Chapter 26
“Dad! I figured out the Excel glitch. The spreadsheets are working fine now.” Simon rose from the desk when his dad entered the office. He wasn’t alone, though. A man dressed in a business suit similar to Dad’s, with short dark hair and a nice beard, followed.
“And this is my son, Simon,” Dad gestured at him. “Quite the genius, if you can’t tell.”
“Dad,” Simon drawled, feeling himself blush. It was a simple glitch to resolve.
“Simon. Pleased to meet you.” The man offered him a hand. “Dean Everett. I’m your dad’s old friend from college. Just came back to the country.”
Simon vigorously shook his hand. He liked how Everett treated him—like he was greeting an adult, equal in standing, not a child, even though Simon was only thirteen.
“Now, we have some things to discuss,” Dad said to Simon, with the tone indicating he should go and do more age-appropriate things.
“Let him stay if he wants to,” Everett said, his dark eyes glinting at Simon. “Maybe one day he’ll be a businessman.”
***
From the shadows behind the curtain backstage, Simon watched the man he used to trust the most doing his best to snatch his company from him.
Everett didn’t have the charisma of a born presenter, but he performed admirably. At least he cited all the facts correctly, unlike that one guy who made Simon go up on the stage all those years ago. And more importantly, he exuded confidence.
But was it confidence in the product, or in the certainty of him becoming the next CEO of Aries?
For an hour, Simon stood there, eyes glued to Everett.
The tingling in his legs from standing in the same position for so long was half-forgotten in a distant corner of his mind, because all he could do was take in Everett’s words—the promises of a fantastic new series of phones, but also some teasing about Aries’s rebranding—and wonder why.
Why would Everett do this?
Stan stood further behind Simon, looming in the shadows.
He was ready to try to sort out the mess that would inevitably follow when Simon confronted Everett on stage, but as the minutes ticked by and the presentation drew to a close, Simon couldn’t bring himself to move.
He couldn’t confront Everett on stage, in front of several hundred people and multiple cameras who, while not expecting or knowing it, would surely be eager for some drama.
And the problem wasn’t him being afraid.
“And this is it for tonight, folks.” Everett clapped his hands. “Thanks for joining me …”
“Mr. Simon.” Stan nudged his head to the stage, urging Simon to go on before the presentation ended.
But his feet wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t see an enemy, to be mercilessly brought down and torn apart by him, the reporters, whoever else would follow.
He saw a friend of his dad’s. His friend.
The man who brought a bottle of champagne to celebrate the first day in Aries’s quarters.
The man who debated him into late nights filled with whiskey, laughter, and speculations about stocks.
The man who stood by him at his parents’ funeral.
The man who supported him at every step.
Everett walked off the stage at the other end.
At last, Simon’s brain urged him into action, and he hurried down the hallway, turning to the right to meet Everett coming from the other side.
Everett entered a room; Simon followed and closed the door after him.
It was a waiting room, or perhaps a dressing room, based on the table with a mirror and the bright lights.
“About the meeting tomorrow—” Everett started, then paled as he turned around. “Simon.”
“Everett.”
Everett clutched his simple gray tie. “You’re here.”
Simon couldn’t tell if he was surprised, or shocked, or angry, or … scared. “Nice presentation,” he said. “Loved the joke about the microchips. People always like it when you pepper in some humor, don’t they?”
“I—I don’t understand,” Everett stammered.
“You don’t understand?”
“How are you here? You’re supposed to be—”
“Dead?” Simon snorted. “I’m disappointed. Of all the people, I’d have expected you to recognize a dead body as me. Or rather, know it’s not me.”
Everett ran a hand over his smooth head. “Shit.”
“You don’t say.”
Everett sat down on the plush chair by the table, hiding his face in his hand. “I assume you have the police waiting outside. I’m surprised you didn’t try something flashier. Get me on stage, for example.”
Simon walked up and kneeled next to him. “I just want to know why.”
“Why?”
“Why did you suddenly decide you want me dead? For Aries? You—you had shares, you had a good position! If you wanted to lead a company, there’s plenty that would have you! And you never expressed the desire, anyway—”
“I did it for Aries.” Everett leaned in, nearly spitting. “Because you were going stark crazy!”
“What?”
“You were insane! Rambling about death coming for you and you dying before and shit like that. So it finally started to make sense—why you’d been strange since the accident.
