Chapter Three #4
And astonishingly, he’d thought it would be that simple.
Because for some reason he couldn’t explain, she made him reckless and stupid.
Resentment twisted his gut, but when he glanced over to where Cassie was standing, he felt his anger subside.
Bathed in the soft light of the vault, her face seemed less wary than before.
Her eyes moved between Jason and the shimmering gold of the fleece, and then a tear slid down her cheek.
He’d seen her cool and composed, vehement and off balance.
Yet here, in the presence of this ancient artefact, he felt like he was seeing Cassie for the first time.
Seeing her so open and unguarded made him want to reach out and touch her.
He felt a sudden inexplicable but profound sense of kinship because she was feeling what he was feeling.
For a moment, the shock of that undeniable truth made the room spin. His chest was tight, lungs burning.
Gently he put the vase back down on its plinth, and then he turned towards Baros and nodded.
As soon as he stepped outside the facility, Antaeus felt his mood change, the peace he’d felt in the vault dissolving in the still, warm air.
The sun felt harsher than it should have, or maybe he just felt more exposed. He had wanted that artefact for so long. Lifting it, he felt the unquantifiable relief and satisfaction of the captain of a team lifting the trophy and hearing the cheers of his supporters.
The difference was that he had no one to cheer for him.
The muscles in his jaw felt painfully tight.
For so long, work and his quest for revenge had taken centre stage, pushing everything else into the shadows.
Now, though, he had a sudden vivid flashback to his mum cheering him on from the sidelines, her face flushed with excitement.
She had come to every football match, known all his stats and been entirely partisan in her support.
After every game, she would take him out for pizza and ice cream and listen while he replayed every pass and tackle.
But then in the time it took for an SUV to T-bone her car, she was gone. And who had been punished for that crime? No one. She was dead, and his father was rotting in prison, and justice hadn’t been served.
And that’s what this hostile takeover was supposed to be. Justice.
He felt a surge of anger and self-loathing. But how could it be? How could he have ever thought that taking Cassie’s business away from her would be lex talionis—an eye for an eye?
As they reached the helicopter, he yanked open the door on the passenger side with a force that, according to Newton’s third law of motion, was necessary to counteract the ache expanding in his chest.
Mostly he left that ache well alone. And he wanted to be alone now. Only Cassie was here, hesitating, with her blond hair lifting in the light mountain breeze and her green eyes fixed on his profile.
‘Am I sitting in the front?’ She glanced round, her face stiffening. ‘Where’s the pilot?’
She was here because he had summoned her, but it was easier to blame her for the frustration and pain he was feeling than admit his part in it.
‘You’re looking at him.’
She just about managed to hide her astonishment. ‘What happened to the real pilot and your bodyguard?’
‘I had a car collect them,’ he said tersely.
He had ordered the car in advance to give himself the choice as to whether to dismiss her separately but now dismissing her was the last thing on his mind.
He waited, his hand still gripping the door.
Finally, after one last look at the empty landscape, she stepped up into the cockpit. Because what other choice did she have?
It took him three strides to reach the pilot’s side, two heartbeats to buckle up. As he started up the rotors, she turned towards him. ‘Will the car be able to drop me off at the hotel, or shall I arrange a taxi to meet me at the airport?’
‘What hotel?’
‘The hotel where I’m staying.’ There was a tension in her voice now, and he let it wash over his skin.
‘There is no hotel.’ That was a lie, but his people could sort that out. He turned towards her to watch her face as she absorbed the implication of his words.
She shook her head slowly. ‘Oh, I get it. You dragged me all the way over here to stand around and watch you buy homeware, and you thought it would be funny not to book me a hotel room. You’re a real prince among men.’
The disdain in her voice made emotions he didn’t understand swirl up inside him.
‘Be very careful, Ms Appleton. I can be a good man for so long—’
‘Good man?’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘How can you possibly think you’re a good man? You’ve done nothing but threaten and belittle and bully me since we met.’
For a few half seconds, he considered telling her that he had met her years earlier, but what difference did it make? She was his enemy. That was all he needed to remember.
‘And none of that even goes partway to compensating for your father’s self-serving behaviour. But you are going to pay, Princess.’
He stared down into her flushed, angry face. ‘You’re going to get a taste of what justice feels like,’ he said. ‘Or rather, the injustice your father meted out on mine.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You’re not going to any hotel. You’re not going back to the States. You’re coming with me to my house in Pelion. And that’s where you’ll stay until I decide you can leave.’