Page 35
Chapter Twenty-Eight
JUNE 2088
Alex
After about an hour, they entered a vast lost zone, the expensive limo duck easily zipping over the large expanse of water.
Ahead, Alex saw a huge artificial island populated by tall, gleaming glass towers that cast long shadows over the water. He recognised it immediately: Ghost Eye Floating City.
He remembered how it contained some of the most expensive apartment blocks in the country, along with fancy shops, restaurants, and office buildings. Only the mega-rich could afford to live on this shiny new floating city, but then only someone obscenely wealthy could afford a ￡160-million IS.
After landing, the limo purred quietly along elegant boulevards towards a towering glass apartment block with the name Vertex emblazoned in elegant lettering on the side.
The limo stopped outside, beneath a private covered entrance, away from prying eyes. Alex was ushered out and straight into a glass elevator that shot swiftly up the side of the building, treating him to a dizzying view of the fading remnants of Old London – the roof of the Houses of Parliament, the sunken London Eye, and the pathetic remains of old Westminster Bridge .
Arriving at the top floor, he stepped straight out into a massive apartment, beautifully decorated, with floor-to-ceiling windows that afforded breathtaking views. The floor was polished white oak, and there was a massive red leather sofa dominating the room, but his eye was drawn immediately to the walls, which displayed a beautiful tropical sunset, complete with palm trees, moving in the wind. He realised, fascinated, that instead of wallpaper, the walls were covered with a very thin electronic screening fabric. He’d read about smartwalls but didn’t know anyone who had them – they were fabulously expensive, although widely predicted to reduce in price and be as ubiquitous as nanopads before long.
He was told to wait, and he stood with his head down, barely breathing, for what felt like hours. Then – finally – he heard the door open. He kept his head bowed, partly in deference to his new houder and partly because he didn’t dare look up.
“Alexander, my dear boy – you’re here at last,” a familiar voice said. He jerked up his head in disbelief.
“George?” he said hoarsely, relief flooding through him. “You bought my contract?”
“Of course I did. Did you think I’d let you fall into anyone else’s hands?” George Tyler was wearing a pair of black jeans and a plain black shirt – and he was grinning from ear to ear.
“Welcome to my London abode – Vertex Tower. Isn’t it magnificent?” He waved his arm around expansively.
“It’s beautiful. The smartwall is incredible. I’ve never seen one before.”
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Tyler grinned at him.
“I’m so glad it’s you.” Alex scuttled towards him, holding out his hand. “I’m so sorry for what I did, but I’ll work very hard, I promise. I’ll repay you. I’ll make the flying duck happen, and design you new things, too. I’ll work like a dog and do everything you want. Just thank you for buying me and bailing out Lytton AV. Thank you so much, George.”
Tyler ignored his outstretched hand and instead sent him reeling from a backhanded slap to his jaw. Alex landed on the wooden floor and gazed up at his new houder, blinking in surprise .
“It’s ‘sir’ now that I own you,” Tyler said. “I’ve always wanted to hear a Lytton call me ‘sir’.”
“Sir. Yes, of course. I’m sorry, sir.” Alex rubbed his chin, dizzy from the shock.
“Ah, music to my ears.” Tyler crouched down in front of him. “And in return, I will call you Alexander – none of this ‘Alex’ nonsense from now on. Now, you must have so many questions – the where, the why, the how, the what the fuck?” He smirked. “Let me provide some answers – shall we have a little ‘show and tell’?”
He clicked his fingers, and two of his bodyguards moved silently forward from their position by the door. They hauled Alex from the floor and deposited him on the sofa.
George Tyler clicked a remote, and Alex took a sharp intake of breath as his mother appeared in front of him, taking up one entire panel of the smartwall.
The footage must have been taken a year or so before her death, and she was dressed casually in tight jeans that hugged her long legs, and knee-high tan Hee-Bee boots, teamed with a thick pink sweater. She looked as beautiful as he’d ever seen her.
