My sanity returned as if it were a bucket of cold water being chucked over my head. 

A cold shock to the system that trickled down from head to toe and slowed my breathing from a heavy pant to a more even pace. 

I unclenched my fists and stopped envisioning myself ripping into Alex’s throat with my teeth. 

That wasn’t a helpful mental image, and it was only going to make everything that came next much harder to manage. 

“Parker!” Alex exclaimed, he masked his surprise and his fear well, “You actually showed up! Have you any idea how worried all of us have been about you? We thought you’d died!” 

There was a way he said the word died as if it were something that he’d truly been expecting. That left no doubt in my mind that he was the one who had ordered the hit on me that fateful night outside the club. 

“Well, if there have been any I can truly say that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated and we can put this whole nasty business behind us,” I said with an easy smile. 

I didn’t expect the move to work as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but the play was at least worthwhile. 

If I could show that I was strong, healthy and perhaps didn’t even feel as if I’d done anything wrong then there was a chance that those who’d had the backbone to try and challenge me for my position in the company would simply lose their nerve. 

A quick glance across the board members' stern faces told me that likely wasn’t going to be the case. 

As if it were going to be that easy, nothing had ever been that easy, not once. 

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy now that the process has begun,” Alex said, he even had the gall to sound regretful, “We’re going to have to see this meeting through to the end now that it’s begun. The Board will get the final say.” 

My life was in the hands of seven stuffy old white men. 

I’d never liked any of the board members we’d ended up with. They were investors with more money than sense that had been necessary to get the business off the ground in the early days. 

They didn’t understand what the company needed, they didn’t understand how any of the technology worked, and they had ideas for controlling me?

“In your absence, a great deal of misfortune has occurred, Mr Parker,” The head member of the board said, his accent was typically old Etonian and grated against my ears. 

The head of the board was probably the worst of the lot if I was honest with myself. 

He was a man who had previously been involved in managing and running a series of media outlets across the world but had eventually retired, leaving his vast empire to his son. 

The world had probably hoped that the man would sink into irrelevancy, and spend his twilight years away from meddling. Instead, he’d been the biggest investor in the company, and his word tended to hold just as much weight as my own and in this case likely even more. 

“Investors meetings, collaboration requests, untold opportunities squandered because you could not be bothered to show up to them after the launch of your flagship device, and then you have the audacity to come here today and say the nasty business can be put behind us?” The old goat continued, “I’m afraid, Mr Parker, that the nasty business is only just beginning.” 

Once again I had to force the images my anger was trying to make a reality out of my head. 

I wanted nothing more than to take my enhanced strength, rip off his head, and throw the thing out the nearest window, but that wouldn’t help anyone’s situation. 

“Yes, well, I was indisposed at the time,” I said, “I was incredibly unwell due to an injury sustained shortly after the launch of our flagship mobile phone, to the degree that I was unable to even call the office.” 

The board members glanced at one another and I could tell that they weren’t buying what I was selling. 

“Too sick to even respond to the texts I sent you?” Alex asked, the slimy bastard. His face was a picture of concern and friendship, but he would only have asked that question if he were trying to needle me into making some kind of mistake. 

“Indeed,” I replied, “Under my doctor’s orders I was bedbound and unable to interact with any screens, holotech included.” 

“And yet,” The head of the board cut me off, “You have somehow found the time to acquire a new piece of arm candy, and were brazen enough to even bring her along to this meeting. Didn’t you realise how that would play with your half-baked scheme? Not to mention you’ve turned up at the tail end of this meeting, you couldn’t even be bothered to arrive on time today!”

My blood bubbled and boiled underneath my skin. 

I’d arrived just past the time that Alex had left in the messages he had sent to me by text. But there was no use bringing that up, I’d sound like a petulant child, and if I knew Alex Wood he would no doubt have covered those tracks somehow. 

“In that case, as the chair of this meeting, I suggest that we move forward with a vote,” Alex said, “All in favour of ousting Richard Parker as the CEO of this company, please raise your hand.” 

To survive I needed four votes, unfortunately for me, five hands crept their way into the air and the two that abstained still couldn’t even look me in the eye. 

I clenched my fists hard enough for my nails to stab through my skin. It was just enough to keep me sane. 

“You’ll pay for this,” I growled, “Each and every one of you cowardly bastards, you’ll pay for this and I’ll bloody make sure of it.”