Freedom (Billionaire Secrets Series, #2) Read online

  “Get out of my way,” she snapped. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

  “I’m not trying to tell you what to do.” He ran his hands through his dark hair in frustration. “I’m just trying to understand.”

  “You dumped me and left,” she said bitterly. “It broke my heart, so I ended up getting knocked up. What else is there to understand?”

  “Is that why you married Gary?” Simon demanded. “Because he got you pregnant?”

  She couldn’t bring herself to admit it. The shame of her mistake with Gary, combined with the embarrassment she felt at her outburst, made a lump form in her throat. All she could do was nod her head. A tear rolled down her cheek.

  His fingers curled around her shoulders and he gazed at her. His eyes were burning with something she could barely describe. There was rage and sadness flashing in his blue eyes. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me?” Her breath caught in her throat, and her chest tightened so much it felt like her insides were on fire. “Simon, you broke my heart.”

  “How could you have ended up with a man like Gary? Why did you throw your life away on him?” he demanded. “I wasn’t worth it.”

  “You still don’t get it, do you?” she asked in a small voice. “Simon, you were worth it to me because I loved you.”

  LOVE WAS AN ABSURD emotion. A trick of the brain. Chemicals combining to make a person do crazy, irrational things.

  But Heather wasn’t a crazy, irrational person. He might not know if she was a liar and a spy, but he knew that much.

  He released her and crossed his arms. “You couldn’t have.”

  “I could, and I did.” Her face was streaked with tears and her lower lip was trembling.

  This wasn’t an act. Heather wasn’t putting on a performance. She really had been heartbroken over the way he’d left things.

  Simon had always guessed that their breakup had been difficult for her. But he’d never anticipated something like this. He never could have guessed the depth of her feelings for him.

  Obviously, whatever love she once had for him had given way to bitterness and anger. That much was undeniable.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, hoping she heard the sincerity in his tone.

  “Keep your apology,” she said. “We can’t change the past now. Besides, my marriage to Gary wasn’t a complete disaster. I got Finn out of it. And my son is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve made a lot of bad decisions in my life, but having Finn isn’t one of them.”

  “You can’t go home like this,” he said. “You can’t drive all the way home in this state. Let me drop you off.”

  She threw her shoulders back in defiance. “I can. I’ve survived this long without you, Simon. I don’t need you to drive me home.”

  “Okay,” he said. “It’s obvious we both need to cool off. We can wait and try talking again.”

  “I don’t think you’ve heard me at all.”

  “You don’t mean that,” he insisted.

  Her lips thinned. “I do.”

  “We’re not going back to the way things were,” he warned. “We’re not going back to pretending that things haven’t been said. You’re not going to hold me at arm’s length anymore.”

  “You held me at arm’s length for ten years.” Without another word she set her coffee cup down on the front desk and marched out of the gallery, leaving him behind.

  Part of him wanted to go after her, but everything was too raw right now. Going after her with tensions this high wasn’t going to solve anything. In fact, it would probably make things worse.

  But at least now he could finally understand why Heather might want to spy on him to help a rival company. Now after their heated argument, he knew something that he hadn’t known before. Heather was a woman scorned. Which meant that she had a motive. The oldest reason of all. Revenge.

  Chapter 16

  Simon knew Heather needed time to sort through her feelings. Which was why when he showed up to work the next day, he did his best to keep his distance.

  The familiar routine frustrated him. It was like they were locked in the steps of a dance they couldn’t get out of. There was always this push and pull between them. The routine drove him insane. But it also thrilled him. Made his desire for her even worse. He felt like an addict with no way to kick his habit.

  After a late-morning meeting in one of the conference rooms Heather lingered while the engineers filed out of the room, and Simon couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “Don’t go,” he said from his seat at the table, once they were alone.

  She approached the door and shut it firmly. Then she turned around to face him. “It’s almost lunch time.”

  “I know. So I’ll make try to make it quick.”

  Heather crossed her arms and leaned against the door. “Well, what is it?”

  “I hurt you.” He sighed. “I didn’t see it. And I’m sorry that I didn’t see how much pain I caused you.”

  “You’re not a mind reader,” she murmured.

  “No, I’m not. But I could have asked how the breakup made you feel,” he said.

  “It was so out of the blue,” she said. “I think that’s why it hurt so much. We decided to be together, but then you blindsided me. I know you thought you were freeing me, but it still hurt.”

  He searched her eyes, trying to see if what she was saying was genuine. Trying to see if she was just playing him. “If I had known that’s why you ended up with Gary, I would have handled things better.”

  “Gary.” Her voice was laced with bitterness. “At this point, I’m so angry with him I hope I never see him again. Which is so unfair to Finn.”

  “What you’re feeling is normal,” he said gently. “Gary didn’t deserve you.”

  “He always said I’d never do better than him,” she murmured. “That nobody would want me. I was too uptight. Too reserved for a real man.”

