Thank you to everybody who read or left kudos for the last section. I appreciate every bit of feedback I get. I needed more now that we are approaching the endgame.

I'm sorry this update is very late. About a month ago, my dad had a heart attack, and I've been away taking care of him.

Chapter 96: Another day, Another Catastrophe

Early morning London time, September 24, 2010

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: I am sending you these messages before I sleep for the night. Marc is going to the Rafael and The Sahara K shows. He is also doing drinks with the Crimson Diamond group tonight to finalize the deal. He is bringing Candy and Chloe with him.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: I need you to ensure that your boss does not go near the restaurant once reservations are confirmed. I think Candy will try to pass that intel on to you sometime today. Last I heard, your boss is going to the Rafael show.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: How did dinner with the dads go last night? I am going to bed and putting the phone in do-not-disturb mode. If something terrible is happening, call Team Jerry. I know someone passed you a burn phone just for them.

Ana: Yep, I have the phone for the PI team. Thanks for the heads-up. I'm sorry for replying to this while you're sleeping—at least, I hope you're sleeping.

Ana: Drinks went well in the sense that Spencer didn't try to punch Mr. Tanen when he made snide comments about Spencer missing most of Amanda's childhood. There's some animosity there.

Ana: Also, thanks for the warning about the Rafael show. Yes, she is still going. Thankfully, I think you'll be awake before that show, and you can warn somebody. Now, I think Candy should have been my contact. At least we're up at the same time. But that would be too suspicious.

Ana: I will text the PI team just to be safe.

Ana: Thankfully, Victoria does not question things when they go her way. She did not ask how I was able to get my hands on the birth certificate so quickly. She still thinks Lindsey's assistant got me into this hotel.

Ana: Now, she wants to have breakfast at my hotel before the day's first show. Thankfully, Sumreen is covering it for Mode UK.

Ana: Sumreen is the only staff member who doesn't want to stab the woman in the heart with a stiletto.

Ana: Is DJ going to be with her? She really hates her former sister-in-law's stepson. We all want to avoid a repeat of what happened Wednesday.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: Hey, I'm up. Thanks for checking in. I am glad she still trusts you implicitly. That is a good thing.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: I hope the dragon bitch did not end up interacting with the fathers this morning.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: I'm letting Candy know that DJ should stay away from that show. He's a fearless teenager. He would absolutely go off on Victoria.

Ana: That is something we want to avoid.

Ana: We did have the misfortune of being in the restaurant at the same time as the dads. Fortunately, Marc was not there. They knew to pretend not to know me. Victoria accosted Spencer when he left the bathroom, but they got out quickly after that. I don't know what she said because I was too far away, but it was enough to make him flee.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: It's probably nothing good. I will text my aunt. She is friends with Spencer, and it won't look weird for her to check-in. They've known each other longer than Amanda has been alive.

Ana: Good. I'll let you or the PI team know if my boss does anything stupid today.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: Thank you for that.

Ana: FYI, we're supposed to be returning to New York Saturday. Lindsey made it clear he's doing Paris Fashion Week on his own. He is also sending a sitter from the London offices to be Junior creative Director. Victoria was pouting about it until she got a message from one of her friends.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: Do you think somebody finally told her about the body in Pennsylvania? George's disappearances all over the local news here. She might be coming back to fix things before we get DNA confirmation.

Ana: Probably. It seems possible with how angry she is right now. I need to keep her from throwing a stiletto at your aunt's sister.

Assistant to Ms. West-Hartley: I wish you luck.

Xxx

Viv: Hi, I wanted to check in on you. I hope all is well with the hotel and with Amanda. How are the twins doing? Did you get my present?

Spencer: Yes, the balloons were lovely. Amanda is doing well. She'll be discharged later today and may end up in the hotel room next to us, as the baby suite must be cleared for its new occupant. She wants to stay close to the twins until they are discharged.

Viv: That is understandable. When do you think the babies will get to go home?

Spencer: Hopefully, sometime next week. The sooner, the better. Victoria has a mole at the hospital.

Viv: I heard.

