The Billionaire’s Hidden Heiress
Chapter 139

Grayson POV

He's alive. Oh my god, Johnathon is alive. Charlotte looks as though she's about to have a heart attack as Mr. Ferryweather is brought in and shoved to the ground, falling to his knees and looking like he'd been severely beaten. Poor Flair was still leaning into my arms, her body trembling, her face so pale. She'd already fainted and I was concerned at this rate she might again. I glanced at Grandfather and saw a grim expression on his face, but not surprised. Had he known? Or perhaps suspected that Charlotte had been up to something as nefarious as this? "What's the matter Charlotte?" Johnathon's voice was cutting "cat got your tongue?"

"I um don't know who this is," Charlotte said faintly but her tone was not convincing to anyone now. Bodyguards were surrounding her and from the looks on her face, she knew she had nowhere to go.

"You don't know who this is?" Knox drawled, stepping forward some more and regarding my half-sister sardonically, looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself "The managing director of the Deluca Company for starters?" he said in disbelief "The very company you've been fighting to get your hands on for the last few months."

"Oh" stammered Charlotte "Well yes, of course, now that you mention it..." she trailed off as Johnathon snorted at her and Mr Ferryweather stared bleakly at the ground.

"They know Charlotte," Mr. Ferryweather said miserably as she blanched "There's no use pretending. They beat it out of me," he said tightly, glaring up at Knox who looked unrepentant as well as lan.

"You've been sleeping with the managing director for over six months now, which is longer than you slept with Johnathon while he was married to our sister" lan cut in furiously as Charlotte lowered her eyes "All in the name of getting the company. Not only did you have the nerve to start the affair and continue it, but you've been using him to embezzle funds to a secret account you have in the Cayman Islands."

Charlotte looked like she was about to be sick. Mr Ferryweather was silent, looking like a man who was about to face the gallows and was about to face it gladly.

"Nothing to say Charlotte? Do you know he had the gall to use me as his lawyer for his divorce?"

That was news to Charlotte who brought her head back up to stare at Mr Ferryweather with narrowed eyes.

"Oh he asked me first," I said as Flair looked up at me shocked, a wry smile on my face "But I turned him down due to my own personal morals, so it's unsurprising he went to you," I said to Johnathon with a shrug "but you have to admit he has balls to go to the man he was cheating on with his wife."

Johnathon nodded looking pissed. The poor man looked as though he wished he could get up from the wheelchair and take a swing at Mr. Ferryweather himself. Charlotte swallowed hard.

"How could you be so stupid" she blurted out suddenly, the crowd watching, some even getting their phones out to record. "You said to get the best lawyer," he said moodily, still looking down toward the ground "I couldn't get Grayson and I thought it would be ironic to use Johnathon."

"You stupid son of a b***h" she yelled, beginning to go red in the face while Flair just watched, a look of deep disgust on her face.

Everything was beginning to fall into place. Everything. Mr. Ferryweather glared back at Charlotte, suddenly replaceing his own voice.

"I'm not the one who decided to run down my own husband because he found out he couldn't have children" he shouted back, red in the face. "We both know that baby in your belly is mine, you manipulative b***h. It's always been mine. Johnathon is infertile and you've suspected that from the beginning. I don't even know why you married him unless it's because I didn't get a divorce fast enough for your liking" he continued as Charlotte gaped at him "Everything came down to getting that f*****g company. You didn't give two hoots about me, did you?" he screamed, getting to his feet and brandishing his fists at Charlotte as she took a step back "Everything was always about you and what you wanted. Do you even care about these bruises on my face or the beating I've just taken?" No one in the crowd looked remotely sympathetic towards him. In fact there were several who looked as though they were wishing more violence towards him. Mr Ferryweather paused, as though reading the crowd and stopped in his tracks. "You've been feeding Charlotte information about the company all this time, haven't you? Wined and dined her on company money" I prompted as Knox and lan looked towards me, Johnathon too "That's what all the dinners for two were for." Mr Ferryweather looked resigned now. His shoulders were slumped, and his body looked broken. His face was filled with an expression that looked like defeat. The bodyguards next to him hadn't made a move to recapture him, but they were present, at the ready should he move too quickly or suddenly. His voice was bitter as he began to answer the question I had placed for him.

