[UA] Your Alex Abel.

[James Palmer]

> 	See, Mona was still in bad shape.  Still needed money, just like she had
> back in the 80s, when she had was divorced, abandoned and pregnant.  (She
> hadn't mentioned that detail when she was asking Alex for money then.)  She
> needs money again, but this time she's got something to trade: her daughter
> Ruby.
> 	Ruby is a rare beauty.  She's nineteen, intelligent, and ready to do
> anything to help out her mother.  Anything.  Mona is willing to basically
> sell her to Abel (a man she considers a callous bastard, and with some
> reason).  
> 	What does Alex do?
> 
> -G. 

OK - firstly, he wouldn't 'buy' Ruby for sex.  Hell, the man's a
multibillionaire; if he wants to have sex with beautiful women he can get
a $1000 prostitute.  

Firstly, has a long and painful dinner with Mona, without really being
able to say what he wants to.  Offers to fund Ruby's college education,
provided she comes to work for him afterwards, and to support Mona in a
reasonable lifestyle at the same time.  Pushes Ruby into physical and
mental training to make her suitable for the New Inquisition. 

I also see it as quite possible that he falls in love with Ruby, but can't
do anything about it, given that there's nobody else in his life and she
probably bears a resemblance to her mother.  I don't see Abel as being
good at coping with his own emotions - controlling them, maybe, but not
understanding them.  

James