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25|Beginnings And Endings
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Beautiful Disaster 26|Too Close To The Flame
"Jesus Christ!" Benji whispered in disbelief at the chaos in the room."He asked for it," was all Austin would say on the matter.Years ago, he declined to take over the security branch for this very reason. Reinforcing, collecting debts, and settling old scores often got bloody and messy. Blake, though, the ever bloodthirsty bastard, relished this side of the business.Arno stepped into the back office, looked through the safe and took exactly what was due to them, leaving the rest."Let's go," he said. "The cleanup crew is on the way.""At least the bastard went out with a bang," Austin mused, stepping over the bouncers' bodies. "Good thing we didn't interrupt his fuck fest."They left the same way they came. As they pulled away from Cruise Control, Austin took off his soiled jacket and dumped it beside him."Find the stripper," he told his men while he sent an urgent status update to his father and the consigliere about the mess with Amos."I'm on it," Benji replied.Half an hour l
Beautiful Disaster 27|Could Love You—Part 1
Marybeth was sore. Not in the 'I need to call the doctor' sore. But the 'I've been thoroughly ravished by my husband, and I still want more' sore.When her alarm went off promptly at 05:00 AM, she pushed the covers away, making as little movement as possible. She didn't want to awaken the sleeping beast beside her. But there was no need to worry about Austin. He was already wide awake, judging by how alert he sounded when he draped his arm over her tummy, pulled her close to him and mumbled, "Just five more minutes."Five more minutes in Austin's arms sounded like heaven. But if she wanted to beat the morning traffic, she figured 5:00 AM was the right time to start her day. Not a moment later. But his already-hard cock, as he gently pressed on her ass, was all the convincing she needed.For Austin's dick, she'd take shitty traffic."Make it count," she told him.And he did as he threw the covers over their heads and made his way down her body, kissing every inch of exposed skin, which
Beautiful Disaster 28|Could Love You—Part 2
"What is this?" Marybeth demanded."Our marriage certificate!""I see that, but why is my surname wrong?"Austin scoffed. "Wrong? You are mine, žena. You will bear my surname, and soon you will bear my heirs, too.""Are you insane?" Marybeth lost her shit, but was careful not to raise her voice; Orlando was still sleeping across the hall. "Bear your surname? Bear your heirs? What drugs are you on?""I'd be very careful with your next utterances, wife!" Austin warned her softly. "Traditionally, you should be staying home right now, and I should be filling your belly with our children. But I've had to fight the family to allow you to keep your liberties!""Liberties? Working is a 'liberty' in the Hawthorne family?" she asked, making air quotes with her fingers to show him just how ridiculous she found his statement. "Having passions that don't include being pampered and taken care of like a spoiled princess are liberties? Wow!""Beth," Austin tried to pull her in his arms again, but she
Beautiful Disaster 29|First Real Test
Orlando was her usual chatty self on the drive to Liberty Prep, harping on about everything under the sun, from her sleepover at Neli's the other night to Marybeth moving in with them.The planned grocery shopping trip, the same one Austin had invited himself to, was the morning's hot topic, garnering a lot of questions and commentary from Benji and Arno in the front."Everything okay, Boss?" Arno asked as they turned into Oakley Avenue, home to Orlando's private school."I'm fine!" Austin grunted. But he wasn't. Not after some strange man had called his wife to arrange a coffee date."You look like someone pissed in your cereal," Benji said as he pulled into a free parking spot."See you later, Daddy!" Orlando jumped out as soon as the car stopped and kissed him goodbye, before scampering off hand in hand with Neli.Austin checked the time on his Apple watch, grumbling under his breath when he saw he still had forty-five minutes to go before the parent-teacher conference."So?" Benji
Beautiful Disaster 30|By The Balls
An irritable Austin walked into his doctor's office almost an hour later. He would have gotten there much sooner, but all the traffic lights in the Central Business District were out. Rolling blackouts were back, and so was everyone's road rage."I was surprised to see you on my appointment list today, Hawthorne," said Dr Claudia Young as she pointed at one of the velvet scallop chairs reserved for her patients.Austin dutifully sat down, grumbling, "Nice to see you too, Claudia."He'd known her all his life, so there was no need for formalities and honorifics. She may be a doctor now and deserved all the respect that went with the title. To him, though, she would always be bratty, annoying Claudia, the little girl with pigtails who used to follow him, Blake and Tim, around when they were kids.Eric Young, Claudia's father, was the Hawthornes' primary physician for over three decades. Several years ago, following a heartbreaking diagnosis of early onset dementia, he was forced to hang
Beautiful Disaster 31|Polaris
The air-conditioned lobby, kitted out in all the fancy trappings one would expect of a luxury lifestyle brand as influential as the Hawthorne Group, was a welcome relief from the stifling heat outside. After a quick chat with Stanley, the security guard on the day shift, Austin took a private elevator strictly reserved for upper management, praying he wouldn't run into Blake. It was very likely that he would, though; after all, they shared the top floor.While Austin looked after Hawthorne Group, the mother body of all their lifestyle brands, Blake headed up the Hawthorne Foundation, responsible for their charity work.Austin never meddled in the Foundation's affairs, but that didn't stop Blake from constantly poking his head in the Group's. His incessant demands to be included in everything the Group did, forced Austin to hand over Gold Rush to him, a decision he was seriously starting to regret in the face of the gambling crew debacle.He hadn't even sat down when his office door bu
Beautiful Disaster 32|The Golden-Haired Boy
As soon as Principal Smith adjourned the weekly status update meeting, Marybeth shot out of the staff room, dashed to her car and sped down the road for her midday rendezvous with her ex.She struggled to find a free parking spot, finally squeezing her Picanto between a Sea Point Metro Police Golf 7 GTI and a shiny BMW M3, when a sedan pulled away and took a left turn, disappearing from view.She grabbed her purse and phone, locked her doors, and walked across the road to Jimmy's.The place was more a fish and chips joint than a coffee shop. But it was a firm favourite with nurses, teachers and cops alike, since it was conveniently located in the middle of the inner city triangle bordered by Sea Point Primary, the police station and the public hospital.The familiar aroma of reheated cooking oil, deep-fried hake and slap chips greeted Marybeth as soon as she strolled through the doors.She scanned the place, her eyes lighting up when golden-haired boy Elijah Boshoff raised his hand an
Beautiful Disaster 33|The Trigger Happy Serb
Angry silence followed Marybeth's outburst, and they both looked at the condiment bottles and the salt and pepper shakers on the table until Elijah spoke. "That was low, Beth—""Only one man has the right to call me Beth," she said quietly. "And it's certainly not you, Elijah!""Still, that was low. I was young.""You were nineteen. Your moral compass was well in place. You knew I don't handle betrayal and rejection well. You knew me, Eli. You knew about my mother. And yet you turned around and did the same thing she did. You chose someone else over me. You walked away from me. After I was open with you. After I allowed myself to be open to you. So don't sit there and tell me about evil and moral compasses. I know Austin. He never pretended to be anything he wasn't. And I'd take his honesty, as terrifying as he is, over the bullshit you fed me for years, any day!""I'm sorry." Elijah reached for her hand, but she snatched it away."Unless I broke some kind of law by marrying Austin, I
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