Page 80 of Battle with a Billionaire

She froze as she stepped inside, her eyes lingering on the massive wedding photo of them mounted above the couch. It captured their smiling faces. She grinned up at Grant who cupped her face in his hands. He smiled sweetly at her. “Whoa.”

They looked happy. She looked happy.

“Do you remember anything from that day?” Sierra asked.

Julia stared at the massive picture again, searching her mind for any spark, but only darkness met her prodding. She shook her head, fear and disappointment welling inside her.

Grant eased her onto the couch, perching on the coffee table across from her and grabbing her hands. Sierra took a seat next to her.

Grant studied her, his features pinching. “Julia, there is something you need to know.”

“Okay.” She shifted on the leather couch as her stomach twisted in knots. There was something wrong. Was it her health or their relationship?

“It’s about our marriage.”

One question answered. She knew what was coming. They’d likely been on the verge of a divorce. She’d cheated…with his son. Was she a cheater? She didn’t know anything about herself to know if she was or wasn’t.

“Julia…when we got married…I…we…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Julia, your marriage is nothing more than a contract set up to save Grant’s image,” Kyle said.

Julia snapped her gaze to Kyle, the words sending a similar set of shock vibes through her as when she realized she lost her memory. Contract? She shifted to study Grant. “Is that true?”

Grant licked his lips, a glimmer of an unreadable emotion flickering in his eyes. “Yes. It is. We…” He swallowed hard. “We met by accident, actually. You were looking for Sierra, and I was looking for someone to help improve my image. We discussed it, and agreed you were perfect for the role.”

Julia tried to fit the pieces together, a mix of disbelief and a strange, hollow betrayal. The room spun and each word echoed in a surreal cadence. Was their entire relationship a well-orchestrated lie? Did this make sense? Could she remember any of it? She’d assumed they’d married for love. Maybe that’s why her memories had been slow to return. But even with this information, she couldn’t recall a thing from her past.

“We got married a little over a year ago. We were supposed to stay married for one year.”

“Why are we still married?” she asked.

“Well, umm,” he said as he rubbed his chin, “we were still working through what we’d agreed to, and we extended the contract for another year.”

Her features pinched as she struggled to make sense of this. “Working through what? I’m sorry, I don’t remember any of this.”

“It’s okay, Julia. I don’t expect you to. We were working on figuring out who was behind a series of attacks on my company and this family. They’re using the name DG Industries. You actually stumbled on it. We haven’t sorted out who it was yet. But before your accident, you called me and said you thought you’d figured out who was behind it.”

As the words sank in, time seemed to slow. Each second stretched out, filled with the weight of her unremembered past. The voices around her became distant, muffled by the rushing sound in her ears as questions filled her mind.

What had her life been like for the past year? She wondered if she’d kept notes or something she could use to sort through this.

“Julia,” he said, his voice softening, “I’m sorry. This has to be very confusing and upsetting. I didn’t want to tell you at the hospital because I knew how upsetting this would be.”

She pinched her eyebrows together. She supposed he was correct. It was upsetting in a way. She’d gone from having a husband she couldn’t recall to being told she was in a loveless marriage in less than twenty-four hours. Her head spun.

“Julia, say something. Do you have questions or…anything?”

She sucked in a breath and flicked her gaze up to him. “I…I’m not sure where to start. But I am really sorry that I don’t remember any of this. That’s not going to help you much, is it?”

He shook his head. “I’m not concerned about that right now. I’m concerned about you.”

“Yeah, Julia. We all are very attached to you,” Sierra said as she rubbed her arm.

“And I knew who was doing this?”

“That’s what you said on the voicemail. I missed the call.” He glanced at the floor as though he deeply regretted that. She imagined he did. They would have had it solved, and he could have moved on with his life.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t remember this. I…” Tears welled in her eyes.

---