Staring back at her was a determined, strong and beautiful woman, although Charley felt anything but strong. She felt trapped and scared, terrified that her life was going in a direction she couldn’t control because, despite Vince doing everything he possibly could to try and stop Jimmy from exposing every element of her past life, Jimmy was letting nothing stand in his way. Nothing was a hurdle to him; legalities didn’t register in his warped and evil mind, so if he was hell-bent on some kind of revenge then he was going to go all out to get it. And no injunction in the world was going to stop him.
But did that mean she had to sit back and let him slowly dismantle everything she’d worked so hard for? Did it mean she had no other option but to sit back and watch while he pulled apart her wonderful new life, bit by bit, until it crumbled around her? At first glance it may look that way, but Charley knew she had to get out there and fight for what she loved, what she’d worked so hard to build up because, if she didn’t, Jimmy Cash was going to take it all away from her.
‘You can do this,’ she whispered to her reflection, running her fingers through her hair again, staring at the image in front of her. ‘You can do this, you can do this!’ she repeated, like some kind of mantra. ‘He will not do this to you again, he won’t drag you down, you won’t let him. You got that? You won’t let him.’
And she wouldn’t. Because Charley was going to take the only course of action she could see left open to her now. And she was going to do it on her own because if Vince knew what she was about to do he would stop her, no doubt about that. He would stop her. And maybe what she was about to do wasn’t the wisest route to take, but in her eyes it was the only one left, because Jimmy obviously wasn’t listening to anything anyone was saying to him.
Staring at her reflection one more time she took a long, deep breath and stared up at the ceiling as she exhaled, as though banishing away any nerves or doubt she might be feeling.
Charley had survived Jimmy Cash once before, and she could do it again. Only, this time, she needed to finish it for good.
***
‘Everything back on track then?’ Kenny asked, sitting down opposite India who was grabbing a quick cup of tea at one of the on-set catering wagons before filming began.
She looked up at him, blowing on her tea to cool it down. ‘If you mean am I back with Dominic, then yes. I am.’
‘Did you spend the night with him?’
She narrowed her eyes as she stared at Kenny. ‘Who are you? My father?’
‘No, but your father would also like to know what’s going on with my two co-stars, if that’s alright,’ Reece said, sitting himself down next to Kenny.
India felt as though she was being slightly ambushed as she took a sip of her finally-cooled-down tea.
‘I’ll get Carlos over to remove the pair of you in a minute,’ she said, half smiling, kicking Kenny under the table. He immediately kicked her back, causing them both to collapse in a fit of giggles.
‘How old are you two?’ Reece asked, looking from one to the other. But secretly he was just pleased to see his daughter happy again.
‘Oh, lighten up, Dad,’ India smiled, leaning over the table to kiss him quickly on the cheek. ‘Everything’s fine. Dominic and I, we had a good talk last night. Everything’s okay now.’
‘Everything’s okay?’ Reece asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘What does that mean, exactly?’
‘It means the pair of them kept me awake half the night with noises I’ve not heard the like of since I watched one of those ‘SAW’ movies,’ Bobby shuddered, sitting down next to India, sliding his glasses down onto his nose as he tapped away on his phone.
India looked at him. ‘My father is sitting right there, thank you, Bobby.’
Bobby looked at her over the top of his glasses. ‘Yes, I can see that, Angel.’
India turned her attention back to Kenny, smiling at him again, but the second he smiled back she dissolved into another fit of giggles.
‘Here we go again,’ Bobby sighed, rather too dramatically, looking up to the heavens for a second. ‘A love-struck India is never a