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The journey had been long, and tough, but he had made it— and the fruits of his triumph were sweet indeed

Now he stood poised on the edge of his greatest triuhty Coustakis Industries

'I was thinking,' he said, keeping his face blank, 'of a share-swap'

He had it all planned He would reverse Vassilis Inc into the far larger Coustakis ee of shares Oh, Old Man Coustakis would need a lot of personal financial sweeteners, he knew that, but Nikos had mat covered too He knew the old man wanted out, that his health—deny it officially as he would—was not good But he knew Yiorgos Coustakis would never cede control of his busi­ness without a top-dollar face-saving deal—he'd go out like a lion, with a final roar, not like an old wolf driven from the pack

That didn't bother Nikos—when his tiain too, just to keep his successor on his toes

But what Coustakis had just thrown at hihter to get hold of the cohter!

Inside, behind the mask that was the carefully irel'ully schooled expression on his face, Nikos had to tip his hat to the old man

He could still catch his rivals out—even a rival as posing as a friendly er partner

'You can have the share-swap—on your wedding day

Yiorgos's reply was flat Nikos kept his silence Behind his co

'Well?' Yiorgos prompted him

‘I’ll think about it,' returned Nikos His voice was cool

He turned to go