Page 113 of Betrayal of a Billionaire
Though, in the darkness, Julia let herself admit that she’d become attached to them, too. It was the reason she hadn’t gone any further with Luke on their sail.
Maybe she should have, though. Maybe she should have given in to that kiss. What if everything she felt for Grant was just an illusion? The whirlwind lives they led made it easy to get wrapped up in things that weren’t real.
And none of this was real. Their relationship wasn’t real. Their marriage wasn’t real. And even if it was, it would be a ticking time bomb until it fell apart, and he was on the hunt for wife number six.
The only thing they had going for them was the fact that none of this was based on any romantic notions. The piece of paper binding them together for one-year periods was the strongest note in the symphony of their relationship.
She lamented that fact. Would it have been any different if they’d met organically, she wondered.
Probably not. If she’d allowed herself to get caught up in the whirlwind of trips to Paris and expensive gifts, she’d only have found herself let down when the chase ended, and he moved on to a new target, eager to win another chess match.
But whatever she felt for him felt as real as the relationship she’d had with Luke for so many years. Her mind shifted to the other man.
Things had been so easy with him. So real. So uncomplicated. Was there a reason they’d never moved on? Were they meant to be? Or were they merely each other’s fallbacks, the easy way out of being alone?
Julia let her head thud against the hard rock behind her as her features pinched. She smacked her head against the rock a few more times as she chided herself for being so caught up in the emotion of it all.
And on top of the entire mess with Grant and Luke, there was Kyle. A man who had expressed his devotion to her. Their relationship was less complicated than Grant’s and didn’t have the baggage of Luke’s, but she didn’t feel anything like what she felt for the other men with him.
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she allowed herself to break down in the quiet darkness surrounding her. Random thoughts darted through her mind, from the complicated personal relationships she’d ended up navigating to the fact that none of this may matter anymore when she died of starvation stuck in this cave.
Or would it be dehydration first? Her jumbled mind couldn’t remember what her father had said. Either way, she’d pass away huddled in a ball awaiting rescue.
She wiped at her cheeks, trying to shove the panic aside. Her sister would find a way. Alicia would never give up.
But what if there wasn’t a way? What if they couldn’t get her out? People got trapped all the time and died because they couldn’t get them out in time.
Her heart began to pound, and she resisted the urge to turn on her light and begin clawing at the rocks that prevented her from escaping. It wouldn’t help. In fact, it may hurt.
She was better off leaving Tony and the team assess the options from the outside. If they weren’t able to clear the stones away to rescue her, there was a reason. Her panic wouldn’t help.
With tear-stained cheeks, she tightened her grip on the flashlight.Just hold off on using it for another five minutes, then you can turn it on for a minute to reassure yourself.
She counted the seconds, forcing herself to move slowly between the numbers. Before she reached the five-minute mark, exhaustion set in. Her eyes slid shut, and her head lolled as she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, panic immediately sent her heart racing. Her breathing turned ragged before she recalled where she was. She couldn’t see because it was pitch black in the cave.
With trembling hands, she clicked on the flashlight, gulping in breaths as it blinded her. She clicked it off again and swallowed hard. She could still see, but she was still trapped.
She stretched her legs out, working out a cramp as she rolled her neck to ease its stiffness. She wondered how long it had been. Minutes? Hours?
The growling of her stomach suggested longer than a few minutes, along with the stiffness in her muscles. How many hours had she slept? Was it night? Had anyone been back to try to help her?
She shifted onto her hands and knees and crawled to a new spot before she settled in again. Her hands tightened around the flashlight as unanswered questions poured through her mind.
She shivered as an icy burst of air tickled her cheek. Instinctually, she ran a hand across her skin before she froze. She stretched her fingers out in the darkness, her eyes going wide. Air.
“Air!” she cried, her voice echoing in the small space.
Air from somewhere. But where?
She flicked on her flashlight, squinting against the bright light as she searched the cave for a passage that could lead out. Was the air merely coming from a small gap in the rocks that prevented her escape?
She crawled toward them, waving her hands in front of them. No air.
She whipped around and crawled toward the back of the cave. Her features twisted into a grin. Air. Air came from somewhere in the back.
She flicked off the light and shoved it into her pocket before she reached for the cave wall, letting her fingers trace the cold, damp rock. Each inch she searched brought a mixture of hope and fear as she sought some escape.
