Chapter 1

The night seemed quite normal.

He had gone for his evening walk as usual stopped at Erny’s for his groceries and had returned home to meet Mrs Stephan locking up for the day. The sky was quite its normal starless beauty this time of the year, he got to his door itching for a bath as he fumbled for his keys and then his phone rang. Opening the door he lifted the phone to his ear, ‘Mr Phil… is this Mr Phil?’ the voice on the other end seemed quite shaky, obviously the caller wasn’t that composed. Feeling slightly uneasy about the call and the caller’s interest in his identity Marc hesitated enough to get into the comfort of his living room and drop off the keys on his reading table before giving a rather cautious response, ‘who’s asking?’

Everyone knew the Munroes. Aside from the over a zillion fundraisers that they have single-handedly funded and the many other charitable meets, they were generally large-hearted and peace loving people.

Jacob looked over the document for the final time decided he agreed with its content then signed just below where the secretary had entered his name. He knew he had to keep this family together no matter the cost. He was not happy with the way the family was gradually tearing apart; he has not been a happy man for quite a while now. People loved and respected the Munroes, it had been a legacy that had stayed in the family for centuries. They were noble people and they just couldn’t be seen in a negative light. It worried him how life had always thought him to face his challenges; one by one he had faced them however it went and he had been pretty successful, this one he couldn’t.

The boys had been the difficult ones raising, they were strong willed stubborn and daring; qualities he knew they had got from him. He wasn’t perfect, a man should never be easily swayed and he knew first hand judging from how he turned out that they only needed guidance while teaching them family values and etiquette which they had to have alongside. But boy did they trouble him!

Marcian Felipe Munroe was by far the most difficult human he had had to live with, it seemed the kid saw tormenting him a sport but look how he turned out, he encouraged himself. He was tough and they knew it and he believed even though they may not openly acknowledge it, they were grateful he was. His boys were gentlemen, well respected and recognised.

His girls worried him, the family name he had kept untarnished, the one he constantly threatened his boys upheld was now close to being reproached.

As he sat there pen still in hand a big frown across his face he could already imagine the front page headline of all the major newspapers in the state, it would be about the Munroes but not for the right reason. This one would destroy everything. It would destroy him.