Spencer: Who knows what information she is being fed? You should know that I encountered Victoria Hartley at the hotel this morning. We told a lot of the hospital staff where we were staying, so I wouldn't be surprised if her mole told her where we were.

Viv: Or she could assume you would be there since it is one of my hotels. I'm not surprised she showed up, though. Thank you for waiting to tell me until it was a decent time of day in New York.

Spencer: I got distracted by baby cuddles, which made me forget about the big witch. I really wish she would just stop being mad at Amanda. Matt's with somebody else now. I am grateful to the universe for making my grandchildren Meades and not Hartleys.

Viv: The universe works in mysterious ways. What did she say to you? I want to give security a reason why she is banned from the property.

Spencer: More threats to keep Amanda in line. Again, this seems bizarre, given that the twins are not even her grandchildren.

Viv: You should have a conversation about that with Amanda or Daniel. Victoria has her reasons, and I can't tell them to you in text message form.

Spencer: I just figured out what you're not telling me. I am not going to write it out in this message. Now, I understand why Mr. Tanen likes Daniel even though he is marrying someone else.

Viv: The Tanens are pro-polygamy, so that does not bother them at all. Right now, I'm annoyed that Victoria is trying to intimidate you again. You think she wouldn't try again after you told her no last time.

Spencer: She assumes it is because I thought she was bluffing. Now she knows that I'm aware she can get me fired without trying. She already did it once.

Viv: Yes, but she has less influence now. At least less in London. Mainly because you are now under my protection.

Spencer: This is true.

Viv: The security team is watching and will intervene if she tries to get closer to you again.

Spencer: Thank you for that.

Viv: Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way, I want to see baby pictures. I have yet to receive anywhere near enough. My own children have been neglecting to send them to me.

Spencer: [12 pictures attached]

Spencer: These are from yesterday. DJ got a lot of great pictures of me holding Alejandra. However, no one was around to take photos of me with baby Marc today.

Viv: Not even your fellow grandfather?

Spencer: I am not asking him for any favors. He hates me.

Viv: Really?

Spencer: He makes me feel guilty for not being here for the last 27 years of Amanda's life.

Viv: You didn't know. You weren't trying to be a deadbeat dad on purpose. You would have been there if you knew.

Spencer: I would like to think that, but I was on a lot of drugs back then.

Viv: You would have to be for you to have sex with a woman.

Spencer: I was still deep in the closet at the time. Which may have been why I did so many drugs. I'm better now.

Viv: Which I am entirely grateful for. I think you're my only friend from that time that is still here.

Spencer: I wonder if I could have raised Amanda by myself. The '80s were such a mess. My community was dying around me. I buried half of my friends before Amanda was five. I spent most of the 80s wondering if I would be next. I did not even have my acting breakthrough until 92, and I had to sacrifice myself to get it.

Viv: You could have done it. I would have helped you through it. You know I'm a professional foster mom.

Spencer: I know.

Viv: Do you think it's possible that Mr. Tanen doesn't hate you, but you're just dealing with your own guilt?

Spencer: Possibly.

Viv: Or maybe you are dealing with your own resentment that he got to raise Amanda and you didn't?

Spencer: Also, a possibility.

Viv: You two share a child, and granted, she's too old for co-parenting, but you do share grandchildren, so you need to get along. It is best to talk things out instead of letting it fester.

Spencer: Someday I will do that, just not right now.

Viv: Fair. Keep me posted. My sister says she is going to pop by the hospital at some point before she leaves for Paris fashion week. I am sure she will be happy to take pictures for you.

Spencer: I would appreciate it.

Xx

#1 Love: I met Faye's niece last night. She looks just like Amanda only a little older.

Stephanie: How did that happen?

#1 Love: Her boss is in town for fashion week, and she got stuck at our hotel. I think Marc asked her to entertain us.

Stephanie: He's probably tired of you constantly arguing with Spencer. I don't blame him for wanting a break.

#1 Love: We are not arguing all the time.

Stephanie: Marc has been messaging me. I know better.

#1 Love: Of course he is.

