Part 1: RESTRAINS
1 WILL
He watched his sister get ready for Maggie’s seventeenth birthday. It amused him to see how nervous she was, changing outfits over and over again. A pair of jeans? Too casual. A miniskirt? Too slutty. Will kept throwing in snide remarks or impatiently tapping his foot just to wind her up.
‘Will you stop it already? God, you’re unbearable.’
’They’re waiting for us, Olivia.’
’I don’t care, William.’
He rolled his eyes and got up from the bed.
‘Okay, Liv, I’ll wait for you downstairs. Don’t be too long!’
‘Sod off!’
He picked up his shoes from the floor and carried them downstairs. His mum wouldn’t let anyone wear shoes upstairs. The cashmere carpet, she insisted, was far too delicate. Which meant he had to put up with the feel of soft wool beneath his feet.
Will made his way down the stairs cautiously, as though something might be lurking there. A light glowed at the end of the corridor. He stood in silence.
‘William?’ called a man’s voice. ‘Come here, please.’
He followed the light into the dining room.
‘There you are,’ said his father.
‘Did you want something? We’re about to leave.’
His father wiped his mouth with a silk napkin and picked up a folder from the table.
‘Have a look at this. You should be prepared for anything.’
‘And besides,’ began his mother, who had remained silent whilst his father was speaking, ‘there’s an opening next week. We want you to come. We want your face to appear in the press.’
‘My face is already in the public eye, Mum.’
‘Yes,’ his father interrupted, ‘but not because of what you’re about to become, but because you’re behaving like an idiot in public.’
‘James,’ said his mother calmly, ‘he’s just a child.’
‘Not anymore, Felicity.’
James stared at him.
’It’s time you grew up, William. For your own sake. For Nexa’s.’
A shiver ran down his spine. He began to feel deeply uneasy. All he could do was nod.
A few months earlier, his father had decided that when he turned seventeen, he would start taking on a greater role in the company. The empire had passed from his grandfather to his eldest son, James, and now, thanks to Liv, it would one day pass to Will. He’d agreed straight away. Although he couldn’t refuse, he genuinely wanted to do it. His father had instilled in him a love of cars, and together they’d taken them apart and put them back together from scratch, but as the years went by, those father-son moments he treasured so dearly in his memory were shrouded in a thick mist that soon cleared, revealing clearly what they really were: memories orchestrated by a man who’d never given him a choice.
’Willy?’
Liv appeared behind him and looked at her parents.
‘Hello,’ she muttered coldly.
‘Ready?’ he asked her.
‘Yes. Let’s go,’ replied Liv, taking his hand.
‘Liv, darling,’ called Felicity, watching her, ‘are you going to wear that?’
They both rolled their eyes and walked off.
***
They got out of the car on a quiet street. Four figures were waiting for them in the darkness.
‘About time!’ exclaimed a boy’s voice. ‘We’ve been here for nearly an hour.’
‘Sorry,’ apologized Will. ‘It was Liv’s fault.’
‘As always,’ replied the same voice.
‘Mati, get lost,’ replied his sister.
They approached them and their faces began to take shape. There was Mati, Kriss, Lilly and, last but not least, Maggie, the birthday girl—a curly-haired Scottish girl with the worst taste in lads.
’Happy birthday, Daisy,’ said Liv, hugging her.
‘It’s tomorrow,’ replied her friend.
‘I know, but we’re celebrating today.’
‘Right, let’s go for dinner. I’m starving,’ said Will, putting his arm round his sister’s and Maggie’s shoulders. ‘Happy birthday, Maggie,’ he added with a smile.
The place was deserted. They wouldn’t have been surprised to find out they were the only customers that night. The restaurant was a Japanese place with a very classic aesthetic, low tables and chairs that were nothing more than large cushions.
‘What do you want to order?’ asked Maggie, glancing through the menu.
‘No, no, Maggie, you choose. It’s your big day,’ teased Kriss.
‘Oh, come on! Help me out, you know I’m rubbish at ordering in restaurants.’
It was true. As well as having terrible taste in lads, Maggie had even worse taste when it came to ordering. She always picked dishes because they had strange names or with the pictures she said looked the most appetising. In the end, she almost always got it wrong and didn’t like what she’d ordered, so she’d leave her plate half-eaten and choose three different desserts.
‘I know it’s really funny to see Maggie complaining about her food,’ said Mati. ‘But that food’s for me too,’ he added, looking at Maggie sympathetically.
