Illusions of Love (70 page)

‘At least you admit that now.’

India
turned round to see Reece approaching the table, not taking her eyes off him as he joined her and Dominic.

‘Dad, I… I was just on my way…’

‘I thought I’d come and find you.
 
Didn’t want to give you any more excuses to avoid talking to me.’
 
He looked over at Dominic, taking in his slightly stunned expression.
 
‘Nice man, isn’t he?
 
Your father.’

‘Dad!
 
Come on, you can’t blame Dominic for anything Michael’s done.’

‘It’s okay,’ Dominic said, standing up and pushing his chair back under the table.
 
India
stood up too, stepping into Dominic’s open arms for a hug.
 
He kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back.
 
‘It’s alright.
 
You two need to talk.’

‘So do we,’ she protested, nervous of letting him go after what she’d just told him.

‘We can do that later.
 
How about lunch?
 
Back here, 1pm.
 
That sound okay?’

She smiled, closing her eyes as he kissed her gently.
 
‘That sounds perfect.’

He flashed her that movie star smile and slowly let her go, giving her hand one last squeeze as he walked away.
 
‘See you later then, beautiful.’

She watched him walk away before sitting back down, looking at her father.
 
‘I’m sorry, okay?’

‘Sorry for not telling me what he did to you?
 
Sorry for blaming me for his heart attack?
 
Or sorry for not speaking to me over the past few days?’

She started fiddling with her leather wrist cuffs, avoiding his eyes.
 
‘All of those reasons,’ she mumbled, suddenly feeling like some reprimanded teenager.

Reece sat forward, taking her hand and making her look at him.
 
‘
India
, darling, I’m not angry, okay?
 
Not with you, anyway…’

‘Don’t you see though, Dad?
 
I don’t want you to be angry with
him
either.
 
I don’t want all of that dragged up again.
 
I don’t want to have to rake over everything that happened, not now.
 
Not ever.
 
It’s over, okay?
 
And I know that for you that’s going to be harder to accept, because you haven’t had the time to take it all in but, please, if not for mine or Michael’s sake, then for Ethan’s.
 
He doesn’t need to know about any of this.’

Reece squeezed her hand, gently running his thumb over her fingers, looking up into her beautiful but anxious face.
 
‘I wanted to kill him.
 
You need to know that.
 
When I went to his villa that morning I wanted to kill him, and I can’t pretend I felt any other way.’
 
She felt tears prick the back of her eyes and she hurriedly blinked them away.
 
‘But it wasn’t my fault, sweetheart.
 
What happened to Michael – it wasn’t my fault.
 
It was just one of those horrible coincidences, that’s all.
 
Oh, I can’t lie and say that, at the time, I didn’t think it was any less than he deserved, but now I’ve had time to think about it all… I could have handled it a lot better.’

‘Yeah, well, we all could have done that.’
 
She looked up at Reece, determined to make him see that she really
was
over this now.
 
She really
was
going to try and move on.
 
Somehow.
 
But she was going to try.
 
She and Michael, it was never going to happen again.
 
Ever.
 
‘I’ve got Dominic now, Dad.
 
I’ve got him to help me move on, and I can do that, I really can.
 
I can do that.’

‘Are you sure Dominic’s the right man for you,
India
?
 
I mean, he’s…’

‘Michael’s son, I know.’
 
She sat back in her chair, clasping her hands over her stomach.
 
‘I’m not saying it’s ideal, but maybe he’s what I need, y’know?’

‘You said that about Joseph, sweetheart. Remember?
 
That’s exactly what you said about Joseph.’

She threw her head back and stared up at the cloudless blue sky, feeling the sun warm on her face, wishing she was back at the beach, back in
Malibu
– back home.
 
Away from all of this.

‘Maybe he’s just that little bit too close, my darling.
 
To Michael.
 
I just worry about you,
India
.
 
I worry about you.’

‘There’s no need.’

‘You’re my daughter.
 
I’m never going to stop worrying about you, same as you’ll never stop worrying about Ethan and Ellie.
 
You’ll
never
stop worrying about them, believe me.
 
And you have to do what’s right for them too, sweetheart.’

‘Yeah, I know that, Dad.’
 
She sat up, shaking herself to get rid of all the negative thoughts.
 
She had a lot to do today, and she wanted to make sure it was all done before the wrap party that night.
 
She looked at Reece again, right into his eyes.
 
‘I’m going to be careful this time, Dad.
 
I’m going to take things slowly, I promise.
 
Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen between Dominic and I, I have no idea what the future holds for us, if it holds anything at all.
 
But I’m taking everything one day at a time, okay?
 
No rushing into anything, no jumping in feet first.
 
I’m just going to take it slowly and see what happens, after all, we’ve both got a lot of things to sort out, haven’t we?’

Reece smiled, taking her hand again, giving it another squeeze.
 
‘Okay,’ he sighed, knowing he’d never make her change her mind about Dominic.
 
Not yet, anyway.
 
So, as usual, the best course of action he could take was to let her go her own way, but make sure he was well within reach if she needed him.
 
‘But listen to me, sweetheart.
 
