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Chapter Eight

Josiah

“My mother once had an affair with George Tyler,” Alexander said.

“What?” Josiah stared at him blankly. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“I’ve thought about it a lot over the years. Wondering how she felt about Tyler, whether she really loved him, and whether I really knew her at all. Maybe we never really know anyone. Everyone has secrets.”

“You certainly have your share.”

“As do you,” Alexander retorted.

Josiah glanced at him sharply. “Why are you telling me this?”

“So that you can understand my long and tortured history with Tyler.”

“Does this have anything to do with Elliot Dacre’s murder?”

“No. You asked me to share something personal – you didn’t say it had to be about Elliot.” Alexander shrugged.

“That’s something personal about your mother – not you,” Josiah pointed out.

“It becomes about me,” Alexander said tightly.

“My mother met Tyler when they were both at Oxford. I’ve often wondered if she regretted not marrying him then.

She grew up in a government work camp, whereas my father was in line to inherit the Lytton empire.

I wonder if she genuinely fell in love with Tyler but chose my father over him because of Lytton AV. Tyler certainly thinks so.”

“He feels your family cheated him out of both his father’s designs and the woman he loved?” That explained a great deal about Tyler’s seething animosity towards the Lyttons.

“Yes. I think my mother got exactly what she wanted with my father – at first, anyway. I remember her dressing up, looking glamorous. She always wore the same scent – Winter Bloom by LaBelle – whenever I smell it, I always think of her.” He smiled wistfully.

“I think of Peter whenever I smell wet dogs,” Josiah said dryly.

Alexander laughed. “I know my father always loved her – she was beautiful, dramatic, and interesting – and he was none of those things. I think she grew bored with him, and when Tyler came back into her life, she was ready for some excitement. When I was sixteen, they rekindled whatever was still simmering between them. He wanted her to leave my father, but she insisted on waiting until I was eighteen. I used to wonder why – because honestly, although she loved me, she used to swan in and out of my life while I was at boarding school. It wouldn’t have made much difference to me at that point if my parents had been divorced. Then I figured it out…”

“Your brother,” Josiah said.

“As always, you’re one step ahead, Investigator Raine.

” Alexander gave an ironic nod. “Charles was showing real promise at rowing. She began managing his training, and I think that was the purpose she’d been seeking for so long.

She ferried him around, took charge of his career, and organised his life – his diet, his races, even his bloody bedtime. ”

“I doubt he minded,” Josiah commented acerbically.

Alexander gave a wry chuckle. “You’re right.

He didn’t. He liked being taken care of and told what to do.

He might have been the brawn, but she was most definitely the brains.

I think she put Tyler off for so long because she wanted to make sure Charles won an Olympic gold medal first. She was a bright woman who’d led an unfulfilled life; this became her great purpose, and she threw herself into it. ”

“You must have felt left out,” Josiah observed.

Alexander ducked his head, his eyes glittering.

“I did. I tagged along behind them whenever I could. At that point, the UK hadn’t won gold at the Olympics since before the Rising.

My mother knew what a huge deal it would be, and she was right.

Charles became an overnight sensation when he won that medal.

The morning after, everyone in Britain knew his name – and I mean everyone . ”

“I remember it well.” How could he forget? Josiah thought back to that night in LKG, how he’d gone there to celebrate Charles Lytton’s win and uncovered Peter’s secret in the process.

“Everyone remembers it, but what they don’t know is that it was her victory as much as his.

” Alexander looked up, his eyes glowing with an odd kind of pride in his family.

“Charles might have been the one sitting in the boat, but she masterminded his triumph. I often wonder – would she have walked away from my father and started a new life with Tyler a few short months later, or was she stringing Tyler along while she decided what she really wanted? I don’t know. ”

“She died before you could find out.”

“Yes – and Tyler blamed me. He was so close to finally screwing over the Lyttons, and the way he sees it, I stole that away from him.” Alexander gave a twisted little smile.

“I think he probably did love my mother, but at least part of the attraction was that he wanted to hurt my father and stick it to the entire Lytton family in some twisted way. He wanted her to leave Dad so he could finally have his revenge for what he viewed as a lifetime of unfairness.”

“You said he set a trap for you?” Josiah leaned back in his chair, enjoying this glimpse into his enigmatic indie’s life.