The Lighthouse, George Tyler’s house in Lewes, was clearly visible in the distance, and her long blonde hair was blowing in the wind as she smiled and blew a kiss at the camera, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
“Isobel West – the love of my life,” Tyler said.
“Isobel Lytton,” Alex corrected.
“She was Isobel West when I first knew her, and she couldn’t wait to get rid of the Lytton name and be so again,” Tyler informed him coldly. Then he turned, smiling, and said the words that made Alex’s blood run cold. “She and I were having an affair for two years before her death.”
Alex stared at him, shocked. “I don’t believe you.”
“I can understand the son not wanting to believe his mother had a secret life – hopes, dreams, and desires she wouldn’t share with her child – but it’s true.”
“You told me that whatever was between you and my mother was over, and you hadn’t seen her since I was five years old. ”
“Newsflash – I lied.” Tyler gave a nonchalant shrug. “She told me that if I still felt the same way when you were sixteen, I should get in touch with her then – so I did. I waited eleven long years, and the day after your sixteenth birthday I sent her a big bouquet of roses – and my nym. She called me that afternoon.”
“You’re lying,” Alex said tightly, trying to remember how his mother had been during the final two years of her life. She had started wearing perfume and lipstick more often and disappearing on mysterious lunch dates with friends he’d never heard her mention before. He’d been at boarding school, but had caught glimpses of her life during his frequent suspensions and occasional expulsions.
Had she really intended to run off with George Tyler and leave his father? Or was she just chasing after her youth and the promise of some excitement in a life that had become humdrum and dull?
She spent most of her time ferrying Charles around to various races and training sessions and could hardly have seen much of his father during that time. Had they grown apart? Or had she been using Charles as an excuse to avoid spending time with Noah?
“We met up discreetly, and talked all the time.” Tyler clicked the remote, and a nanovid from his mother flashed up on the wall in front of them. It was dated six weeks before Charles’s gold medal win in Minneapolis.
“Darling – of course I’m not ignoring your messages,” his mother said, smiling but looking a little frazzled all the same. She was wearing a cocktail dress, her honey-blonde hair piled high on her head, and looked as if she was on her way out.
“I just haven’t had a second to call you in the past few weeks. With the Olympics only a few weeks away, there’s so much to do. I miss you, but you know how important this is to me, and I don’t appreciate all your scoldings.” She threaded her earrings into her ears as she spoke.
“Yes, I still love you and want to be with you, George, but you’ll have to be patient for a little while longer. Winning this gold medal is all I can think about at the moment – when it’s over, I’ll make it up to you. You’ve been wonderfully patient for a long time, darling, and I appreciate that. Alex is eighteen in a few months, and then you and I will be together – I promise. ”
She blew a kiss at the camera, then glanced over her shoulder and disappeared. The former footage of her standing outside The Lighthouse resumed, and she stood there, her hair blowing in the wind, smiling at him.
“I don’t believe it,” Alex persisted stubbornly. “That’s a deep fake – it’s not her. Mum wasn’t going to leave Dad, leave Charles… leave me.”
His voice broke as he said that. Charles had always had his mother’s full attention, but had she really intended to give Alex only a few more months before walking out on him? He didn’t want it to be true.
“You know it’s her – it’s not a fake,” Tyler said flatly. “But I had it truth-marked anyway. You can’t fake a truth-mark.” He pointed to the little sigil at the bottom of the screen. “Isobel was going to leave Noah. She was so nearly mine, and then she died, just two months before your eighteenth birthday. You killed her.”
Alex felt an old knot forming in the pit of his stomach. “It was an accident…”
“Don’t take me for a fucking idiot,” Tyler snapped. “I even acquired the medical data for myself, just to be sure.”
“What? How?”
“If you have money, there’s very little you can’t access.”
“I loved my mother, too,” Alex protested. “If I could change what happened, then I would. I adored her. I miss her every single day.”
