All I had to do was type in Aiden's name and I would know everything about him. I would have pictures and newspaper articles and everything the cyber-stalker in me could want. I would know all the secrets he had told me the night before, but this time they would be printed in black and white.
I typed his name and hit enter before I could stop myself.
Search results filed in and the pit of my stomach dropped.
I had been expecting news articles on Travel, Inc., business reports, perhaps some charity work, and even some photographs from galas and events. Instead, almost every entry was for his latest flavor of the week model or actress.
I found an article about the secretary and clicked on the link, unsure of what I hoped to find.
...Aiden is a great guy,” Stephani Zaptos said in one of her rare interviews. “I just didn't fit into his world. It really worked out for the best and I'm appreciative of everything he's done for me.”
Inside sources theorize Stephani was paid off by Aiden Hayes' overprotective father, Gerald Hayes to keep her from gold-digging. As Hayes Sr. has several embarrassing and expensive sexual liaisons recently come to light, it would only make sense that he would try and protect his sons' from the same thing.
There is also speculation that Hayes Sr. may have blackballed the secretary in retaliation for Aiden and his brother edging their father out of the company. Sources close to the Hayes state that Gerald is not appreciative of his forced retirement by his sons.
Others simply suggest that Zaptos was simply just another one of Aiden's flavor of the week liaisons. All we here at Tabloid 34 know is that Aiden Hayes, billionaire playboy, is back on the market.
I stared at the pictures, barely recognizing the man in them. They all looked like the Aiden I had fallen in love with, but I couldn't believe them. I couldn't believe him. The more I looked at the pictures, the more I realized I had no idea who Aiden really was.
Three days was not enough to know someone, and certainly not enough to fall in love. The realization hit me hard enough to make me gasp.
Told you so, my brain told my heart. I didn't want to believe it, but the proof that I didn't actually know Aiden was staring me in the face. He was too perfect to have been real. He had played me.
“I could be a very different person than the one you think you know. How do you know that I'm not a terrible person?” Aiden's words echoed in my head.
He was right. I didn't know him. I didn't know him at all, yet I had just told him that I loved him.
No wonder he hadn't come after me.
Even as I looked at the pictures of him with other women, I wanted to excuse him. I wanted the man I met on the island to be the real one. We had been so happy. He had invited me to his brother's wedding. But, it had all been a lie.
I scrubbed my face with my hands. I couldn't believe I was such a gullible idiot. I didn't deserve to get into Harvard. I didn't deserve to get into a community college intro to law course. Aiden Hayes had duped me completely and in more ways than one.
I slammed my laptop shut, wanting to make the images disappear from my mind just as easily. I didn't know him. I needed to forget about him like he was going to forget about me. I didn't look like the supermodels in those pictures, and there was no logical explanation why he would ever chose me over one of them. He didn't love me. He never had.
I was a fling. A way to stay entertained during a business meeting.
Kathryn hung up the phone and let out a huge sigh of frustration. “Sorry to interrupt your lunch with Mr. Hayes,” she apologized, leaning back in her seat and rubbing her temples.
“Don't worry about it,” I mumbled, putting my laptop back in its station and staring out the window.
Kathryn frowned and stopped rubbing her head to look at me. “You okay?”
I shook my head no, knowing that despite my best efforts to keep my emotions locked up, they have to be written across my face. I knew if I said his name, I'd lose it and I wasn't ready to cry in front of Kathryn. I wasn't ready to cry at all.
“No, but I don't want to talk about it.” I took a shaky breath and wiped my hands across my cheeks to catch any tears that might have escaped. “Tell me more about the Dallas Disaster. Where are we going now and what do you need me to do?”
Kathryn evaluated me for a moment, and then nodded slowly. “Okay.” She leaned back into her chair again as the engine started to rumble. “We are flying aback to Chicago to do damage control.”
“What about Smith?” I asked, sitting up straight. “You said he had a heart attack-- is he...?”
“Elijah's going to be fine. He just got out of surgery. He had a double bypass and is expected to make a full recovery.” She smiled at the good news and then sighed. “But there's no way he's going to be able to do this case.”
“I'm glad he's okay.” Even though the man had given my spot at the trial to Alexa, I wanted him to be all right. He was still an amazing lawyer. “Who will be taking over for him?”
“Derek Johnson. He's just getting to Houston now.” Kathryn raised her voice to be heard over the whine of the engines as they powered up for takeoff.
“Why wasn't Derek second chair in the first place? He's the one Smith's been grooming to take over all his criminal defense cases when he retires anyway.” It felt good to focus my brain on something other than Aiden. Work was something I understood.