A GOLDEN EMPIRE

CHAPTER FORTY- ONE

NATALIA, CAMILLE, AND REGINA WANDER down the hallway looking for Scarlett (yawn) who's currently taking off one of her heels so she can haul the damn thing at Aaron's head. In the midst of their arguments, Valentina got dressed, grabbed her shoes and purse, got the hell out of there.

"I fucking hate you, Aaron Hawthorne. I really do. You piss me off so bad. I just want to throttle you right now." She throws the shoe at him.

Dodging it, Aaron chuckles and crosses his arms. The feeling is mutual.... very mutual. He hates her too. Not to mention, he hasn't been love with Scarlett for a long time (well, no wonder you over here balls deep in your secretary. just get a divorce already, you dickhead) now. Truth be told, the only reason he continued to be with her is because of Kingsley.

"You say you hate me but you sure as hell love my money."

She throws the other heel at him. "What money, Aaron? When your parents find out what happened, they're going to cut you off and disown you, dumbass. You'll have nothing." Scarlett, you sound like a hypocrite right now. Your parents are going to disown you too. Did you forget? She shakes her head and walks out of the room, right past her friend group.

"Scarlett, what the hell is going on?"

"I can answer that, Natalia." Oh look! It's Fallon. "Scarlett and Aaron are unfaithful to each other. Their own son can't stand them."

Andrea walks up and stands right next to Fallon. "And it looks like she's about to be left with nothing. Fallon, let all of us not forget she's only wealthy by marriage. I mean, your parents are the reason that you're with Aaron in the first place. They struck a deal with his parents. Oops, did I just say that? I'm so sorry!" Lmao, no she's not.

In the midst of having a private part of her life exposed, Scarlett screams and lunges at Andrea, who easily dodges the woman's hands, in return slamming her down on the hallway floor. Thank god for that self defense class she took with Juliette over the summer. She knew at some point she would have to demonstrate what she learned.

"Bitch almost ruined my hair."

Fallon fixes her hair for her. As she does, Autumn comes running out of the ballroom with Mario, Adrianna, and Brandon behind her. "We heard commotion. Is everyone alright? Mommy?"

"Don't worry, angel. I'm perfect. Not a scratch on me. Scarlett, on the other hand, well, you see her on the floor. Where's dad?"

Autumn points to the ballroom entrance where Cameron happens to be poking his head out. "He told me to come find you."

"Andrea, love, you alright?" He watches as she nods. "Okay, just checking. Come here, beautiful. Dance with me."

She throws one more glare at Scarlett and turns on her heel to walk away, now smiling at her husband. "With pleasure."

Autumn scowls. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Scarlett ruining every relationship she has. Nothing new." Brandon mutters, cleaning his AUDEMARS PIGUET watch. "Why do you think my mom switched up? Both Kingsley and I have been telling her that Scarlett Hawthorne is the literal spawn of Satan. She's not a person anyone in their right mind should be friends with."

Holden exits the ballroom, leading Adrianna to roll her eyes and pull Brighton closer to her. She doesn't quite like the inquisitive look on her father's face. When he looks like that, you just never know what he's going to do or say.

"I'm about ten seconds away from walking right up out of here. If I do, none of you better tell my parents where I am. I do not need either of them coming for me." Adrianna looks around, everywhere but at Holden. "I'm out. I'm not leaving the ball but I'm getting out of this damn hallway. "

This hallway situation is getting pathetic. Let's turn our attention back to the Diamond League ball. Aurora is dancing with Justin, the two sharing a loving kiss. Brandon is dancing with Blake, the latter holding him close with his face buried into the former's neck. Autumn is curled up on one of the sofas with Mario playing with her curls. Avalon and Kingsley are nowhere to be found, y'all already know what they're up to. And Adrianna? She's doing love shots with Brighton at the bar.

All in all, with the goal of ten million dollars raised for cancer research, Diamond Weekend has been a complete success this year. Time to return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Charles is already planning to not go to work tomorrow. Juliette is telling her managers not to schedule any photoshoots for her. Aurora and Odette are staying home from school.

Speaking of Aurora, she's tiredly trudging over to her parents, who are talking amongst themselves. "Hi mommy, hi daddy."

"Hi honeybear, have fun tonight? Aside from Scarlett and her bullshit?"

Aurora nods and sits in the empty space between them, laying her head on Charles's shoulder and grabbing Juliette's hand. "I'm sleepy. Do you mind if  Justin comes back to the house?"

"Not at all, sweetie. All your friends can stay too."

The heiress looks up at her friends... or what's left. Half of them has left. "I think they have plans. So it'll just be me and Justin tonight." Her phone flashes, indicating that someone is calling. "Oh it's it Winston. Hello? Thank you. We're on our way." She stands up and turns around. "Time to go. You two have a good night. Love you both."

"Love you, honey. Get home safely."

"Will do. Bye!" And with that she's exiting the ballroom to meet up with Justin. "Home!"

Justin chuckles and pulls her closer to him. "Pretty dove, you're so cute. I'm so happy you're mine."

"Always, big guy. I'm not going anywhere. In the future when we get married, I'll be around you so much, you'll get sick of me."

Justin could never get sick of her. He's too much in love to ever let her slip away from him. "Never. I can't see my life without you in it."

Aurora stops in her tracks, turning around to fully face him. She has never loved anyone more than she loves Justin. He is her literal soulmate. She wants to marry him. "I'm yours, Justin, always have been, always will be."

Justin feels tears prick beneath his eyelids as he hears those words, the promise she had always given naively away to match the movie-star endings in her mind, being genuinely whispered to him in in the middle of the hallway by the beautiful girl in his arms. He grips her tight around her waist, pulling her body flush against his. He drops a firm kiss between her bare shoulder blades.

"I'm yours, too, pretty dove. You never need to worry, we're us, and now that I'm part of us, I don't ever want to be just Justin Winchester again." He tells her, his voice steady.

"There is nothing just about being Justin Winchester." She says firmly, looking into his eyes with her arms tight around his neck. They smile at one another and share a deep kiss before walking to the ROLLS ROYCE to go home.