Everett opened his mouth to shout a retort, but the board room doors swung open and uniformed police officers muscled their way inside. Suddenly the board room was utter chaos as board members scrambled out of their seats, no doubt trying to get as far away from the police as possible.
Panic flashing in his eyes, Everett jumped back. “They’re not here for me, are they?”
Two uniformed officers approached Everett. The taller cop grabbed Everett by the shoulders.
“Everett Eastman?” the cop said. “You’re under arrest.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Everett demanded. “You don’t have any proof.”
Linda appeared, holding up her cell phone. “I recorded your entire outburst.”
“No.” Everett struggled against the police officer as he slapped handcuffs on him. “Do you know who I am? How dare you! Unhand me!”
“We’ll be taking that recording,” another officer said, reaching for Linda’s phone. “Not that we need it since we found all the proof that we need at Mr. Eastman’s house earlier this morning.”
“I’m innocent,” Everett said. “Arrest Heather. Or Simon. They’re guilty.”
“A likely story,” the officer who had cuffed him said. “We’ve got proof that you tried to frame Heather Hall. That will be added to your list of charges.”
“So, you’re not here to take me away?” Heather asked in a small voice.
“Of course not,” the cop muttered. “You’re Heather Hall, correct? Well, you’re no longer a suspect. We’ve been tracking this hacker for months. Thanks to Mr. Diesel, we now know who it is and we’ve got all the proof that we need.”
The police officers started to drag Everett away as he struggled and shouted threats at them.
“I’m going to sue your entire police department,” Everett raged. “You have no right to do this to me!”
Even when Everett had been hauled off by the police they could still hear his muffled shouts and threats echoing outside. Finally, the noise died down and the board members all started speaking at once, their shock evident.
“It’s over,” Heather forced out. “It’s actually over.”
Relief swept over him and he pulled her into his arms. He held on to her so tightly it felt like he would never let go of her. The woman he loved. She was safe. She was free. Maybe all their problems hadn’t been solved, but at least now she had cleared her name.
Then a thought made him pull away from her. Simon had told her the truth about his feelings. For the first time in his life he had opened up to another person. What if that backfired? What if she threw his feelings back in his face? After the awful way he had treated her, he wasn’t even sure he deserved her love.
He took a deep breath. “About what I said when I came to your house yesterday evening—”
“Simon, I love you, too.”
“You do?” His heart swelled at her words. It hadn’t backfired. He hadn’t chased her away at all. He cupped her face between his hands and looked into her eyes. Those hazel eyes that were now brimming with tears. Happy tears. She did love him. Of course, she did. “You do.”
“I love you,” she said softly. “I always have.”
Happiness didn’t even begin to describe how he felt in this moment.
There was only one thing left to do. Taking her hand in his he turned to face the board, giving them the signal to quiet down. When they stopped talking he leveled his shoulders, straightening up to his full height. “I have an announcement.” He paused for emphasis. “Effective immediately, I’m resigning from my position as the CEO of Dover.”
THE END