His suit jacket was soon stained a darker shade of black
Kira's eyes were wide open with shock.
She was still holding the gun
Roberts war on the door.
The bullet had first grazed his cheek before penetrating Henry's shoulder.
nilly and Toby recovered from their shock two seconds later.
Their ears were still ringing
But their training kicked in.
Billy wrested the gun away from Hita.
Toby tacked her to the ground and pinned both her arms behind her back
Kira was forced to lie on her stomach.
Sharp gravel cut into the flesh of her cheeks.
Henry pressed a hand to his bleeding shoulder and winced in pain.
The bullet had passed right through.
He bellowed, "ether in the carl'
He'd had it with that woman...
He would not have given her the time of day if she wasn't Leland Hewitt's daughter.
The man gave his organs to Charlotte.
Henry had been prepared to cut the girl som slack
Kira thrashed and squirmed, but she was no match for the strength of a grown man who had his knees on the small of her back Toby yanked her hair, hauled her to her feet and shoved her towards the SUV 'Let me go!'
Kira dcked out wildly, failing her arms about.
Billy joined his colleague.
They each grabbed hold of one arm and forced Kira to stagger forward.
Kira screamed.
She didn't hear the harsh sound of screeching tyres.
Austyn jumped out of the Hammer before it came to a complete stop.
'Get your hands off her!"
Billy and Toby recognised the young master, but they did not obey.
Henry was their employer.
They only took their orders from him.
Kira's head snapped up.
She burst into tears the moment she recognised Austyn
She thought she was going to die here today.
But Austyn came!
Austyn didn't slow down.
He sprinted up to the trio, punched Toby in the throat and kneed n
dilly i
groin.
Both men doubled overin pain.
Austyn drove a foot to Toby's kneecap and heard a soft 'crack"
The bodyguard howled.
Austyn grabbed Billy's neck, threw his head back and bashed Billy's nose with a headbutt.
He pur bath guards out of action in two secunds, left them writhing on the floor and pulled Kira into a fierce hug
'Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
His voice shook
Kira was overwhelmed by a food of emotions-fear, rage, joy, regret, and so much more.
She wept and could not get a word out.
She clung to Austyn's waist.
Kira hated herself for being so useless.
She let Henry pet away once.
And now, she had wasted another opportunity.
The gun had gone off accidentally
If she had been calmer, if she had almed more carefully, Henry would be dead right now!
Austyn drew back and ran his eyes over Kiza
Her face was smudged with dirt and tears.
Herclothes were rumpled.
But she appeared to be otherwise unfort.
Austyn breathed out.
Then he fixed his cold gaze on his father.
"Henry McCarthy! How dare you touch her?"
Henry was leaning against the SUV, painting.
Roberts had clambered to his feet and was tending to Henry's wound
Hempped off a section of his shirt sleeve and pressed it to the puncture wound.
The bleeding had subsided to atrickle.
Henry shot his son a dirty look.
*Hand her over to me. She needs to be disciplined!!
'In your dreams!!
Austyn threw one arm around Kira's shoulders and tried to guide her to the Hummer
Henry tilted his chin at the two guards.
Billy and Toby scrambled up from the floor.
Billy clamped a hand around Kira's arm and snatched her out of Austyn's embrace.
Toby engaged Austyn.
'Go help Toby.' Henry gestured to Roberts
The guard joined the fight against Austyn
It was two against one, but neither side gained the upper hand.
Toby and Roberts were ex-military, but so was Austyn.
Austyn kept one eye on kira and swing a wide punch towards Toby,
He went for all the soft spots on his opponent's body-the eyes, groin, solar plexus and throat.
Roberts tried to grab Austyn's shirt but Austyn caught his hand first and twisted his arm downwards. Austyn was moving as fast as he could, but Billy was dragging Kira further away. They were n now almost at the SUV.
The two-lane had little traffic, but it was still a public place.