Stephanie: Mostly, he's been sending baby pictures, but there's been some comments about you and Spencer. There was also video of fighting about the twins last night. Marc misses his daughter and wishes the custody situation was better so Marc could be with her right now.

#1 Love: Marc found his daughter after six months. It took Spencer nearly 28 years.

Stephanie: That was Faith's fault not his. Just try to get along.

#1 Love: I really wish you were not stuck working.

Stephanie: I am currently rearranging clients to get to London next week.

#1 Love: I am grateful for that.

Xxxx

Austin is not quite sure how to categorize the last few days of his life. He's happy he's an uncle but sad he can't tell anybody about the twins outside his friend group. He also woke up to tons of baby pictures from DJ. His niece and nephew are absolutely adorable.

At the same time, he is dealing with the fact that his stepfather's body was found this week. Or at least what they believe was his stepfather's body. It will still be a few days before the DNA test confirms everything. His mom is also still missing. Thankfully, the cadaver dogs have not found another body.

However, with Jerry's team canvassing the old neighborhood, too many people knew about the situation with his family. For the last day, he has been getting tons of text messages and DMs from his old neighbors. Let's just say he's grateful for Stephanie's new cell phone rule because he can't deal with another condolence message regarding "the missing" George.

Austin left his phone behind in Stephanie's lockbox when class ended. Unfortunately, Antonella brought it to him.

"You left your phone behind," Antonella said as she tried to pass his phone back to him.

"That was intentional," Austin replied without grabbing it from her. "The whole neighborhood knows too much, and I can't deal with more messages about how good of a father George was. He was an abusive, manipulative ass hole."

"I can understand how, under the circumstances, that would be hard to deal with. How do they know about him? I thought grandma was keeping everything quiet."

"The aunt is not and George being missing is now public knowledge. Also, the private investigating team is canvassing my old building so everybody knows that Mom and George never made it to Chicago," Austin explained.

"Everybody's offering you their condolences about your mother?" Antonella asked.

"Worse, George. Which I can't deal with at all."

"Nor should you. Just delete everything without reading." Antonella suggested.

"I can't do that. What if somebody saw something, and I need to pass it on to the detective team?" Austin was worried about that possibility.

"I would say it's their fault for telling you and not Jerry's team like they should," Antonella replied.

"A lot of the people in my building don't trust the cops and I think that extends to private investigators hired by billionaires," Austin argued.

"Probably especially private investigators hired by billionaires," Antonella added.

"Exactly."

"OK, put your password in." Antonella held out his phone again.

"Why?"

"I'm going to filter your messages for the day," Antonella explained. "If there's something important, I'll pass it on to team Jerry."

"Thank you," Austin said as he unlocks the phone and hands it to Antonella. "It's already set to not lock again unless you press the button."

"I doubt I'll get anything useful, but I'm glad to help," Antonella says just as Austin started to make his way to the elevator, but Antonella stopped him before he hit the button.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you that Cory says you can work from the intern suite today. Cory thought you would prefer to be away from other people." Antonella explained.

"He's not wrong."

Austin is very thankful to be working away from his brother right now. He was a little smothering at the moment. Of course, Matt being concerned about him is keeping him from worrying about the twins, so that is a positive.

Once they reach the intern suite, Austin settles into the desk across from Justin's. Unfortunately, his boyfriend is in the Friday editors' meeting. Antonella is too low-level to be required to attend, but Justin is not.

Halfway through proofreading one of the December articles that needed too many edits for a professional writer, Antonella disrupted Austin.

"Didn't you tell me George was too cheap to hire movers?" Antonella asked.

"Yep, that's why there's so much stuff in storage. George didn't want to pay for movers. It was cheaper in his mind to just get new things. They could only take what they could in the van." Austin explains with a role of his eyes.

"Did that include putting George's things into storage?" Antonella asked.

"I think all his favorite things were in the keep pile. I don't know for sure because I was out of the house before the final packing." He was grateful for that because the house was already a war zone by the time Tiffany signed over custody of him to Vivian. Austin was sure the last few days were much worse.

"Mrs. Rodriguez just sent me a picture of your mom and the bastard in front of their moving truck. She thought you would like to have one of the last pictures of your mom."

