Jayden swallowed tightly. "After I called and asked you to meet me here, one of my co-workers showed up. I tried to call you to tell you not to come, but you weren't answering your phone."
"The battery died," Wilson explained.
"Well, when you didn't answer your phone, I asked Joey if he could head you off before you came inside. As I was explaining why I needed his help, Ricky overheard me." Jayden drew in a shaky breath. "Please believe me, I tried to squash the story, but now that Ricky has it, it's going to be splashed all over the front page."
"What story?" Wilson asked, although he was pretty sure he already knew.
"About your son," Jayden whispered.
"Damn it!" Wilson jumped to his feet as anger at Jayden and fear for Will swept through him in equal degrees. "Do you know what you've done?"
Jayden winced. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Wilson shouted. "You haven't just destroyed my life. You've destroyed my son's life. Sorry doesn't cover it."
"I know."
"Fuck!" Wilson started pacing. His mind was a jumble of thoughts and worries and trying to figure out a way to save Will. He couldn't come up with a single idea. "Fuck!" he shouted again before sinking into his seat again. "This is going to destroy Will."
Jayden glanced away but not before Wilson saw a tear trickle down his cheek. He wanted to feel sorry for the man, but he'd instigated the media explosion that was going to take Wilson's son away from him.
Someone knocked on the door, and then Joey walked in with a glass in his hand. He handed it to Wilson. "Harvey said you could use his office as long as you need it. If you need anything else, just let me know."
"Do you know Hector and Will?" Wilson asked.
Joey nodded. "Hector is our bouncer."
"Hector's your bouncer?" He didn't remember that being in the report the FBI had given him. He really needed to talk to whoever made that report. A crap ton of stuff was missing.
Joey nodded again.
"I need to get in touch with him, but my cell phone died. Do you have his number and a phone I can use?" He needed to warn them before reporters descended. If there was anyone in their basement, they needed to get out of there before that happened.
Joey pulled his cell phone out of his pocket then slid his finger across the screen before holding it out to Wilson. It was already ringing when Wilson took it and held it up to his ear.
"Hey, Joey, what's up?" Hector asked when he answered.
"This is Wilson. They found out about Will."
"Joder!" the man shouted.
"I don't know what that word means, but I can guess, and you're right. This is fucked. You and Will might want to clean house before anyone comes snooping around. I figure you have about twenty-four hours before things hit the fan."
"Less than that," Jayden said. "Ricky is headed right for Marv, which should take about two hours. Once he tells Marv, you have just long enough for them to find some evidence to back up what Ricky tells him and then it will be all over the front page. You probably have until tomorrow morning."
Okay, twelve hours, give or take.
"Did you hear that, Hector?" he asked.
"Yeah, I heard," Hector said. "Luckily, it's just me and Will here right now."
"It might need to stay that way until we can get the reporters off of you." Wilson glared at Jayden. "Reporters tend to go where the big stories are. Once this one runs its course, they'll move on."
"Let's hope," Hector replied. "Hey, look, I need to go let Will know what's going on. Can you put Joey on the phone? I'm going to ask him for the night off. I don't want to leave Will here by himself if things are going to go to shit."
"I'm sorry about this, Hector." He prayed Will would still want to get to know him and spend time with him after this.
"Well," Hector said, "we all knew it was going to happen at some point. I was just hoping we'd have a little more time."