The commotion was drawing attention from the cars passing by
The situation was getting out of hand
Henry was now furious.
He took out his Springfield Armory EMP and almed it at
Cat Austyn's forehead.
"Stop right now!"
Austyn sluddered.
Helew Henry McCarthy was a cruel, heartless bastard, but he never expected his father would pull a gun on him.
Roberts took advantage of his distraction and put an armbork on Austyn.
Henry brandished the gun in his right hand.
"Tell your wife to shut up and get in the car!"
Kira was just a shocked when she saw Henry pointing a gun at Austyn,
lier body tracted faster than her mätul.
A Huge Stap in The Face
She snatched the gun from Billy's hip holster and shoved him back.
She stumbled backwards and almost fell, but she clutched the gun tightly in both hands.
'Don't...don't move!'
Billy put up both hands instinctively.
His Sig Sauer P229 was locked and loaded, ready to fire.
tears out of her eves.
Kira blinked the tr
She swung the barrel away from Billy and aimed the muzzle at Henry, standing ten steps away.
'Put down your gun! Do it now!'
Henry gritted his teeth and sworn.
Rage made him forget all about the pain.
He had been threatened half a dozen times before, but never by a woman inore than two decades younger than him.
This was such a huge slap in the face.
Henry made up his mind to do away with the girl.
Ther organ transplant was done, anyway,
She had outlived her usefulness
Death Would Not Part Ther
Austyn was standing with his back against the railing.
His eyes were bloodshot
His voice quavered with both rage and concern.
Kira, be careful
He could see her gun hand shaking and was afraid she might hurt herself.
Kira didn't seems to have heard him.
All her attention was on Henry,
She shouted, "Lasked you to drop the gun!!
The rush of adrenaline was giving her the shakes,
She wasn't sure how long she could hold on
Blackdots were starting to swim in front of her eyes. Toby aided up behind her.
His hand went up slowly.
He was holding pun
Austyn glimpsed the bodyguard's movement.
""Kira, lookout!
He pounced towards her
Kira's hand jerked
The Sig Sauer P220 fired.
Bally dived in front of Henry and threw him to the ground.
Henry dodged the bullet.
But Austyn didn't.
Toby's shot lacked him backwards over the railing
Austyn rolled down the steep slope of the embankment and fell into the river. 'Astyn!
Kira sprinted towards him but it was too late.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Fra would never forget the look on Austyn's face as he fell
He mouthed to her, 'Kura, don'tery,"
Kia's mind exploded.
She could no longer hear a sound.
She watched the rapid swallow Austyn's body,
He disappeared from view in a matter of seconds.
The last thing she sawwas his watch.
The Times Marlinginted in the brilliant sunlight.
She bought him that watch.
It was her first present to lum
The never took it off ever since she gave it to him.
He liked it so much, i was thinking of buying him another timepiece for lus birthday.
She was already saving up
Qui that was before what happened with her father
kles gripped the railing and bet out a heart-wrenching scream. Austynl
The river round in reply.
There was not a traceed Auto be found
The cold
Me had bust lost by father.
Deals Would Not i
Them
Now she was about to lose the only other man who loved her.
If both of them were gone, what was the point of her living on?
Kira swing one leg over the railing
She was going to jump into the river.
She was going to find him, dead or alive.
But a strong force tugged at her waist and hauled her backwards.
"Are you crazy? A man's voice shouted.
Liamdragged Kira away from the railing.
After Austyn left Revency, Liam still felt uneasy.
Something akin to gulit kept niggling at his mind.
He drove to the private hospital first but learned that Henry had already left.
When be finally got here, it was too late.
He scrambled out of his car, only to see Austyn getting shot and falling into the river The next thing he saw was Kira getting ready to jump,
Liam's heart jackhammered in his chest.
He used all his strength to hold on to Kia, who bucked and thrashed in his arms.
'Calm down! Austycould be tine! We can find him another way! Don't do anything stupid!
