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45|Between Right And Wrong
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Beautiful Disaster 46|Pulled Rank
True to her word, Liliana was at Austin's front door in under an hour. When Marybeth checked the surveillance TV screen on the wall beside the security keypad and saw Zukiswa beside her, she breathed a huge sigh of relief, glad that the other half of the 'we' Liliana had mentioned in her text wasn't Hadley. After the hot mess of a day she'd had, there was no way she could have handled the other woman's snooty attitude."We brought wine and chocolates," Liliana announced as soon as Marybeth let them in."And clothes," added Zukiswa, waving several elegant-looking garment bags in her hands. "I get the wine and chocolates. Not sure about the clothes, though. Are you guys staying the night or what? Have you cleared it with Austin first?" Marybeth asked as she closed the door and followed them into the kitchen, where Liliana was already pulling out wine glasses from the cupboards. "Seriously, ladies, what's with the bags?" she asked again, joining Zukiswa at the breakfast island. "For
Beautiful Disaster 47|Human Mind
"Why don't the De Jagers have a relationship with Orlando?" she asked again. "They resent her," Zukiswa blurted out, blowing Marybeth's mind with her utterances. Why anyone would resent a child, let alone one as loving and pure as Orlando, was unfathomable to her.Zukiswa must have noticed her shock; she quickly clarified her comment, "I mean, not resent per se. She just reminds them of everything they've lost." "She's a child," Marybeth whispered. "She's their grandchild and a huge part of Iris.""But she's also a part of Austin. It's not a secret that the De Jagers hate him. If it wasn't for old man Hawthorne's bullheaded persistence that the two tie the knot, the De Jagers firmly believe their daughter would still be alive today," Liliana said.Zukiswa picked up the threads of their conversation, painting a rather disturbing picture for Marybeth the longer she spoke. "They never got over losing Iris, and four years on, they still blame Austin for her death. They even told the Haw
Beautiful Disaster 48|Human Heart
Marybeth had told Austin she wasn't planning to wait up for him, but sometime after midnight, when the front door beeped open, she was still wide awake, tossing and turning, thinking about everything she'd learned from Liliana and Zukiswa.She heard Austin's footsteps as he trod up the stairs, stopping in Orlando's room before he circled back down the hall.A minute passed, maybe two, and still no sign of the man. So she kicked off the covers and padded out of the room.She found him rummaging through the linen cupboard, the dim light in the hallway casting his shadow on the walls."What's going on?" she asked, leaning on the door frame.Austin turned and smiled, "what are you doing up?"She ignored him, pointing at the pillow and blanket in his hands, "what's with that?""Oh, this?" he shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I thought I should spend the night in one of the guest rooms, you know, to give you space—""Why?" Marybeth frowned at him, wondering what bullshit games he was playing.
Beautiful Disaster 49|No Good Deed
People always say things will look better in the morning.It wasn't true.Not in Marybeth's case, at least.Despite falling asleep in each other's arms, the tension between her and Austin the following morning was almost palpable as they tried to get on with their routine. Suddenly, his massive kitchen wasn't big enough for the both of them. Everywhere she turned, he was practically on top of her, taking up space.So after whipping up a bowl of oats for Orlando and making sure she was comfortable at the breakfast island, Marybeth escaped to the balcony with a steaming cup of black coffee. The biting morning breeze chilled her to the bone, and she brought her cardigan closer as she gazed at the darkening sky. If the heavy clouds weren't a bad omen for her first state of the city address, she didn't know what was.She was still sipping her coffee, lost in thought, as she stared at the gloomy clouds when Austin came to find her."Beth?"She turned, arching her brow at him. "What is it, A
Beautiful Disaster 50|Spiralling
Austin spent half his day in a meeting with the legal team. By the time they adjourned just after 1:00 PM, they were very close to finalising the nightclub acquisition deal, but his mood was still hovering on the foul side.When he returned to his office, and the first thing Elizabeth did was bombard him with a ton of messages from his father, all summoning him to Clarence Estate for an urgent discussion regarding Rawlings and the cop, the mild irritation Austin had felt since his tiff with Beth earlier that morning quickly morphed into full-blown rage."Tell him I'm busy!" he barked at his assistant when she knocked on his door for the umpteenth time."I'm sorry, sir, but it sounds urgent," she explained."I don't care, and I don't pay you to be my father's errand lady. Now, out!" Austin scowled at her and jerked his head at the door.Without saying another word, Elizabeth quickly saw herself out, leaving him to stew over the shit with the cop.It was bad enough he had to hear about
Beautiful Disaster 51|Nadia Van Staden
"How far is Angelo with the financials?" Tim asked, turning on his laptop."He knows a guy," Austin replied and hit play on the security footage he was watching before the unplanned break. "I'm guessing we'll know more about the other accounts in a week or two.""So I heard the girls met up last night. Something about Orlando's ancestry project—"Austin nodded, but he was barely listening. All his attention was on the full HD clip of the VIP room at Gold Rush, more specifically, at the elderly grey-haired woman with a pen and paper in her hand. She looked like a harmless, ordinary punter, but from all the footage Austin had seen of her so far, he'd quickly worked out she was the captain of this ship and ran it with military precision."Interesting," he murmured, rubbing his chin, a thoughtful look in his eye.What would possess an elderly person to even think of running such a scheme was beyond him. But then again, he decided, as he threw off his tie and contemplated the array of bott
Beautiful Disaster 52|Chain Reaction
Tim had just left when Austin's office door burst to life again.He looked up from the Van Staden file just in time to see his assistant run after the man he knew was Detective Elijah Boshoff, thanks to several photos Arno had included in his detailed report on the cop."I'm sorry, Mr Hawthorne, he refused to set up an appointment like everyone else," a flustered Elizabeth explained as she wrung her hands."Well, I'm not everyone else, am I?" Elijah retorted in a flat, toneless voice."It's okay, Elizabeth, we'll forgive him just this once for barging in," Austin said, furrowing his brow as he stared at the cop.To say he was taken aback by the man's audacity was an understatement. Sure, when he reached out to Rawlings last night and demanded the bastard's badge, he'd figured their paths would cross at some point. He just didn't think it would be so soon, nor in such a dramatic fashion."Are you sure, sir? I can call security," Elizabeth said, darting her eyes between him and the dete
Beautiful Disaster 53|All That Remained
The unending silence was one of the reasons Austin hated visiting his childhood home. It hung over the house with a heaviness that almost made it hard to breathe, welcoming him home as soon as he stepped inside. It was so total and complete in its stillness that he was convinced if he had to spend even one night here, he'd go mad.The place never used to be this gloomy, though. In fact, many of his early memories were filled with vibrant splashes of colour and sounds, and of love and happiness. But then his parents began to spend less and less time together. They'd talked even less, too. By the time his mom died five years ago, life and colour had long left the place, and all that remained were his father's regrets, missed moments, and the unceasing silence.As Austin strode down the hallway to his father's den, the thick, plush carpet swallowing the sounds of his brisk footsteps, he couldn't help but think about his own place, if it would also turn into a tomb when Marybeth left. The
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