“Babe…. Babe”She walked into the room, her hand still attempting to place the pin perfectly to hold her hair.She heard footsteps, thinking it was her husband, she took a turn into the living room instead.“Babe I….”, Mrs. Bane stopped on track, not expecting to meet their maid there.“Oh. It's …. you”, she said, her expression shifted to an obvious glow down, opposed from the initial enlightenment that filled her face.She turned, taking the door from whence she'd just come out from. In the adjoining dining room was her husband, his sitting position not quite the usual.“Honey..?”, Mrs. Bane asked, quite concerned already from where she stood. She finally stopped trying, letting her efforts come to waste as her french twist style loosened fast, letting her hair flow freely down to her waist. She moved to where he sat, a worried expression on her face. “Honey?”, She called, shaking his shoulders vigorously. No answer. Now that she saw him in full view, she noticed his slumped sittin

“Alistair! What a … pleasant surprise”, Layla said, as she swung the door open.“Hey Layla. How are you… how are you doing?”“I'm great. Oh please, come in”, she said, stepping back from the door. Alistair walked up the remaining part of the small stairs into the house and Layla shut the door behind him. He walked slowly in, feeling a little nervous.“Where's your mum?”“She's in her room. She was on a call but I'm sure she'll be done by now. Let me check on her and tell her you are here”Alistair nodded, watching Layla walk out of the living room into one of the adjoining rooms. He turned to the windows, acknowledging the cozziness of the country house as he walked towards that end of the room. He'd wondered why they'd come all the way here to live, giving a lot of distance from the busy city. Here, you could barely hear honking cars, loud city ad screens or sirens. There was a still quietness about it, a comforting yet uncomfortable silence around it all.“Alistair?”, Tricia Moore's

The red bubbly liquid filled the tall tulip glass in his hand.“Honey, have you seen this?!”, she said, walking into the living room rather more hastily thanusual.“The Voxx Group is having their first annual gathering in twenty years.”, Mr. Wilde said,sipping his chilled rose wine. “I'm aware”“And? Aren't we attending?”“Of course we are attending. But I have a business meeting today. It depends on when I finish”“And you didn't think to tell me Gerald? You had invitations from over a week ago! And I'm justfinding out today about this event?”“I've been occupied, Kate.”, He said in a cool tone, putting down his glass. “I'm busy”“Plus, you sit all day with your phone. How come you weren't aware?”“So? What has that got to do with this?”Gerald Wilde placed the glass out again for the wine chef to fill. He sipped slowly like he hadn't heard a word she had just said. He waved a hand, dismissing the young chef.“What do you want Kate?”, he asked, dropping the glass on the glass cent

He moved into where the main party was holding, where the elegant tables and chairs were arranged. Middle aged people talked in groups, very elegantly dressed so you could guess at once that they were rich. Most of the young people were in groups of two and three and their groups seemed clustered together to one side of the space from the supposed entrance.“Oh, there's Mr. Wilde”, he spotted as his eyes moved slowly across the open space. He could see him with some elderly men of his age discussing in low volumes near the stage.Alistair couldn't believe that he was in this very Voxx meeting - the first after twenty years of his parents’ death. What shocked him the most was his sharp memory of the faces - he could still tell and recognise the owners of some of the enterprises under the Voxx Group and some of his father's closest partners. As his eyes darted around, in search of a free seat, he hoped earnestly that no one would draw attention to him.But how wrong he was.“Isn't that

“Alistair”, Nathan said, getting to his feet as soon as he saw him. He walked over more briskly than Alistair entered the room, engulfing him in a hug. Surprised but not shook, he slowly hugged back, memories flooding him all at once.“Nathan”, he said slowly, in a raspy, loud whisper.“It's been… so long”“Yeah like fifteen years”, Alistair said, disentangling from the hug.“Still can't believe it's you”“I….me neither”“Ahemm”, the lawyer's deep cough brought both young men to reality.“Oh… ummm.. sorry. Back to business please”, Nathan said as he unnecessarily adjusted his suit, leading Alistair to where the fairly long conference table was.“Take a seat please”, Nathan instructed as Regan walked up to pull out the chair.“Thanks”, Alistair said to Regan, taking his seat slowly.An awkward silence filled the room as Nathan signaled all the men in the room to leave, except Regan of course. Nathan cleared his throat, obviously a little nervous to start.“Umm… Mr. Alistair, this is y