Page 134 of Battle with a Billionaire

As they spent the afternoon making light conversation, her mind whirled, searching for solutions to her predicament. She couldn’t help Lydia destroy Grant. But she couldn’t let those photos of Sierra go public.

Maybe she could somehow find the pictures and delete them. But how many copies did Lydia have? How could she be sure all of them were destroyed?

“Julia?” Kyle asked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m just…tired. I think I’ll try to take a nap.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is that code for I’m going to secretly work the minute you leave?”

“No, it’s not. I’m actually tired, and I’m really going to try to sleep. You can even take my phone and my laptop and lock my office door.”

“Okay. I will,” he said as he grabbed the phone from the table between them. “And I plan to check on you every twenty minutes.”

She sucked in a breath, an amused grin on her face. “Fine. I’m really not going to try to work.”

She wasn’t. She had all the information she needed already. She just needed time to think about how to deal with it.

“Don’t make me take you back to the hospital,” Kyle warned as he strode to the door.

“I won’t,” she promised, the forced smile sliding off her face the moment he closed the door. She sank into her chair, heart thudding against her ribs again as she replayed the conversation with Lydia.

She chewed her lower lip, her hand reached for her compass pendant as longing for a simpler time coursed through her.

A knock at her door drew her attention away. She rose and crossed to it. “It hasn’t even been ten minutes, let alone twenty,” she said as she pulled it open, expecting Kyle.

Instead, she found Grant outside. The sight of him sent a mix of relief and dread through her.

“Is something happening in ten minutes?” Grant asked with a check of his watch.

“No, I told Kyle I was going to take a nap, and he said he’d check with me every twenty minutes to make sure I wasn’t working.”

“Oh, right. Good for him. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“No, umm, I wasn’t actually going to sleep.”

“Julia,” Grant chided, “you weren’t going to work, were you? I’m really going to have to talk to Kyle about not letting you get over on him.”

“I wasn’t. I…come in.” She waved him inside, easing the door closed behind him.

She slid a hand through her hair and blew out a long breath.

“Julia? Is everything okay?”

She raised her eyes to his, her lips pressed into a thin line as she shook her head.

His features melted with concern. “What is it? Are you sick? Headache? Never mind. Let’s just get back to the hospital.”

She shifted to block the door, holding a hand up. “No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Then what is it?” She noted the flicker of fear in his eyes.

She swallowed hard, tension creeping into her shoulders. “We need to talk.”

“O-Okay. Sure.”

She tried to determine the best way to tell him. She had to. He had to know. But they’d have to work out how to play this to not alert Lydia. But she couldn’t hold it back from him. And she couldn’t help anyone destroy him. Or Sierra.

“Julia, if this is about our contract or living here–”

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