“Don’t argue,” she hissed, throwing his words back at him. “I need to say goodbye to my parents. Then I’ll join you.”
“I’m not leaving you here,” he said firmly.
The pounding got louder.
“Fine. Wait here until I get back.” She raced into the kitchen and found her parents surrounding Finn, trying to comfort him.
“Heather, is that the police?” her mother asked, wide-eyed.
She nodded. “It is. I have to leave. I can’t tell you much more than that, but I’m trying to clear my name.”
“We can keep the police busy while you make a run for it,” her father said grimly. “We’ll look after Finn.”
She blinked back tears as she rushed up to her son and pulled him into her arms. “Mommy is going to be back soon, okay?”
Finn gripped her tightly. “Don’t go!”
Her son’s anguished wails knifed through her heart. She didn’t know how she found the strength to let him go and pull away from him, but she did. “I love you, Finn.”
As tears threatened to fall, she raced out of the kitchen and back into the living room.
She didn’t have time to get her bearings as Simon immediately reached for her hand, and together they rushed towards the back door. They slipped out together and started ducking behind nearby houses, trying to outrun the police.
“Now we have no access to a car,” she said.
“Can we catch a bus from here?” he asked.
“Yes.” She nodded and motioned for him to follow her. She altered directions slightly and raced towards a nearby bus stop.
They got to Dover headquarters less than an hour later and used the private elevator to head up to Simon’s office. When they stepped inside he locked the door behind him.
She slumped into one of the chairs, fighting desperately to keep it together. Simon had confessed his love to her and the cops had showed up on her doorstep all in one day. After he had confessed, she had invited him to dinner. Heather hadn’t been sure how she was going to handle Finn officially meeting Simon, but she had wanted the chance to try. Wanted the chance to gather her courage over dinner to tell Simon how she really felt about him. But that all seemed like something in the distant past, now that she was hiding from the police.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“We figure out who the real hacker is,” Simon responded. “Get proof and hand it over to the cops.”
“Do you think that will be enough?” she asked.
He reached inside his jacket pocket to retrieve his phone. “I’ve been texting my lawyer. He seems to think so. One of the other lawyers at his firm is willing to take you on as a client. I know you don’t want my help, but I won’t let the police take you away from me. Don’t ask me to do that.”
“I can’t afford a lawyer like that—”
“Too bad,” he said. “I’m paying the lawyer. Whether you actually decide to use the lawyer’s services is entirely up to you.”
“A lawyer like that is too expensive.”
“It’s my money,” he said. “I’ll spend it however I damn well want. Maybe if you stopped being so stubborn you’d acknowledge that everyone needs help sometimes. Even you.”
She swallowed hard. “Fine. I’ll listen to this fancy lawyer. You can give him my cell number.”
“Good.” Simon sent off a quick text. “In the meantime, we need to find concrete evidence that clears your name.”
“Honestly, the best person to ask for help is Drew Cooper. But it’s after hours now,” she said. “At this hour Dover is mostly empty.”
“I’m going to call him.” He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear. “May I please speak to Drew Cooper?”
As she listened to Simon bring Drew up to speed on what was going on, she was far too exhausted to argue with Simon as he intervened to help her.
Simon hung up and headed over to his desk to turn his desktop on. “Drew has an idea for how to track the real culprit.”
“How?”
“We figure out which credit card was used to take funds out of the executive account. If we find the credit card that paid off the electricians, we’ll find the hacker.”