Chapter 4

Helen let out a small yawn as she fumbled with the keys to her apartment. What a day! She hadn't worked so hard since she met Hector. The lock slide open smoothly under the guide of her key and she pushed open the wooden door. The room was already dark and the only light provided was that from the windows which casted a dim bluish glow to her white decor. She closed the door behind her and reached for the light.

"I wouldn't turn on the light if I were you," a voice materialized from amidst the dark.

For the first time since she came in, Helen realized that there was someone sitting on her couch, watching her, waiting for her. She smiled though she wasn't sure if he could see and walked over to him.

"Hello, Hector," she murmured as she sat down on his lap. She kissed him. "Miss me?"

"Of course."

"Then who were you having lunch with today?" she demanded.

A look of confusion crossed Hector's face. "Lunch? I didn't have lunch today…"

"Liar! I saw you at Meringo's."

Hector smiled. "Oh, right, I forgot. I was going to have lunch with Achilles but then I had to go. You're jealous of Achilles now? I'll confess," he said with a grin, "my relationship with Achilles is completely platonic."

"Hector!"

Hector chuckled heartily. "What?"

"I'm talking about that woman you were with!" Helen pouted, biting the inside of her lip. She didn't find the situation as amusing as he did. He was trying to avoid the question, she could tell.

Again a look of confusion passed Hector's face.

"Don't give me that look, she was sitting right in front of you! Brown, curly hair, blue dress…"

"Are you talking about Bri? Oh, honey. Briseis is my sister. I thought I told you, my brother Paris and my sister Briseisare in L.A. to visit."

"You never tell me anything!"

"I forgot. I've been busy."

"But didn't I already help?"

"I don't know," Hector replied. "Did you?"

"I talked to Menelaus today. He didn't suspect a thing."

Hector smiled. "Good girl."

"Am I a good actress or what?"

Hector nodded as he buried his face in her neck.

"So would you give me an acting job?"

"Go get one from Menelaus," he murmured, pushing her hair back to reveal more of her marble white neck.

Helen giggled. "I already did."

---

Menelaus was still thinking about the beautiful young woman that he had met that morning as he drove home from a movie premiere. Menelaus hated movie premieres, it was just another reason to get together and drink. Hell, more than half the people at premieres aren't even in the movie! It was a joke. Worst of all, he was the one who was paying for it.

He had awoken that morning with a dreadful feeling, the one he gets every time a movie premiere rolled around. Another reason to smile, he thought sarcastically that morning as he shaved. He looked in the mirror and smiled. With the shaving cream on his face, he could almost pass for Santa Claus, the only difference being that he had a trim body, thanks to his personal trainer, and hard eyes that never betrayed his emotions.

Menelaus was a ruthless business man who doesn't know the meaning of compassion. Love is for the weak, and he himself was a living example of his own motto. That didn't mean that Menelaus didn't like women. He had a different beautiful wanna-be actress on his arm every week. Hollywood was never in short supply of them.

But that morning, something amazing and very different had happened. He had arrived at his office for his secretary to tell him that there was a woman waiting for him. Menelaus was not pleased. The first hour of each morning was reserved for himself to gather his thought and take control of the approaching day.

"Who is it?" Menelaus had demanded gruffly to his secretary Peter.

"She wouldn't say. Only that she had something very important to discuss with you."

"Did she look important?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but she's gorgeous."

Menelaus glared at him. "Peter?"

"Yes?"

"Next time, use your head instead of your dick to think, okay?"

Peter flushed and nodded, his gaze fixed on the ground.

"Send her in. I'll see her. Tell her she has one minute. I'm a busy man."

Little did Menelaus know, that minute would change his life forever.

There was a soft rap on his office door and before he could answer a beautiful woman walked in. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had brilliant blue eyes that peered out from her exquisite face, a sensual pink rosebud of a mouth and a nose that was nothing short of perfect. Golden curls were gathered loosely behind her head and cascaded down her slender neck. Though she wore fade, tight blue jeans and pointed-toed black leather boots, her loose white top that fell like sheer satin around her gave her the look of a Greek goddess. Menelaus had met many beautiful women in the thirsty six years of his life, but he had never met one that had such a reaction on him.

He felt his knees grow weak and he was glad that he had already settled down into his leather chair behind his desk. His hands began to shake involuntarily and he immediately clasped them tightly together in hope of diminishing that sign of weakness.

"I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning, I know that you just got to work. I've been waiting for you for two hours now because I wasn't sure when you would come in," she said softly. Her voice was sweet and melodious as the songs of the muses.