  “That’s nonsense.” Simon surged to his feet, fury making him ball his hands. “I want you.”

  Damn it. He did. Even though his trust in her was slipping away, he still wanted her.

  Simon crossed the conference room and stopped in front of her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he said, “I’ve always wanted you. Even after I left, I missed you, Heather. I never meant to cause you all this pain. I broke up with you because I wanted the best for you. I thought I was helping you move on from me.”

  She sighed. “I don’t blame you for leaving. You were going after your dream. There’s no way I would have been happy if you had stayed behind for me. You had every right to have ambitions. I’m sorry if I made you feel otherwise.”

  “After yesterday, I thought you’d never talk to me again,” he said, releasing her.

  “I needed time to cool down,” she said. “I’ve kept things bottled up inside for so long that I kind of just exploded.”

  “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were overreacting, because you weren’t.” It felt like a lie, because he didn’t truly know what Heather’s reaction to their breakup was. If Heather was heartbroken, he understood her pain and her right to feel angry. But if her pain and anger had led her down a path to destroy Dover, he’d never forgive her. It was one thing to take her anger out on him but taking it out on Dover was inexcusable. Thousands of employees were counting on the company to do well.

  She bit her lip. “Do you still want to talk?”

  “Of course I do.” He kept his gaze on her, searching for anything that would give away what she was really thinking. Really feeling.

  Everything he had just said to her had been said with his real emotions. But part of him had said those things to keep the charade going. If he pretended that all he was interested in was a relationship, she’d never catch on that he was trying to get the truth out of her.

  But as her hazel eyes looked back at him, shining with unshed tears, guilt gnawed at him. What if Heather was innocent? He would have had this conversation under false pre
tenses. Which meant nothing he had just said to her was pure no matter how much he meant it.

  His stomach started to churn. He felt sick over his deception. If Heather was playing him, he was playing right along with her.

  “Can it wait?” she asked. “I need a little time.”

  “I completely understand,” he said. “Do you want me to maybe check on how you’re doing in a few days?”

  “I’d like that. Thank you, Simon.”

  “Thank you for sticking to your promise,” he said. “I know it can’t be easy with all the craziness that’s been going on.”

  “Working at Dover has made things easy. It’s been good to have a job I enjoy.” She flashed him a smile, and his stomach knotted at the sight. Because he wasn’t sure if her smile or her words were genuine, and that was killing him.

  “Glad to hear it,” he forced out.

  “Coming to work keeps my mind off my problems,” she said. “Gary is still trying to take Finn away and that’s been so stressful.”

  “I’m sorry I drove you into being with him,” he said.

  “Don’t blame yourself. You were right. It wasn’t fair for me to blame you for my decision to be with Gary.” She ran her fingers through his hair. The touch was so intimate. And unusual for her during work hours while they were at Dover headquarters. Which meant Gary was either putting her under considerable pressure and she needed to reach out, or she was faking it all to keep Simon under her spell.

  He covered her hand with his. “Heather.”

  “Not here,” she whispered.

  “You haven’t even heard what I was going to say.”

  “I’ve seen that look in your eyes before. I know what it means.” She smiled knowingly. “We can continue this in a few days.” Something seductive flashed in her eyes. “It’s time to get back to our offices.”

  He forced back a groan and reluctantly pulled his hand away. “You’re right.”

  Minutes later, he stepped into his office to get ready to go out for lunch. Heather would more than likely eat in one of the cafeterias, while he was going to be taking a business lunch with an investor. With the media frenzy, he still had a lot of work to do to regain the trust of Dover’s investors. Simon tried not to remind himself that some of that work might mean exposing Heather, but deep down he knew that was the only way to save both Dover and his job as CEO. He had to find the spy, no matter the cost.

  He grabbed his jacket and stepped out. Down the hall from his office he saw Heather walk over to her ex-husband, who was heading out of the elevator.

  Heather glanced over her shoulder, as if she was suspicious of being caught with her husband. Without thinking, Simon ducked back into his office. If she caught him watching her, she might get even more suspicious.

  Simon cursed under his breath, hoping like hell she hadn’t spotted him spying on her.

  For whatever reason, Heather didn’t want anyone to see her with Gary. And that felt like another piece of the puzzle falling into place. Heather had often mentioned her fractured relationship with her ex-husband, but for all he knew she could have been exaggerating all that. Even outright making some of it up.

  If she had been so ready to lie about her identity during her job interview, there was no telling what else she might be willing to lie about. Which meant there was a chance that her ex-husband was in on her scheme as well.

  SHE EYED HER EX-HUSBAND suspiciously. “What do you want now, Gary?”

  “I thought I’d take you out to lunch today,” he replied.

  After she had walked out of the conference room with Simon she’d gotten a text message from Gary, announcing that he was waiting for her downstairs in the lobby. Out of curiosity, she had relented and given permission for him to come upstairs, but she was already regretting it.

  A smug smile played on his lips and that irritated her.