Listen to me.
 
If you
ever
need to talk, about anything, you come to me, okay?
 
You come to
me
.’

She leant over and kissed him on the cheek.
 
‘I promise.’
 
She smiled at him as she stood
 
up, grabbing her phone from the table.
 
‘I’ve got to go now.
 
Things to do before the wrap party tonight.
 
You
are
going to be there, aren’t you?’

Reece nodded.
 
‘Yeah.
 
I’m going to be there.’

She bent down to give him one last kiss.
 
‘Good.
 
Hopefully it’s going to be a great night… as long as you don’t…’

He stood up, watching her as a fresh wave of anxiousness crossed her face.
 
‘
India
, darling, I’m not going to cause any trouble tonight.
 
I promise.’

‘Really?
 
You promise?
 
I want this to be a good night, Dad.
 
I want it to be the turning point for all of us, a chance for everyone to finally make that fresh start.’

He pulled her into his arms for a hug.
 
‘Yeah, I know.
 
I know you do.
 
And that’s what I want too, baby.
 
That’s what I want too.’

And all Reece could do was hope that, this time, that fresh start finally happened.

***

Dominic found Michael down in The Amber Palace casino.
 
He looked relaxed, happy – his demeanour very different to the one he’d displayed over the past few weeks.
 
He seemed like a different man.
 
Like the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.
 
He was smiling at people, exchanging words with anyone who stopped him for an autograph, quite happily allowing his photo to be taken, and Dominic stood back for a while and just watched him.
 
His famous father.
 
A charming, polite, enigmatic man.
 
A true star.
 
But a man who also had the ability to become darkly dangerous.

Taking a deep breath Dominic stuck his hands in his pockets and began walking towards Michael, ready to get one final thing off his chest.
 
And maybe
India
wouldn’t be too happy with what he was doing, but, for his own peace of mind, he had to say what he’d come here to say.

Michael looked up as Dominic approached him, his once-relaxed face tensing up slightly because he was acutely aware that Dominic didn’t appear half as relaxed as
he
was feeling.

‘I need a word,’ Dominic said, sticking his hands in his pockets, looking at the man he still couldn’t call Dad – even if that’s what he really was.

‘Now?’ Michael asked, removing his dark glasses, pushing them up onto his head.
 
‘I’m on my way to make sure everything’s ready for tonight’s wrap party.
 
Can it wait?’

Dominic shook his head.
 
‘No.
 
Not really.
 
I’d rather we did this now, before tonight.’

Michael narrowed his eyes, but he wasn’t going to put up a fight.
 
This young man was somebody he needed to get to know, if only to find out just how many of the Walsh genes he’d really inherited.
 
He was curious about that, if nothing else.

‘I don’t want a drink,’ Dominic continued.
 
‘And I don’t want to sit down for some cosy chat; I just want to talk to you.
 
For a few minutes, that’s all.
 
There are some things I need to say.’

Michael was even more confused now.
 
‘Alright,’ he sighed, removing his dark glasses altogether, sticking them in his shirt pocket.
 
‘Let’s go outside.
 
That okay with you?’

Dominic nodded, thinking that keeping this conversation in a public area was probably best.
 
For everyone.

Michael followed Dominic out into the Las Vegas sunshine, both of them walking in silence until they reached the main body of The Strip which was bustling with tourists, everyone so busy taking in everything around them that they failed to notice the two famous movie stars amongst them.

They’d walked for about five minutes before Dominic stopped, sitting down on a nearby wall, staring out ahead of him, watching the throng of people walking up and down The Strip – watching as they stopped to take photographs, most of them joining the large crowd that was waiting for the 12:00pm Fountains of Bellagio show to begin.

‘I know what you did to her,’ Dominic said, his hands still deep inside his pockets, his eyes still staring straight ahead.
 
‘She told me.’

Michael sat down next to him, saying nothing.
 
What
could
he say?

‘It’s hard, y’know…’ Dominic continued, ‘… to keep a lid on it all, all these emotions that are flying round my head right now.
 
It’s hard…’

‘I can understand…’

He finally turned to face Michael.
 
‘No.
 
No, I don’t think you can.
 
You were supposed to love her.’

‘I
did
love her… I still do…’

Dominic shook his head, his attention now focused on the traffic and the tourists, anything but this man next to him.
 
‘How could you do that to someone you love, huh?’
 
He looked at Michael again, right into blue eyes that were so like his own.
 
But he would never be like this man.
 
Never.
 
He would never hurt anyone the way Michael had hurt
India
.
 
‘How could you do that?’

Michael didn’t really know what to say.
 
He’d been over this so many times, he was tired of explaining.
 
But didn’t Dominic
deserve
some kind of explanation?

‘Actually, do you know what?’ Dominic said, pushing a hand through his hair as he stood up, looking at Michael.
 
‘I don’t want to know.
 
It’s over.
 
For
India
’s sake, this is over.
 
Finished.
 
She’s with
me
now, okay?
 
And I’m going to love her like she deserves to be loved.
 
I’m going to keep her safe; I’m going to make her happy.’