He quickly grabs the phone from Antonella to see that's precisely what it is. His mother stood before the trust-a-bro moving truck with George's arm around her. She looked stressed out. A mover could be seen sitting in the cab. Austin was stunned because George was so against movers. What changed?

"I'll send this to Jerry's team and ask Mrs. Rodriguez if she has other pictures. This is suspicious, considering what you told me."

"Can you tell them that George was adamant about not paying for movers in the days before I went to live with Vivian?"

"I already put that in my message." Antonella tells him. His friend is always one step of head. "It's possible the fake job decided to throw in fake movers. Although why, I'm not sure."

"Victoria's plan to move me to Chicago before Cal found out about me fell apart and she obviously added the moving crew to take out my mom as punishment for defying Victoria," Austin suggested.

"You don't know that. The body that was found was George's. It's possible George accidentally chose Mafia movers because he's always super cheap. The name of that moving company seems like something that would be a front for the mob," Antonella suggested.

Before Austin could retort, Justin made his way into the intern suite. He quickly went over to kiss Austin. He was grateful for the kiss because Austin needed it right now.

"I hate attending staff meetings that could have just been an email. Especially with Marc in another country, the team doesn't want to make any major decisions without checking in with him first. This is difficult to do with him six hours ahead and busy at shows. I would much rather spend time with you. I'm glad you're here. Did Cory give you special permission to work with us today?" Justin asked.

"Yes, mostly because everybody will figure out we are related if I'm around Matt right now. I'd rather be with you anyway." Austin pulled Justin in for another kiss. Because Antonello was accommodating, they could kiss as much as they wanted in the intern suite.

"Because only a sibling would punch Matt for being an idiot, especially when he is there superior," Antonella commented as Austin's phone beeped again.

"Mrs. Rodriguez has more pictures, one of which includes a partial license plate number. Jerry is going to be pleased." Antonella holds the phone up for him.

"What's going on? Why are you filtering Austin's text messages?" Justin asked.

"Thanks to Jerry's team canvassing the old neighborhood, I've been getting too many text messages and DMs from the neighbors. Antonella's watching my phone," Austin explained.

"Thankfully, we got something good from Mrs. Rodriguez. She has pictures of the moving van." Antonella added.

"I distinctly remember you telling me George was too cheap for movers," Justin remarked.

"Obviously, that changed. I wouldn't be surprised if Victoria threw in movers to get him out faster." Austin could see that as a possibility, although most likely, they were there to do the dirty work.

"How can your entire neighborhood get a hold of you?" Justin asked. "This is a new phone number." Austin had been wondering about that as well.

"I gave the new number to Mrs. Rodriguez, and maybe she gave it to some of the other neighbors. A whole lot of the others have been reaching out through Facebook." He's been ignoring most of that. He was about three condolence messages from shutting the account down.

"Grandma set it up so calls and text messages from your old number would come to this one. Don't ask me how she did it. It's one of those things rich people can do." Antonella explained.

"Maybe you can have her switch it to everything going to the private investigating team directly? Then they can send anything personal to Austin." Justin suggested.

"That works for me. I'll talk to Grandma's assistant. I was not looking forward to accidentally reading your explicit messages to your boyfriend." Antonella told the couple.

"I'll have you know that I do not sext during work hours," Justin said in mock offense.

"Yes, but just during work hours." Antonella joked.

"She's not wrong." Austin shrugged as he went back to work.

Xxx

Claire was exhausted after the week she had and was grateful it was Friday. She endured multiple sleepless nights this week because of the birth of her grandbabies. Although her beautiful new grandbabies were worth the sleeplessness. Unfortunately, Victoria Hartley was also causing much sleeplessness and keeping Claire in New York away from the twins.

Victoria, being the new owner of Isabella Press, has been creating all sorts of headaches for everyone at Meade outside of the woman's surprise appearance at London Fashion Week. Thankfully, they were no longer losing personnel to the company. However, Victoria Hartley has already alienated several advertisers, and they were jumping to Meade publications. This meant more meetings for Claire when she just wanted to watch videos of the twins and check in to see how Betty's meeting with her immigration lawyer went. If she was doing the time difference conversion correctly, that meeting was actually happening right now.

