“He said he wanted you as CEO, but you convinced him to vote for me.”
She flicked her eyebrows up at the news. “Oh. Well, I didn’t say much because I don’t really remember him being very insistent. So, he must not have had many reservations about you.”
“Ha! I’m pretty sure I am one giant reservation for him. We don’t seem to get along. But I owe him. For more than just this bail out.”
She furrowed her brows, rubbing his arms. “Everything go okay during your private conversation?”
“Outside of a small disagreement about you going into that warehouse to find Kyle, yeah.” Grant screwed up his face. “He weirdly said he had no reservations about you going into the warehouse because his wife would have been the better candidate for the job, too.”
Julia flicked her eyebrows up. “Oh, well, Ava is a blackbelt in Jiu-Jitsu, so, he’s probably right. I’m fairly certain Alex wouldn’t know how to throw a punch if he had to.”
Grant flicked his gaze up the stairs again. “Oh. That’s…”
“I told you they were an odd couple.”
“No kidding. Well, anyway, he told me to make sure I remove Lydia from the equation, so I will do just that. I am going to make sure she never touches this family again.” He rubbed her cheek with his thumb.
Julia smiled up at him. She wanted the same thing. Lydia’s power had gone unchecked for far too long. Hopefully, this win would be the start of the end of the woman’s reign of terror. “Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end for her. Now, do you want to share the good news with Sierra?”
“Yes, and I should probably say hello to Kyle.”
“You’re in luck. They’re together.”
He paused, his eyebrows knitting. “Are they still alive?”
“I hope so. Alicia was keeping an eye on them, but…” Julia winced as she glanced at him.
Any amusement on his features left. “What?”
“Ethan’s in town. And…I said it was okay if he stayed here. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Julia. This is your house, too. You’re perfectly welcome to invite people to stay.”
“Yeah, I get that, but…I feel a little bad since there’s so much bad blood between you after what happened in Maine.”
Grant flicked his eyebrows up. “Well, I’m managing to get along with Alicia, so…I can manage Ethan, too. Besides, now that I know you’re staying…it’ll be much easier.”
“Okay, well, I guess we should get up there, then, and make sure both siblings are still alive.” Julia tugged him toward the stairs.
“Why are they together?”
“Sierra decided that since Kyle nearly died, she wanted to be a real sister to him. That includes doing ‘sibling things’ together while he’s recovering.”
Grant tugged his lips into a grimace. “Yeah, we probably should get there pretty quickly. I’ll be surprised both of them are alive.”
Julia chuckled as they rounded the corner into the hall containing Kyle’s room. Voices floated down the hall toward them.
“…can’t do that,” Kyle said.
“Yes, I can,” Sierra answered. “Just because my strategic moves are leading me to a win doesn’t mean you can make up your own rules.”
“I’m not making up my own rules. You can’t stack that card on a plus two, that’s not how it works.”
“It is how it works. It’s called smart playing.”
They rounded the corner to find the siblings playing Uno.
Sierra grinned at them. “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Step-mommy.”