"Yes," he was quiet "dinners, all intimate. She was always asking questions about how the company was run. What suppliers we used, whether we could use cheaper ones, how we could cut corners, how we could take money from it without being caught. Whether we could sell shares without anybody realizing it or whether we could get inside information on investing in shares. I was flattered that somebody so beautiful was interested in a guy like me and I" he gave a laugh that sounded scathing "I gave her everything she wanted, everything she asked for, and more. So I guess I'm an i***t" he said holding his hands out in a gesture of surrender "The man that got taken in by a beautiful woman." "Don't play the victim" Charlotte accused "You let yourself be led by me. You had a wife, you could have said no" she snarled "You're not so hard done by. You slept with me. It wasn't as easy as just handing over the information."

"Mr Ferryweather" it was lan speaking now, his eyes glacial as he raked his gaze over the man who it had to be said, made a pitiful sight "I think it stands to reason that you are from here on out terminated from the Deluca Company effective immediately." Mr Grant and John were nodding in agreement. "They will be pursuing criminal charges against you for fraud and for selling company secrets not to mention the embezzlement" he continued as Mr Ferryweather hung his head "and you will be doing jail time for what you have done. The Grants and Deluca's do not tolerate betrayal lightly" he added coolly.

No kidding. The man resembled a punching bag. Mr Ferryweather's facial expression took on a look of utter desperation. He looked wildly at the crowd who had the good sense to move away from him. The bodyguards tensed. He moved, trying to run and they took him down with severe force, tackling him to the ground as lan and Knox shook their heads unsurprised by his actions.

"That was a stupid move" lan advised him with a shrug.

Mr Ferryweather spat towards them and was promptly hit on the head by the bodyguard. He slumped and gave a loud moan of pain. Charlotte was shaking in her boots.

"I'm infertile," Johnathon said quietly and all eyes turned to him.

Flair looked at her ex-husband sympathetically. "I'm sorry Johnathon" she whispered, and he glanced at her, shaking his head gently.

"If anybody should be sorry, it's me," he told her softly as I held her "I put you through hell Flair and I blamed you for everything. I suspected that the baby Charlotte was carrying wasn't mine" he added sadly as Charlotte tightened her lips "it was why I was at Dr Fadden's Clinic that day. Of course, you took the call that requested I attend an earlier appointment" he exhaled. "I'm still pregnant," Charlotte said as though that would save her.

"So fat that's been the only thing that's stopped us from attacking you like we attacked your friend Mr Ferryweather," Knox said quietly "along with the fact that we generally abhor violence against women except in your case we were willing to make an exception." She put a protective hand on her stomach and turned towards her Grandfather who was studying her with open disappointment. "Grandfather I"

"You have disgraced the Deluca name" he hissed, the veins practically bulging out of his forehead as he regarded his granddaughter, his eyes so cold they were like an iceberg as she recoiled "How could you have sunk so low? What upbringing did we give you for you to fall so far from grace?" he spat.

"You mustn't blame yourself, John, you have always done your best with your grandchildren," Mr Grant said kindly, putting a hand on Grandfather's shoulder as he regarded him with empathy "Sometimes there is no helping people."

My Grandfather looked old and haggard. He wiped his forehead with a trembling hand. Flair looked concerned. "Grandfather perhaps you should sit down," she said anxiously, dragging me over to him as I grabbed him a seat and forcibly shoved him down onto it. For the first time since I could remember he didn't protest and allowed me to help him.

"Are you going to tell them what else you're responsible for or shall we do it?" Knox asked casually as Charlotte looked at him, her expression so fearful it looked as though she might faint on the spot. Knox looked at her so viciously that even I was taken aback. In all the time I had known him, he had always seemed such an easy-going and laid-back guy, but this time, he looked ready to tear Charlotte from limb to limb. She had done something besides go after the Deluca Company. She had done something to personally offend him. What was it? What had she done to cause this look on Knox's face?