"Who are you?" Menelaus asked, his voice choked at the back of his throat.

She blushed, her face rouged without the help of powder. "Oh, here I am babbling on, and I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Helen…"

"Take a seat. How can I help you today, Helen?"

"Well, this is kind of tricky and I wouldn't have wanted to get you involved but I really have no other choice." She hesitated as though unsure whether to proceed or not. "Do you know Hector from Troy Studio?"

Menelaus tensed. There were many studios in town, but the only one that made Menelaus nervous was Troy. Sparta Studio was a conglomerate of several other studios. Together they were bigger and made more money than Troy, but Sparta only was nothing compared to Troy. That was the only reason why Menelaus had agreed to become affiliates with the others. They needed all the help they could to fend off Troy who had annexed all the smaller studios who weren't in the ally with Sparta and its affiliates.

Well, all except Myrmidon Studio, but Myrmidon was a strange one. It was a new studio that no one seemed to know anything about except that it rolled out one critically acclaimed film after another. Its first production, Tantalus, had received more awards then any film ever has before. Myrmidon's next three films, The Golden Touch, Hunting for Actaeon, and Danae's Son, though they were not released in time to be considered for awards, were rumoured to be nominated in the upcoming Oscar and Golden Globe amongst other awards.

Menelaus turned his thoughts back to the beautiful woman in front of him. "Yes, I'm acquainted with Hector," he said carefully.

"I wanted…I was wondering if you would help me get back at Hector."

Menelaus' eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to get back at Hector?"

"Well, it's really quite simple. Hector and I have been together for a while now and he promised me that he would divorce his wife and marry me, but now he refuses to follow up on his promise."

"So, how does this involve me?"

"Well, I hate Hector now for who he is and what he's done to me."

"And I'm guessing that you want revenge."

Helen lowered her head. "Yes." When she looked up again her eyes were glassy with tears. "Menelaus, do you think I'm a bad person because of that?"

"No, of course not!" Menelaus replied immediately. "You have every right to be angry. Now, Helen, I'd love to help you, but I still don't understand how I can."

"Your studio is the only one that Hector sees as a threat."

Menelaus' business interest perked up. This was definitely welcoming news to him.

"Although I'm no longer with Hector, I know he'd be angry if I was featured in a substantial role in one of the films that your studio produces."

Menelaus' mind was spinning. "You know, Helen. It's really not my place to interfere with a lovers' quarrel."

"Hector's not my lover anymore!" She sighed dejectedly and gave a weary half-smile. "Well, I tried. I guess I'd have to think about something else. I'm sorry to bother you, Menelaus." She turned away.

"Now, hold on a minute, I said I don't want to interfere with your problems with Hector, but that doesn't mean that I don't need an actress, and a date to the premiere of Bellerophone two weeks from now." Having Helen around might not be so bad, Menelaus thought, it would give him some leverage when he dealt with Hector in the future, it would be a sore point for his opponent, besides a raving beauty was throwing herself at him. He was only a man.

Helen turned back around. "You'd do that for me, Menelaus?"

"Why don't I introduce you to Steven, I know that he's casting for his new movie right now. You might be of interest to him. After that, we can talk some more over lunch at Meringo's?"

"Sound's like a date," Helen said with a beatific smile.

---

Menelaus got home just in time to hear the phone ring. He snatched it up in mid-ring. "Menelaus here."

"Menelaus, this is Hector."

"Hector! Ah, how are you?"

"Funny you should ask. There is a rumour that a girl named Helen is going to be in one of your films."

Menelaus started. How could Hector have gotten wind of it so quickly? "How did you know? She's only been casted today."

"Hollywood's a small town, Menelaus."

"Okay, so you know. What about Helen?"

"I would appreciate it if you don't use her."

"Why not?" Menelaus asked. He had a gut feeling that Hector was about to say something important to him.

"Listen, it's none of your business. It's just something private between me and that girl."

"Hector, it doesn't matter to me what you've got going on with that girl. Just because you've got a problem with her doesn't mean that I've got a problem with her. In fact, I quite like her," Menelaus taunted.

"She's my girl, so back off. We're having a little disagreement right now so stay out of it, Menelaus. It's none of your business!" With that Hector hung up. Menelaus stared at the dead line in his hand, a smile on his face and a wonderful thought in his head. Hector had lost it. In the heat of the moment, his opponent had let slip his little infidelity secret. Hector would become very pliable material on future encounters.

---

Hector pressed the 'end' button on his cell phone and looked up with a smile at Helen. "How was my acting skills?"

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