble appeared right away.Go to the police station. I’m calling Ally.

The response was a double-edged sword. Panic swirled inside him as she treated it seriously enough to notify the police. But the fact that she was willing to help gave him hope. At least for Sierra’s relationship with her.

“Julia says to go to the police station.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kyle said as Grant hurried toward the door, grabbing the keys along the way.

As they stepped outside the wind howled, bending trees into submission. Each gust reflected the chaos in his heart, the storm’s fury mirroring his own turmoil.

Grant’s stomach twisted into knots at the idea of Sierra out in this. He slid behind the wheel as Kyle slipped into the passenger’s seat.

Within ten minutes, he was pulling into a spot outside of the police station. He raced inside as a few splotches of rain landed on the sidewalk.

He glanced around, searching for a familiar face. Thunder boomed overhead as a hand clapped his shoulder. He turned to find Ethan offering him a consoling smile. “We’re back here.”

As they strode to a conference room, rain pounded against the roof. Grant raised his eyes to the ceiling, his stomach clenching. Was Sierra out in this? And how would they ever find her?

CHAPTER 18

JULIA

Julia’s heart thudded against her ribs as she scrambled to her feet. No one had seen her stepdaughter in hours. She could sense Grant’s upset from the simple message he’d sent.

With an epic storm blowing in, if she was lost in the woods, she could become seriously hurt by the wind, rain, and lightning.

She typed her response back to him before she scrolled through her contacts to her sister’s name. She pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear as she climbed to the rocky beach below and picked her way across it.

“Hey, Juju, everything okay?” Alicia asked.

“No,” she answered, taking giant steps across the rocks to make it into the cover of the thick trees.

“What happened?” Alicia’s voice conveyed a sense of panic. “Did Grant do something to you? Did he hit you?”

“No,” Julia said as she climbed over a tree root before picking up her frenzied pace back to her car. “Sierra’s missing.”

“What do you mean missing? Maybe she’s just out.”

“No, no one can get a hold of her. She got into an argument with her mother. She’s been gone for hours. And with the storm blowing in…”

“Surely, she’d know–“

“No,” Julia said with a shake of her head. “No, she wouldn’t. She grew up in the city. She’s terrible in the wilderness. She could be lost or worse. I need your help, Ally.”

“Yeah, of course, yes. We’ll get search and rescue on it.”

“I sent Grant to you,” she said, puffing for breath as she hurried through the woods. “Ally, be nice. He’s really worried.”

“I’m always nice.”

“You’re never nice to him. Just…try to forget why you don’t like him.”

“I’ll be professional. This is a missing park visitor. Happens all the time.”

“I know that. You know that. Grant is not used to this.”

“Okay, okay, stop lecturing me. I’ve already sent a message to the Rangers. Any idea where she was last seen?”