Victoria was also why Claire was forced to spend half of the morning being interviewed by the team investigating Tiffany's disappearance. After spending two hours answering questions about her former lover, their secret child, and his unhinged ex-wife, Claire was 100% done. Therefore, she was annoyed to see a gigantic cookie bouquet waiting on her assistance desk, congratulating her on the arrival of her grandchildren—mostly because she knew who it was from.

"It's from Cal, isn't it?" Claire asked her assistant Gianni.

"Yes."

"Of course, he sent something." Claire just sighed. It wasn't the first time. Although Amanda was around to receive most of the breakup apology baskets.

"Which office break room do you want me to deposit it in?" Gianni already knew that Claire wanted nothing to do with any gift from her ex.

"Player." Matt should enjoy what his father paid for.

"Good choice. I think their office would appreciate the cookies more than Mode." Gianni joked.

"Not with how much Monique has been feeding that office lately. Although maybe take out the baby bottle-shaped cookies before taking it down there." Claire doesn't hate Matt and doesn't want to rub the current situation in his face. From conversations with Tyler, she knows he really cared about the babies and is sad that the paternity test turned out the way it did. The man isn't his father.

"Do you also want me to take care of the card?" That was Gianni's kind way of asking if Claire wanted her to shred the thing. Gianni hasn't been with her long, but she was already very good at her job.

"Did you read it?" Claire asked.

"Just enough to know, it's an apology gift from your ex."

"No, I will take care of it myself," Claire said as she grabbed the card and walked into her office.

She should have dialed Corbin, but she wanted to do this herself. She needed to do it because, due to Austin and Tyler, her ex would continuously float around in her orbit. Of course, after 5 minutes of trying to call him and being unsuccessful, Claire decided that a text message would be best.

xxx

Alexis Junior's grandmother: Please stop sending me apology cookie baskets. They're less ridiculous than the death threat roses your ex-wife sends but unnecessary. I've given them to your son's office. I hope they enjoy it.

Cal: I just want to congratulate you on the safe arrival of your grandchildren. I thought we were in a place where I could at least do that. However, please remove the baby-related cookies from the basket before giving them to Matt.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: We are not. Also, I'm not that cruel. Of course, I had Gianni take the baby-related stuff out. I'm not your ex-wife. I just had to spend two hours with the private investigators because of that woman.

Cal: This is all the more reason why you deserve an apology gift basket. It's the least I can do. I was considering offering you and Tyler a flight to London, but I realize neither of you would want to be on a jet with me for six hours.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: Or ever. We said all we needed to each other last spring. Apology gifts are unnecessary because, by this point, I'm well aware that they're meaningless coming from you.

Cal: It would be so much easier if we could ignore each other, but you know that's not possible. Alexis Junior invited me to a very London Christmas, which means we need to get along for her sake. I don't want to disappoint my niece.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: I just realized my granddaughter is your niece and that means unfortunately we are going to have to spend more time around one another. I also just realized you knew about that for the entirety of our relationship but didn't tell me.

Cal: It wasn't my secret to tell. I tried to get Brianna to tell you, but my sister wasn't ready for Alexis Senior to know. I respected her wishes.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: This led to a child being without her other parent for five years.

Cal: Which was still a lot sooner than when you told me about Tyler. (Message not sent)

Cal: While true, your daughter could've reached out to Brianna. Alexis Junior's existence was public record. It wasn't like Breanna was sleeping around with everybody. Alexis should realize that Brianna's daughter was hers.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: You're right. Even if it wasn't public record, I was with Brianna when she found out she was pregnant. She let me stay for the ultrasound, which on its own should've made me suspicious.

Cal: It should have.

Cal: Did you at least read the card before you had your assistant take the basket down to Matt?

Alexis Junior's grandmother: Not yet. I decided to call you before shredding the thing.

Cal: I hope you read it. But if you don't, I just want to apologize for how I reacted when you told me about Tyler. I was an idiot, and I'm sorry. He's a wonderful young man, and I'm grateful he didn't deck me last week.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: He should have. But you both had your mutual enemy in Victoria.

