The dreaded phone call turned into one of their ugliest fights when Levi informed his parents he had nothing new to report.
"What do you mean you didn't find her? What the hell were you doing for the last three months? No doubt fucking random whores in shady hotels. You were always irresponsible. You only had one job, Levi—to find your sister!" Charles Leviticus Van Holt Senior went berserk on him, accusing him of all sorts of crazy things, including being the most incompetent son in the world.Levi couldn't say he was surprised. Colleen was always the favourite child. A true daddy's little girl who could do no wrong in their father's eyes.She was the impulsive and reckless one of the two of them. But for some inexplicable reason, her disappearances always fell squarely on Levi's shoulders.Cynthia Strauss, his mom, tried to defend him, but Leviticus quickly shot her down, not giving her a chance to get a word in edgewise. Nobody could talk any sense into him when he was in one of his unreasonable moods.Seething at his father's harsh tone, Levi sat down and held the phone away from him.Sure, he was not the most responsible person he knew, and he certainly wouldn't be nominated for the 'Best Son In The World' award if it ever became a thing at the Oscars. But for his father to accuse him of neglecting his brotherly duties when all he'd done for six months was pour his time and energy into finding his twin was uncalled for."Father, I think we should talk some other time." Levi gritted his teeth, a sheet of red-hot anger flashing behind his eyelids. "I can't have an adult conversation with you when you keep talking to me like I'm a two-year-old. If you can't be respectful, I'm hanging up."Arrogant to a maddening degree and as stubborn as a bull, his father saw nothing wrong with his actions. He almost popped a vein at Levi's audacity for calling him out on his disrespectful attitude.So for the longest fifteen minutes of his life, Levi sat there and listened to him rant and rave about how he would personally search for his only daughter and do a bloody good job of bringing her home. But as the CEO of one of the largest hospitality groups in the country, he couldn't take time off, and that was his reason for assembling a highly specialised team to find Colleen.Levi was tempted to remind him that his highly specialised team had done shit for six months except steal millions from him. But he swallowed his caustic response with a quick swoosh of whiskey down his throat. The animosity between them was bad enough. It didn't need any accelerant to keep that fire raging.The coffee table lined with months-old tech magazines swirled in front of him as a dull pang throbbed between his eyes. He had clearly reached his limit. But he was never a quitter, so he placed his parents on speaker and finished his drink."—And you call yourself her older brother?"That one minute of seniority was a tremendous responsibility Levi was never allowed to forget."How could you not figure out she's in trouble?" his father asked as they once again found themselves at the all too familiar place, where accusations, blame, and guilt collided into an endless spiral of resentment.Levi had lost track of the number of times they'd found themselves at this juncture over the past several weeks.His father didn't understand how his 'twin radar' was so far off the mark.And Levi, while he pinched the bridge of his nose and slowly massaged away the mild beginnings of a tension headache, struggled to explain to him that his bond with Colleen wasn't some telepathic ability he could turn on and off.But as he prepared to pour himself his third shot, he was starting to believe everyone was right. He should've sensed his twin was in bad shape.There were tell-tale signs, things he hadn't shared with his parents.Levi had asked—No— He'd demanded the bastard's name. But, his twin had refused to open up, insisting the bruises and marks all over her arms and face were from her boxing class.He'd been through his fair share of bar brawls and knew a beating when he saw one, so he never believed a word she said.Someone had roughed her up.It could have been a boyfriend.Or a client, now that he knew of her connection to Dreams.No—Levi shook his head. It wasn't confirmed yet his twin was an escort, and his lack of proper intel on her entanglement with the escort agency was the only reason he'd decided to keep this latest development from his parents."I'm sorry," Levi apologised like he'd done countless times in the past at this point in the call."For what exactly this time?" His father demanded on his side, his breathing hard and heavy.A lot, Levi thought, but he didn't voice his regrets. He doubted his father would even care.He was sorry for a lot of things, though, like how he should have tried harder to reach Colleen, more so in the months leading up to her disappearance. But he was so consumed with the new game that keeping up with his twin and friends, in general, became less of a priority.His father broke through his million regrets and voiced his disappointment like he'd always done. "You've failed your sister and let me down like you always do!"And it didn't take long for him to bring up Levi's past screw-ups, starting with how he flunked his first year of business school.His father had big dreams for him, but Levi had smashed his heart to pieces when he pursued a career in programming and built his startup instead of taking over Van Holt Industries.His resentment had run so deep that he never came to support him when he launched Chassis Studios with Mark at the impressive age of twenty-three."I'm sorry we can't all be perfect like you!" Levi said, but his sarcasm was lost on his father."I don't need your apology! Find your sister, I don't care what you do, but you need to find her fast! Quit your job and put that stupid company of yours on the market if you have to! But I want your twin found!"Absolutely not, Levi bristled. He'd die first before even dreaming of giving up on Chassis. He'd poured his blood, sweat and tears into making it the fastest-growing game development studio in Rock Union."I