Freedom (Billionaire Secrets 2)

There was a video on the screen. With a frown, she pressed the play button and her ex-husband suddenly appeared. The angle was jerky, but that was definitely Gary. Smug, satisfied smile and all.

In the video footage, a camera was being shoved in Gary’s face.

“Mr. Hall,” a shrill voice off-camera cried out. “You were the one who discovered the CEO of Dover Inc. with his assistant. Do you have anything to add?”

“To add to the fact that I caught the guy screwing my wife?” Gary asked with a growl. “That guy destroyed my family. He turned my wife against me. Now all I have left in the world is my son. And I’m here at the courthouse today to fight for my boy. Ever since Simon Diesel showed up, she won’t let me see him.”

Heather gasped. “That’s a lie! Gary makes all these plans to see Finn and he never shows up.”

“The media didn’t come close to getting my side of the story,” Gary continued in the footage. “I caught them having sex in my house.”

“But your wife released a statement saying that the relationship is over,” another off-camera voice said. “Isn’t their relationship strictly professional now?”

“No,” Gary said. “Heather is still sleeping with her boss.”

Suddenly the footage began to shake violently.

“Get that camera out of my face!” Gary thundered before the video cut out.

Heather stared at the black screen, a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. She should have known that Gary wouldn’t want to sort things out privately. Now he had just added even more fuel to the fire with his lies.

“This is bad,” she said weakly.

He took her elbow and guided her into his office, shutting the door behind him. “Your husband is a loose cannon.”

“Gary isn’t my husband,” she insisted. “He’s my ex-husband.”

“Well your ex is the one thing we can’t control.” Anger flashed in his blue eyes. “We were supposed to keep a low profile. Focus on work while this story cooled down. But your ex just made things worse. Dover is trending on social media; did you know that?”

She felt nauseated. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry.”

Simon sighed. “It’s not your fault that your ex-husband is a complete ass.” He crossed his arms and looked down at her. “What did he mean when he said he wanted to fight for your son?”

There was no escaping now. Simon would probably have figured it out eventually. And she knew that, once he did, he’d blame himself for her troubles. If her slamming the door on them had bothered him, it wouldn’t now. Not if he knew how far Gary was willing to go to punish her for her mistakes. He would never want any part of a relationship that meant he would have to deal with her vengeful, controlling ex-husband. “Gary wants full custody of Finn.”

“What? That’s crazy. On what grounds?”

“He says I’m unfit,” she replied in a small voice. “He says he wants to protect Finn, but really he just wants to punish me for my terrible choices. The press is going to eat it up.”

“He wants to punish you for being with me,” he said.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“And he’s willing to destroy Dover to do it,” Simon said darkly. “Because that’s where this is headed. The media frenzy over this will completely overshadow the roll-out of the new products. They’ve just been released. Numbers haven’t come in, but a disaster like this could ruin everything.”

Everything he had worked for his whole life. All because of her.

With one foolish decision, she had put her son in danger and torpedoed a company. Dover had so many employees. She hadn’t known her coworkers very long, but everyone had been so friendly and welcoming. What if she got laid off because of this? She’d never be able to forgive herself.

“There has to be a way we can fix this,” she said.

He crossed over to his desk. “There might be. I have an idea. But it’s impossible without you.” Simon grabbed an envelope from the stack of papers on his desk and walked back over to her.

“What’s this?” she asked as he handed the envelope to her.