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103|Indigo—Part 1
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Beautiful Disaster 104|Indigo—Part 2
"That's my girl!" Colleen laughed as they watched her partner and friend stop at one of the display cases."What's the deal with them? Are they into each other?" asked Marybeth."No. They hate each other," Natalie replied. "And well, Holly is into Holly.""That's not fair!" Colleen came to the ballerina's defence again. "Holly is just misunderstood.""Misunderstood my ass. She's rude and self-entitled. If I were Andrei, I'd run far away from her! Remember Eden's art exhibition a few weeks ago? Holly asked if I was wearing a sales-rack dress! Who does that? Who says shit like that?" Natalie brought up ancient history, and it wasn't long before she and Colleen were arguing over the youngest Anderson child.Austin appeared beside Marybeth and whisked her off, leaving Colleen and Natalie to their bickering."Thank you, you may have extended my lifespan by another five years!" she said. "I thought I'd lose my mind with those two.""Why? Don't you like them?""I do," she admitted as she gra
Beautiful Disaster 105|Chasing Ghosts—Part 1
Austin had every intention of taking Tim's call, but once he stepped onto the balcony, he couldn't bring himself to pick up. So he stood there awhile, thinking about Marybeth's revelations, the beauty of the sun sinking low on the horizon lost to him.He'd tried the whole afternoon to keep it together for her sake, but now that he was alone, he could finally confront the intense emotions swirling in his heart.Was he surprised to learn about Iris' infidelity? Not really. After all, for years, there'd been rumours about her. But now that those said rumours had been confirmed, he'd be the first to admit he was bitterly hurt and somewhat enraged. Maybe because when they got engaged, he'd poured all his energy into making their relationship work and never thought of straying, not even once. He was a fool for believing she would do the same.When his phone rang again, Austin knew he couldn't keep ignoring his capo. So he reluctantly answered, "This had better be a life and death situation!
Beautiful Disaster 106|Chasing Ghosts—Part 2
"You knew?" Austin scoffed, his anger sparking to life again."Come on," Andrei held up his hands and stepped back from him. "Don't do this.""Answer me!" Austin growled. "You knew Iris was cheating on me?""Everyone knew!" Andrei said, a sudden edge to his voice. "Everyone knew she wasn't faithful to you. You knew as well, but chose to turn a blind eye!""I didn't know!" Austin shouted, feeling his self-control slip away. "I know there were rumours, but I didn't want to believe them. I wanted to trust her.""A girl like Iris?" It was Andrei's turn to snort derisively."What's that supposed to mean?" Austin rounded on him and crossed the balcony at blinding speed."I'm not getting into this with you!" Andrei held up his hands again, withdrawing from the fight.They both leaned over the balcony railing and watched cars speed up and down Maude Street and vanish in the labyrinth of tarred roads and glass towers."Do you know who it was?" Austin asked. "Was it you?""Are you out of your m
Beautiful Disaster 107|Finish What You Started
They had to stop in Forrest Creek first to pick Orlando up from Mrs Allan's place before heading back to The Castle.As they drove through the cobbled streets of the artsy neighbourhood, Austin pointed out various places of interest, from the rooftop market at the Civic Theatre to the public swimming pool and the Garden of Remembrance in the middle of the Town Square."And that's Fugue," he concluded the tour, pointing at a fairly new building swathed in postmodern architecture in the distance.Marybeth craned her neck, trying to get a better look. "It sounds swanky. What is it?""An art gallery owned by Willow Anderson, Liam's middle sister," Austin explained."You seem to know a lot about the Andersons," said Marybeth as she tried to think back to the last time she had set foot in an art gallery. She couldn't."Not really," Austin replied, shrugging. "But since we move in the same circles, it's hard not to know everyone's business.""I see," she nodded absently, her eyes lighting up
Beautiful Disaster 108|Paranoid
Marybeth sat on the couch, her stomach immediately twisting in knots when she noticed her bathrobe on the wingback chair in front of the window. She clearly remembered leaving it on the couch before joining Austin in the shower earlier.Running her gaze through the room, her dread intensified when she noticed one of the drawers on the console table in the entrance hall was slightly open even though none of them had touched it."Beth?" Austin said from the doorway of Orlando's room."What's wrong?" he asked as he softly shut the door behind him and crossed the room. "Are you feeling sick? You look a little pale. Was it the food?""I'm fine," Marybeth said, pulling away from him when he tried to check her temperature with the back of his hand."You don't look fine," he insisted, his eyes dark with concern. "What's going on?"Marybeth opened her mouth to speak, but her brain couldn't articulate her terror for some reason. Surely Austin would think she was crazy and making shit up—"Žena,"
Beautiful Disaster 109|Two Minutes
[Book 2]...Austin had done this at least a hundred times before, if not more—blitz-attacked idiots bold enough to think they could cross him. And never in his wildest dreams would he have ever imagined that someday he'd find himself on the receiving end of such an attack or that the person who'd try to take him down would be none other than the man he'd trusted implicitly up until a few moments ago.While he was still trying to process the last ten seconds and make sense of the horror unfolding before his eyes, more armoured vehicles descended upon the scene, and a fresh wave of armed guards spilt out of the open doors."The backup teams are here!" announced Jakov, the man in charge of Austin's security in Rock Castle.Austin had known him his whole adult life, and if anyone could get them out of a hairy situation, it was Jakov. After all, he was ex-military and had a wealth of experience in surprise attacks."How do you want to proceed? Should we engage?" Jakov asked as he fiddled w
Beautiful Disaster 110|A Fool For You
As they drove to the Ivanovs storage facility on the outskirts of town, an unsettling silence wove its spell over the car. No matter how hard Austin wanted to lighten the mood and ease the tension swirling in the back seat, his rattled brain couldn't come up with anything appropriate to say. So, he eased back in his seat, oddly comforted by Orlando's soft, rhythmic breathing as she slept in his arms. He kissed her forehead, grateful she was a heavy sleeper. He would have hated for her to wake up in the middle of the chaos and be confronted with the brutal reality of their world."We're here," Jakov announced almost ten minutes later as they pulled into the parking area where Nikolai's shiny Bentley and the three cars his men had used in their ambush just moments ago were now parked.Having been here a few times before, Austin knew that not everything stored at the facility was legit. In fact, the place was the Ivanovs' home base for their drug operation.The main floor of the single-s
Beautiful Disaster 111|Beaten
Marybeth dozed off with Orlando in her arms almost as soon as they took off for the Blue Mountains, giving Austin a chance to quickly draft the agenda for the family meeting. He sent it off to Tim and Angelo when he was done.Next, he tackled his reports and contracts.His interest was piqued when he checked his emails and saw a vague message from his assistant asking him to call her ASAP.Austin reached for his phone, dialled Elizabeth's number, and had to wait exactly twenty seconds before she picked up, "Mr Hawthorne, I didn't expect to hear from you until you landed in the Blue Mountains. Is everything okay, sir?"Most people were usually cranky and disoriented at 1:00 AM on a Sunday. Not Elizabeth. She sounded chirpy and lucid. But then again, why was he surprised? She wasn't like most people. Sometimes Austin wondered if she was even human."I saw your message," he said, skimming through his mail. At the rate things were going, he'd have to hire someone just to man his inbox; th
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