won't quit my job or sell my company!" he informed him, his voice as cold as his hatred for the man."But I'll keep searching for Leeny," he added quickly before his father could lose his crap again.Taking any more time off was out of the question, though. As CEO, he had to lead by example. He'd neglected his duties long enough. Besides, three months was the longest he was allowed to take, and he'd already exhausted all his time off with his fruitless 'sabbatical'."Good! See that you do!" With that, Senior excused himself from the call. He still had an even bigger fire to put out. One of the group's freight trucks had jackknifed on the M1 earlier in the day and lost its load, causing a ten-car pile-up. It was the worst road accident in the history of the company.The last time Levi checked the news during his flight home from following up on yet another sighting of his sister—this time in Berlin—loss of life had stood at twenty-five."Honey—"Levi relaxed at the sound of his mom's voice. He sprawled out on the couch and rested his head on the armrest. Lying down seemed to be just the cure for his headache. He felt so much better already."He didn't mean any of it. He's dealing with a lot at the moment. The shareholders have been giving him a hard time. They think the company is not evolving and innovating fast enough. They want new blood."Levi understood what she meant by 'new blood', so he ignored her. He'd made it clear to all concerned that he wanted no part of the family fortune, and it wasn't only because of the rift with his father. He had no interest in the hospitality industry; it would be unfair and a great disservice to lead the group when his heart wasn't in it."And now this terrible accident," his mom carried on with her futile attempt to smooth things over. "Give him time. He's under a lot of stress."Levi smiled, a little sad to see that even though he'd been gone for three months, a lot hadn't changed, especially his mom's knack for making excuses for his father."Mom, he's an asshole!""Levi, you can't say that. He's worried about your sister. But he can't do much to help with the search since he's fighting to keep his position as CEO.""It says a lot about his priorities as a father, don't you think?"His mom brushed off his comment, blew her nose, and wailed. "Do you think Leeny's still alive? Why haven't we heard from her? Where is she?""She'll be back. You know her. She's probably swimming with the whales somewhere," Levi lied. His twin radar may be malfunctioning, but nothing would stop his little sister from reaching out to him if she was fine."What if she's not? What if something terrible happened to her? I'm telling you something bad has happened to her. I can't sense her anywhere. Call it a mother's intuition.""Mom, don't think like that, okay?" Levi said gently and coached her through her anxiety which could easily spiral into a full-blown panic attack if he didn't rein it in quickly. "Now, take deep, slow breaths. Hold for five seconds. And release. Nice and slow."All Levi heard for a little while was the sound of his mom's shaky breathing as she followed his instructions and let his voice guide her out of her distress.When she spoke again, she almost sounded like her usual composed self. "How are you doing, honey? Still seeing that girl, Chloe-What's-Her-Name?"No, Chloe Lennard left him the first chance she got. She wouldn't stick around for his bullshit.As the hottest new thing to hit the world of lingerie modelling, she had millions of fans ready and willing to make her their number one priority. She was way too gorgeous to compete with Chassis Studios for his time.The last time Levi checked, she was fucking Julian, Liam Anderson's cousin and one of the heirs to the Anderson Logistics fortune.Barely able to keep his eyes open and his speech more than a little slurred now, he informed his mom, "we broke up.""I'm sorry, honey. The right woman will come along.""Sure," he mumbled, but he wasn't holding his breath. Not with his track record of shitty relationships. Besides, his life was already complicated enough with trying to find Colleen.He hung up after promising his mom he'd check in daily.He'd talk with her ten times a day, any day. His father, on the other hand, was a different story. The less they spoke, the better.Mildly drunk and dog-tired, Levi was tempted to sleep in his office after the phone call with his parents.The idea of spending the night on a couch that wasn't as comfortable as his king-size bed, though, did not make business sense, whichever way he looked at it. So he threw on his jacket, grabbed his bags and headed out.Dozing off in the lobby in one of Mark's new fancy chairs, Sol jerked awake at the sound of his footsteps, smiling sleepily. "Mr Van Holt, are you off, sir?""Yes. See you later, Sol!" Levi waved goodbye, pushed the emergency exit door and ran down the two flights of stairs to his reserved parking spot in the basement.His Porsche Cayenne didn't look too bad for a car parked in a dusty basement for over three months, but stopping by the car wash one of the days wouldn't hurt.Twenty minutes later, Levi was at his penthouse in Green Point, a plush neighbourhood north of Rock Castle.He hadn't been home in a while, but the place looked as pristine as he'd left it mont
Plagued by worry for her brother and tempted by Emily's offer, sleep didn't come easy for Natalie that night.She wriggled about in her bed for a while, trying to get into a comfortable position before giving up any illusions she had about getting a peaceful night's rest.She sat up, turned on the light on her nightstand, and reached for her phone, her heart bleeding a little at the massive crack on the screen. She still had eighteen months of payments left on the contract, and now with Jamie's medical expenses, it would be a while before she could get it fixed.The group chat with all her friends back home was dead. Nothing new in Sparrow Beach. No salacious gossip or groundbreaking scandals.Disappointed, Natalie scrolled through the Hot Connexions App.Only one of the eight 'connexion' suggestions was her type. Swiping left on her screen, she turned down the seven and focused all her attention on Lucas Southey.Not his real name, of course.They never used their real names.But he t
