by Lexy Timms
After Simon let Gary out, he decided to head downstairs to the swimming pool to do some laps. It was the only way to clear his head. Because he was going to need to think clearly if he had any hope of making the right decision. There had to be a way to make this work. Just how?
HEATHER BRUSHED HER hair for probably the thousandth time. Her stomach was full of butterflies as she appraised herself in the bathroom mirror. The makeup she had applied looked natural and her hair had a healthy sheen to it. But she still felt jittery. Simon had called her earlier and insisted on seeing her. He had sounded so mysterious over the phone that she didn’t know if he wanted to share good news or if something was off. She couldn’t read his tone at all and had been too afraid to ask. She was being silly. Like a high school kid all over again.
On top of her jitters, she felt giddy at the prospect of seeing him for the first time since they had gotten back to Seattle several days ago. Phone calls weren’t enough. She wanted to see him. Had to touch him.
The gold necklace he’d bought her in Florida dangled around her neck, the bejeweled pendant mere inches above her heart. The heart that ached to be near him.
The doorbell’s ring made her jump, but she quickly smoothed her hair one last time and raced out of the bathroom. She forced herself to slow down, half paranoid she’d be out of breath by the time she made it to the front of the house.
When she opened the door, her pulse started to race at the sight of him. Love was making the butterflies in her stomach flutter like crazy. She felt like she was seventeen years old all over again. “Hi, Simon,” she said softly, flashing him a shaky smile.
He didn’t return her smile. Instead he swept her into his arms and held on to her so tightly she knew that something was amiss. Usually his hard body reassured her, but the absence of that comfort set her on edge now. Her nerves were already making her body tremble with apprehension. Gathering her strength, she stepped out of his arms and motioned for him to enter. “I hope I’m not intruding,” he said stiffly.
“Of course, you aren’t,” she said. “Finn’s with my parents, so we have the house all to ourselves.”
For a moment he stopped to look at her. “How do you manage to look more beautiful every time I see you?”
That chased away her jitters somewhat and she smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
He chuckled and lightly brushed his lips against hers. “You smell wonderful.”
She giggled and led him to the living room, where she had already set out refreshments on the coffee table.
Small talk was only going to be a waste of time. She knew that no matter how much she dreaded ruining the mood, it was best to get right to the point. “What did you want to talk about?”
“About us,” he said. “Us and Gary.”
Her heart sank. She hadn’t anticipated that her ex-husband would be the topic of discussion and, as usual, every time his name was mentioned her stomach knotted up with trepidation. “What about Gary?”
“He came to my apartment a few days ago,” he said evenly. “The same day we got back from Florida, actually.”
She frowned. “He never mentioned a visit. I talked to him briefly yesterday on a conference call about my considering getting a new lawyer. It was all very official, since his lawyer was in on the call.” She tapped her finger against her lip. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t mention it.”
“He didn’t mention it because I suspect he’s deliberately trying to keep it from you.” Simon leaned back in the chair, whatever uncertainty he had been carrying now replaced by a steely confidence. He crossed his strong arms, his unwavering gaze meeting hers.
“Why would he do something like that?” Heather asked in surprise.
“Because what he came to discuss was utterly distasteful.” His eyes narrowed, his anger apparent.
Heather swallowed hard. She had never seen Simon like this. Never seen such tightly coiled anger threatening to boil over. He had lost his temper once, when he had thought she was trying to sabotage Dover by hacking into his cyber system, but this anger was different. It was as if he was trying to restrain it through sheer force of will, doing everything in his power not to unleash it. “What did he come to discuss?” The minute she asked, she knew she would regret finding out the truth.
The expression on Simon’s face was the most terrifying combination of anger, grief, and disgust. “He came to try to squeeze money out of me.”
She gasped, her hand flying to her throat in panic. “How could he do something like that? Simon, I’m so sorry. He had no right to do that.”
Guilt wracked her. If it hadn’t been for her, Simon wouldn’t have had to deal with her rotten excuse for an ex-husband. Gary had always been rough around the edges. Even ill-mannered. But this was a new low for him.
“It gets worse,” he said tersely.
“How much money did he ask for?”
Simon narrowed his eyes. “Two million dollars.”
“What?” Her lungs constricted painfully and she struggled to breathe. This was insane. She had thought maybe Gary had come asking for a small loan for rent or a car payment, but this was beyond anything she could have ever predicted. Disbelief forced her to search for the right words to respond with.
“Why would he ask for that kind of money?” she finally gasped out. “Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“You’re seriously still giving him the benefit of the doubt?” Frustration laced every word as he scowled. “He isn’t in any trouble. He wanted a payoff to drop the custody battle and relinquish his parental rights to Finn. And, as terrible as it sounds, I’ve actually given his proposal serious consideration.”
Chapter 8
She had never been bombarded with this many conflicting emotions. Anger at Gary’s callous audacity. Bitter disappointment at Simon’s confession. And, worst of all, heartache over Finn being abandoned by his own father.
“Simon, seriously?” she cried, her anger at Gary projecting onto Simon. “How could you consider something so horrible?”