Tyler wasn’t listening – he was pacing up and down in front of the smartwall, consumed by his own rage.
“I found out about Isobel’s death from the news. Can you imagine how that felt? News of her death flashed up on the screen – there was no call to my nym, no visit – nobody cared that I’d lost the love of my life. It was as if I was nothing to her.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Alex whispered. “None of us knew. How could we?”
Tyler stalked over to the sofa and stood over him, staring down, visibly trying to regain control.
“I was heartbroken. I watched every news report, read every article, tracked down every single piece of information published about the crash… and there, at the centre of everything, was you.” He leaned down and took Alex’s face between his hands. “You – Al exander Lytton – the spoilt, drug-addicted nepo baby who ruined my life.”
Alex stared up at him helplessly. Tyler stared back. “I wanted to know you, Alexander. I wanted to find out who you are and what makes you tick – because then I’d know how to hurt you, the way you hurt me.”
Releasing his face, Tyler took a step back. “And when I decide I want something, I give it my full attention – that’s how I got all this.” He waved his hand around the expensive apartment.
“What did you do?” Alex stared at him in horror, suddenly realising just how deep this went.
“After I’d exhausted all that social networking and the news media could offer, I decided I needed to get closer to you. That wasn’t possible while you were living in seclusion at The Orchard… but when I learned you were going to Oxford, that was my opportunity.”
“To spy on me?”
“Precisely. I found the most beautiful woman money could buy and sent her along. After all, what horny teenage boy could resist her? Solange, my dear, come in.”
Tyler clicked his fingers again, and Solange entered the room. She was wearing a short crocheted white dress that contrasted perfectly with her brown skin, and a pair of knee-length white patent leather boots. There was a gold ID tag attached to her necklace and a microchip winking in her wrist – neither of which had been there before.
She avoided meeting Alex’s eye and sat dutifully in the armchair Tyler was pointing at, looking tense and miserable.
“Of course, I had no idea, back then, how very broad your sexual tastes are,” Tyler continued, with a sly grin. “Solange soon put me straight on that score, although maybe ‘straight’ isn’t the right word.” He gave a bark of laughter. “I’m sure I could have found an equally beautiful young man if it had been necessary, but fortunately, it wasn’t.”
“It was a lie? All of it?” Alex asked. Solange gave a tight, unhappy shrug, still refusing to meet his eye.
“I did as I was ordered. Mr Tyler isn’t my godfather – he’s my houder,” she said, in such a quiet voice Alex could hardly hear her .
“You didn’t wear his ID tag or chip back then,” he pointed out.
“No. He wanted it to appear as if I was just another student at the university.”
“It’s illegal for an IS not to display their houder’s ID.”
“Is it? Oh dear,” Tyler mocked. “Solange was a useful source of information, although you never quite formed the attachment to her that I wanted.”
Alex frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I wanted you to fall in love with her. I wanted you to fall head over heels, so I could take her away from you the way Izzy was taken away from me. I soon saw that wasn’t going to happen, but I kept Solange in place and continued monitoring you. You became something of an obsession.”
“I’m flattered,” Alex said stonily.
Tyler smirked. “After a couple of years, I was curious to meet you for myself – so I attended Solange’s graduation.” He winked at her, but she managed only a wan smile in return. “It was probably a little reckless, but it was satisfying to meet you at last.”
“I do hope I impressed you,” Alex said sardonically.
“Oh, you were everything I expected. Sullen, entitled, and narcissistic – you could hardly spare a moment to speak about your mother. You were more interested in yourself.”
“I didn’t want to speak to you about her – I didn’t even know you. Why should I share something so private with a complete stranger?”
Tyler ignored him. “And you looked very like your father at the same age – I couldn’t see anything of your mother in you. You’re all Lytton.”
“A lot of people say I have my mother’s smile – and her temperament.”
“You’re nothing like her,” Tyler snapped. “She was strong and kind, generous and loyal, and she had a big heart.”
