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“Cameron,” Apollo said, sounding weary. “At one time you considered me a friend.”
“And I still do. As much as I have friends.”
“I have not seen you face-to-face in nearly ten years.”
“No oneneedsto see anyone face-to face, not these days.”
“Sadly for you, they do. They need to see you.” Apollo sighed heavily. As if he was resigned, when he made every rule that he lived by and had no reason to be resigned to anything. “I’m giving you an ultimatum. Either you do this, or I will engage in a hostile takeover of the company.”
Cameron’s lip curled. “You bastard. You just said that the company would be worthless if I didn’t engage in this launch, then what good will it be to you?”
“I will have to galvanize you, perhaps. And don’t think I won’t do it. Do not think I won’t cut off my nose to spite your face, Cameron McKenzie, because we have known each other too long for you to think that I will swerve when I have given my word.”
He growled. He knew that Apollo wasn’t lying. He knew that he would do exactly as he said.
“I will not be forced.”
“You will be whatever you need to be. The time for licking your wounds has ended. They are scars. They will not heal, deal with it.”
“You say that now, but when I stand before a room and investors looking as I do, you will perhaps change your tune. Lights.”
He treated his friend to the full effect of his face, for the first time in a decade.
And he was satisfied to see Apollo react.
Satisfied enough to smile. Which he knew only made him look all the more fearsome.
“Don’t tell me it isn’t that bad,” he said. “We both know that for a lie.”
“Cameron...”
“What?”
Apollo looked...thoughtful rather than horrified. “I think it will be effective. To have you show your face.”
“Why?” His smile became a sneer. “Do you suppose we might engender the pity of the investors?”
“I do not think that. I think perhaps they will appreciate your strength.” Did his friend pity him too? That was unbearable.
“Mystrength,” he bit out. “My strength in overcoming an accident that I caused? An accident that killed an innocent woman?”
“The facts are the facts. We cannot change them. But we can spin them. You’re supposed to be a genius. In technology, in business. In people, once upon a time. Create a story for yourself. Or I will make the company mine.”
And with that, Apollo ended the call. Cameron dimmed the lights. He did not like sitting in full brightness. It made him feel exposed.
He thought of Athena yet again.
His prisoner. His beautiful jewel.
It was not even unprecedented for him to take living things from the grounds.
He had tamed a stag who now visited him in the gardens and took apples from him.
There was a horse who had wandered onto the property, looking emaciated and dull, and he had claimed him. The only time he went out was to ride Aslan across the moors. The black stallion was now beautiful and glossy and foul of temper.
He was the only thing Cameron loved.
His life was very different now than it had been a decade ago. It was easy for Apollo to talk as if there was a life he could step back into. Apollo did not understand.