“How could I not?” he fired back. “He’s been trying to take Finn away from you, but he refuses to spend time with the kid. It’s obvious he doesn’t care about Finn, and he’s just using this custody battle to get back at you. Paying him off might be the answer to your problems.”
“No, absolutely not.” She stared daggers at him, too angry to even contemplate his words. “Not only am I going to forbid you paying Gary any amount of money—”
“You? Forbid me?” He scoffed. “This I have to hear.”
“Dammit! Sometimes you really can be so condescending,” she snapped. “I know you think that money doesn’t mean anything, but that’s only because you have so much of it. Two million dollars is a lot of money. I don’t think I’ve made that amount of money in my entire working life.”
“Well, I’ve made it in the last hour,” he said. He looked like he wished he could take those words back. “What I meant is, I have the means to fix things.”
“We agreed that I had the final say if you were going to spend more than ten thousand dollars,” she reminded him. “And this is way more than ten thousand dollars.”
He sighed heavily in response. “I know we agreed to that. Which is why I came here to tell you, even though Gary seems to want to keep this from you.”
“He didn’t want me to know?” Her heart sank. Heather had always known that Gary could be a jerk at times, but she had never expected him to stoop so low.
“No, he didn’t,” Simon replied. “But I had made a promise to you about how I spend my money on you, so I knew that I had to tell you about Gary’s proposal. This would never be something I would do behind your back. He wants this as hush money. I give him the two million and he said he’d disappear. Move away. Drop the custody battle and never bother you or Finn again.”
She was grateful for his honesty at least. Simon had kept his promise to her despite everything, but that didn’t make the hurt go away. He actually see
med to want to go through with Gary’s reprehensible demands and she couldn’t even begin to understand it.
“Why would you want to sink down to Gary’s level?” she asked in a disapproving tone.
“It’s not about sinking to his level,” Simon insisted. “But you have to admit, there’s something tempting about getting him out of Finn’s life.”
“No, there isn’t,” she said, in a shrill voice she hardly recognized. Gary wanted to abandon his own son, and instead of coming to her he had gone to Simon. To a man he obviously hated. For money. A wave of nausea roiled through her stomach. This was the worst thing Gary had ever done. Worse than his cruel words to her. Worse than constantly cancelling plans with Finn.
“Finn would be better off,” Simon said. “It’s going to hurt him, but no child should be forced to be with a parent who doesn’t want them.”
“No. Gary’s just going through something,” she said. “Maybe he’s scared, or in a bad financial situation.”
“Heather, when are you going to see the truth?” Simon got to his feet. “I’ve tried to avoid insulting the guy, but Gary is a deadbeat. He’s an asshole. A greedy, selfish bastard.”
“Gary is Finn’s father,” she said firmly.
He crossed the room to sink down next to her and took her hands in his.
Anger almost made her snatch her hands away, but her heart wouldn’t let her.
“He doesn’t want to be Finn’s father,” Simon said. “I get where you’re coming from. When Gary first came to me, part of me wanted to reject his proposal because I knew how devastated Finn would be. I know what it’s like to want a father’s approval and never get it. But I gave it some thought and I realized that Finn deserves better.”
“What’s better? You?” The venom in her voice made him jerk back in surprise. “Is this what you want, Simon? To take Gary’s place?” She knew she was being unfair by projecting her anger onto him, but she didn’t know what to do with the feelings that were mounting. Didn’t know how to deal with the crushing ache in her chest. Nothing could have prepared her for something like this. What was the playbook for realizing that the father of your child wanted nothing to do with him?
He released her hand, a look of pained surprise flashing in his eyes. “How could you think that?”
“I don’t.” She sucked down a gulp of air, trying to fight the tears that threatened to spill over. “I don’t think that. I’m just so upset that you’re willing to go along with this when it’s obvious that Gary is going through some kind of crisis. You can’t seriously consider something like this when he’s in this state.”
“I know you want to believe that Gary is going through something, but he’s not,” Simon said firmly. “He doesn’t care about anyone other than himself. Deep down, I think you know that.”
“This will break Finn.” A tear slid down her cheek. “The divorce was so hard on him. You have no idea how painful it was. I was there every single night when he cried his heart out. Sometimes he would ask me why his father didn’t love him, and I told him not to think that. I promised him that Gary loved him.” She stared into Simon’s eyes, her vision blurring as she did. “I made a promise that I can’t keep. Because, if what you say is true, Gary doesn’t love Finn, does he?”
HELPLESSNESS WAS SUCH an unfamiliar feeling to him that, when it came, he often didn’t recognize it at first. Gary’s deceit was tearing her up inside, and he had no idea how to ease her pain. Seeing her so hurt made his heart squeeze painfully.
Simon had guessed that Heather wouldn’t exactly jump at the chance to pay Gary off, but he hadn’t expected her to push back so forcefully. He had considered Finn’s pain, but he hadn’t focused on Heather’s.
“I don’t know if he loves Finn, but I hope he does,” he finally answered. That much was true. He didn’t know if Gary loved his son, but he held on to the hope that he did. Held on to the hope that not even Gary could be that cruel. That unfeeling. He might be a selfish deadbeat, but deep down he had to love his own son.
