Freedom (Billionaire Secrets 2)

“I’m in charge,” Simon said firmly. “I take full responsibility.”

“That’s all very well and good,” Everett barked. “But we have the media to contend with. They’ve been calling non-stop, trying to get information out of us. Apparently, they discovered this liaison of yours over the past few weeks and are ready to break the story.”

“How did they find out?” Simon demanded. “I’ve made my mistakes, but I’ve done my best to be discreet.”

“The family lawyer,” Everett muttered.

Simon looked at him quizzically. “What?”

“You hired a family lawyer a few weeks ago, didn’t you, Simon?” Linda asked.

“Yes, I did. A damn good one,” Simon replied. The way his eyebrows pressed together, he clearly wasn’t seeing the point.

“It looks like some underling at your lawyer’s firm went gossiping to the press about you hiring one of their family lawyers,” Linda said. “You don’t have a family, so it was unusual for you to have hired such a lawyer. That made the press do some snooping. And they figured out that you hired a lawyer to help your... uh, girlfriend.”

“Oh, crap.” Heather groaned. Gary. Her jerk of an ex-husband must have blabbed to the press.

After she had gotten Finn back from him her ex had called, and they’d gotten into a huge argument. He was the one who was ticked off, when she had every right to be mad. He’d kidnapped Finn. She bit her bottom lip to keep from saying anything to the board. It wasn’t any of their business. She’d gotten Gary calmed down by agreeing to let him come over to visit Finn, with her there supervising. The visit had gone well enough for Gary to swear up and down that he’d be more present for Finn in the future. He’d even promised to keep her fling with Simon a secret.

He hadn’t visited Finn in the month since then, which meant that part of his promise had already been broken. He’d probably broken his other promise by telling the press about her and Simon.

“Something on your mind, Ms. Hall?” Everett asked sharply.

“No,” she said. There was no use in bringing up the subject of Gary. It would just add even more drama, which was the last thing they needed.

Besides, Gary was the reason she’d closed the door on a relationship with Simon. After Simon had helped her get Finn back, she knew there was no way they could ever be together. Her son was her number one priority. She hadn’t even really gotten together with Simon, but even a brief fling with her boss had put her son in danger. Gary was still too jealous, and she owed it to her son to sort things out with his father. Starting a relationship with a man was out of the question. She could see that now.

Besides, the fling with her boss had also put Simon in a dangerous position. He’d agreed to pay for an expensive lawyer, and there was no way she could expect her boss to sacrifice more than he already had. She’d taken too much from him already.

“Heather isn’t my girlfriend,” Simon said firmly.

His words were like a needle in her heart. Sharp and unexpected. But Simon was right. She wasn’t his girlfriend. Not after she had made it abundantly clear the night she literally slammed the door in his face.

She had been so ready to be with him. So ready to finally open her heart to a man after all these years. Then Gary had kidnapped Finn, and that put everything in perspective. Her relationship with Simon was so fragile that it hadn’t even really gotten off the ground. But even just a few nights of hot sex had been so passionate and so explosive that it consumed everything around them. Nobody was safe with them together, her son least of all.

Not to mention Simon’s career was at stake, and she refused to ask him to jeopardize everything he’d worked for. She wasn’t worth a billion-dollar company.

Everett stroked his graying beard, deep in thought. “So, what exactly is the nature of your relationship?”

“There is no relationship.” There was no anger in his voice. In fact, there was nothing in his voice that gave away anything. Simon sounded like he was completely over her. Not that she blamed him. After she had so harshly rejected him, it made sense for him to move on. Even if she hadn’t. Even if going to work every day was both the best and the worst thing she could do.