A thin film of sweat covered Marybeth's palms as she gulped back her anxiety. When Austin said she'd meet everyone later, she assumed it would be more like two weeks or even a month from today later.She didn't think it would be so soon. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready for his life. She hadn't even begun to wrap her head around being married to him, let alone the possibility of his involvement in illicit activities.She wasn't an idiot. After their ritual-like ceremony with Friar John, she'd figured Austin belonged to some kind of crime family. But what they dabbled in, or how deep his involvement with the family business was, was still a huge mystery to her. If she had to be honest, though, she wasn't so sure she wanted to know, and she was a little relieved when Google spat out a 'no results' at her when she surreptitiously ran an internet search on him.The only results from her 'Hawthorne family' search were website links to the Hawthorne Foundation and Hawthorne Group

"Well, well! Who do we have here?" said the elderly gentleman in a low, gravelly voice when Marybeth finally stood before him."Marybeth Tyson," she replied with a nervous smile."Lukas Hawthorne, Blake and Austin's father," the man introduced himself as he pulled her in his embrace and kissed both her cheeks.Old Spice—or some other old man cologne—and a whiff of Cuban cigars and bourbon fumes enveloped Marybeth as soon as he swathed her in his arms. It was an oddly comforting scent on him, but she would have found it downright disgusting on any other man.His eyes, too, as dark as the sky on an overcast day, when he held her away from him to take her in, had a softness—no—a sadness she'd seen in Austin's when he first walked into the waiting room at Home Affairs.It was a look that made Marybeth want to trust him. To like him even.But a man like him, who was clearly the head of what she was now certain was a crime family, couldn't exactly be trusted—"They are the greatest loves of

The lunch ended much sooner than Marybeth wanted, and Austin pulled her aside long enough to update her on his plans for the afternoon."I'm heading into a meeting, and I'm not sure how long it will take," he said, rubbing her arm lightly. "Benji and Arno will drop you off at your place if I'm not done by five."Marybeth didn't understand why he was carrying on with his charade of a doting couple in the throes of a whirlwind romance. Half the people in the room may have bought it hook, line and sinker, but judging by the shrewd way old man Hawthorne kept looking at her throughout their meal, he hadn't."Beth?" Austin shook her a little to get some reaction from her.She sighed, her voice heavy with irritation when she spoke, "Seriously, there's no need to report every little aspect of your day to me; after all, my job is to look after your daughter. Where is she, by the way? When will I meet her?""For as long as we're in company, žená, you will act like a glowing bride, so quit your

By the time the birds began to chirp their morning call, Marybeth was long awake. She sat at the kitchen island, nursing a cup of instant coffee in her hand, and contemplated the several empty boxes scattered around the open plan living room floor.When she moved in two years ago with her bestie, Scarlett, she vowed never to see another cardboard box in her life again. Not until she'd found her soulmate, at least, and they had to move into their seaside mansion.But here she was, faced with a damn near impossible task of stuffing twenty-eight years of her life into cardboard boxes she'd rounded up from the building manager the previous afternoon when she got home after her disaster of a lunch with the family.A door down the hall creaked open. Barefooted steps on the tiled floor treaded closer, followed by a loud yawn as Scarlett paused inside the entryway. She blinked several times at the boxes and rubbed her bleary eyes, shaking out her messy blonde hair. "What's going on? Are we mo

Sure enough, at 1:00 PM, Arno, Benji and two brawny men who could easily moonlight as bouncers were on Marybeth's doorstep.Within ten minutes, the four of them had cleared her apartment of the ten boxes with her books and keepsakes, and three suitcases stuffed to the brim with all her clothes.Marybeth ran through her apartment one last time, making sure she hadn't left anything behind. Satisfied she had everything she'd need for the foreseeable future, she turned to Austin's men with a smile. "I think I'm done."Pointing at her laptop bag and purse, Benji asked, "May I?""Sure." Marybeth gladly handed over the items and locked up the place, before she followed the men down the hall to the elevators.When Arno offered to carry the case with her mom's acoustic guitar, Marybeth politely declined. It was her most cherished possession and the only link to a woman who'd discarded her like she meant so little.Phoebe Tyson picked it up for a song at a Waterfront flea market, but she never