tears that were now streaming down her cheeks. ‘Can’t you give… give him a chance to explain? I mean, India she… she’s moved on, hasn’t she? She… she’s with Dominic now…’
Reece continued to stare at Layla. ‘She’s with Dominic,’ he repeated slowly, looking down at the ground for a second, scuffing his shoe on the marble floor, his hands pushed deep into his pockets. He looked back up at Layla. ‘Yeah. She’s with Dominic. But, you see, I’ve got a problem with that relationship too.’ He turned his attention back to Michael who’d managed to gather himself together, looking calmer than he really felt as he leant back against the wall. ‘When she found out he was your son, she ran, didn’t she? She ran from the situation, she left it behind, knew she couldn’t stay with him because of who he was. But then she came back. She came back and she took him back, and do you know why I think she did that?’
Michael just stared at Reece, no words seemingly able to come out of his mouth anymore. He just felt out of it, dizzy, as though all of this was happening to someone else and he was just watching everything from a safe distance.
‘She did that because it was the closest she could get to you without actually taking you back. Don’t you see that?’
‘That isn’t my fault,’ Michael whispered, suddenly feeling light-headed, a tightness creeping across his chest that hadn’t been there before.
‘Of course it’s your fucking fault!’ Reece was aware that he was shouting again and he pushed a hand through his hair, trying to regain the calm composure he’d managed to hang onto for so long during this confrontation. ‘It’s your fault because you dragged her in so deep that she couldn’t let you go, she couldn’t leave you alone. You wouldn’t fucking let her…’
Michael closed his eyes for a second, the tightness he’d felt before now giving way to a sharp pain that seemed to travel from his chest to his left arm, causing him to feel breathless, a sudden, uncharacteristic feeling of anxiety sweeping over him. He felt a strange mixture of just wanting to go to sleep tinged with this pain that seemed to be taking over, Reece’s voice now almost fading into the distance.
‘But she won’t go back to you, Michael. I see that now, I know that’ll never happen, no matter how deluded you might be to think otherwise. She’ll never go back to you, but she’s damn well going to have the next best thing – your fucking son.’
‘He’s… not… my… he’s not my… my son…’ Michael’s breath was catching in this throat, making it harder to get the words out, his eyes losing focus as a pain like a heavy weight being thrown against his chest almost winded him, causing him to slide to the floor.
Layla immediately ran over to him, crouching down beside him. ‘Michael? Michael… can you hear me? Michael!’
‘Pain…’ He couldn’t get the words out; he couldn’t find the energy to speak. Every movement was taking a strength he just didn’t have anymore.
Layla looked up at Reece who immediately pulled out his phone, calmly dialling the number Vince had given them all in case of emergencies – of any kind – turning his back as he spoke to security.
‘Reece…?’
He turned back around, taking in Layla’s pleading eyes as she clung onto Michael’s hand – another beautiful young woman who’d been sucked under the spell of a man Reece could find little pity with.
‘Paramedics are on their way,’ Reece said, that calm manner still very much evident as he crouched down to their level, looking at Michael as he struggled for breath, gripping Layla’s hand. ‘You’re going to be fine, Michael.’
‘Is he?’ Layla asked, panic now very much evident in her voice. ‘How the hell do you know that, huh? You walk in here, accusing him of all sorts… You did this to him. You did this!’
Reece stood back up, saying nothing, putting his hands back in his pockets as he walked outside to wait for the paramedics. He had nothing to feel guilty about. He had nothing to feel sorry for. If anything, in Reece’s eyes, this was only payback that a man like Michael Walsh had had coming for a long, long time.
***
India breathed in deep as Dominic once more pushed his way into her with a beautiful force that shook her body with a warm, tingling shiver, every inch of her