3|Screw Destiny

At a high-rise apartment across town in Pelican Surf, north of the Clifton Bay peninsula, with the pristine backdrop of the ocean and the Blue Mountains in the distance, Austin stared at his phone for a moment longer than necessary, since he'd already hung up on his future wife.

He found it laughable that she thought she could weasel her way out of their arrangement on their wedding day. Considering the amount of money her father owed him, she was lucky he'd offered her an all-inclusive vacation, away from her miserable life.

Who in their right mind refused a paid vacation?

Who did Marybeth Tyson think she was?

"Daddy! Who was it?" Orlando touched his arm lightly, demanding his attention as she stared up at him with the sapphire eyes she shared with Iris, the only woman he'd foolishly believed he'd spend forever with. But fate had to brutally rip that crazy notion from him and show him forever didn't exist when she was killed in a hail of bullets four years ago, exactly two weeks before their wedding day and one month before Orlando's second birthday—

"Daddy. Was it the new housekeeper?" Orlando tugged at his arm again, shattering the spell his painful past had long woven over him.

"It's a little more complicated than that, Orly," he said, crouching to her level to pat her wavy brown hair, the only thing she inherited from him. "She's more than a housekeeper."

"So she's not like Mrs Allan?" Orlando asked.

Austin shook his head. After Iris died—his life was now permanently divided into two parts: before and after Iris died—Mrs Allan, his long-time housekeeper, had practically helped him raise his little girl. Now that she'd moved back to Rock Union to be closer to her family, he needed a full-time companion for Orlando. Not a nanny or a helper. But a full-time companion. And that's where Tyson's daughter came in.

Who knew that the bastard begging for an extension on his gambling debt would be a blessing in disguise? And when the old fool offered his only child as collateral to buy himself more time, Austin knew he'd be an idiot to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Surprisingly, despite having a crook for a father, Marybeth's background had come back clean. She was easy on the eyes, too—

"So is she like Elizabeth then?"

Austin shook his head again. As efficient as his assistant was at her job and running his life like a well-oiled machine, he doubted she knew anything about children. Not with that cold and aloof demeanour of hers she wore like a second skin. Marybeth, on the other hand, came with a wealth of knowledge and experience in that department. It helped that she had that comforting, motherly look. The very thing he wanted for his daughter's companion. The very thing his father would be looking for when he met her today after their surprise wedding.

"No, sweetheart, she isn't like Elizabeth. She's a—"

What the hell was she? Austin thought frantically, trying to find the right words to describe his relationship with the woman he was yet to meet.

"A friend?" Orlando offered helpfully.

Austin clapped his hands in agreement, "Yes! That's exactly it! She's a special friend. In fact, you already know her."

"I do?"

"Yeah, you do," Austin nodded.

"When? How do I know her? Who is she, Daddy? Tell me, tell me!" Orlando shrieked, anticipation and glee dancing in her eyes.

"It's your music teacher at the Rec Centre—"

Austin had barely finished his announcement when Orlando threw her arms around his waist and squealed her delight. "For real? Ms Tyson, is your special friend?"

He laughed and ruffled her hair. "Yes, she is. And she'll be staying with us for a while."

"How long is a while?" Orlando scrunched up her heart-shaped face as she held his hands and stepped onto his bare feet. "Is it like forever?"

He stopped believing in forever four years ago. But he liked the idea of a long-term solution. As long as he and Marybeth stuck to the terms of their arrangement, with room to have their separate lives if needed, there was no reason why her vacation couldn't be extended to something a little longer than the year her father had promised to pay off his debt.

"Yes, darling, it's like forever." Austin smiled as they began to move around the room in a clumsy father-daughter dance, with Orlando giggling like crazy every time he threw her in the air. He found it cute, but somewhat worrisome, that after three years of dedication to her insanely-priced weekly dance lessons, she still had two left feet.

"Again!" she screeched, her laughter growing louder with each hurl up the air.

"Come on, Squeak, time to get ready," Austin said as he caught her mid-air one last time and set her down.

He knelt in front of her and kissed her forehead. "I have to sign some documents with Marybeth in a few hours."

"What's 'documents'?" Orlando asked, her face aglow with curiosity.

"It's papers that will allow Marybeth to come and live with us for as long as we need her. With Mrs Allan gone, Marybeth will be looking after both of us. But you the most when I have to work late or leave the country. So we have to be good to her, okay, Orly? We must treat her with kindness and respect at all times, alright?"

Orlando bobbed her head quickly and pecked him on the cheek, before dashing to her room to prepare for her ballet class.

