Page 85 of Blackmail of a Billionaire

“Sierra, you have to stop. Listen to me, I’m right here with you. Deep breaths. Come on, take a few with me.”

Julia sucked in a big breath and blew it out. “Come on, Sierra, in through the nose, out through the mouth.”

A moan escaped from the other woman.

“Deep breaths, Sierra. That’s it.”

Silence stretched between them for a breath before Sierra spoke again.

“Julia?” she said, her voice hitching with a hiccup.

Julia glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Please keep talking to me.”

Julia bobbed her head up and down. “Okay, umm, I know this seems bad, but–”

Sierra sobbed again.

“We’ll be okay, Sierra. I promise,” Julia quickly finished.

“You can’t promise that!” she shrieked before another cry escaped her.

“Sierra, I know this looks bad, but this was a kidnapping. If they wanted to kill us, they could have.”

“What?” Sierra’s voice cracked.

“Listen to me. If they wanted to hurt us, we wouldn’t still be alive. We’re here for a reason. They need us for something. Ransom, most likely. So, we have some time. We can figure something out.”

“Ransom,” the woman breathed. “Daddy will pay that. He’ll pay it. We’ll be okay.”

Julia bit her lower lip, trying not to blurt out statistics for ransoms gone wrong. She had to allow Sierra to cling to whatever shred of hope she could. “Right. And it’ll take them hours to contact him and make the demands and set up the drop-off. If we have a chance to escape before then, we will.”

“Okay,” her voice squeaked. She sniffled before she added, “I should have bought you that red purse.”

“What?” Julia asked.

“The red purse you liked. I should have bought it. Then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Sierra, I don’t think that’s true. It wouldn’t have mattered. It’s not your fault.”

“At least you would have had a really nice purse though,” she said, breaking off into a sob.

Julia sat in silence for a moment, unsure how to counteract the comment. “Ah…I still will. I expect you to buy me that purse plus another one when we’re home.”

“Yeah.” Sierra’s voice shook.

“We will get out of this, Sierra.” Julia tugged at her bonds. “Can you get free?”

Sierra’s chair scraped across the floor as she jiggled in it. “No.” She sucked in a sharp breath.

“Okay, that’s okay, Sierra, I doubted either of us could get free. But I had to ask.”

“We’re not going to get out of here, Julia.” Sierra moaned again before she raised her voice. “Hey! Hello!”

“Sierra!” Julia hissed, not wanting the knowledge that they’d woken up public.

It was too late. The door to their room banged open. Julia wasn’t able to see the person who entered with her back to the entrance.

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