‘Why don’t you all choose for me?’ asked Maggie with a smile.
‘No,’ they all replied in unison.
They ended up each choosing one dish from the menu to share. Maggie ordered Shirako, which translates as cod milt. Nobody ate it.
Will and Liv paid the bill whilst the others looked for taxis to take them to the party. They got in and were driven to the heart of the city.
London by night was very different. It seemed like a completely different world, far removed from the one they knew, full of comfort and luxury. But that didn’t make it alien to them, and they understood the dangers they were throwing themselves headlong into. They also knew its pleasures, whose scent intoxicated them until the city convinced them they owned it.
A gang of sixteen-year-olds wouldn’t normally get past the door of one of the most exclusive venues, but not every gang of teenagers was William and Olivia Sinclair with their friends—and above all, not everyone was Mattia Lozano-Barbieri, the owner’s nephew.
Mati strode in with an air of arrogance, cutting the queue and ignoring the comments of the people waiting to get in. The doorman, a huge bloke, looked down at him and raised an eyebrow amusedly.
‘Name?’
‘Come on, Gary, you know full well,’ snapped his friend.
The doorman didn’t budge.
‘Name?’
Mati sighed.
‘Mattia Lozano.’
Gary pretended to look for the name on the list before stepping aside.
‘Go on, have fun,’ he said as they passed him and walked down the stairs. ‘Oh, Maggie! Congratulations!’
‘Thanks, Gary! Say hello to your brother for me,’ she replied.
The music and neon lights surrounded them. They made their way to an adjoining room reserved for them. They drank from the bottles on the table, and once the alcohol had loosened them up, they headed out onto the dance floor. People were moving to the beat of techno music. At some point during the night, the lads slipped off to the loo and returned a short while later completely high. The girls weren’t surprised; if anything, they were offended that they hadn’t been offered whatever it was the lads had been taking.
Will was revelling in the sweat, the alcohol and the ecstasy high. A blonde girl smiled at him from the bar and he walked over without a second thought.
‘Hi, I’m Will,’ he said while raising his hand to get the barman’s attention.
‘Gabi,’ replied the girl, focused on stirring her drink with a straw.
Will paid for his drink and Gabi’s, and stayed chatting to her. The conversation eventually led to William making out with her against the bar until a camera flash snapped him out of the moment.
‘What the bloody hell are you doing?’ he exclaimed to the person in front of him who was pointing a mobile at him.
‘Smile, Sinclair!’ shouted the journalist, taking another photo.
William pulled away from Gabi and walked over to him. By tomorrow, that photo would be everywhere. James Sinclair’s son letting his hair down in a nightclub. Not to mention the trouble Mati’s uncle could get himself into for letting them in when they were underage.
’Delete that, now!
‘No way, lad,’ laughed the journalist in a smug voice.
Will gave him a shove, and in a second Kriss and Mati were right there beside him.
‘Hey, what’s going on?’ asked Kriss.
Will wasn’t listening to them.
‘Delete those bloody photos!’ he shouted.
The journalist laughed in his face and turned on his heel, ready to walk off with the photo, but Will grabbed him and snatched the mobile from his hands, smashing it against the floor.
‘You bastard.’
The man lunged at him and landed a punch, and Will returned the blow. Just as the journalist was about to land a second punch, Mati landed another one that knocked him to the ground. Kriss, who despite being two metres tall didn’t want to get involved, tried to hold them back. Gary appeared, grabbed Will by his shirt and dragged him towards the door.
’Gary, don’t give me that ’that bloke was taking photos of me.
Mati appeared, held back by another doorman who shoved him towards Will.
’No! shouted Gary ’I don’t want this sort of rubbish here! Go home ’it’s far too late for you lot.
Maggie, Liv, Kriss and Lilly rushed out the door demanding an explanation.
‘Will, what’s happened?’ asked Lilly, examining the bruise on her cheek from the punch the journalist had landed on her.
‘That bloke took a photo of me. I didn’t want that getting out, and I didn’t want him to get your uncle into trouble either,’ he said, looking at Mati.
‘Do you really think I was the only bloke in there with a mobile? I’m sure there’ll be hundreds of photos of you fighting with him by tomorrow,’ replied Maggie.
‘And you’ve ruined Maggie’s birthday,’ added Liv.
