Freedom (Billionaire Secrets Series, #2)

by Lexy Timms

  “So, you hacked into my system on your own, then...” Pure contempt flashed in his eyes. Simon didn’t look like himself. She’d never seen him look so cold. So uncaring. How could he believe she was capable of something so terrible? “I should have known.”

  “I don’t know how to hack into anything, Simon,” she said. “Anyone who would be able to hack your system would have to be a genius. Someone smarter than you. And I don’t know anybody smarter than you.”

  “Flattery isn’t going to save you,” he said. “I know why you did this.”

  “I would never do anything to hurt you. Please believe me,” she begged.

  “You never got over our breakup,” he said. “That’s the motive, isn’t it? You’re still angry about that.”

  “I’m still hurt, but I’m not angry enough to do something like this,” she said.

  “It’s been ten years, Heather,” he said. “Ten years of you holding a grudge. I don’t know what kind of person gets so hung up on someone that they cling to them for over a decade. It’s pathetic. I left. Get over it. It’s like I’m being punished for moving on with my life. It’s not my fault you didn’t make something of yourself and got knocked up by some bum.”

  Her vision blurred with tears. He was right. She was pathetic. Holding on to some teenaged fantasy of her high school sweetheart. She had been so devastated that she’d had to change schools. Not that she would confess that to him now, because it would only confirm his worst suspicions about her. Only a truly pathetic person would let a breakup hurt them badly enough to transfer out of school.

  Gary had been right, too. A man like Simon could never want her. Maybe Simon believed the worst, so he’d have an excuse to dump her. That way he’d never have to admit he was bored with her. He’d have a damn good reason to toss her aside without any of the guilt attached to it.

  “I know my life is so petty and small compared to yours. But that’s only because I refused to get over you. Every choice I made was a reaction to my broken heart.” Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. “I might be pathetic, and I might still be hurt about the past, but I swear I didn’t do this. I’m not going to let you define me for another decade. I’m done. No more. If you can’t believe me, then that’s on you.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he said. “When Everett first came to me about his suspicions, I stood up for you. Now I see what a mistake that was.”

  “Everett suspected me?” she asked. “For how long?”

  “Long enough.”

  “So, all those things you said about wanting to be with me....” She forced back a sob. “You had suspicions about me when you said all those things?”

  “I did.”

  “So...all those things you said about wanting a relationship were a lie,” she said. “You had sex with me even when you thought I was capable of doing something like this. You seduced me. Why? To get what you thought was the truth out of me?”

  “I don’t know why.”

  “You used me.” Raw pain gripped her heart. All those tender things he had said to her back in his apartment had been lies. None of it had been true. He had never really cared for her. Just like Gary had warned her.

  She turned towards the door, ready to flee and never come back.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded.

  “I’m leaving,” she said. “Dover is no different from VLA. You chew employees up and spit them out. I’m not going to stand here and put up with these accusations. I’ve lied, but I’m not what you say I am. I thought you were different, Simon. I thought you cared about the people who work here. The truth is, all you see is your own ego. I used to think you didn’t have people in your life because you kept them at a distance. Now I see it’s because people keep their distance from you.”

  Heather didn’t wait to hear what he said next. She opened the door, stepped out of her office, and rushed towards the elevator without a backward glance.

  Chapter 20

  He didn’t bother to call the cops on her. It was no use. Just like with his previous assistant, sentiment won out. Only, this was worse than mere sentiment. His feelings for Heather was still so strong he couldn’t call security or the cops on her. His heart wouldn’t let him.

  When the longest day of his life at Dover ended, he got into his car and headed home. The meeting with the board had gone the way he’d expected. Badly. With a security breach this big, Dover was teetering on the brink of total disaster. The only thing the board managed to agree on was that they’d probably have to come up with the funds to pay to get the hacked material back.

  Money that they’d have to either pay to their rivals or to Heather directly.

  Simon gripped the steering wheel even tighter, unable to hold his anger inside. Calling the cops was pointless. The board had already done that, so it wouldn’t surprise him if the police made a visit to Heather’s place sooner rather than later.

  Thinking about her languishing in prison tore him up. Which was crazy because the woman he cared about didn’t exist. The kind, good, sweet woman who had made his childhood bearable no longer existed. In her place was a bitter, vengeful woman who had told him a pack of lies in order to destroy his dreams.

  When he went back to work, he’d have to figure out how to go on without her. Plus, he’d have to hire a new assistant. He had no idea how he’d have the stomach to hire someone else after two of his previous assistants had ended up being so untrustworthy. With his trust in Heather dead, he knew he’d never trust another person as long as he lived. His hypothesis about people had turned out to be true. There was no point in letting people in. All they wanted was to get a piece of him and then get out as fast as possible.

  He parked his car in the underground parking lot and walked over to the lobby.

  “Good evening, Hank,” he said, greeting the concierge.

  “Evening, Simon,” Hank replied from his desk. “How was work today?”

