234|Deadlock

Despite promising Marybeth to shut down the nonsense at Crush real quick and be back in the Bay in no time, three days in, Austin was still in Rock Castle.

The negotiations with his staff had reached a deadlock, and the mood in the corner boardroom on the top floor of Blaine Inc, the law firm catering to the country's top one percent, was slowly deteriorating.

Austin had spent his entire Monday at Crush, listening to everyone gripe about promises of a salary increase made by Gabe, the previous owner. Austin knew they'd been duped, but out of the goodness of his heart, he'd made them an offer. Six per cent. Nothing more, nothing less. But the greedy bastards had pushed back, insisting his offer wasn't worth the paper it was typed on; Gabe had promised them more.

On Tuesday, Austin contacted his legal team and instructed them to make the entire mess go away.

But by Wednesday evening, they were still nowhere close to a resolution.

Austin was tired of sounding like a broken record, and his