Justus Ward woodenly hung up the phone.  He ignored the curious gazes of the board members.  “If there are no objections,” Justus formally proposed, “then I move that this meeting be adjourned until a later date.”

“So moved,” his uncle Alan Quartermaine replied.

No one made a move to leave.  Because this was a meeting of the ELQ stockholders, there was no one present who was not a member of the Quartermaine family.

“What’s going on?” Alan Quartermaine asked wearily.  The entire family was still numb from the events of past weeks.  Every phone call to the Quartermaine mansion now resulted in an instinctive moment of gut-wrenching dread for anyone hearing the phone ring.  “What was that call about just now?”

“That was Faith.  Sonny is dead.”

Edward Quartermaine scoffed at his grandson’s announcement.  “Why would your sister Faith know such a thing?”

“The people who told her were looking for me.”

“So, Sonny really is dead?”

“Yes.”

“Hallelujah!” Tracy Quartermaine crowed.  She noted the reactions of her fellow family members.  “Oh, please!  There’s not a single one of you here who isn’t doing a little happy dance inside your mind.”  She defiantly flipped a lock of dark hair from her eyes.  “I am just the only one honest enough to admit it.”

Tracy’s words set off a loud, boisterous argument.  For the moment, Justus was forgotten as his family went back and forth about the ramifications of Sonny’s death.

Justus noted that within the room there was not a single expression of grief over Sonny’s death.  He had no doubt that if Emily Quartermaine had been present, he would have observed the young woman’s sorrow.  But Emily was not there, so reactions to the death of Sonny Corinthos consisted only of varying degrees of relief.

The young lawyer wondered if his Quartermaine relatives would mourn him under similar circumstances.  They had apparently not realized the significance of his statement that men had gone looking for him at Faith’s home.  Justus was the single remaining link in the chair that was once Sonny Corinthos’ organization.

It was time, Justus decided, to arrange a meeting with the new organization in Port Charles.  It was time to find out what his future held.

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