Fast-Tracked (31 page)

I just had no idea
how
interesting it would prove to be.

I fast forwarded through the very first part. It was the Sunday before the big party, the day I had planted the trinket. The footage just consisted of Avery and
I
discussing the party.

I forwarded through the next few days as well: all it showed was Avery working on his tablet. Occasionally a servant would come in, but I really didn’t need to listen to those conversations. After all, it wasn’t Avery I was trying to spy on, but his party guests.

But when someone other than a servant came into the room, curiosity got the better of me. The way he was standing I couldn’t tell who it was.
So stopped to listen for a clue to his identity.

Avery said, “So is everything all set for Friday?” He leaned back in his chair as he waited for his guest to respond.

“Yah, everything’s been arranged,” the guest mumbled.
Great, he keeps that up and there’s no hope of identifying him on voice alone
.

“Nine o’clock. Not a minute sooner,” Avery warned. Standing up and crossing the room, he added, “Timing is vital. There can’t be any doubt to my location.”

“Don’t worry. I got everything taken care of.” The man turned to face Avery. “I might not understand why you and your crew are giving up your piece of the fun, but I’m more than happy to step up and take care of it.” Jared
Trentersmith
clasped his hand on Avery’s shoulder before walking out of the room.

I stared as the recorded image of Avery sat back down with a smug and satisfied look on his face.
The liar.
Not only did he know about what was going to happen to Trisha, but he’d helped plan it all. I rewound and watched the scene over and over. I kept searching desperately for some clue that I was completely misinterpreting everything. I didn’t want to believe Avery could so casually plan a girl’s murder.

Wait a minute. During the fight between Jared and Avery, Jared claimed to have only humiliated her with false directions. Maybe that was all the plan was for. But even if that was the case, it didn’t explain the fight. Avery had acted like all of it had been a surprise to him, not just the outcome. Was the entire fight staged just for my benefit?

I was beside myself with anger and dismay. Just what else had he been lying about to me? I continued to watch through the footage. This time I didn’t fast forward through any of his conversations with the servants. I hadn’t intended on spying on him, but now that was exactly what I wanted to do.

I spent the entire morning reviewing the recordings before I reached the end of the party. There had been nothing else even remotely shocking or out of the ordinary. The party portions of the recordings had been a total wash.

All the muscles in my body were beginning to ache. So I took a break and brought
Lariet
outside for a walk. He was his usual joyful ball of fur, just happy to be alive, and even happier to be outside where he could charge after leaves as they drifted down to the ground. Watching him play I could almost forget to be hurt and angry at Byron and at Avery.
Almost
.
But then Hayden Winthrop had to rear his ugly face.

“Can we talk?” he asked as he quickly strode towards me.

“I have nothing to say to you,” I snapped. I scooped
Lariet
up into my arms and started to storm off toward the college.

“Can you at least listen to what I have to say then?” he pleaded. When I didn’t stop, he called, “
Lexi
, please.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “Don’t you call me
that.
Don’t you
dare
ever call me
that
.
” I stormed back over to him and pushed him right in the chest. It was by no means that hard a shove, but he stumbled back in surprise. “That girl doesn’t exist anymore; she disappeared a long time ago,” I growled. Then I turned and ran back to my apartment.

Hearing him use Byron’s nickname for me made me feel dirty. His use of the name felt like the final corruption of everything I once thought I knew about Byron. Byron had always been so strong and resilient in my eyes. He was the one person I thought could survive anything and come out better for it without ever compromising his morals. But I was wrong: everyone has their limits. I wasn’t really mad at Byron. I was mad at this world for being so corrupt and twisted. I was mad at Avery’s dad for being so vengeful. I was mad at Hayden for taking advantage of the situation. And most of all, I was mad at myself for not protecting him better, for letting him get to the point where he was willing to debase himself.

Lariet
gave a playful bark and brought my attention back to reality. As upset as I was with the situation, there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. So I did what I always do when I’m feeling helpless and upset: I escaped. This time I did it by diving back into the recordings.

Grabbing my tablet and sitting on the couch so
Lariet
could curl up in my lap, I continued to review Avery’s footage. There was nothing of interest for a long time, and I felt myself beginning to nod, when the recording showed Avery and
Autumn
enter the room. Whatever was going on, Avery looked upset. I rewound the tape a step.

Avery’s whining entered the room before he did. “Can you believe after all I’ve done for her that she’d treat me like this, like I’m lower than that good-for-nothing brown level poser?” Once he came into view, he walked over to his seat and plopped himself down.

Autumn draped herself over Avery and cooed in his ear, “You need to relax.” She started slowly rubbing his shoulders. With any other girl, I might have thought something was up, but well,
Autumn
was just Autumn.

Avery pushed her hands off of him. “Don’t you tell me to calm
down.
I’ve done absolutely everything for her. I got her that nice apartment, nice clothes, and a social status that protects her. But does she seem grateful for any of it? No! Hell, most of the time she acts like my making her a fast-tracker is a burden. And on top of it all she’s always throwing that boy back in my face. I’m going to lose it if I have to hear her prattle on about her poor Byron again.” Avery stood up and began pacing the floor.

Autumn draped herself in his unoccupied chair. “Well you only have yourself to blame for the Byron situation. If you hadn’t sunk him so low, she wouldn’t feel so guilty and torn up about it.” Autumn explored the contents of his desk while she chided him.

Avery stopped and turned towards
Autumn
. “You know damn well that wasn’t my choice. I just wanted him dropped to the worker level so there couldn’t be any chance of a romantic entanglement between them. My dad’s the one who decided to drop him further after his dad started causing trouble at the plant.” His angry glare was lost on
Autumn
.

