His nineteenth birthday found Drake finally picking up the Bagley’s trail. After not such a long time deliberating on what it was he wanted to do about them, he’d decided he would track them down and kill them all over again.
He was sure it wouldn’t be nearly as difficult for him the second time around, though he’d had no qualms over it the first time. He had thought his rage would have subsided afterwards, but it had not been so. Knowing that they were still alive in the real world and living their dream life in their dream home, all at his expense, got him madder every time he thought about it. He would not be able to find peace until they’d paid for their deception, dearly.
So he used bribery, trickery, torture and everything he could think of to get news of their whereabouts from former acquaintances or collaborators, and his long years of searching eventually paid off. He found them playing first class citizens in a wealthy new neighbourhood in the parish of Dulwich, Surrey. They went by the name of Brown, a couple that had apparently made their fortune in India in their youth, and had now returned to seek a quiet life at home. With the name Brown quite common and their story being only one among similar hundreds, Drake was sure no one would suspect the truth about the Bagleys being anything but. And that’s when he knew exactly what he was going to do about them. Before the pair met their end, the world would see them for who they truly were, imposters and thieves.
He dedicated the next couple of months to devising and putting into action an intricate plan. This time was spent following them around, observing their daily habits, their social connections and activities, the places they went to and the gatherings they attended. The Bagleys had made a good life for themselves and it infuriated Drake to see them so obliviously happy, trotting about the town as if all was good with the world. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think they were an honest to goodness, genuinely real and bonafide couple of decent people, with nary a blemish in their past, nor an evil bone in their seemingly well fed and pampered bodies. As it were, he did know better, and blast it if he didn’t make sure the rest of their new friends did too.
His plan was simple. He would infiltrate the circle of people the Bagleys frequented, become one of them, and at the right time, preferably a very public moment, he would unmask them, revealing to the world their true identities and faces.
When he thought he had enough information at his disposal, the first part of his plan was complete. He then began working on the second part. He rented an empty house in the area and hired himself a maid and a butler. His plan required him to pass as a gentleman of the high society, a newcomer of course, but of good lineage and money. He’d saved enough during the past four years to pull this off for a couple of months and didn’t care if he ended up broke afterwards, or worse.
He stocked up his new wardrobe with plenty of fine clothes and accessories, anything that a young gentleman of his stature would require, sparing no expense. He cleaned up and took to being well-groomed and presentable all the time, fitting well into his new role and shining like a new penny.
To the eyes of the world, however, he looked like he was born into it, and when he realised he’d managed to pull this off quite easily, he felt more than a little satisfaction. People treated him very differently from what he was used to, everywhere he went. Traders rushed to do his bidding, trying to please his every lavish request; other gentlemen would greet him and speak to him as one of their own, and even the ladies would look at him differently, their gaze lingering on him longer than he’d ever experienced.
He wasn’t altogether displeasing to the eye either. Under his light-brown shiny hair, neatly combed upwards, a pair of fine eyebrows arched on top of a small but bright pair of eyes, that even though quite ordinary, had such a mystery about them. His face was fresh even for his age, and yet, despite a rough skin and a not so flattering moustache over his quite sensual lips, it all made for a fairly attractive young man.
With the kind of lifestyle he’d known up until this point, it was no wonder he was surprised at the amount of the attention he now received from the fairer sex. He felt self-conscious at first, fearing their looks meant that they saw through what he was trying hard to hide. Soon though, he learned he had nothing to worry about; despite how he felt about himself, he was quite desirable to most of them. So, he figured this was a good thing and that it might actually help him in his plan to end the Bagleys.
When he was finally sure that the image he had created for himself was convincing enough, time came for the infiltration part of the plan. He started by befriending the young of the rich families in the area, guys his age, who for leisure frequented pubs and race tracks, and other places of the sort. He was a natural at reading people and charming them, so it took no time at all to befriend several young men he had targeted. The story he was going with was that his rich parents had travelled to America and were working towards building a business and a life there. He would join them soon. He spoke with such knowledge and confidence, that no one even thought for a moment that he was making everything up.
Growing up among the rich and studying them in order to become a more effective thief, he’d learned a lot about their ways. Thus it was no chore passing off as one of them; he had the part down to perfection. Soon enough, his place among his new friends was cemented. It took a lot of not only time, but also flattery, and a great deal of money to make that happen. But when he was done, the young impressionable men were hanging on every word he said and every move he made. He became more than one of them, he became the one to hang out with.
He was regularly invited to their homes for dinners and small parties, and would likewise have them over to his “temporary residence” to entertain them. Their parents all loved him, their younger brothers looked up to him, while their sisters, both young and old swooned over him.
It wasn’t easy for him to not give in to their attention; between the girls he bedded every night in his dreamworld and the whores he sometimes lay with in this one, he’d developed a taste for their companionship. So it took all the self-restraint he could muster to keep from chasing one or all of them, or visiting the whore houses in the city. But he had a role to play and an image to maintain, and that was more important for now. Still, maybe courting one of the young women he’d just met might actually help with that? After all, wasn’t that what rich young men of his age did?
And so it was that he met Miss Lily Worthington. She had the blondest hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen on someone, with a face that was absolutely and breathtakingly gorgeous. But he saw gorgeous girls everywhere these days, so it wasn’t her beauty that really struck him. No, it was her innocence that drew him to her. She had the kindest smile anyone could ever have and a look that could warm the heart of the coldest man. Of all the young women he’d ever met, or even been with - and there’d been quite a few of them in the past couple of years - none had managed to claim his attention the way she did. If he was to pretend to be courting someone, it might as well be someone he actually liked.
With the permission of her parents, a middle-class couple who had married for love and desired the same for their own children, as well as the support of her diminutive older brother, Samuel, one of his new best friends, he began courting her. They would regularly go to the theatre, or the circus, make visits to the zoo, or take a walk in the park, always accompanied by her brother or a chaperone. He was ever the perfect gentleman, charming and elegant, though he found that with her he didn’t even have to try. He could be more himself with her than he had been in the past couple of months with anyone else, and still feel rather good about it.
Lily for her part was always delightful and a breeze to be with. She wasn’t interested in everything other girls constantly went on about; she only ever wanted to know about him. Everything she asked was always personal, his relationship with his parents, his past experiences, his feelings, his thoughts about this or that. It made it so easy for him not to have to lie or fake anything. He could truthfully tell her an
ything she wanted and find that his secret was still safe and hidden.
As the weeks went by and he felt that this relationship was actually heading somewhere serious, he stopped for the first time to ask himself what he was doing. His plan of revenge against the Bagleys had now matured and the time was ripe for him to take the final step.
But he had not counted on falling for some girl whom he had absolutely no future with. His money had almost all run out; he had no parents waiting for him in America, and everything he had or was to these people and to her, was a lie. Even if he forgot all about the Bagleys and pursued a life with Lily, the truth would eventually surface and she would know he wasn’t the person he claimed to be. Wouldn’t it all end then?
His mind screamed that he had no chance with a girl like her, yet, his heart whispered that she would love him no matter what. She knew him better than anyone, after all; she wouldn’t care, would she? His mind, however, proved the strongest and eventually won the battle; no one had ever loved him all his life, even those who had claimed to do so. Why would they start now? Reluctantly, he decided he’d better stop things before they got out of hand and stopped calling on her altogether, deciding instead to focus on his plan.
He had the perfect opportunity; one of the richest families in Dulwich was throwing a coming of age party for their only daughter and almost everyone who was anyone was invited, including him. When he was assured that the Bagleys would also attend, Drake decided that this was the moment he had been waiting for. The time for his revenge had finally come.
Chapter 6
Fight or Flight