“And she loved drama and intrigue. I can believe she strung you along for years without ever intending to leave my father.” Alex decided to strike a blow of his own.
Tyler’s expression changed, and Alex caught a glimpse of a terrifying darkness. Then it was gone, and Tyler was calm and urbane once more.
“Isobel deserved justice, but she didn’t get it. You were let off with a three-year driving ban and a fine your father paid – little more than a slap on the wrist.”
“That’s not how it felt,” he whispered. “It’s been more like a life sentence.”
“Well, it is now,” Tyler said drily. “Meeting you only sharpened my desire to bring you down. You broke up with Solange, which was irritating, so I had to sit on my hands for a while and plot my next move.”
Solange shifted uneasily in the armchair, looking profoundly guilty.
“I sent her back into your life at precisely the time you needed a confidante. It was no accident that you met her in the pub that evening. I’d learned that you were frustrated by your father’s lack of belief in your abilities as a designer, so I decided that would be the best way of reeling you in.”
Alex glanced at Solange again, but she still wouldn’t meet his eye.
“You surprised me with your designs, though, I must admit,” Tyler mused. “I thought they’d be the doodles of an indulged child, but they are actually bloody good. I decided that, at the very least, I’d take them off you.”
“But they didn’t work,” Alex protested. “The designs were useless. You wasted your money.”
Tyler laughed. “Of course they worked. They were beautiful, and you were so dedicated that I had to come up with ways to get you out of the workshop so my engineers could screw them up. They made such tiny alterations that you didn’t see what they’d done. Your designs worked from the beginning.”
“Christ.” Alex buried his head in his hands. Now he understood why Tyler’s engineers had always been so hostile and uncooperative.
He felt a confusing sense of elation that his designs were as good as he’d always believed, combined with a growing sense of anger at how ruthlessly he’d been played.
“The holopad you gave me… was that to spy on me?” he asked.
Tyler laughed. “Actually, no – I already had all the information I needed. That was a genuine gift. I was trying to reel you in, butter you up, keep you sweet. At first, I thought I’d steal your designs and ruin your relationship with your father, but that wasn’t enough to make up for all the pain you’d caused me. So, I thought I’d put some pressure on you, place temptation in your path, and see what Alexander Lytton was really made of. You didn’t disappoint.” Tyler gave a dry chuckle. “You showed your true colours then. Nobody made you take that money – it was all down to your own arrogance: the fatal Lytton flaw.”
“I was desperate.”
“But you could have walked away.”
Alex bowed his head, knowing that was true. A thought occurred to him, and he looked up again. “You said you placed temptation in my path…”
“Ah, the penny finally drops.” Tyler gave a satisfied smile. “You know, you really can’t go around using and abusing people and not expect them to turn on you one day, Alexander.”
He snapped his fingers and another familiar figure walked into the room. He was wearing a pair of brown Eco-Dry trousers and a beige shirt, and Alex noticed immediately that he wasn’t wearing an ID tag.
“Neil,” Alex said hoarsely, getting to his feet. “Neil?”
“You should treat the people who love you better, Alex,” Neil chided.
“You betrayed me to teach me a lesson about love?” Alex asked incredulously.
“Of course not,” Tyler said smoothly. “He betrayed you for his thirty pieces of silver. I paid him well for his services. He made enough money to buy himself out of his contract at Lytton AV and to live the rest of his life in freedom. His days of being an IS are over. Ironic, really, considering yours have just begun.”
“Neil?” Alex whispered, still gazing at him in disbelief.
“I approached Neil during your first year at Lytton AV,” Tyler continued. “Solange told me there was a fault line there; I thought it was worth exploring after you chucked her out of your life. I provided him with a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to cry on, and he agreed to help me – at a price.” Tyler shot Neil a withering glance. “He was your greatest mistake. ”
“You should have loved me the way I loved you, Alex,” Neil told him defiantly. “We could have been so good together.”