His hand lifted to brush her tears away with his thumb. “What I do know is that you love him, Heather. Your love for Finn is so big that I don’t think anyone on earth loves their child more than you do.”
A sob tore from her throat and he reached for her. Simon pulled her into his arms and he let her cry. Her entire body convulsed with desperate sobs, each gasp for breath an ice-cold blade to his heart.
He hadn’t told her the truth to bring her pain. Regret made him hold her even tighter against him. Her tears were soaking through his shirt, but he didn’t care. All that mattered to him was finding a way to ease her anguish.
“I promised Finn,” she said between sobs. “I promised him that his father loved him. I lied. Oh, Simon, I lied to him. What kind of mother lies like that to her child?”
“You didn’t lie,” he said urgently. “You told Finn what you knew in your heart was true. Nobody could get to know Finn and not love him. I suspect that Gary is just a greedy coward.”
Moments slipped by, seeming to meld into hours. He held on to her for so long that his muscles stiffened painfully. But he ignored the sore ache in his body to keep holding on to her.
Finally her sobs died down and she pulled back to sit up. “I’m sorry I took my anger out on you.”
“You were probably right to be angry,” he admitted. “I was so caught up in the prospect of getting rid of Gary that I didn’t focus on how that would affect you. And I let my ego get in the way. I was so happy about having the power to get rid of your problems with my money that I steamrolled over you. You’re Finn’s mother, and it wasn’t my place to tell you what to decide.”
“Still, you’re right that I’ve been giving Gary a pass for his behavior,” she said. “Before you told me about his scheme, I really thought I was on my way to really standing up to him. But then my resolve crumbled when I thought about having to explain things to Finn. I let my fear get the best of me.”
He brushed a lock of her shiny auburn hair out of her face, smoothing it back so that he could get a good look at her. Her beautiful face was streaked with tears, her eyes puffy from crying. His heart swelled as he took her in. Nothing could diminish her beauty. Not tears. Not anger. Not anything. Because, more than her looks, it was her love that made her so beautiful. Love seemed to radiate off her. It was like she was shining from within, and he desperately hoped that even a tiny part of that was for him.
“You’re allowed to be scared,” he said gently. “I’m sorry for putting all that pressure on you. Gary has put you in an impossible position, and you have every right to feel however you want.”
She exhaled a shuddering breath. “There aren’t any good options, are there? If I agree to this payoff, then Finn won’t have his father. If I don’t agree, then I have to fight this custody battle. Either choice hurts Finn. Why is Gary doing this?”
Simon paused. Telling her what he knew might hurt her even more, but at this point it was best that she was armed with as much information as possible. “Gary told me that he was putting you through this custody battle to get back at you.”
“Back at me?” she said with a gasp. “Back at me for what?”
“He seems to think that your pregnancy robbed him of the life that he wanted,” Simon said. “Gary feels like his life got wasted because you had Finn. Plus, he resents the fact that after the divorce you’ve been able to move on with your life.”
“He wants my life to be as miserable as his is,” she said.
“That seems to be his plan,” Simon said grimly. “Heather, I meant it when I said he was a deadbeat. I don’t want to insult Finn’s father, but Gary is no good.”
“I know,” she said, “but he’s still Finn’s dad. I can’t... I won’t be responsible for this. If Gary wants to walk away from Finn he needs to do that on his own without my permission. Or your money.”
“If I don’t pay him off, he’ll keep coming at you with this custody battle,” Simon said. “If he gets custod
y... what is he going to do to Finn?”
“He would never hurt Finn.” She shook her head. “And I won’t ask you to do that. You are not paying him off.”
From that determined expression on her face, he knew he’d never get her to budge. Surprisingly, her determination was making his regret begin to dissipate. He smiled. “You know what? We’ve just gotten through our first major argument as a real couple and somehow, despite our differences, we’ve made it out the other side.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You know I love you, right?”
“Of course I do,” she murmured. “And I love you.”
“Good. Because a disagreement could never change how I feel about you,” he told her.
Her perfect lips curved up into a faint smile. The first smile since he had told her about Gary. That smile was like a shot to his heart. It was like the first ray of sunshine after a turbulent storm.
“What do we do about Gary now?” she asked.
“I think you need to hire a new lawyer. The one I suggested,” he said firmly. “I know you aren’t comfortable with me paying for a more expensive lawyer, but you need to fight Gary. If you don’t want to pay him to drop the custody case, then I really believe you need to go after him with the best lawyer money can buy. You don’t want me to give the money to Gary, so let me spend it on Finn. That kid rocks. He deserves the best chance he can get.”
Money might not be able to heal her pain or Finn’s, but he could use his wealth to protect them. Despite his wealth, he had avoided the extravagant trappings that money could bring. But now he had a chance to spend his money on the people he cared about. “Okay,” she said after a long moment, “but I want to meet this lawyer before I sign off on anything. This is my battle to fight. I know I have you in my corner, but if I don’t do this on my own Gary will never let me go. He’ll always say that you took Finn. He’ll never realize that he’s the one making the mistake. Do you get what I’m trying to say?”