by Lexy Timms
“What did you find?” she asked as they stepped into the chambers.
“We don’t have time,” Aaron said. “I’m asking you to trust me on this, Heather.”
“Trust you?” She swallowed hard and glanced at Simon. “What do you think?”
“I can’t tell you what to do, but Aaron has got this,” Simon replied. “The information we got is solid. But...” His face suddenly looked pained.
“But what?” she asked.
“If we come forward with this, Gary could end up in jail,” Simon said. “You have to be willing to risk that if you want to win.”
“Yes.” She shut her eyes, the shame of betraying her ex-husband momentarily flooding her. “Yes, I’m willing to do that.”
“Let’s head back, then.” Aaron’s hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. “I know you don’t want to hurt Gary, but Finn is who we have to fight to protect now. Don’t feel guilty, Heather. Think of your son.”
They hurried back to the courtroom and Aaron called Gary to the witness stand.
“I’m sure your lawyer has informed you by now of the evidence we’ve managed to gather, Mr. Hall,” Aaron said.
Gary crossed his arms, his entire body stiffening. “It’s lies. All lies!”
“Mr. Hall, you didn’t tell the court that you were no longer employed,” Aaron said in a calm voice. “Why didn’t you reveal that information to your ex-wife?”
“She lost her job, too,” Gary shot back.
“Yes, but she informed you of that. She informed the court of that fact,” Aaron said. “Your ex-wife has been very open with this court. Yet you kept your unemployment a secret. How did you manage to pay your child support payments without steady employment?”
Gary frowned and began to squirm in his seat. “That’s none of your business.”
“Mr. Hall, you’ve been asked a question,” the judge chided. “You will answer it.”
“I... friends,” Gary said. “A friend helped me.”
“Is this friend a young woman who seems to frequent your home?” Aaron asked. “A young woman by the name of Fiona?”
The blood drained from Gary’s face. “She’s one of my friends.”
“Does your girlfriend know about this friend?” Aaron asked. “Because it seems to me like Fiona has given you quite a great deal of money recently.”
“No. My girlfriend doesn’t know about Fiona.”
Aaron took a confident step towards the witness stand. “Why doesn’t she know about this friend, Mr. Hall?”
Gary scowled. “Because I’ve been seeing Fiona.”
A gasp rippled through the courtroom. Heather didn’t bother to turn around and look in Tiffany’s direction. Tiffany’s gasp had been the loudest of all.
“You’re in a relationship with Fiona?” Aaron asked.
“That’s right. And she’s been helping me make child support payments,” Gary muttered.
“You know, Fiona has a criminal record. She’s only nineteen years old, but her criminal record is already extensive,” Aaron pointed out. “Did you know that she previously made the bulk of her income from drug trafficking?”
“Objection!” Gary’s lawyer cried. “He’s practically accusing my client of a crime.”
The judge pinched the bridge of his nose. “Answer the question, Mr. Hall.”
Gary paused, uncrossed his arms, and sighed heavily. “I know that’s what she used to do. But she’s cleaned up now.”
“Is that why a stash of drugs was found at your house?” Aaron asked.
A hush fell over the courtroom as Gary’s eyes widened.
Gary swallowed and looked at his lawyer helplessly. “I... Fiona promised me she’d go legit,” Gary sputtered. “That was why I asked for payments from Simon. If I got my hands on that kind of money, neither of us would have to do that kind of shady work anymore.”
“You asked for payments?” Aaron asked. “But Mr. Hall, at the previous hearing you said under oath that your ex-wife was the one who wanted to pay you off. Why would you ask for payments if your ex-wife was the one who initiated the pay-off in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Gary said in a halting voice. “I think I need a minute.”
Aaron smiled. “No further questions.”
Gary slumped in his seat as Aaron headed back towards her.
Gary’s lawyer questioned him next, but Heather barely heard a word of it. Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t even hear her own thoughts.
Her ex-husband had gotten tangled up with drug traffickers, and the entire time he had acted like she was an unfit mother. Whatever residual fondness she had ever felt for him was beginning to evaporate.
“I believe that I’m now ready to rule,” the judge said when Gary left the stand.
Heather bit her lip.
“It’s quite clear that both parents are, like most parents, flawed,” the judge started. “No parent is perfect. But from what I’ve seen in all my years in court is that perfect is not the requirement to be a good parent. Children need loving homes. Stable homes. Parents who will never give up on them. And I feel that Finnley Hall has that in his mother.”