“I know:
poor me, boohoo. I’ve loved her since I was a boy and first laid eyes on her at my daddy’s plant. But poor me, things never go my way
.” She shot him a hateful glare. Avery cringed. “Save me the sob story. You’ve made your mess; now you need to suck it up and do the best with it. Because you know damn well if you don’t get little Miss Perfect, our parents are going to insist we marry. So you need to suck it up and listen to me.”

Autumn’s counter tirade seemed to have snapped Avery out of his. He threw himself into another chair. “So what do I do now?”

“Nothing.
As I tried telling you the entire way here,
Zandria
is upset with the whole Trisha situation, not you. Ignore her misplaced anger and let her cool down.” Autumn stood up and headed out of the room. Avery stood and followed.

The last thing he said before he disappeared from view was, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The tablet continued to play as I sat in shock trying to absorb everything. How could I have been so blind, naïve and gullible? Everything that had happened since I first opened my assessment letter had been arranged by Avery. It was
my fault
that Byron had been sunk and had to suffer humiliation, starvation and worse. Even worse, I had foolishly believed Avery was trying to help me fix it all.

All my efforts to gain power were pointless. I wasn’t trying to gain enough power to be able to persuade an insulted businessman to change his mind or let me fix it on my own. I had seen Avery’s jealousy firsthand. He would destroy Byron and I before he’d ever let the two of us end up together. In his mind all the lengths he had gone to for me made me his.

I don’t know how long I sat on the couch in my frozen state of shock before the sound yelling from my tablet pulled me out of it. I looked down and watched Avery lead a bloodied Slade and Grayson into the room. Avery yelled toward some unseen servant to hurry up.

“Damn Hayden and his
friggin
’ dogs! Who the heck takes fluffy white attack dogs out for a walk without a leash?” Grayson growled as he dared to peek under the red cloth that covered his forearm. “I think the bleeding finally stopped.” He poked and prodded the puncture marks.

“Mine hasn’t,” Slade grumbled.

“That’s because you’re still walking on it, stupid. Why don’t you sit down before you drip on Avery’s
rug.
” Slade took Grayson’s advice and flopped down on a small couch, propping his injured leg up on the armrest.

Avery barked, “Will the two of you stop your damn whining and help me figure out what to say to
Zandria
when she realizes he’s missing?” Both boys jumped.

“Hell, I don’t know. You’re the one who lost it and went berserk on the guy. I mean, geez, you said we were only going to rough him up a little bit. Make him understand his place,” Grayson whined.

“It wasn’t my fault. The dumb prick fought back and then he was stupid enough to try to provoke me.” Avery started pacing back in forth.

“Why are you so worked up about it? He got what he deserved. You don’t think Hayden’s going to say anything do you?” Slade asked, looking suddenly worried.

“No, he wouldn’t be that stupid, no matter how powerful his father is. Besides he promised he’s take care of the mess for us. But it’s just a matter of time until
Zandria
notices someone different is picking up the trash. What do I say to her then?” Avery pounded his fist against the desk.

“Dude, why do you have to say anything to her? Orange level workers go missing or die every day. No one gives a shit about what happens to them. Play dumb and sympathetic. She’ll be upset, but then you can be there to comfort her.
Win-win, buddy.”
For a moment he grinned at his unexpected cleverness. Then he focused his attention back on his still dripping shin.

Several servants entered the room with arms full of towels, bandaged and disinfectants. One stood right in front of the camera, so I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could hear that their discussion had ended and they were now focused on cleaning their wounds.

I had been so quick to feel betrayed by Byron and assumed he had chosen to partner with Hayden because his life had become too hard. I should have listened to Byron when he begged me to. I should have known he’d have to be near death before he’d allow himself to fall into his current situation. And as much as I hated Hayden for using Byron that way, from the sounds of it, he had saved Byron’s life by letting the others think he was dead.

Oh God. I had thought everything was totally messed up before. Now I knew just how completely screwed up and evil everything and everyone was. All along I had been fooling myself thinking I was using Avery so I could save Byron. The truth was I couldn’t help Byron
–
 
I
couldn’t even save myself. I had just been too naïve to realize it. I had willingly befriended and fallen for the very person who was the cause of the pain and grief that tormented Byron and I.

There had been signs there all along. Avery had been eerily familiar when I met him on the air-tram. But I had dismissed it instead of making the connection to the little boy I had once seen with his father on one of the rare occasions when I had visited my dad at the plant. Avery had even introduced himself as a scoundrel at heart; I had laughed it off as a joke.

But even after that there had been little things that should have raised suspicion or alarm. I had chosen to ignore them as well. Like when he knew I had always been at the top of my class. He had once said, “I’ve always loved you, since before I was old enough to know what love was.” And then there was the time I realized he had used Camille’s name when I was pretty sure I had never told it to him.

And every time I had found a way to dismiss my worries.

I wrapped my arms around myself and watched the rest of the recording. If there were any more devastating revelations to be learned, I might as well learn them now when there was no possible way I could feel any more distraught.

In the end there was nothing else to be found – at least not on the recording. I wrapped my arms around myself and stared blankly at the wall as I replayed all the painful scenes over and over in my head. I was still in this catatonic state when Wendy finally arrived home.

I was in no state to tell her what was wrong, so I showed her the footage. She wrapped her arms around me and shared my horror and shock. She had never liked Avery, but had never imagined him to be half the monster he really was.