Page 98 of Blackmail of a Billionaire

The night sky blurred by him as the two cars raced toward Sierra’s location. Time seemed to stop and every second ticked by far too slowly for Grant as he tried to keep Sierra calm during the trip.

Finally, they rounded a bend. The lead car’s headlights illuminated her, shivering with her arms wrapped around herself. She squinted back against them as the cars screeched to a halt.

The two men from the first car leapt out, weapons drawn, sweeping the area for any threats as Sierra tottered her way toward the second car.

Grant flung his door open before the tires rolled to a stop and raced toward his daughter. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer, pressing her head to his shoulder. “Oh, Sierra, thank God.”

She sobbed as she clung to him.

“We’re clear, sir. No signs of Carter or Mrs. Harrington.”

He cursed under his breath. He’d hoped to find Julia not far from Sierra’s location, that by some miracle, that maniac had dumped them both in slightly different locations but close enough to be found.

“You haven’t heard from her?” Sierra asked, pulling back from him.

“No. Do you know which way they went?”

Sierra bit her lower lip as she pointed down the road. “That way. He…just took her. He wouldn’t let her out of the car. Daddy, he had a knife.”

The words punched him in the gut. The man had threatened to take her from him. What if he hadn’t meant romantically? What if he’d meant he’d kill her?

His heart clenched at the thought.

“We’ll continue down this road and search for them. You take Ms. Harrington for medical treatment,” Max said as he and another security team member leapt into the first car and peeled off.

“Come on, honey,” Grant said, forcing himself away from the last known location of his wife. He had to tend to Sierra, had to make sure she was all right.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m okay. I want to go look for Julia.”

He wrapped an arm around Sierra and led her to the car. “Baby, you need to get checked out. And I don’t want you anywhere near Kyle Carter if we find him.”

Sierra stopped, her features pinched with concern as she refused to continue walking. “But Julia is with him. And he kept saying all these things about making her listen to him. Daddy, I’m scared for her.”

“So, am I. Let’s go home and see if there’s been any progress, okay?”

She wrapped her arm around his waist and continued to the car where he safely tucked her in the backseat before sliding in next to her.

The car whipped around in a circle to return to Harrington House as Sierra settled against him.

“Honey, is there anything else you can tell us about what happened?”

Sierra stiffened next to him, her features pinching. “It happened so fast. And then we were in some kind of room, and we were tied to chairs. Julia kept telling me we were going to be all right. And then Kyle came in…he…”

“Okay, Sierra, slow down. It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he said as he stroked her hair. Inside him, though a storm of anger and worry for Julia raged.

“He…he took her. And he wanted to leave me there. And she wouldn’t let him. She said he had to take me, too.”

He silently thanked Julia for the safety of his daughter, hoping he’d have the chance to tell her himself.

“But I was sick, I couldn’t stand up, so he had to carry me. And they were shooting at us.” Her voice turned shrill as the panicked moments she must have lived through frightened her all over again.

“Shh, it’s okay, Sierra. You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

She tilted her head to glance up at him. “We’re going to find her, right?”

“Yes, we are,” Grant said, his jaw clenching with resolve. “There is no way he is taking her from us.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Sierra who settled her head against his shoulder again until they reached Harrington House. He told her to go to her room and asked Worthington to call a doctor to tend to her, but she refused.

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