sighed, finally moving from where he’d been standing since he first entered the bedroom, leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes for a second. But nothing had changed when he opened them again. He was still in the middle of a situation he didn’t want to be anywhere near.
‘But I didn’t go running off to hunt him down, did I?’ Vince said, looking at Charley again. Her head was down, her hands clasped together in her lap. She felt guilty alright, that was obvious, but seeing that and knowing that didn’t really make him feel any better. ‘When the truth came out, when you finally had to tell me about Jimmy, I didn’t go running off to sort him out, did I? I’ve got it under control, Charley; we’re dealing with it, so why this shit with Kenny? Why? I don’t fucking understand, honey.’
‘He was my escape.’ Charley’s voice was almost a whisper now.
‘Your escape?’ Vince asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. ‘Your fucking escape? From what, Charley? Your escape from what?’
‘When I was with him I didn’t have to think about how scared I was. I could talk to him without him feeling as though there should be more he was doing, I could forget the fear and the worry…’
‘And what was his excuse? Huh? What the fuck was he escaping from?’
Charley looked at Vince. ‘India.’
Vince couldn’t help but laugh out loud – a cynical laugh – pushing a hand through his hair. ‘You need to escape from me, and he needs to forget about the fact he’s never going to have the only woman he really wants. So he does that by sleeping with my wife, does he? You’ve managed to create one holy hell of a mess here, haven’t you?’
Charley stood up, sticking her hands in her pockets to prevent her from reaching out to touch him, because that’s what she really wanted to do. She wanted to hold him and tell him how sorry she was, how she’d never meant for this to happen, that somehow she’d just got caught up in a situation she’d had no control over. Or was that just another excuse she kept telling herself to keep yet more guilt at bay?
‘It went too far, I know that now. I was wrong and I’ve been stupid…’
‘Stupid? That’s an understatement, honey.’
‘Can’t we just talk about this, Vince? Please? For Lily’s sake.’
‘Oh no. No. Don’t you bring our daughter into this. No. Look, I really can’t do this now. I need to get my head straight, I need to get out of here and think.’
‘Vince…’
‘Maybe one day, Charley, okay? Maybe one day. But not now. I really can’t do this right now so, get some things together and I’ll make sure there’s an apartment ready for you by this afternoon.’
‘No, Vince, please… we can talk about this.’
He shook his head, unable to look at her anymore because if he did there was every chance that he’d back down, and he couldn’t do that. Not yet. It was way too soon.
‘I’ll give you a couple of hours to get sorted, okay?’ he said, making his way out of the bedroom. ‘Someone will drop off the apartment key card for you as soon as possible.’
And that was it. He was gone. The only good thing that had ever happened to Charley. And she had nobody to blame but herself.
***
Reece strode purposefully through the hotel gardens, along the narrow, winding, flower-lined walkway that led to the private villas, ignoring the constant vibrating of his cell phone in his jacket pocket. It’d be Martha, trying to make him back off, leave it alone, but he couldn’t do that. Not anymore. He’d had enough of the secrets and the lies that had almost torn his family apart. This time he was going to confront the man who’d caused his daughter so much pain. The man whom his daughter seemed unable to forget, despite everything he’d done to her.
Reece couldn’t get his head around it, he couldn’t quite understand what was going on in her mind, why she still felt so much for a man like Michael Walsh, and right now he didn’t really care. He just needed to confront Michael, to get rid of his own demons. What kind of a father would he be if he just let this go?
Approaching Michael’s villa, Reece slowed down slightly, looking around him, making sure India was nowhere to be seen before he almost ran up the long driveway,