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