A sense of dread filled Reece as he watched India so obviously trying to stay calm in a situation that seemed anything but. ‘I don’t know,’ Reece sighed, leaning back against the wall, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘But it doesn’t look good, does it? Shit! I knew something was going on. I could fucking sense it!’
‘Whatever’s going on, Reece, you couldn’t have known about it.’
‘I knew something was going on, Vince. And that’s all I needed to know.’
He looked over to see Kenny dragging an obviously distressed India out of the club. Great! Another pile of crap had evidently hit the fan, and once again Michael Walsh was in the middle of it all.
Reece closed his eyes for a second, sighing heavily, knowing that all he could do now was wait and see what happened next, and be there for his daughter if she needed him. Only, this time, he was determined not to be shut out of whatever was going on. This time he wanted to know everything. This time Reece Brogan would not be left in the dark.
‘Aren’t you going after her?’ Vince asked, shaking Reece back to reality.
‘No,’ he sighed, downing the rest of his brandy in one mouthful. ‘I think I’ll let Kenny deal with it for now. He can handle India just fine. No, what I’m going to do, Vince, is find out just what the hell’s going on over there.’
‘Do you want me to talk to Michael?’
Reece shook his head. ‘No. I’ll deal with this myself, Vince. And this time, he’s going to tell me the truth.’
***
‘What the fuck did that gain either of us?’ Dominic hissed, staring at Michael. This man may be his father by blood, but in every other sense of the word he was nothing. And whatever Dominic had wanted to prove to him, it just didn’t matter anymore. None of it mattered, because the only thing he cared about, he’d hurt. The pain in India’s eyes had shattered him and shown him what a stupid act this had been from the beginning. He should never have started it, never have put the wheels in motion. He should have just confronted Michael himself without involving India at all, that would have kept him in control, given him the upper hand, instead of the situation they now had in front of them. One hell of an end to a game that really had no winners.
‘She needed to know who you were. She needed to know what you were playing at,’ Michael replied, as cold and calm as he always was in these situations. ‘And I don’t think here is the place to be talking about this, do you?’
Dominic continued to stare at this man who stood before him. A handsome, intelligent but calculated man. But then, wasn’t that exactly what he was too?
‘You won’t win, Dominic. I can promise you that. Not against me, because I’m all too aware that that was your intention. To take away the one thing I love more than anything. So you need reminding that, where India is concerned, you will not win.’
Dominic narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man who was supposed to be his father. What had his mother ever seen in him? What the hell had India ever seen in him?
‘This isn’t a game anymore,’ Dominic said quietly, trying to keep his emotions in check but all he could feel was a crushing pain across his chest as the realisation of the situation hit home. The realisation of what he’d done, and how hard it might be now to rectify any of it.
‘Isn’t it?’ Michael smirked, raising an eyebrow.
Jesus! Was this guy for real? ‘The game’s over, Michael. It’s over.’
‘Oh, it’ll never be over. Not until India is back where she belongs, back by my side, because she will be. In time. Once I’ve talked to her, explained just how much of a shock this has been to me, too…’
‘Didn’t you hear her? Are you so fucking deluded that you don’t realise she hates both of us right now? Can’t you see that?’
But all Michael did was smile, turn around and walk away, leaving Dominic more alone than he’d ever felt in his life. But one thing was for sure, if Michael wanted whatever game this had turned out to be to continue, then he could play it on his own, because the only thing that mattered to Dominic right now was proving to India that he loved her.