Why you didn’t care about the company as much as you used to.
But I did. I care!” Everett stood up, clenching his fists.
“You’re no longer the best thing for Aries, Simon.
That’s why I had to do it. Because if you didn’t see it, I did. ”
Simon shook his head. “You don’t understand. You’ve got it all wrong. It wasn’t me!”
“See!” Everett pointed at him. “You’re still doing it! What kind of crazy story did you come up with now? That you have a split personality?”
“Even if I was acting strangely, that doesn’t give you an excuse to try to murder me!”
Everett sighed. “I didn’t intend to. But with the scandal with Dr. Guidry, and you having gone missing at the same time, it all got out of hand.”
Simon breathed a few times, not that it did much to calm him down. “How? How do you get from messing up one contract to trying to kill your friend?”
“The reporters had me by the neck with that scandal, and you weren’t there.
I figured if I acted clueless, it might look like it was your fault, and when it turned out your brain wasn’t quite right, we’d say that was the culprit.
That you’d gone off the rails a bit, but it’s fine, because we’d fix you.
And then you went missing. You never called.
I asked that woman, that damned Dr. Guidry, because you left with her, but she was mumbling something about you being gone. And I …”
Everett rubbed his face, shaking his head at the same time.
“I don’t know why I did it. Why I said you died.
Logical conclusion meets needed conclusion, I suppose.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, it worked.
A dead you would be the perfect scapegoat for the scandal.
I took credit for fixing that funding contract, but if any other accusations surfaced, I could simply say it was you.
And everyone only thinks the best of the dead, so nobody would fault Aries … ” His voice hitched up.
“All for Aries,” Simon’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Wouldn’t you do the same?”
“No!” Simon spread his arms. “No, I wouldn’t try to kill my friend to save myself from a minor scandal!”
Everett gazed at him, mouth half open in shock. “You’re not yourself anymore.”
He wasn’t the impostor, no—that’s what Everett was alluding to. But he had changed as well. Aries was his baby, but in the end, it was just a company. It didn’t have a heart to break, feelings to give back. Simon would do almost anything in his power for it—but to kill? That was absurd.
“I might have changed,” Simon said. “But the only one who’s hurting Aries is you.”
Everett raised his chin. “So, that’s it, then. Do you want to bring me out in front of the cameras? Should I get my criminal look ready?” He extended his arms, holding his hands together in imitation of being cuffed.
“Everett, don’t do this.”
“Oh, quit it with the—”
The door nearly flew off its hinges as a vortex of bright pinks and greens swept into the room, accompanied by loud barking.
A young woman with long blond hair, with the most ridiculous combination of a shirt with a flower pattern and a skirt in an entirely different, clashing flower pattern, barely stopped before she collided with Simon.
A golden retriever jumped next to her, panting as its head whipped between Simon and Everett.
“Don’t do it,” the woman said. “Don’t arrest him yet. I need him.”
***
“He’s the Witch’s Heart.” Shanna spread out her arms, one toward Simon, one toward Everett, as if she could prevent them from going at each other. If that’s what they were about to do—she wasn’t sure, since Stan could only tell her that Simon had gone after Everett.
“I’m a what?” Everett blinked, drawing his head back. “Excuse me, who the hell are you?”
“Let me talk to him first,” Shanna said to Simon.
He stared at her as in a half-trance, eyes narrowing. The nerves in her stomach consolidated into a solid ball.
He’d forgotten her.
“What’s going on?” Everett addressed Simon instead.
“I’ve no idea,” Simon twitched, as if something in his eyes bothered him, but then still said, “Miss, please remove yourself. This is a serious matter—”
“My matter is serious!” As much as her heart sank—she knew it, she knew this would happen—it also refused to give up.
She was so close to breaking this damn curse; if not for her, then for Gran.
For Mom. For somebody else down the line.
As Simon made a move toward Everett, she stepped in front of him and put her hands on his chest. “I’m dealing with him first.”
Simon opened his mouth, then stopped. He tilted his head as if finding her curious. “Forest princess,” he mumbled.
“What?” she whispered.
“Water nymph.”
“In case you’re not aware, miss, this man is not right in the head,” Everett objected from the side.
Simon waved at him to shush. “Shanna,” he breathed out.
She scanned his eyes—that beautiful, deep, glittering blue. “Yes.” Her voice bubbled out in a laugh. “I’m Shanna.”