Inside sources theorize Stephani was paid off by Aiden Hayes' overprotective father, Gerald Hayes to keep her from gold-digging. As Hayes Sr. has several embarrassing and expensive sexual liaisons recently come to light, it would only make sense that he would try and protect his sons' from the same thing.
There is also speculation that Hayes Sr. may have blackballed the secretary in retaliation for Aiden and his brother edging their father out of the company. Sources close to the Hayes state that Gerald is not appreciative of his forced retirement by his sons.
Others simply suggest that Zaptos was simply just another one of Aiden's flavor of the week liaisons. All we here at Tabloid 34 know is that Aiden Hayes, billionaire playboy, is back on the market.
––––––––
I stared at the pictures, barely recognizing the man in them. They all looked like the Aiden I had fallen in love with, but I couldn't believe them. I couldn't believe him. The more I looked at the pictures, the more I realized I had no idea who Aiden really was.
Three days was not enough to know someone, and certainly not enough to fall in love. The realization hit me hard enough to make me gasp.
Told you so, my brain told my heart. I didn't want to believe it, but the proof that I didn't actually know Aiden was staring me in the face. He was too perfect to have been real. He had played me.
“I could be a very different person than the one you think you know. How do you know that I'm not a terrible person?” Aiden's words echoed in my head.
He was right. I didn't know him. I didn't know him at all, yet I had just told him that I loved him.
No wonder he hadn't come after me.
Even as I looked at the pictures of him with other women, I wanted to excuse him. I wanted the man I met on the island to be the real one. We had been so happy. He had invited me to his brother's wedding. But, it had all been a lie.
I scrubbed my face with my hands. I couldn't believe I was such a gullible idiot. I didn't deserve to get into Harvard. I didn't deserve to get into a community college intro to law course. Aiden Hayes had duped me completely and in more ways than one.
I slammed my laptop shut, wanting to make the images disappear from my mind just as easily. I didn't know him. I needed to forget about him like he was going to forget about me. I didn't look like the supermodels in those pictures, and there was no logical explanation why he would ever chose me over one of them. He didn't love me. He never had.
I was a fling. A way to stay entertained during a business meeting.
Kathryn hung up the phone and let out a huge sigh of frustration. “Sorry to interrupt your lunch with Mr. Hayes,” she apologized, leaning back in her seat and rubbing her temples.
“Don't worry about it,” I mumbled, putting my laptop back in its station and staring out the window.
Kathryn frowned and stopped rubbing her head to look at me. “You okay?”
I shook my head no, knowing that despite my best efforts to keep my emotions locked up, they have to be written across my face. I knew if I said his name, I'd lose it and I wasn't ready to cry in front of Kathryn. I wasn't ready to cry at all.
“No, but I don't want to talk about it.” I took a shaky breath and wiped my hands across my cheeks to catch any tears that might have escaped. “Tell me more about the Dallas Disaster. Where are we going now and what do you need me to do?”
Kathryn evaluated me for a moment, and then nodded slowly. “Okay.” She leaned back into her chair again as the engine started to rumble. “We are flying aback to Chicago to do damage control.”
“What about Smith?” I asked, sitting up straight. “You said he had a heart attack—is he...?”
“Elijah's going to be fine. He just got out of surgery. He had a double bypass and is expected to make a full recovery.” She smiled at the good news and then sighed. “But there's no way he's going to be able to do this case.”
“I'm glad he's okay.” Even though the man had given my spot at the trial to Alexa, I wanted him to be all right. He was still an amazing lawyer. “Who will be taking over for him?”
“Derek Johnson. He's just getting to Houston now.” Kathryn raised her voice to be heard over the whine of the engines as they powered up for takeoff.
“Why wasn't Derek second chair in the first place? He's the one Smith's been grooming to take over all his criminal defense cases when he retires anyway.” It felt good to focus my brain on something other than Aiden. Work was something I understood.
“He was. His flight in last night was delayed.” Kathryn ran her fingers through her hair and looked up at the ceiling as the plane fought gravity. “It's chaos and I'm still sorting out the details.”
“You said the judge wasn't informed. Who was second chair until Derek arrived and why didn't they call anybody?” I asked. I couldn't think of anyone that stupid at our firm.
“Calvin was second chair,” Kathryn answered. I guess I did know someone that stupid. “What I'm hearing is that Calvin waited to inform everyone because he tried to convince the client to let him make the opening statements.”
“What!?” I nearly fell out of my seat in surprise, even with the seat belt on.
“Luckily, the client has watched an episode of “Law and Order” in his lifetime and realized that was a bad idea.” Kathryn sounded completely exasperated. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose like she was getting a headache. Given the mess that was going on with her firm, I would have been surprised if she didn't have one. “He refused, figuring that his lawyer having a heart attack was a good reason to delay a trial. This whole thing could have been much, much worse. But, the paperwork and publicity surrounding this thing is still a nightmare.”
“Calvin's not a bad lawyer, but I can't believe he would do something like that,” I said shaking my head in disbelief.
“He saw an opportunity to be in the limelight,” Kathryn explained with a shrug. “It's not often a low-level lawyer is presented with an opportunity to be on center stage. If he had pulled it off, he would have been offered partner at a dozen firms. Opportunity does things to people.”
“More likely Alexa saw the opportunity.” I almost felt sorry for Calvin. “Is he going to be fired?”
“Probably. We have to make sure that's what actually happened, and we can't do that until Smith wakes up from his surgery.” She shrugged without pity. Calvin had put the reputation of her firm on the line.
“Wow,” I mouthed. This was a disaster. “What do you need me to do?”