Cal: I am aware.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: I don't know if I can accept your apology. Your previous behavior tells me that it's just pretty words you don't mean.

Cal: How do I prove that I'm genuinely sorry? You're aware I would publicly acknowledge Tyler if he wanted me to.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: Which isn't safe right now. I don't know what else you could do. For now, just be there for Austin during the search for Tiffany, as much as he will let you anyway. I heard you went looking for Tiffany in Pennsylvania. I was pleasantly surprised.

Cal: It's the least I can do. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything but George's body. Considering how awful I've heard the man to be, I hope she did it.

Cal: At least that would mean she would still be alive. (Message not sent.)

Alexis Junior's grandmother: At least going to Pennsylvania was a good first step. I also heard from Tyler what happened last Friday. That was another important first step.

Cal: I've been self-reflecting these last few weeks after discovering Austin and dealing with Tiffany's disappearance. I know I made mistakes. I'm trying to do better. I realize we will be in each other's lives for a while because of Alexis Junior and the twins. One of my sons is also dating your future daughter-in-law's nephew. We will be in each other's lives for a while, and I want us to have at least a cordial relationship where we can be in the same space. I don't want us to have to use Brianna as an intermediary like I do with my ex-wife.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: I don't want us to be that messy either. I'll give you Alexis and Austin. However, I'm grateful to the universe for making the twins my grandchildren instead of yours.

Cal: Fuck, you don't know.

Alexis Junior's grandmother: Do not know what?

Xxx

Big brother: Does Claire not know the truth about the twins?

Breanna: No. Alexis doesn't even know everything. Or at least I haven't told her, but my girlfriend is suspicious.

Breanna: I mean, friend. Stupid voice recognition software.

Big brother: More like a Freudian slip.

Breanna: Speaking of slipups, what did you do?

Big brother: I tried to apologize to Claire earlier by sending a cookie basket.

Breanna: Again?

Big brother: Yes, she wasn't happy about it, so she texted me to stop.

Breanna: Which you should. Because you definitely fucked up last spring so badly.

Big brother: I mentioned the need for us to get along because of Alexis Junior and Austin.

Breanna: That's valid, but you'll need to give her at least another year before trying to broker a peace agreement. That means we'll have to keep you on opposite sides of Daniel's house for Christmas, but we will just have to make it work. At least you two are nowhere near as bad as you and Vicky.

Big brother: I also mentioned the twins at the same time.

Big brother: Then I realized I shouldn't have said that.

Big brother: And possibly made things worse because the voice to text sent a message that I meant to delete.

Breanna: Of course you did.

Breanna: I am letting Matt and Daniel take this one.

Big brother: Agreed.

Breanna: Except she is texting me.

Breanna: Fuck! You owe me shoes.

X

Nana Claire: I just had a bizarre conversation with your brother. Is there something about the twins that he knows that I don't?

Breanna: There are a lot of things, none of which I can say in text message form. I would say talk to Daniel, but he's probably busy right now.

Nana Claire: He's at the lawyers with Betty, trying to ensure she can keep a visa.

Breanna: We talked last night. I offered her the opportunity to help us open the new London branch of the Hartley Foundation. She said she would consider it after I promise she could leave as soon as she found something better.

Nana Claire: Knowing Betty like I do, I doubt she would say yes unless necessary.

Breanna: It's one of the qualities I really like about her. I also offered her a job at the London offices of the label, and she turned that down right away. I think she's only considering the foundation because it's something that will help people.

Nana Claire: She does enjoy helping people.

Breanna: Very true. Amanda being in London is because Betty loves helping people. I can't explain what's happening in a text message, but I can in person. Matt is planning to take Austin to Hersheypark this weekend.

Nana Claire: Therefore, the kids would be distracted at the park while the adults speak with investigators.

Breanna: Yep. Since it's a short flight, I'm going to come and bring the Niblett with me. You can come, and we can all talk. I think we're bringing Tyler, too. You should definitely join us.

Nana Claire: I think I will.

To be continued…