Refusing to take any more of it, he slammed the phone down onto his desk. “What the hell is this?”
“I don’t know. Were there more messages?” she asked in a shaky voice.
He nodded grimly. “Yes. Private messages.”
She reached her hand down to take her phone, but he placed his hand over hers, enveloping it. “Don’t read those messages, Heather.” He shut his eyes briefly and then opened them again to look at her. “Call me a male chauvinist if you like, but I don’t think a woman should be reading that kind of stuff.”
“We have to get you out of here,” she said.
“What? Why?”
“You could be in danger,” she said frantically. “Companies get threats all the time, but those comments were extremely specific. They’ve got photos of you and your dad. That’s scary.”
“Most of the private messages were about my father more than anything,” he said. “I’m far more concerned about you and Dad than I am about me.” Horrifying thoughts of his father being hurt or worse crashed through his head. They had only just reunited. His father had reached out to him and this was how he was going to be repaid for his trouble. With violence. Guilt didn’t even begin to describe what he was feeling in this moment.
She gasped. “Why would they want to hurt your dad?”
“He’s just come back in my life,” Simon said. “If anyone wants to hurt me he’s probably the best person to go after, because people know he’s family. My relationship with you is still kind of a mystery, so maybe they’re going after the person who isn’t as much of a mystery.”
“We need to get you out of here,” she repeated, turning towards the office door.
His grip on her hand tightened. Right now, she was his biggest concern. Because while most of the comments had been death threats against his father, his heart had hammered with dread at the thought of stumbling across a death threat against her. “Hang on. I need to make sure you’re safe.”
“They didn’t make any threats against me,” she insisted.
“I haven’t had a personal security detail in the entire time I’ve worked at Dover,” he explained. “I’ve always shunned it because it’s just a vain annoyance, but it will be my fault if I don’t protect you now. I’d like you to take the rest of the day off.”
“Simon, I’m your media assistant and my duties include dealing with social media,” she pointed out. “I haven’t been threatened, so let me stay here and do my job. Let me stay here and assist you. The first thing I’m going to need to do is make sure your social media accounts are secure.” She tugged at the hand that was still in his grasp, but he refused to let her go. Not until she did exactly as he told her.
“I mean it, Heather.” His eyes narrowed. “This isn’t up for discussion. I’m going to send you home with a security detail and
have some security guys monitor your house until we get to the bottom of this.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” she asked. “I understand if you protect yourself and your father, but I really don’t think these crazies are after me. I’m not that important. For all we know, these are just a bunch of trolls trying to scare us.”
“You think this is some kind of prank?” he asked.
“It could be.” She bit her lip. “Honestly, in this day and age it could be anyone. Bored trolls. Some kind of anti-capitalist group. A rival company trying to rattle us.”
“Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a prank,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “You’d be surprised at the amount of time some people have on their hands. Let me go, Simon.”
“Only if you swear you’ll stay at my place for the rest of the work day.” Even if she turned down this compromise he had every intention of protecting her no matter how much she resisted. Those chilling messages didn’t sound like a prank to him at all, and he wasn’t going to rest until he knew that Heather was safe.
Her nose scrunched up in confusion. “At your place? Why?”
“If you’re not going to take the rest of the day off, then you could at least work from my apartment.” He gave her a hard stare, still holding her hand. Holding on not simply because he wanted to get his point across, but because touching her made her feel more real. The warmth of her hand reminded him that, at the moment, she was okay, and he needed to remind his body of that or he’d lose control and go insane.
“Okay,” she finally relented. “We should at least talk to Dover security before we leave for the day.”
Reluctantly, he released her small hand, hating the absence of her touch. At least she had compromised. The sooner he got Heather to the safety of his apartment, the sooner this dread was likely to dissipate.
He stood up. “We’ll talk to security, come up with a plan, and then head to my apartment. Plus, we need to contact my dad to get him up to speed on this.”
“Are you going to send security to his hotel room?” she asked.
“Honestly, I’m starting to think I should just ask him to stay in my apartment building,” he answered. “And I know you want to give Finn his space, but maybe you should both come stay in my building for the time being. The security has gotten a significant upgrade and you’d be safer with me.”