Recruitment exceeded Natalie's expectations with their turnaround time.The owner of Dreams personally called her from an undisclosed phone number hours after she sent through her application. But thinking it was a sales consultant trying to sell her life insurance she couldn't afford, Natalie ignored the three consecutive calls and poured all her energy into the graphs and pie charts in her report.Around midday, as she was about to head to the staff canteen on the ground floor to grab something to eat, her phone rang again.This time she picked up, and she wasn't very nice. "No, I don't want any life insurance, and I don't have any friends I can refer you to. So can you please stop badgering me with all these calls?""I like your fire, doll!" A breathy voice purred on the other end of the line. "This is Aunty Viv. I've tried three times this morning to reach you.""Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I thought it was the telemarketers," Natalie apologised, convinced she'd blown her chances
When the clock struck 5:00 PM the day after Natalie met with Aunty Viv, she was thrilled to finally lock her work laptop away in her cabinet.She'd had a mother of a day with too many reverts on her reports and didn't plan to work overtime tonight. She'd given Chassis enough of her time already."Atta girl!" Emily nodded her approval. She never worked overtime.She dropped Natalie off at a boutique in Rock Castle for the start of her three-day program.As Natalie tried on the outfits Aunty Viv had picked, she wondered if all escort agencies offered training or only those catering to a wealthy clientele.The clothes were stylish and elegant. Nothing like the slutty dresses Natalie had imagined she would have to wear. But the price tag on each outfit was enough to send her into a mini-crisis and the nearest Medi Clinic for heart failure."I can't afford this!" she told the store clerk when she saw the invoice."Don't worry; Vivienne took care of it.""Thank you!" Natalie nodded as she re
Emily was pretty smashed when they left Crush, the upscale nightclub where she'd blown thousands of rands on drinks and food in a matter of hours.No matter how loudly she proclaimed to be 'super', anyone with a shred of common sense could see she was in no condition to be behind the wheel.Natalie couldn't take them home either since she couldn't drive. It was one of the things she always meant to learn, but like her new sofa and wallpaper had somehow slipped further down her bucket list."I can take us home, I promise!" Emily teetered on her feet as she reached up to snatch back her car keys.She would have fallen face down if it wasn't for Natalie's quick reaction time. The two cocktails she'd nursed throughout the night hadn't dulled her senses. She caught her swiftly and propped her up against the pole light on the pavement."Sit here and be good," she said as she glanced around and bit her nails, thinking up a plan to get them home.She'd already taken too many Ubers this week be
The jarring sound of a phone vibrating somewhere in the room jerked Natalie awake. Eyes still tightly shut in an attempt to hold on to sleep, she reached out from underneath the covers, her fingers fumbling on the nightstand.Bleary-eyed, she peered at her phone, frowning when all she saw was a black screen. The darn thing had died at some point between arriving home and passing out after settling a rowdy Emily in for the night."Em, can you get that, please?" she said, nudging her friend with her elbow.Emily groaned and pulled the duvet over her head, making no effort to silence the offending noise."Ugh, you need to leave. You've overstayed your welcome!" Natalie snapped when it became clear she wouldn't go back to sleep anytime soon.She leaned over and snatched her friend's phone from the side table. "Hello, Natalie speaking, Emily's sleeping.""Natalie, it's Aunty Viv. Why are you answering Emily's phone?"Natalie spent a few minutes explaining to her new boss that they'd gone h
Emily's phone conversation didn't seem to be going well when Natalie returned to the room forty minutes later, wearing a fluffy white robe and a matching towel wrapped around her head.From the way she frowned, pouted and gestured wildly with her hands as she launched into a lengthy explanation of why she had to drop the gala at the last minute, Natalie figured she was chatting with Paul, and he was giving her a hell of a time.She pulled away from the conversation long enough to fangirl over Natalie's colourful unicorn slippers."Aw, unicorns! They're so pretty. I want them!" she gushed, blowing kisses at her feet as she left the room to continue her chat in the lounge.Natalie laughed and turned to her closet. The slippers were a farewell gift from her brother. They were supposed to bring magic into her life. She was still waiting.She sighed with despair as she scanned the row of inexpensive clothes hung in a neat line. Half of the outfits were corporate wear, and the other, a bunch
Pushing her uneasiness aside, Natalie walked around the room, trying out the shoes. They were more comfortable than any pair she'd ever owned.Now that she knew the difference between cheap and expensive shoes, there was no going back. But after she got Jamie a new kidney."I feel like a princess!" she giggled, giddy with excitement and anticipation. "Where's my tiara?""Coming right up."But it wasn't a tiara. It was a statement necklace.Natalie had never seen so many diamonds in one place, so she had to ask. "Is it insured? What if I lose it?""Of course, Paul's insured it!" Emily nodded. "But I doubt Clooney and his crew plan to stop by The Empress tonight to pull off the heist of a century.""But—""Stop worrying and be good. Let's put this on."The necklace felt heavy and cold on her bare skin, but Natalie loved how it glistened in the afternoon sunlight. She liked shiny things. They were her favourite."Now, let's go over tonight." Emily led her to the bed and told her what to e