5|Full Disclosure

"Looking snazzy, groom!" Tim said as soon as Austin jumped in the front passenger seat. 

"You clean up nicely yourself, best man," Austin replied, punching his arm. 

"I wish I didn't have to," Tim confessed as he shoved a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. "Your father will kill me for letting you go through with this."

"He won't." Austin grinned. "He loves you. We all know you are his favourite."

Tim grumbled under his breath between long drags and puffs of his cigarette, "I still don't understand why it had to come to marriage. Other people hire nannies, Austin."

"Nannies leave. Wives don't." Austin opened his window and flung his hand out, tapping the side of his door in time to the music drifting through the car. "I'm doing this for Orly."

"Yeah, but that poor woman didn't sign up for this life. She doesn't know what she's getting herself into."

"That 'poor woman' should have kept her old man on a leash. He's a menace!" Austin retorted, refusing to feel bad for Marybeth and Lionel Tyson. Even the Bible said the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children.

"That's not fair. She seems like a nice girl. Her class loves her, and the teachers at Sea Point Primary speak highly of her," Tim said as he steered the car through the morning traffic. 

"And that's why she'll make the perfect companion for Orlando," Austin repeated what he'd been saying since he came up with his brilliant plan, his irritation levels creeping up. When he first brought up the idea, Tim agreed Orlando needed a stable woman in her life. Liliana, with all her good intentions, helped out where she could. But as the daughter of a crime family, there was only so much she could do for Orlando when she was constantly harassed by cops.

He and Tim knew how to protect his little girl. But there were things only a woman could teach her. Austin would never admit it, but ever since Iris died, he knew there was a void in Orlando's life that only a mom could fill. So for his cousin to second-guess him at the eleventh hour was a little annoying, to say the least.

"I'm just saying full disclosure is needed here. Tell Marybeth upfront about the family so she can make an informed choice," Tim carried on. 

Austin lost his patience, shutting up his second-in-command with his annoyed growl, "That's enough! Marybeth will have very little to do with the family. She doesn't need to know more than what's required for her safety, which I'll handle!" 

"Your call." Tim took another long drag from his cigarette, snuffed it out and threw it out the window.

"Can you not?" Austin growled.

"What?" 

"Throw that shit out of the window. It's bad for the environment."

Tim rolled his eyes. "You kill people for a living, and you're worried about the environment?"

"I don't see how that's relevant!" Austin retorted and glared out of his window.

They drove in silence for a long stretch and listened to a raging debate on the radio about the eTolls in Rock Union and the upcoming trial of the serial arsonist charged with starting the fire in Parliament a few weeks ago.

"Look, I'm sorry," Austin said after a kilometre or so of tension swirling in the car. "And I'll disclose as much as I need to after the ceremony."

Tim nodded and took his hands off the steering wheel long enough to reach for another cigarette from his breast pocket. He was really anxious if he was going for his second in less than ten minutes.

Austin watched him stick it between his lips and light it up with a shiny silver lighter he always kept in his glove compartment. It was one of the few things his father took from the crime scene when Tim's parents were killed in an apparent hit years ago. 

"She seems nice," Tim said again as he inhaled the smoke and released it in measured breaths. "Too bad her father's scum. In another life, if she wasn't dealt such a raw deal, I really think..."

Austin tuned him out and stared at the familiar scenery zooming by. He loved the coastal town with all his heart. It was the perfect place to raise a little girl. But traffic, no matter the time of day, was the only thing he could do without. As for Marybeth, he didn't give a flying fish about her. In a little over an hour, she'd just be his wife in name only.

"Did you confirm with Friar John if he can make it?" he asked as he checked his emails on his phone.

"He wasn't thrilled this was dropped on him at the last minute. But he's on the way to the venue. Liliana managed to twist someone's arm and secure a private room for the rites. The Home Affairs clerk will officiate the ceremony immediately after that, and lunch with the family will be at The Windmill Hotel."

"How many people?"

"Everyone will be there. They can't wait to hear the big announcement."

"Good." Austin nodded, but he was barely paying attention. His mind was fixated on the email from Gold Rush's security team. A rogue gambling syndicate had taken up residence at the casino. Despite all efforts to rein them in, the crew seemed to grow bolder with each jackpot they nabbed. Austin gritted his teeth, annoyed beyond words at this little inconvenience. It seemed he'd have to drive down to the Blue Mountains to shut this shit down himself.

"Everything okay?" Tim gave him a sidelong glance.

"No." Austin leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "That damn syndicate at Gold Rush is running amok. I have to drive down there soon and take care of it."

"Then what's Blake's job?" 

"Beats me," Austin shrugged and pinched his nose. Blake was two years older than him, but as inept as a blunt knife, and sometimes he wondered if they were even related. 

If Blake couldn't take care of a simple problem like a small-time gang, how could he be expected to oversee all their security needs? A weak security branch was terrible for business and The Corporation.

There were a few soldiers—men who'd gone above and beyond to prove their loyalty to the family—who would do a way better job running the security branch. Structural reform was needed, and tough decisions had to be made soon, Austin decided as he sent a text to the group chat, informing everyone of the family meeting immediately after lunch.