“That wasn’t love – it was possession. You wanted to own me, Neil, not love me.”
“Well, now you’ll find out what being owned is really like – and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person,” Neil retorted.
“I can’t believe you did this to me.”
Neil gave a sanctimonious smile. “I hope you fall in love with someone who despises you, and I hope they break your heart the way you broke mine.”
Alex stared at him in disbelief. “Christ, what a bitter, twisted bastard you are.”
His former flatmate drew himself up to his full height, squared his broad shoulders, and looked down his nose at him. “Don’t talk to me like that. I’m better than you now – I’m a free man, and you’re just a serf .”
Alex recoiled from the word as Neil gazed at him triumphantly, his eyes glowing with brutal pleasure.
“Thank you, Mr Grant,” Tyler said. “Here’s the rest of your money.” He handed Neil a cash card.
“I was delighted to be of service, sir, and if you ever need my help again, then please don’t hesitate to call me,” Neil said, holding out his hand.
Tyler gave it a scathing look. “I don’t think so. I don’t like you, Grant. I had to be nice to you to get what I wanted, but now that our business is complete, I never want to see you again – so piss off.”
Alex couldn’t take much satisfaction from Neil’s look of humiliation. Tyler clicked his fingers at the two IS guards, and they stepped forward to escort Neil from the room.
He turned back to Alex. “If you hadn’t taken the money, I was going to have Grant transfer it into your account anyway. You see, once I’d had the idea, it was too good not to pursue it. But, when it came to it, you made it so easy. All I had to do was pull a few strings and get the IS Agency compliance department to descend on your father’s company at the right time. It went like clockwork, and then you were so magnificently – and belatedly – noble.” He grinned, delightedly, before continuing.
“You took full responsibility, admitted everything to your father, and went to your fate as if running into a lover’s arms. I took full advantage of the fact that your father’s company is in such dire financial straits – I’ve done my best to make sure everyone knows that Lytton AV isn’t financially sound, dropping hints to all the banks I deal with and various important business associates.”
“My father told me you were doing that.” Alex was appalled to realise how many red flags he’d ignored. “He warned me about you.”
“You should have listened. But you were too busy being the rebellious son. I played my part well, though – you have to admit. I had you fooled, if not your father.” Tyler couldn’t stay still. He paced around the room, revelling in the success of his plan, consumed by a gleeful energy.
“It was easy for me to bribe the right people and find out how much my competitors had offered for you in the auction. I had to bid high, which was a shame as it meant Lytton AV survived, but I’ll deal with that another day. I wasn’t going to let my prize slip away after so much careful planning. It took me five years to bring all this to fruition, so you’ll have to forgive my theatricals today. It’s the culmination of so much hard work on my part that I wanted to savour every single second.”
Alex turned back to the footage of Isobel on the smartwall, still smiling and blowing kisses.
“Do you think my mother would approve of what you’ve done to her son?” he asked quietly. It was the only card he had left. He’d been comprehensively outmanoeuvred in a game he hadn’t even known he was playing.
Tyler glanced at the smartwall. “No, but she was your mother, and she loved you. I can see you far more clearly than she ever did. Besides, she’s gone. She’s the one person who could have persuaded me to go easy on you, but you killed her, so you’re just going to have to take what’s coming to you now.”
Alex stood there, wondering if there was anything he could say that would change Tyler’s view of him. He came up empty. Tyler had spent five years planning his revenge and was set in his hatred. Nothing Alex said would change that.
“You have to admit, this is all very neat,” Tyler crowed. “My father was once your grandfather’s IS, so I think it’s only fair that your family gives me an IS in return. The Lyttons used my father’s genius and never properly paid him for all his hard work and dedication; I’d like to return the favour. Your designs will go into production – I’ll give the dust time to settle, but then we’ll bring them out as our new ‘Destiny’ range. Do you like the name? It seems fitting, given that yours is to live out the rest of your life in my service.”