A lump formed in her throat.
“I don’t like everything you’ve done, Ms. Hall,” the judge continued. “There have been some salacious rumors in the press, and that is a difficult thing for a child to deal with. But I believe that you have done everything in your power to protect your son. No child could ask for better than that. However, the story is different for Mr. Hall, whose conduct has come to light; it is both disturbing and distressing. Drugs in a home that a child visits is not acceptable. Now, you haven’t been charged or found guilty of any crimes, Mr. Hall, which is why I will consider that while I make the ruling that I am about to make.”
She inhaled, her lungs constricting tightly.
“I am ruling that Ms. Heather Hall gets primary custody of Finnley, while Mr. Gary Hall will be granted visitation rights once a week and every other weakened at Ms. Hall’s discretion. Custody will be revisited twenty-four months from now. Court is adjourned.”
The wave of relief that washed over her was something she could hardly describe. She wasn’t going to lose Finn. Her son was safe.
Her vision blurred with happy tears as she stood up and threw her arms around her lawyer. “Thank you so much.”
Aaron patted her back gently. “We couldn’t have done this without Simon.”
“You’re right.” She gave Aaron one final squeeze and headed towards the back of the courtroom to find Simon.
The moment she spotted him, he pulled her into his arms and embraced her. She held on to him as she cried happily. “Thank you so much,” she said through her tears. “Thank you, Simon. You saved Finn.”
“No, Heather, you saved him. I love you,” he said to her. “I love you more than anything, Heather.”
She stepped away from him to brush her tears away and spotted Gary out of the corner of her eye. He was arguing loudly with Tiffany, who suddenly stormed out of the courtroom.
“Gary,” Heather said softly. “Look, if you want to see Finn today you can. I’ll just let my lawyer know.” As angry as she was, she knew that Finn needed a father. If Gary was willing to put in the work from now on, she would do everything she could to make sure Finn spent time with his father.
“Go to hell,” Gary said with a snarl.
Simon immediately got between her and Gary, balling up his hands as he did. “What your mouth.”
“I’m not going to see Finn,” Gary spat out. “You can have him. Me and my girl Fiona, we’re getting out of Seattle. We’re going to see the world, Heather. While you’ll still be here stuck with him.” He glared at Simon and stomped out.
“He’s leaving because he knows that the police are going to be coming after him soon.” Simon kissed her forehead gently, the tenderness of the gesture wrapping around her heart. “Sorry that you’re stuck with me.”
Heather gave him
a smile. “You’re stuck with me, too.” She reached for Simon’s hand, loving how it felt to just touch him. Her heart was breaking over the fact that Gary was basically abandoning their son, but there was nothing she could do about that. Besides, being stuck with Simon sounded like pure heaven right now.
HE COULD TELL THAT explaining the truth to Finn that night was one of the hardest things Heather had ever had to do. While she began to tell her son that his father wasn’t going to be around much, Simon headed out of Finn’s room to give them some privacy. Already he could hear the poor kid crying as she told him.
After about an hour she slipped out of Finn’s room and sat down on the sofa next to Simon. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “I didn’t want to let Finn see me cry.”
The tears started to roll down her cheeks and Simon pulled her to him, holding her while she cried her heart out.
The next day, Simon invited them over to hang out at his pool. He had some good news from Dover’s board that he wanted to share with her in the aftermath of the successful interviews she had orchestrated, but he would save that for later in the day.
An afternoon at the pool would be a welcome distraction for Finn, so when Heather and Finn arrived at his apartment in the afternoon he guided them downstairs.
They spent the day playing Marco Polo with Finn in the shallow end of the pool.
“How about we head out for some ice cream?” Simon suggested when they trooped into his apartment after their swim.
“Yay! Thanks, Simon! Can I get chocolate ice cream?” Finn asked.
“Sure you can,” Heather said. “Why don’t you go change into some dry clothes?”
“Okay, Mom!” Finn grabbed his swimming bag and raced into the guest room.
“Thank you for inviting us today,” she said.
Simon pressed a gentle kiss to her inviting mouth. Simon knew that she was still hurting despite the fact that she had won the custody battle. Knew because she had a kind heart and all she had wanted was for Gary to be a real father to their son. But with Gary skipping town, it looked like Heather was going to end up parenting Finn by herself.
