48. Levi
‘You sure know how to make a mess,’ Elias said as he took the stool beside Levi at the bar.
‘Go big or go home, right?’ Levi replied, staring at the amber liquor in his glass.
They were at the underground bar Theo had taken him to. Levi had asked Elias to meet him there. He wanted to check on his brother to see how he was doing. The family’s dirty laundry had been plastered across all the news sites and breakfast television shows. Thankfully, Elias hadn’t had much shit thrown his way, but Levi had copped a fair amount.
‘Yeah, I don’t think that applies in this situation,’ Elias said, before ordering a drink from the bartender.
Levi looked up at Elias. ‘Are you doing okay?’
Elias widened his eyes. ‘You’re worried about me?’
‘Of course I am,’ Levi replied, frowning. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Uh, maybe because you’re the one who is being vilified in the media.’
Levi shrugged one shoulder. ‘It’ll pass. Besides, it’s nothing more than I deserve.’
‘That’s bullshit,’ Elias said. ‘If it wasn’t for you, none of it would’ve come to light, and those bastards would have gone on doing all that crap. People should be praising you for blowing the whistle.’
Levi snorted softly and then took a drink. ‘Yeah, that’s not how whistleblowing goes.’
They were quiet for a long moment. ‘Are you okay, though?’ Levi eventually asked again. ‘Do you have enough money? The press isn’t bothering you too much?’
‘I’m fine,’ Elias said with a resigned sigh. ‘Thinking of changing my name and maybe having some plastic surgery to change my face. Do you know a good surgeon?’
Levi grimaced.
‘Too soon?’ Elias asked with a half-hearted grin.
‘Lil’ bit,’ Levi replied.
Elias sighed. ‘Are you okay? I mean, really okay? I know you’re putting up a good front, but I want to know the truth.’
Levi exhaled roughly. ‘I’m… okay. Or, at least as okay as I can be. I feel guilty, but I also feel relieved. I know I did the right thing, even if the world hates everything Beckingsale right now.’
‘I don’t think it’s the entire world,’ Elias said, lifting his drink to his lips and taking a sip. ‘It’s just Brisbane. I don’t think even the rest of the country has heard of the infamous Beckingsale doctors.’
That’s what the media had dubbed them: The ‘Infamous Beckingsale Doctors.’ Levi was expecting 60 Minutes to do an exposé on his family soon. It didn’t help that more women had come forward to accuse Jonah of sexual harassment. And the file Tessa had given him was from when Catherine and Rupert first opened the clinic…at the expense of the career of a doctor they had previously partnered with.
‘Here,’ Elias said, sliding something across the bar to him.
Levi picked up the postcard. It had a metal sculpture on the front depicting different faces all stacked on top of one another.
‘What’s this?’ Levi asked, turning it over to see an announcement for an exhibition. ‘E-L-I,’ Levi spelled out slowly before raising his eyes to his brother. ‘This is your work? Your exhibition?’
Elias looked down at his glass, his cheeks colouring. ‘Yeah. My first solo exhibition.’
‘I…’ Levi shook his head, turning the postcard over again to look at the sculpture. ‘You made this?’
Elias went to snatch it out of Levi’s hand, but he held it out of his reach.
‘You don’t have to come?—’
‘Are you kidding me right now?’ Levi asked, smiling broadly. The last week had felt like he was literally walking through the valley of death with Alexis as his only guiding light. Since she’d gone, darkness had enveloped him, until now. ‘This is amazing,’ Levi said truthfully, holding the postcard in front of him again to admire the artwork. ‘Like… I don’t even have words.’ He looked at Elias. ‘How did I not know about this?’
Elias shrugged. ‘It’s easy to hide stuff when nobody thinks you are capable of anything.’
It felt like a punch to the gut… and not entirely undeserved. Levi should have known. He should have been more involved in Elias’ life but… he had no excuses.
‘I’m sorry,’ Levi said. ‘I’ve had my head stuck in the sand for far too long. Forgive me?’
‘Do you think Alexis would like to come to the exhibition?’ Elias asked hopefully.
Levi frowned, but he wasn’t mad. ‘Alexis?’
Elias grinned. ‘You are too easy,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘It’s no fun when you’re that easy.’
Levi opened his mouth to reply when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. ‘We all know Levi is no fun,’ Theo said, sliding into the stool on the other side of him.
Levi turned to his friend. ‘Look,’ he said showing Theo the postcard. ‘Look at what my little brother did.’
Theo glanced at it and then looked up to get the bartender’s attention. ‘I know,’ he said casually.
‘What?’
Theo shrugged. ‘I’ve known for a while. Elias begged me not to say anything to you.’
‘I wouldn’t say begged,’ Elias retorted.
‘Pleaded?’ Theo asked with a raised eyebrow.
‘Fuck off,’ Elias said without heat.
Levi looked between the two men. When had they become friends? ‘I thought you two hated each other,’ he said.
‘Hate is a strong word,’ Theo said, accepting his drink.
‘Healthy dislike?’ Elias suggested.
‘Vigorous contempt?’ Theo said.
Levi shook his head. ‘I never understood why. Elias, you idolised Theo when you were younger.’
‘Yeah, until he stole my girlfriend.’
Theo scoffed. ‘I did no such thing. And she wasn’t your girlfriend. You didn’t even know her.’
‘You knew I liked her,’ Elias said. ‘Bros before hoes and all that.’
‘That’s bullshit,’ Theo said. ‘Besides, I didn’t actually date her for real. It was a promotional thing. I took a bullet for you, mate. She would have chewed you up and spat you out.’
