Page 90 of Untether

‘Have you met him?’

‘We did that trip in June, remember?’ Rafe asks. ‘He’s a good guy. Not mad keen on London, mainly because he likesto keep as much distance between him and their dad as humanly possible. But he told us when we Face Timed him this weekend that he’s considering a transfer back here, so he’s going to try to tee up some meetings at the same time as the engagement party.’

‘Did their dad fuck him up as much as he did Belle?’ I ask, curious. That guy sounds like a religious nut-job, from what Rafe’s told us.

He cocks his head, considering. ‘Hard to tell. On the surface, no, because he rejected all that shit a lot earlier than Belle, and more openly, too, from what I hear. But she reckons he’s fucked up in his own way. He fucks around but beats himself up for it.’

‘Maybe you should put him through Unfurl,’ I deadpan, and everyone laughs.

‘Believe me, he’s not one hundred percent convinced about me,’ Rafe says. ‘Not by a long shot. He warmed up over the weekend we were out there, but he’s still not a massive fan.’

‘You’re fourteen years older than his little sister and run a sex club,’ Gen points out. ‘There’s really nothing to like, if you’re him.’

That sets us all off again.

‘You are every big brother’s walking nightmare,’ Zach agrees, shaking his head in mock horror.

‘Yeah, yeah. I get it. But he knows I love Belle, and he knows she’s my whole world. I think standing up to Ben earned me some brownie points with Dex, at least. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s made peace with me and her being together, but there’s something about my proximity to Alchemy that has him shitting the bed.’

‘You mean he doesn’t trust you to be faithful?’ Gen presses. ‘Surely not?’

‘No,’ he says. ‘Not that. It’s more… I don’t know; it’s just a hunch I get. I suspect he finds the whole prospect of a sex club tantalising and morally outrageous in equal measure. Like I said, the guy has serious issues, even if he acted out earlier than Belle. There’s definitely stuff he hasn’t made peace with. So I suspect he feels threatened just by my ties to this world.’

‘Interesting,’ I muse. I’m lucky enough to have come out of my ultra-Catholic education reasonably intact. I never really allowed the doctrine we were force-fed at school to take root, unlike a huge proportion of my classmates. It helps that my parents aren’t religious—Mum’s Catholic and pushed for me to go to Loyola, but Dad’s a Scottish Presbyterian in name only.

So I probably don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for adults in their twenties or thirties who are still grappling with guilt over betraying teachings that I’ve only ever seen as total horseshit.

‘Sounds like we need to forcibly drag him to Alchemy,’ I conclude. ‘A night here will sort anyone out.’

59

AIDA

“The mind and spirit remains invincible.”

—Milton,Paradise Lost

Igive the newsroom at the BBC a full three hours’ notice before Azure’sSearching for Paradisetrailer is due to hit the internet at noon. In the world of breaking news, it’s more than enough time for them to cobble together a response, but not enough time for anyone to leak it effectively. I’m not sure if I should be delighted or terrified that it’s a slow news day—the various editorial teams shouldn’t have much else on, but that means there’s little to distract from the interest my latest project will undoubtedly garner.

And yes,interestis a euphemism fortotal shit show.

BBC News, that juggernaut responsible for presenting over six hundred hours of news each week on television and radio, holds an eight-fifty morning meeting every weekday like clockwork. The meeting is an opportunity for seniormanagement and department heads to discuss priorities ahead of the departmental editorial meetings shortly after.

While presenters don’t join these meetings as a matter of course, senior anchors will often attend to share their opinions on how the BBC communicates certain stories or issues. I probably should have gone up to our Manchester headquarters to sit in on the meeting in person, but it’s a school day, so I’m making do with calling in from one of our meeting rooms. I have myCentre Stageeditor, Rory, with me to keep him in the loop.

I’m fully armoured up this morning in my favourite Balmain blazer and a full face of makeup. When I brief management, it’s how I would brief them on any story where I’m reporting live. I deal in facts and action points, nothing else.

The only person in BBC News who’s aware of my creative partnership with Azure is its Director, Davina Pearce. She gave her authorisation when I signed my initial contract. But she’s not present today, and it’s the Deputy Director, Dave Hodgson, who gives me the green light towards the end of the meeting.

‘Aida?’ He looks at the camera. ‘You had something?’

The people around his table swivel to take me in on their huge screen.

Here goes.

‘Thanks Dave. Yes. I wanted to share that I’ve been working on a two-part documentary with Azure for the past couple months and the trailer is due to be released at noon today. I expect it to garner plenty of press attention. The programme is calledAida Russell: Searching for Paradise, and I’m producing and presenting it.’

I clear my throat. I’ve been practising my elevator pitch all morning, and yet I know this will be less articulate than Iwant. If I’m honest, I want this to be the anti-elevator pitch. I want it to sound so utterly dry that no one will ask a single follow-up question.

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