He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Andrei's mini revolver pointed straight at him."You bastard," he cussed, his adrenaline kickstarting all his senses again."You sly bastard!" Austin ranted again, not entirely sure who he was annoyed at the most—Andrei for outsmarting him or himself for underestimating his old friend."You've grown sloppy, Hawthorne," Andrei murmured, motioning to him to sit. "I guess it's true what they say: marriage softens even the hardest of men. Ever since Marybeth came into the picture—""Shut your fucking mouth!" Austin snarled as he slowly sat down, his own gun still trained on Andrei. "Don't you dare speak her name!"For a minute, maybe longer, they sat in silence, both locked in position, ready to go all in at the slightest hint of provocation."Fucking hell!" Andrei scoffed, finally giving in as he threw his revolver on the coffee table beside his pistol. Austin also lowered his gun but kept it close on his lap."I never thought I'd see the day

The silence, disturbing in its totality, settled in almost immediately, amplified even more by the rapid pounding of Austin's heart as he sat there, contemplating the last few minutes.He'd done a ton of shit in the past after murdering someone in cold blood. What he'd never done was pick up the phone and confess his crimes.Today, as he pulled out his cell phone, a little dismayed at the spiderweb cracks on the screen, was a first.He breathed a sigh of relief when he unlocked the phone, and it flashed to life, Marybeth and Orlando's faces smiling up at him.He'd give anything to go back to their happy moment at the beach the Sunday before he flew to Rock Castle when he took the photo of his wife and kid frolicking in the sand. He meant to print it out and frame it in his new office when he eventually broke away from the family. But until that moment, it had made a fantastic screen saver, a goof reminder of the perfect life he was bound to lose now that he'd given in to his demons."B

"Who killed her?" Austin asked when he'd gotten over his shock, his voice ringing hollow in his ears. "Who killed Iris?""You're determined to get us killed, aren't you?""Who pulled the fucking trigger, Drei?""Austin," Andrei said, rising from his seat. "This thing is bigger than you and me. You can't take down The Corporation. Please, just walk away. Why do you think I left?""Ivanov!" Austin rasped, gritting his teeth, his hands balled tightly on his lap."It's not just your father, mine or Vishal. This thing is bigger than The Corporation. It goes all the way to parliament. I'm deeply sorry Orlando lost her mom. But there was no way they would have let go. There was a lot at stake. Too many political careers would have been destroyed if word got out—""I don't care, Drei! Tell me who pulled the fucking trigger."Andrei took a long, deep breath and released it in a gushing swoosh, his shoulders slumped as he shattered Austin to pieces again and put him back together with his revela

Rock Castle awakened to a grey, gloomy Friday, with dark, heavy rains and gale-force winds thrashing the city. Happy to be heading home to his wife and kid in a few hours, Austin refused to allow the bleak weather to dampen his mood. So, while his lawyers wrapped up the shit show at Crush, he went about his morning with his assistant, checking out a few private schools in the area. The first four—'all-girls schools'—were nothing to write home about, and they spent just under twenty minutes at each one.Green Meadows, a co-ed private school at the heart of Green Point and the last on their list, was an entirely different story. They spent over an hour there, with Elizabeth doing most of the talking and asking all the right questions, from the curriculum to the teaching methods and techniques used. The headmistress—a Mrs Vermeulen—with over thirty years of experience in the business of shaping young minds, was happy to address his assistant's concerns, completely ignoring Austin as she

Since it was the last day of school, Marybeth finished work early on Friday. By 10:30 am, she was in Dr Khan's rooms, even though she didn't have an appointment.Anette, the receptionist, fussed as soon as she saw her, thinking something was wrong with the baby. But after a quick reassurance from Marybeth that she and the baby were doing okay, Anette returned to her workstation and asked her to wait a bit; the good doctor was on a call with a patient. Thankfully, the call didn't take long, and moments later, Dr Khan invited Marybeth into his office. They spent a minute or two chatting about her pregnancy, and when Marybeth had nothing more meaningful to add to the conversation, she changed the subject, stating the real reason for her visit.The whole time she pleaded with Dr Khan to add her father to the transplant waiting list, the man wore a thoroughly unimpressed look. The tight frown lodged between his eyebrows and his thickish lips pressed in a thin line were enough to scare of