Page 101 of Betrayal of a Billionaire
A soaked Alicia tugged her raincoat off, giving them a double-take as they walked in. Kyle followed behind her, looking unhappy at how wet he was despite the raincoat.
“What are you doing here? Where is Julia?”
Luke held up a hand. “Ally…”
“Where is my sister? Why is he with you?” Alicia shifted angry eyes to Grant. “Did you leave her somewhere?”
Kyle offered him a similar expression as he searched his face.
“We found Sierra. She was stuck on the north face. Julia rappelled down for her.”
“Yeah, okay? So…what? You took them to the hospital? What?”
Luke shook his head.
“Luke, what?” Alicia said, her panic growing. “Tell me…tell me this isn’t a recovery now.”
Recovery? Body recovery, he wondered.
“The anchor wasn’t going to hold,” Luke said. “She made the best choice she could.”
“Whoa, what does that mean?” Kyle asked, panic lacing his voice.
“Which was?” Alicia’s voice turned shrill as her hands curled into fists.
“She let the brake off. She hit the trees before the pike went, giving them an excellent chance of surviving that fall.”
“You-You’re telling me…” Alicia pulled her chin back to her chest, her eyes wide. “You’re telling me my sister fell off the north face? How far up was she?”
“Couple hundred feet,” Luke said, setting his hands on his hips.
Alicia slapped a hand against her forehead as she paced, a groan escaping her. “What the hell did you let her do that for, Luke?”
“She was the best one to go over. The anchor wouldn’t hold my weight with Sierra. Julia insisted.”
Alicia smacked his chest with both hands, knocking him back a step. “You should have stopped her.”
“Ally, if I had gone, we would have fallen for sure.”
“So, you let Julia fall instead?” her voice came out as a shrill squeak.
“If they fell a couple hundred feet…” Kyle said, his eyes wide.
Luke shook his head. “She didn’t fall. She descended. Far too fast, yes, but if she hadn’t, they’d be dead.”
“You’d better hope she isn’t.” Alicia wagged a finger at him as Ethan and his father strode back in.
“Got your message, what’s up? Where’s Julia?”
“She fell off the north face with the girl,” Alicia said. “So, we’ve got to regroup for a ground search.”
Ethan’s eyes went wide. “She fell?”
“It was a less-than-controlled descent,” Luke answered. “They should be okay, but they may be hurt. She hit the tree line at a fast clip.”
“Then we need to get out there. The storm’s letting up but that burst that just went through could have done some damage. We gotta find them as soon as possible,” Ethan said. “Every second counts.”
Alicia, her hands still shaking, nodded. “The aftermath of the storm could complicate our search, but they could be injured, disoriented, or worse. I want everyone out there searching.”