Alex felt a wave of despair. All his strength disappearing, he sank to his knees on the oak floor and stayed there, his head bowed.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked numbly. “You bought me to shame me and win some twisted victory over my family, but what could you possibly want from me now? Do you intend for me to work on the new duck range? I could do that. I understand the plans better than anyone.”
It would be humiliating, but at least he’d get to make his designs work and take the duck into production.
Tyler laughed. “Oh no.” He crouched down in front of Alex, put a finger under his chin, and lifted his head so that he had no choice but to look at him. “I have designers and engineers for that. I have something else in mind for you – something that will suit you much better. You see, one thing I discovered from studying you for so long is that you have a very particular talent – and I intend to put it to good use.”
“What’s that?” Alex asked, puzzled.
Tyler ran his thumb over Alex’s lips. “Sex, my dear Alexander – sex! You’re bloody brilliant at it. People we’ve spoken to over the years have all said the same thing: Solange, Neil, that stupid boy from your father’s company – Spencer something. I was looking for your weaknesses, but instead found your one, great undeniable strength: you’re a fantastic fuck.”
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” Alex spat. “I’d rather die.”
“Really? Solange said you found me rather attractive,” Tyler purred.
“Not anymore. ”
“Well, that’s interesting. I didn’t actually buy you because I wanted to fuck you, but now you’ve said that, I’ve changed my mind.”
“I’ll never, ever sleep with you,” Alex said defiantly.
“Oh, that was a mistake – I love a challenge. You’ll sleep with me one day,” Tyler predicted confidently. Then he grinned. “But I’ll make you beg for the pleasure first.”
“Then you’ll wait a long time.”
“I’m a patient man.” Tyler shrugged. “However, I bought you to service my business clients, not me, so that can wait. Sometimes, my deals require a sweetener, and you fit the bill perfectly.”
“You can’t prostitute an IS – it’s illegal,” Alex said staunchly.
“Aw, there you go again with your sudden concern for the law. Although I notice you didn’t care so much about it when you were stealing all those millions.” Tyler raised an amused eyebrow.
“You’re right, of course – it is illegal, but what I’m doing is a bit of a grey area. No money will change hands – it’s more of a favour, an incentive, if you like. I’ve found it useful when dealing with petty officialdom – the kind of halfwits who get to hand out planning warrants for this very floating city we’re standing on, for example. Big business people can usually afford to buy their own ISs to service their sexual peccadillos, but the little people can’t. They can’t accept a monetary bribe in case their bank accounts are audited – but the attentions of a beautiful escort for a night or two?” Tyler shrugged. “I find that works wonders.”
“So this is who you are?” Alex asked witheringly. “Even if your story about my mother being in love with you is true, she would have left you the minute she found out this is what you’re really like.”
Tyler lashed out again, delivering another backhander to his jaw that sent him flying backwards. Solange gasped, reaching out her hand towards him before withdrawing it quickly.
“You’ll do it,” Tyler told him firmly, standing over him. “Solange, here, takes care of my straight male clients and the dykes; you’ll service the straight women and the gays.”
“You can’t make me,” Alex said mulishly.
“Yes, I can. You seem to be forgetting that I own you now.” Tyler looked down on him, his triumph complete. “You’re the most hated man in Britain, Alexander. You killed your mother, crippled your brother, and stole from your father. Nobody loves you, nobody is coming to rescue you, and nobody will care if I beat your sorry hide until you beg for mercy.”
His breathing was coming in staccato bursts, and he seemed almost orgasmic at the idea.
“I’ll dress you in expensive suits, and you’ll spend your evenings laughing at some boring fart’s jokes. Afterwards, you’ll take them to your room and let them do whatever the hell they like to you.” Tyler gazed down at him contemptuously. “You’ve always been for sale. You sold yourself to Neil in exchange for his silence, and you sold yourself to Solange for croc. You’re a whore, Alexander – I’m just making it official.”