“He did, yes, but don’t feel sorry for me,” Alexander responded bluntly.

“I walked right into it. He tempted me, but I took the bait. He gave me some money to build the new style of duck I’d designed, but he sabotaged all my attempts to make it work.

I was in a hole, so I kept digging – that’s when I stole all that money from my father’s company.

Tyler saw to it that I was found out and arrested – and then he bought me as his IS to ruin my life the way I’d ruined his. He planned the whole thing.”

“Christ, Alexander. That’s so fucked up,” Josiah exclaimed.

“I had no idea – none of this is on record. Just the bare facts – what crime you committed, and the fact Tyler bought you.” He leaned forward.

“What did he do to you? I saw you today, at his house; you were completely different to how you are with me, in private. Why? What happened to you during your time with him?”

“I was Owen,” Alexander said flatly. “That was my job when I was Tyler’s IS.

Tyler dressed me up to fulfil the fantasies of the people he wanted onside, for whatever reason: a business deal, a favour, a bank loan.

I was his celebrity whore – he kept me in a gilded cage, locked up in a tower on the floating city he helped build, and he prostituted me to anyone he wanted to buy. ”

“It’s illegal to prostitute an IS,” Josiah growled, bile rising in the back of his throat.

Alexander laughed. “Are you going to arrest him for it?”

“Is that what you want me to do? Is that why we went there today?” Josiah asked eagerly.

“No.” Alexander shook his head. “You’d never pin it on him. He has far too much money, power, and influence.”

“Nobody is above the law.”

“We both know that’s not true. He filmed me having sex with those people and used it to blackmail them. He has so many people in his pocket – judges, politicians – even investigators.” Alexander gave him a pointed look.

“He doesn’t bloody well have me.”

“No, but I didn’t know that until today.” Alexander gave a wry shrug. “You must forgive my caution; Tyler gave me to men who beat me, raped me, and treated me like I was nothing. I know what he’s capable of. It’s made it hard for me to trust anyone, even you.”

Josiah fought down a tidal wave of rage. “I can arrest him for it. Hell, I’ll arrest all of them – everyone who was involved. We can find the footage, use it as evidence…”

“He’d never let you get close to finding the footage. I’m sure he’s got it very well hidden, but thank you for being so ready to ruin your career for me.” Alexander shot him a grateful smile.

“I don’t like bullies,” Josiah said tightly. “Christ!” He slammed his fist down on the table, ignoring the stab of pain from his injured knuckles. “This makes me—” He stopped abruptly, before he could say too much and let slip a part of his life he kept secret .

“Makes you…?” Alexander raised an eyebrow.

“Bloody angry.” Josiah nursed his sore hand absently. “But if you don’t want revenge on Tyler for what he did to you, what do you want?”

Alexander leaned forward and spoke in a tight, intense tone. “When the time comes, I want you to understand. That’s all.”

“When the time comes for what?” Josiah asked, bewildered.

“When the time comes for you to learn the truth, or when you work it out for yourself.” Alexander grimaced. “Look, I just want you to know some of the background when that happens.”

“Why not just tell me now?”

Alexander hesitated. There was an agonised look in his eyes, as if he genuinely wanted to tell Josiah what he was hiding. Then the moment passed, and he shook his head.

“I’m not ready, yet, and I don’t think you are, either.

Maybe I’m paranoid, but with good reason.

I’ve carried this with me for a long time; I don’t want to rush it and get it wrong.

Now, why don’t I clear up, while you return those calls?

” Getting up, he stacked their plates onto a tray and walked towards the door.

“Why did you get into the duck with your mother and brother that day, Alexander?” Josiah asked suddenly.

“You were hyped up to the gills on croc – I read the medical report – you had so much in your system that you were as high as a kite. You must have known it wasn’t safe for you to be driving. Why did you do it?”

Alexander paused in the doorway for a long moment, his shoulders hunched. “I was seventeen,” he replied at last, without turning back. “We all think we’re immortal at that age, don’t we?”

Josiah remembered getting into stupid fights as a teenager and loving every second of them, never for a moment thinking he could be seriously hurt. He gave a little grunt of acknowledgement.

“If I could go back in time, I would change everything about that day, but I can’t. I have to live with that,” Alexander finished quietly.