expecting to see me? No, I don’t suppose you were. In fact, everyone seems surprised to see me.’
‘Everyone? Who… who else knows you’re here?’ he asked, still standing in the open doorway.
‘I saw Kenny last night, and Vince. Oh, and I bumped into India on her way to make-up just now.’
Michael looked at her. ‘You’ve seen India?’
Layla stared back. ‘Yeah. And she is looking good, Michael!’
Michael tried to give her a smile that said he knew she was, and he didn’t really care anymore, but Layla knew him better than that.
‘Oh, come on, Michael. She was holding hands with Dominic MacDonald, looking for all the world like a woman who was in the throes of falling head-over-heels in lust, and I have to say, I can’t really blame her. He’s one handsome son-of-a-bitch.’ She fixed Michael with a look. ‘Although, I’m sure his mom was a totally lovely woman.’ She pushed her way past him into the villa. ‘India’s too busy with your son to be concerned with you anymore, Michael.’
Michael hurriedly closed the door and followed her, her undoubtedly expensive four-inch heels click-clacking their way across the marble-floored hallway as she made her way through to the living room. ‘What are you doing here, Layla?’
She swung round to look at him. ‘What am I doing here? Well, since you didn’t really have the courtesy to end things properly between us before you left L.A. I just had to assume that our life together was over. Am I right?’
He sighed, sitting down on the arm of a nearby chair, throwing the magazine down, watching as it fell open on a page which carried a photograph of India snuggling into Dominic on the movie set – his movie set – Dominic’s arms holding her tight as they smiled at each other.
‘Michael…?’
He looked up at Layla. ‘I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve to be treated the way I treated you.’
‘No. I didn’t.’ She walked around the room, picking up pictures of Ethan that Michael had scattered around the place in an attempt to try and make his temporary accommodation feel more like home. Family photos. And a lot of them were not only of Ethan, there were also plenty of pictures of his incredibly beautiful mother, too.
Putting a particularly happy photograph of India and Michael in happier times – cuddling their little boy as a baby – back down onto the sideboard, she turned to face Michael again. ‘But I accepted it, Michael. I accepted that it was over and I tried to move on. Me and Kenny even got back together for a short time.’
‘Kenny? You slept with Kenny Ross?’
She folded her arms. ‘What did you expect me to do? Live like a nun? You left me in limbo, Michael, remember? I wasn’t going to just put my life on hold while you made some ridiculous attempt to try and win India back.’
‘I haven’t been trying to…’
‘Oh, save it, Michael. Of course that’s what you were trying to do. Until Dominic MacDonald got in the way.’ She walked over to him. ‘So, you’ve got one hot young movie star for a son, huh? Looks like Michael Walsh has skeletons in the closet even he didn’t know about. Who’d’ve thought?’
Michael got up, walking into the kitchen, but Layla was right behind him.
‘This must be quite a difficult time for you,’ she said, leaning back against the kitchen’s breakfast bar, watching as Michael busied himself making coffee. ‘I mean, there you are, trying to win back your ex-wife when the kid you never knew you had was right under your nose, taking her away from you before you’d even had the chance to get close.’
‘I was close,’ Michael murmured, spooning coffee into the machine before swinging round to look at her. ‘When we first arrived here in Vegas I was getting close to her. Things were okay, y’know? We were good.’
‘And then he turned up.’
Michael looked down at the ground, pushing a hand through his hair.
‘Look, Michael, I didn’t come here to hurt you, really, I didn’t.’ Layla walked over to him, taking his hand, and he looked up at her. ‘I was hurting when you left L.A. though, do you understand that? I was confused and upset, and then all of that turned into some ridiculous anger that did nothing but drain every ounce of energy I had left because I knew that you couldn’t carry on our relationship because you still wanted India back. It was obvious. And I thought Kenny might