But Kira heard not a word.
She was blinded by tears and grief.
The only thought left in her mind was to dive into the river and follow Austyn
They were husband and wife.
They were supposed to be together, in sickness and in h
Kira howled and struggled like a maniac,
Liam almost lost his grip
health, and death would not part them!
He knew Kira would not listen, no matter what he said.
He clenched his jaw and knocked her out with a strike to the back of her neck.
Kara's body went limp.
Her eyes rolled back into her skull.
Liam scooped her up in his arms.
Toby and Billy blocked his path
Henry shook his head. 'Let them go
He got into the SUV.
Roberts hustled back into the car and started the engine.
Cancel the meeting. Drive me to the hospital. Get Chief Douglas on the phone!' Henry barked out a series of orders.
His bodyguards snapped to it.
Andrew Douglas was the chief of police.
With his cooperation, this whole fracas could be smoothed over.
Henry then called the owner of Stamford Daily and made sure none of what happened today would make it into the news.
Liam placed Kira in the backseat of his car
He called Luci, told him what happened and asked him to bring a search and rescue team.
Loca and his men arrived on the scene twenty minutes later.
What the hell's going on?' He marched over to Liam.
Liam pointed to the bloody spot on the calling
The team of twelve officers conducted a thorough search.
Luca even conundred two fishing boats.
But the river had swollen as a result of heavy downpours from the past week
ti was a tributary which connected to a larger ver which eventually owed into the sea The search had to be called off atter three days.
Death Would Not Part Them
Austyn had disappeared.
The date was 29th September.
Four years later.
Merv Maher was livid.
The Globe Today news anchor slammed a file onto the table after the broadcasting
E session was co
was over.
'Where's the field reporter?' He barked at an assistant. 'Why wasn't she on location? The stand-in couldn't string two words together!" The assistant brought him a glass of water. 'She's on leave today.'
"We've been prepping for this event for months!! Merv was still hot under the collar. 'She could have at least given me a heads-up!' The stand-in was clearly a pinch-hitting Intern.Exclusive content from .
She stuttered and blundered her way through the introduction and even mispronounced the interviewees' names.
The assistant cleared his throat. "Um, have you forgotten? She's always on leave on th
this day."
Merv paused. 'Today's the twenty-ninth of September?"
'Uh-buil
The news anchor fell silent
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Clai
False Hope
Hira Hewitt had been with the news network for three years,
she was a hard worker, conscientious and easy to get along with
But she always took a leave of absence on the 20th of September each year, no matter how much the work aneded her,
She passed up a promotion opportunity because of that.
When she showed up for work the next day, her eyes would be all red and puffy.
Doumour had it that she was friends with the network's owner.
Even the CEO's assistant, who usually looked down her nose at the employees, addressed her respectfully as Miss Hewitt.
'Kira, welcome back!!
Rony greated Kira with a mug of hot coffee.
'Jim came looking for you just now, the assistant sald. 'said he had a new assignment for you.
Jim Barnett was the news editor.
Kira sat down in front of her desk, "What is it?
Flu season in Rinton. It's starting to look like a pandemic. Some experts suspect there's a new virus variant at work there. Jim wants to send a field correspondent there to find out more."
Homy sighed
"What's wrong
The assistant moved closer and whispered. Tim called you yesterday but you didn't pick up. Anne-Marie somehow caught wind of this and volunteered to take the assignment. Anne-Marie was four years older than Kira.
As the only other female field comespondent at Globe Today, she'd had it in for Kirasince day one.
She badmouthed Kira at every opportunity and scooped her exclusives.
Rony loathed that woman with a passion.
"Luckily, fim still wants you to do it!
The assistant placed his laptop in front of Kira.
"Here's what 1 have on Rinton so far. Mostly photos from the local residents' Facebook and Twitter pages. The situation is quite serious. They are malding it sound like the Spanish flu over there. Take a look!