the ass so I’ll forgive you. I’ll be back soon, okay?’
She nodded, letting him go, watching him walk out the door before she turned back to a bemused Dominic.
‘What the fuck is it with you two? I mean, what the hell was that?’
She sat down on the edge of the bed, not really in the mood for this discussion. ‘He’s my friend.’
‘Oh, don’t give me that “best friends” bullshit again, India. Have you fucked him? Only, I know your track record where Kenny Ross is concerned…’
She looked up at him, keeping her voice calm and steady. ‘No. I haven’t, okay? I haven’t slept with him. Jesus, what the hell kind of person do you think I am? Because I’m really in the mood, aren’t I? I’ve just found out that my ex-husband has a secret son, who just happens to be the man I’ve been sleeping with and, guess what? Both the bastard’s have been lying to me.’
‘Shit!’ Dominic turned away for a second, his head spinning with all the crap that had now hit the fan.
Back downstairs the press had, of course, got wind of the whole Michael Walsh/Dominic MacDonald father/son connection – how could they not? They were professionals, they could sniff out a story a mile away and they’d just given them gossip gold on a plate.
Things had gotten crazy very quickly once India had left the club, and the way she’d left, holding onto Kenny Ross – the man who always seemed to be there for her when something kicked off – that was the real reason people had noticed something was going on. That had been the catalyst that had started the press attention.
Photographers and journalists had surrounded both Michael and Dominic, desperate to speak to them both, desperate to get out of them some idea of what was going on whilst Vince had frantically tried to organise security and some kind of order to an increasingly out-of-control situation. A situation that Dominic had somehow managed to escape from, leaving Michael to handle it all, which was no less than he deserved in Dominic’s eyes. Neither of them had really thought this through, but bringing it up like he had, well, that hadn’t been the wisest move on Michael’s part. And now this town was going to be crawling with more media than Vegas had ever seen. All eyes on them.
India stood up, running her fingers through her hair and Dominic felt his stomach lurch. She was the most beautiful, most mixed-up, complicated woman he’d ever met, and he wanted her so much it hurt like hell.
‘I need to explain things, India.’ His voice was quieter now. Calmer. He shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about her and Kenny, but given their past, and the way he wasn’t exactly thinking rationally right now, he’d just assumed. Wrongly.
‘I don’t want to hear it.’ India pushed past him but he grabbed her arm, swinging her round to look at him.
‘What did you mean when you said you wanted to get away from here for a while?’
‘Exactly that, Dominic. I want to get away from here. Which part of that don’t you understand?’
‘With Kenny?’
‘Yes, with Kenny. He’s my…’
‘Best friend, yeah, I get that. But why Kenny? Why can’t we go away together, you and me, talk this whole mess out…’
‘Because I don’t want to go away with you, Dominic. Don’t you get it? You and Michael… you need to sort things out with him, not me. He’s your father, for Christ’s sake!’
‘And you know nothing of the circumstances, India. You know nothing about any of this, nothing about why I had to do what I did…’
She looked at him again, into the eyes of a man who, all of a sudden, reminded her too much of a man she’d tried so hard to forget. ‘I don’t want to understand, Dominic. I want…’
‘To run away. You want to run away from the situation, but you can’t run away from this, India.’
She pulled her arm away from his grip and walked out of the bedroom, into the living room, opening the French doors that led out onto the terrace. She stared out at the view of the city that stretched before her; a city she loved, but a city that always seemed to bring complications and heartache to her life in equal measures every time she was here. ‘How long has Michael known about this?’ she asked, because she knew Dominic would’ve followed her outside.
‘I don’t know.’ He stood by the