  “Why on earth would I want to go anywhere with you?” she demanded, barely able to contain her disdain.

  “We haven’t gotten the chance to catch up in a long time,” he said. “Besides, can’t I have lunch with my ex-wife? I thought we were trying to be friends.”

  “You can’t keep showing up unannounced like this,” she hissed. “Security could have you removed after the stunts you’ve pulled.”

  Some of her coworkers was milling around, staring in her direction, their withering gazes making her realize she was on the verge of making a scene. Which was probably why Gary had insisted on coming upstairs. He was trying to push her buttons and make her look as bad as possible.

  “Fine, I’ll go to lunch with you, but you have to promise to leave quietly,” she said in a low voice.

  “You got it.”

  It took every ounce of remaining strength not to roll her eyes.

  When the doors of the elevator slid open minutes later, she stepped out into the lobby with Gary close behind her. She followed him to his car and he drove out onto the street.

  Her ex-husband grinned. “See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  She crossed her arms. “What do you want? Why the hell did you come barging into my office like that?”

  “We need to clear the air, Heather,” he said. “I know we’ve been communicating through our lawyers, but that just didn’t seem right, you know?”

  “Talking through our lawyers was your idea,” she snapped. “Don’t try to act like you got forced into this or something.”

  “You’re pissed about this situation with Finn,” he said. “I get that.”

  “Is that why you lied about me to the press?” she asked shrilly, fast losing control of her temper. “Is that why you told the entire world I was still seeing Simon?”

  “Are you seriously telling me that you’re not seeing him?” Gary scoffed. “I saw the way that guy looked at you. There’s no way he let you go that easily.”

  She laced her fingers together, trying to keep her hands still. Trying not to give anything away. When Gary had originally told those reporters that she was still sleeping with Simon, that had been a lie. But after she had spent the night at Simon’s apartment, she didn’t know where things stood with them. Their argument in the art gallery hadn’t made things any clearer.

  Worse, they hadn’t told the board about spending the night together. Everett knew about the photograph, but she doubted he knew more than that. A kiss could be explained away but staying at Simon’s place wasn’t something that they could easily gloss over.

  “None of this is actually your business,” she said.

  “Maybe not, but I’m sure my lawyer and the judge have the right to know if you’re the kind of mother who sleeps with her boss,” Gary said.

  She bit back a retort and stared out the window. Right now, she had gone the extra mile by agreeing to have lunch with her ex. She refused to let him get under her skin and push her into a heated argument.

  After minutes of strained silence, they pulled up to a deli and walked inside. She grabbed a seat in the corner while Gary went up to order some drinks and sandwiches.

  He soon appeared with their lunch.

  She took a bite out of her roast beef sandwich, mulling over what to say to him to avoid an argument. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Us.” He bit into his club sandwich and smacked his lips in satisfaction.

  That annoyed her so much she reached for her glass of fruit juice and took a huge sip. How had she spent so many years married to him, when just about everything he did annoyed the hell out of her?

  “What about us?” she muttered.

  “Us. Our family. I haven’t seen Finn in a long time,” he said.

  “And whose fault is that?” she snapped. “Every time it’s your turn to step up and spend time with him, you bail. But you have the nerve to take me to court on top of all that?”

  “I have to protect my son,” he said. “Every moment I spend away from him is so that I can make money to take care of him.”

  “Oh, please. You spend most of your time with
your new girlfriend.” She tore off another bite of her sandwich, knowing that her anger was starting to get the best of her.

  “I’m a good father, okay?” He narrowed his eyes. “I know I don’t see Finn a lot, but I pay the child support.”

  “Because you’ll go to jail if you don’t,” she reminded him.

  “Yeah, well, everything is going to change,” he said. “When I get full custody I’ll be able to see Finn whenever I want. I won’t have to pay a bunch of child support and I won’t need to make phone calls to you asking for permission to see him.”

  “You can see him whenever you want now,” she pointed out. “All you have to do is show up when you say you’re going to.”

  “Oh, like you showed up to our home to screw your boss?”

  “Keep your voice down,” she said. “People might recognize us.”

  “That’s all you care about,” he said coldly. “Hiding the truth so everyone thinks you’re a perfect victim. You know what people are saying about me online? They think I’m a jerk because I told the media the truth about you.”

  Anger flared in her. “You blabbed to the media to try to get Finn away from me. Don’t pretend like you did that for ethical reasons.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not finished with you, Heather.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she choked out, dread suddenly creeping down her spine.

  “You need to learn a very valuable lesson about the real world, Heather,” Gary said harshly. “Your boss doesn’t want you. Not really. You’re just a thrill to a guy like him. And when the thrill is gone he’ll toss you aside. I’m the only man who ever really wanted you.”

  “That’s not true.” Her entire body was shaking with fury. “Simon wants me.”

  “I knew it,” he shot back. “You’re still screwing him. Exactly like I said you were.”

  “Why did you come to see me today?” she demanded. “To hurl accusations at me?”