Prologue

Posted on Sunday, 10 March 2002, at 7:37 p.m.

"Shhh....its Ok little one, it's Ok..." Darcy gently caressed her hair as she quieted down and went back to sleep. He then extracted himself from the tangle of her arm and softly left the room. 'Click' he closed the door behind him and tiptoed back to his bedroom, he wasn't sure how much more he could handle, Georgi had been having nightmares for months. Dr Hyderman her counselor said it was just her way of dealing with the death of their parents 3 months ago. Darcy held back the tears he refused to weep, he hadn't allowed himself the weakness of tears for Georgi's sake, for her he must be strong.

Chapter 1

"Darce, it's another year today, that makes it ten years are you going to make it?"

Every year the same Georgi and Darcy make plans to visit the grave of their parents, and every year Darcy at the last minute cancels and Georgi goes alone. For the first time since this ritual began Darcy decided to be honest with his sister.

"Not today Georgi, not today...."

"Why Darcy, you never come ....."

"I can't today Georgi!"

Darcy looked into the eyes of the woman who stood before him, amazed at how much she had grown, no longer was she the timid 7 year old he had to soothe to sleep. In her beautiful blue eyes he could see her anger, her frustration but mostly her pain.

"Sorry, Georgi, not today."

With that he poured his barely touched coffee down the kitchen sink and picking up his briefcase he walked out the door. He knew that Georgi was hurt, but after all those years of being strong he didn't know how to grieve for them and visiting their grave reminded him of the deep dark hole he carried around in his heart. The traffic was horrendous so he spent a lot of time stopped in amongst many other stopped cars, this did nothing for his mood and he vented his frustration on the horn of his beautiful dark purple custom built BMW, one of his little treats for himself.

Finally he pulled into his car park, the company his father built from the ground up had become his, making him one of the most wealthy men in the country, but he would give it all back if it meant his parents were still with him.

Chapter 2

The lift stopped at the third floor to allow people on and off, it seemed to Darcy that it was taking an extra long time to get to the 9 floor where his office was situated. His views from his full-length windows over the city were breathtaking, he found that this was his place, the place where he came for sanctuary, for peace. Ms Reyner was already seated when he arrived, she was the first person he had employed and he never regretted it, as if by some sort of intuition she knew when he didn't want any calls or interruptions.

"Good morning, Sir. Your coffee is just this moment ready and your messages are on your desk."

"Thank you Ms Reyner...."

"I will continue to take your calls until you tell me otherwise, there is a newspaper also on your desk...the only thing that you must do today is meet with Miss Benat at 10:30am, we can't put her off again."

"OK, I will be available to take any calls after I have had my coffee...um Ms Reyner did you remember to send those flowers to the grave?"

"Yes Sir, just as you requested."

Darcy nodded and walked silently into to his office closing the door behind him, he knew that what he needed more that anything was to let out some of this horrible pain he had carried for 10 years, but how? The tears he had stopped for so many years now refused to flow. He had not only stifled his ability to grieve, to cry but also to love and to laugh, in actually fact to feel anything except this dark blackness in his heart. Unfortunately this caused him to be interpreted as heartless and cruel, two things he definitely wasn't.

buzzzz

"Sir your 10:30 is here, Miss Benat."

"Thank you, show her in."