‘I’m really sorry! Anything else?’
‘Idiot!’ they all exclaimed.
‘So what do we do now? Are we going home?’ asked Mati, lighting a cigarette.
‘I’m still too high to go to bed,’ said Kriss in a faint voice.
‘My gran’s house is empty,’ muttered Lilly. ‘She’s in Thailand on a spiritual retreat.’
They looked at her, bewildered.
‘What?’
‘Don’t ask.’
They ended up at Lilly’s gran’s, she’d gone on a spiritual retreat because she’d turned seventy and was going through a hippie phase.
***
Friday turned into Saturday, and as best they could, they got themselves ready to go to the party Maggie’s parents had organised for her birthday. A tacky, bland party that wasn’t at all like her parents, and one in which Will was sure his father had had a hand.
‘Happy birthday, Daisy,’ they all said before getting into their cars one after another. No one checked whether Will’s mishap was on the internet, but they were sure it was. The closer they got to the house, the clearer he could hear his father’s voice in his head.
They arrived at the Sinclair family estate that Felicity had offered to host the celebration. As they got out of the car, they looked up at the grand balcony overlooking the entrance of the mansion. There, sitting on the floor, five adults looked at them with expressions of annoyance and slight boredom. William sighed and took his sister’s hand. Liv squeezed it in a show of support. His father’s eyes, on the other hand, conveyed a feeling as certain as the knowledge that the sun would rise in the morning. That confirmed what he already knew.
After two minutes of haughty stares, which felt like hours to William–he wouldn’t have been surprised if the chauffeur had told him that, on the way home, the party was already over and that he’d spent the whole time staring at his shoes, feeling his father’s eyes upon him— they left the balcony, which the siblings took as a sort of reluctant invitation.
The entrance to the mansion was impressive, with ivory-coloured marble floors and walls. Columns surrounded a sort of sitting room. They walked in silence towards the windows at the far end and looked out over the extensive estate hidden behind the vastness of the house. The grounds were filled with marquees. Men in suits, women in heels far too high to walk on the grass—however well-tended it might be—and children in ridiculous outfits. Waiters swarmed around them with trays full of canapés.
Will let out a groan and pressed his forehead against the glass, exhausted at the thought of all the people he would have to greet, shake hands with and answer endless polite questions with no real interest in his response. They realised that the party was more of a social event for adults than a daughter’s birthday. An outdoor gathering to discuss matters too sensitive to be dealt with in an office.
The parents entered in silence, looking at Will with pity, he hated that pity. He hated their pity. They knew James would fly into a rage, and they let it happen. Frightened onlookers.
‘You’re late,’ said Maggie’s father, looking at her.
‘I know. I’m sorry,’ she replied, apologising on everyone’s behalf.
‘And in the same clothes as yesterday,’ pointed out Felicity, annoyed. ’I knew it. Go upstairs and get changed. I’ve brought you some clothes. Kristofer, dear, I hope I’ve got the size right. ‘You’re huge.’
Kriss nodded and headed for the stairs without saying a word. The others followed close behind. Will walked with his head down, trying not to look at his father.
‘Do you think he knows already?’ he muttered as he tried to tie his tie.
Maggie came over and helped him tie it.
‘Probably, but I don’t think he’ll say anything to you whilst he’s here. He’ll wait until you’re alone.’
He was terrified at the thought of facing his father alone. He’d rather he’d shouted at him in front of everyone, but clearly he wouldn’t. He had to keep up appearances.
They went back downstairs and his friends finally hugged their parents. William couldn’t bring himself to move. He was rooted to the spot and didn’t realise it. It was at moments like that, when Liv came over to his side, that he felt less alone. He thought about how selfish he was to feel relieved that there was someone else suffering just as he was, but knowing that Liv felt the same way eased his conscience.
His father was watching them, waiting for them to walk towards him. They went to meet him like a dog when it’s called.
‘William, Olivia, I hope you had a pleasant evening. And a peaceful one,’ he emphasised.
‘Very peaceful indeed,’ his sister replied mockingly, testing the waters, pulling the lion’s tail to see if it would bite.
His mother didn’t even come over to say hello, she was too preoccupied with praising Lilly, who, as well as being her friend, also happened to be her cousin.
Dozens of eyes turned to Will as he stepped out into the garden. Everyone gathered round him, trying to make him feel that he wasn’t alone, come what may, they would weather the storm by his side.