‘Maybe I like that,’ Elias said.
Theo gaped at him and then shook his head. ‘You’re delusional.’
Levi watched the conversation like he was at a tennis match. ‘Who are we talking about?’
‘Angelina De Veres,’ they both replied at the same time.
‘The supermodel?’ Levi nearly choked on his drink.
‘The very same,’ Theo said with a sigh.
‘You two have been fighting over that?’ Levi couldn’t believe what he was hearing but… but at the same time he was glad these two idiots were in his life. They were his idiots, and their ridiculousness was exactly what he needed to take his mind off the shit storm that was his life.
‘I won’t be at your exhibition,’ Theo said. ‘I have to fly to Paris tomorrow for a shoot.’
Elias nodded but didn’t say anything.
‘I bought a piece, though,’ Theo said.
Elias lifted his eyes at that. ‘Yeah?’
Theo nodded. ‘Under the Knife,’ he said.
‘Under the knife?’ Levi asked.
‘It’s a…’ Elias began.
‘It’s a face,’ Theo said, ‘with a knife poised above it held by a hand that doesn’t have a body attached. It spoke to me.’
Levi turned to look at Elias. ‘Are all your pieces about… faces?’ He wanted to say cosmetic surgery but didn’t. He knew there was a deeper meaning behind the sculptures than what people could see on the surface.
‘They’re masks,’ Elias said. ‘I’ve been surrounded by… masks all my life.’ He chuckled darkly. ‘I’ve worn a few myself.’
‘We all do,’ Theo said.
Levi couldn’t agree more. He felt like he’d been wearing a mask all his life. He didn’t even know what was a mask and what was truth anymore. Who was he without his mask? He suspected he was about to find out. He’d ripped off his mask in a spectacular way, and now it was time to find out what was underneath.
Levi wokeup to his phone freaking out on the bedside table. He grunted when he opened his eyes and slammed them shut. He’d drunk far too much the night before. He couldn’t even remember how he’d gotten home.
The phone continued to buzz, and he picked it up. It wasn’t a phone call, or even a text message. The screen was filled with notifications from his social media accounts. Did he even have social media? He must have, although he never used it.
He clicked on one of the notifications, and it opened an app on his phone. Someone had tagged him in a post… Nikki had tagged him.
He groaned and fell back to the pillow. He was wondering when that particular bad decision was going to come back and haunt him. Nikki had been suspiciously silent during the media blow up around the clinic and his family. Her face should have healed by now, so he’d wondered why she hadn’t joined in the torch and pitchfork crowd.
His phone buzzed in his hand again, and he reluctantly looked at it. Theo. Fucking Theo had tagged him in something too.
With a sigh, Levi sat up and rested against the bedhead. His brain was hazy from the hangover, but he needed to know what fresh hell awaited him so he could deal with it. He tapped on the post from Nikki, expecting a diatribe about him.
‘You all need to stop hating on Dr Beck,’ she said to the camera. Her face was indeed back to normal. ‘He is an amazing doctor, and none of what happened is his fault.’
Levi sat up straighter. ‘What?’ he said out loud, even though he knew she couldn’t hear him.
‘I’ve been seeing Dr Beck for years, and he has never once hurt me. He always treated me with respect and with the utmost care. All of you out there slandering him, do you even know him? Like, know him? He’s the one who alerted the authorities to what was going on. He was the one who stopped all this. So you lot need to pull your heads in, and get your facts straight.’
Levi stared at the screen as the video repeated. The post had thousands of likes and shares.
What the hell had happened? Had he somehow stumbled into a parallel universe? Was this a dream?
He clicked on Theo’s post. It was a picture of the two of them from that picnic in the park with Chloe. Chloe had taken the picture, and Theo had threatened to post it, but Levi had forbidden him. It appeared he’d posted it anyway.
‘Dr Beck has been a friend of mine since school,’ Theo’s post read. ‘I have never met anyone with more integrity and genuine care for his patients. Am I one of his patients? No, but I know him as a friend, and I will vouch for him. If any of you have a problem with that, unfollow me.’
Levi didn’t know what to say or think. Theo’s likes were of a number he couldn’t even fathom. Elias had joked that the rest of the world wouldn’t know what was going on or even know his name… now they would.
Levi dropped his phone. It wouldn’t solve his problem, but maybe… just maybe it would help redeem his reputation. There was still the court case to get through, but Levi eventually wanted to start practicing again. Doing what he wanted to do in the first place. Reconstructive surgery and scar treatments.
He picked up his phone and looked at the picture of him and Theo. He hoped Chloe was doing okay. Ebony had severed all communication with the family. She was protecting herself and her kids, and he could appreciate that, but he worried for Chloe. He didn’t want her to hate him for exposing Jonah, but he understood if she did. Maybe one day, she would understand. Until then, he would wait, and if she decided she wanted to contact him, even if it was to yell and scream at him, then he would be there for her. He’d already sent Ebony Valentina’s details. She would need a good lawyer, and if Valentina couldn’t help her, Levi was sure she knew someone who could. Maybe Alexis… if Alexis decided to go back to law.
Not that Levi had an opinion one way or another. He loved Alexis exactly the way she was. If she never wanted to return to law, then that was her decision to make, and he would support her. The same way he knew she would support him. That’s what love was.
His phone rang, and he smiled to see her name on the screen.
‘Hello gorgeous,’ he said, his voice still rough from sleep and alcohol.
‘Hello, Dr Superstar,’ she replied.
‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ he said. ‘How’re you? How’s things with your mum?’