As his lips brushed feather-light against hers, he vowed to do everything in his power to help her with Finn. He might not be Finn’s father, but he was starting to see the boy as his responsibility. A responsibility he wanted, because the truth was he really was starting to think of Finn as his own son.
Simon pulled away to end the kiss, wanting to tell Heather how he was starting to feel about his role in Finn’s life, but he knew he was going to have to wait. Wait and let her heal. Then he could tell her that he was more than ready to step up and be a real part of Finn’s life.
“You’re welcome,” he said finally. “It’s good for us to spend time together. I never got this kind of quality time with my own parents.”
“Well, maybe we can start to make up for that a little.” She wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug, the warmth of her body reminding him just how much he loved her.
A knock on the door made him pull back.
“Are you expecting someone?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. It’s probably the weekend concierge. I’ll go see what he wants.”
Simon walked to his door and opened it. For a moment his brain didn’t register what he was seeing. A middle-aged man with graying hair and familiar blue eyes. It was like looking right into his own eyes, as crazy as that sounded. He paused when he realized who he was looking at. After all these years and all this time, his past had finally caught up with him.
His mouth went dry as he stared at the man.
Finally, Simon found his voice and said, “Dad?”
THE END
Impulse
Impulse Book #5 Blurb
BY USA TODAY BESTSELLING Author, Lexy Timms.
SIMON DIESEL crossed the line.
In so many ways. He told his assistant that he’s hopelessly in love with her. He told the board of his company that he’s stepping down to be with the woman he loves. The man who shares nothing, risked sharing his heart.
Heather and Simon finally have a chance at happiness. Not the high school sweetheart happily ever after, but the real, grown-up version. It’s within their grasp.
Except when something feels too good to be true, it usually is.
How much can the heart take before it can no longer be put back together?
“The harder thing to do and the right thing to do is usually the same thing.”
BILLIONAIRE SECRETS SERIES
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More by Lexy Timms:
FROM BEST SELLING AUTHOR, Lexy Timms, comes a billionaire romance that'll make you swoon and fall in love all over again.
Jamie Connors has given up on men. Despite being smart, pretty, and just slightly overweight, she's a magnet for the kind of guys that don't stay around.
Her sister's wedding is at the foreground of the family's attention. Jamie would be find with it if her sister wasn't pressuring her to lose weight, so she'll fit in the maid of honor dress, her mother would get off her case and her ex-boyfriend wasn't about to become her brother-in-law.
Determined to step out on her own, she accepts a PA position from billionaire Alex Reid. The job includes an apartment on his property and gets her out of living in her parent's basement.
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** The Boss is book 1 in the Managing the Bosses series. All your questions won't be answered in the first book. It may end on a cliff hanger.
For mature audiences only. There are adult situations, but this is a love story, NOT erotica.
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Something about the fragile, mysterious woman captivates him.
Something about this rough-on-the-outside bear of a man attracts Lily, despite her heart warning her to tread carefully.
Faking It Description:
HE GROANED. THIS WAS torture. Being trapped in a room with a beautiful woman was just about every man’s fantasy, but he had to remember that this was just pretend.
Allyson Smith has crushed on her boss for years, but never dared to make a move. When she finds herself without a date to her brother’s upcoming wedding, Allyson tells her family one innocent white lie: that she’s been dating her boss. Unfortunately, her boss discovers her lie, and insists on posing as her boyfriend to escort her to the wedding.
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One passionate weekend with the boss has Allyson Smith questioning everything she believes in. Falling for a wealthy playboy like Dane is against the rules, but if she’s just faking it what’s the harm?
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KAYLA REID HAS ALWAYS been into fashion and everything to do with it. Growing up wasn’t easy for her. A bigger girl trying to squeeze into the fashion world is like trying to suck an entire gelatin mold through a straw; possible, but difficult.
She found herself an open door as a designer and jumped right in. Her designs always made the models smile. The colors, the fabrics, the styles. Never once did she dream of being on the other side of the lens. She got to watch her clothing strut around on others and that was good enough.
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MEET ALEX REID, CEO of Reid Enterprise. Billionaire extra ordinaire, chiseled to perfection, panty-melter and currently single.
Learn about Alex Reid before he began Managing the Bosses. Alex Reid sits down for an interview with R&S.
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