"Don't take too long. Neli's mom will be here soon," he called after her.

"Okay, Daddy. I love you!"

"I love you more, Squeak!" Austin said as he headed to his room to prepare for his contract marriage.

He sat on the edge of the bed and leafed through the dossier on Marybeth. He had well over three months to study her when her father put her up as collateral. Of course, three months ago, he had faith in Tyson. He didn't think things would come down to the wire. His life, too, was perfect back then. He had Mrs Allan, and a wife had remained a vague notion at the back of his mind. One he never thought he'd ever have to entertain, because despite pushing sixty, Mrs Allan had a youthfulness about her. Sometimes they'd even joke she was immortal, because she never seemed to age a day, even when the years seemed to hurtle forward at breakneck speeds.

It was all fun and games. Until it wasn't. Until the start of autumn, when Mrs Allan took that nasty tumble down the stairs, and they were suddenly confronted with her fragile mortality. Despite all medical efforts and physiotherapy thrown at her recovery, the doctors had informed them her hip injury would never heal completely, and Austin had to let her go.

It broke his heart—maybe Orlando's more—when they took her to the airport last month and shipped her off to Rock Union.

Now, here he was, about to marry a woman he'd never met, a woman whose existence he wouldn't have known of if it weren't for her father's rotten luck.

Austin could only hope the notes he'd compiled on himself would be sufficient for Marybeth to pass her first test with flying colours when she met his father and the rest of the family after their civil ceremony.

His phone chimed on the bed as he was about to step into the bathroom to shower. He knew without checking it was Tim, his cousin and one of his three capos. No one else ever sent him frantic back-to-back texts.

As his witness-slash-best man, Tim was far more anxious than him, and a simple message confirming he wasn't having second thoughts wouldn't cut it. So, Austin dialled his number. Tim picked up on the second ring, almost as if he'd been watching his phone like a hawk, waiting anxiously for the call.

"It's not too late to call this shit off!" He rasped out as soon as their lines connected. His voice wasn't always hoarse, but years of chain-smoking, sometimes two boxes a day, had finally caught up with him.

"Now, why would I do that?" Austin asked, a little too casually for someone tying the knot with a total stranger in a few hours. "I like Beth. She's perfect for the job."

"Your father won't buy it. You can't suddenly spring this on him. You know he has to vet all the women in the family—"

"That's exactly why Marybeth is perfect. She doesn't have ties to The Corporation. They can't use her as a bargaining chip or pawn in their play for power."

"Austin!" Tim inhaled sharply. "This isn't right. She's innocent. She doesn't belong in our world. She's a teacher, for heaven's sake!"

"How I love the smell of innocence." Austin sniffed the air dramatically and laughed. "Besides, you agreed she's a good fit for Orly—"

Tim cut in sourly. "That was on paper. I said she has all the mothering qualities needed for the job. I didn't think you'd actually go through with it. Listen, Liliana can help you until you find a suitable nanny."

"Liliana's taking too much heat since the Bangkok incident. I can't have cops sniffing around Orly."

"I'll help you then," Tim offered.

"When? How? You hardly have time for Liliana, and we both know you have your work cut out with the De Jagers."

"I still say cut them loose," Tim reiterated his famous plan. "I mean, we all know after Iris, they'll never trust us again. They can't even bring themselves to have a relationship with Orly, and she's their only grandkid!"

"That's because she reminds them of everything they lost. We can't blame them for not wanting to have a relationship with Orly. Iris' death did a number on all of us—"

"Austin," Tim grumbled. "They've been threatening to pull out of the alliance for a while now. We can't work with them if they are constantly indecisive. They need to be all in or get the hell out."

"And you know damn well why we can't let them go. They know too many of our secrets, enough to bring down The Corporation. It doesn't help that they own Rosendal and Waterford. Our casino there won't thrive without their say-so. Tim, I need you to make this mess go away. Find out what it will take to put this nonsense to bed. Their discontent is making the other families antsy," Austin said, sighing in frustration as he sat back down. Sure, it wasn't an ideal union, but he didn't want to talk shop on his big day. "Anyway, I have to get ready. The wedding is happening. And as my right-hand man, I need your buy-in on this. I can't face the family on my own if you're not on board."

"But you know this isn't how we do things. Look at Liliana and me. Do you think I wanted her? Hell, I didn't even want a wife. But it was destiny. Our union was written in blood long before we were born!" Tim ranted one last time and hung up.

"Screw destiny. It's time for some radical transformation," Austin muttered as he stepped inside his bathroom to start his day.