  “Hell,” Simon replied.

  “One of those days, huh?”

  “You could say that.” Simon sighed. “Any mail?”

  “Not much. But you’ve got an invoice right here waiting for you.” Hank reached into one of the mailboxes behind him and handed Simon the invoice.

  Simon arched an eyebrow. “Invoice? For what?”

  “Don’t you remember? Some electricians came over last week to update the place and the company delivered the invoice today. Your assistant was good enough to remind me last week,” Hank said. “I like this new assistant. Much nicer to me than your last one.”

  Simon didn’t bother to explain that Heather was no longer his assistant. Talking about her was only going to make him look like a lunatic. How on earth could he possibly explain that he still had feelings for someone as deceptive as Heather Hall?

  He stared at the invoice. “They looked at every apartment in here?”

  “Yep. Every single one. Including the one you live in. Didn’t you remember they were supposed to come fix the place? Anyway, the super came down here to let them in, and they did a thorough job as far as I can tell,” Hank said. “They were here forever.”

  The building superintendent hadn’t come over in months. But he had a key to each apartment, which meant he’d been able to let the electricians in without a problem. “How long were they over here?”

  “They came in the morning for two days straight and stayed until later in the afternoon,” Hank said. “Why? Is something wrong with the invoice?”

  “No, nothing’s wrong with the invoice.” Simon realized he was gripping the paper much too tightly. He had accused Heather of taking the photos of his servers and she had kept on denying it. She’d even confessed to being approached to spy on him. But she had flatly denied that she’d taken the photos of his servers and that she’d hacked into his home system.

  At the time he hadn’t believe her. Actually, he’d refused to believe her. Instead, he’d let his anger and distrust of people cloud everything. Because it seemed foolish to believe her
. Foolish to trust someone who was so good at lying to his face.

  When he’d confronted her, Simon had reminded her that no one else had known about the servers in his apartment. But now he knew that wasn’t right. The electricians had come in last week. The super had keys he almost never used, but he still got access to the place a week ago. Which meant someone other than Heather had gotten the chance to get into the place.

  Oh, crap. He’d just screwed up. Royally. There was no going back after this. No way to fix this. Ever.

  The look on her face when he’d made those accusations. He’d never seen anyone look so hurt. So destroyed. When she realized that he had suspected her even when they’d had sex that last time, she looked absolutely devastated. The pain in her eyes had almost made him go after her when she fled.

  What if she really was innocent? The things he had said to her? They were unforgivable. He’d been harsh. Cruel. He hadn’t even waited to get concrete proof. Instead, he had confronted her in the worst way imaginable.

  Memories of her crying flashed in his mind. He was supposed to protect her, and he’d just thrown her to the wolves. For all he knew the electricians had taken those photos, and instead of doing a thorough investigation he had let his emotions get the best of him. Emotions never got the best of him. It was why he was so good at keeping people at arm’s length. Except for Heather.

  Heather had gotten under his skin. Kicked down the wall around his heart. Nobody else had ever been able to do that. And he’d thrown that back in her face because he was so angry about being made a fool of. So angry that yet another person had betrayed him.

  “Thank you for this, Hank.” He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and rushed back to the parking lot.

  He had to talk to Heather and make this right. Had to.

  As he climbed into his car he put the phone up to his ear. It rang without an answer. Heather always took his calls. Finally the call went to voicemail, but he hung up. What he wanted to say wasn’t the kind of thing you left in a voice message. He had to talk to her directly, but if she didn’t want to speak to him that meant she had already closed her heart to him. Or worse. Maybe the police had already apprehended her.

  Simon put his foot on the gas and accelerated out of the parking lot. He didn’t care how fast he was going. It wasn’t fast enough. If Heather didn’t want to take his calls he’d find her.

  He tried to ignore the voice in his head that said she had already closed his heart to him. Had already quit her job at Dover. None of that mattered. Because it couldn’t. Not if he wanted to salvage things with the only person in his life he had ever counted on.

  As he sped off down the street, he knew that the only thing he ever wanted to do from now on was spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

  THE END

  Courage Book #3 Blurb

  BY USA TODAY BESTSELLING Author, Lexy Timms.

  The SECRET of happiness is FREEDOM. The secret of freedom is COURAGE.

  The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past as better than what is was and the present worse than it actually is.

  SIMON DIESEL, billionaire extraordinaire, is being played. Either by the woman he’s hopelessly in love with, or by someone he trusts.

  That narrows the list down significantly. There’s only a handful of people Simon trusts, so it shouldn’t be that hard to find the perpetrator. However, how much is he willing to risk for his company? For his heart?

  Will falling in love with Heather a second time be second chance or payback for the heartbreak he caused her years ago?

  “The harder thing to do and the right thing to do is usually the same thing.”

  BILLIONAIRE SECRETS SERIES

  The Secret

  Freedom

  Courage

  Trust

  Impulse

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