No Matter What (31 page)

“You’ve paid her off?”

Reece nodded.
 
“I had to, Terry.
 
I had no choice.”

“How much did she want?”

“A million.”

“A million?
 
Jesus Christ …”

“She’s already had various pay offs.
 
I’ve bought her a house back in
England
, a car ... but this is the last time.”

Just when Terry thought it couldn’t get any worse something else came along to hit him head on.
 
Had he ever really known his own mother?
 
“How can you be sure she won’t come back again?
 
Because she’s done it before, obviously.”

“There’ll be no chance of that happening, Terry.
 
Max – my lawyer – he’ll see to that.”

Terry didn’t want to ask how.
 
He didn’t care.
 
Right now he felt like he’d just run two marathons.
 
He was worn out.
 
There was only one thing that mattered now, anyway.
 
“So, what do we do about
India
?”

Reece stood up, walking over to the coffee machine and switching it on.
 
“I’m going to tell her, Terry, of course I am.
 
But the time has got to be right.
 
Please understand that.
 
The time has got to be right.”

Terry felt sorry for him.
 
What had happened was a mess, no doubt about that, but in a way he could understand why Reece had let it get this far.
 
What mattered now though was the future and how they dealt with that.
 
The past was done, that couldn’t be changed.
 
Reece was a good guy, a decent man who obviously loved India and now it all made sense, how he’d always cared for her, always worried about her, always wanted to make sure she was ok.
 
There was a time when Terry had thought it all a bit weird, the way Reece was always overly concerned about his sister, but now, well, now it was obvious why.

He looked at Reece again and smiled.
 
“I understand, y’know.”

Reece’s shoulders sagged with relief and he visibly relaxed.
 
“That means such a lot to me, Terry.”

“We both love
India
.
 
We both want what’s best for her.
 
All that matters now is that she finds out the truth, from you.
 
As soon as possible.”

“Will you help me?” Reece asked, suddenly overwhelmingly grateful that Terry was on his side.
 
He needed that more than he’d ever imagined he would.
 
He didn’t think he could do this on his own, not now.

Terry smiled again.
 
What a fucking day!
 
He wasn’t going to forget this one in a hurry.
 
But, now he knew what
India
had ahead of her, he was even more determined to make sure that this was all made as easy as possible for her.

“We’ll sort this out, Reece.
 
Together, ok?”

Reece smiled. “Thank you, Terry.
 
I mean that.
 
Thank you.”

“Come on then,” Terry said, grabbing some mugs from the cupboard.
 
“Let’s have that coffee and try and work out exactly how we’re going to go about this.
 
Because the sooner
India
finds out the truth, the sooner we can all relax.”

***

Michael felt his heart race as he crouched down beside the sofa, stroking the hair away from India’s face, watching as her eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times as she tried to focus on him.
 

He smiled, relieved she was waking up.
 
“Hey there, sleepyhead.”
 
He squeezed her hand, almost frightened to let go of her.
 
“You gave me a bit of a scare there, angel.”

She tried to sit up and Michael sat next to her, putting his arm around her, holding her close, kissing her forehead.

“What happened?” she asked.
 
She felt like she’d been in some kind of fight, and she still felt so unbelievably tired.

“You passed out, baby.”

She cuddled up against him, the urge to just go to sleep overwhelming.
 
“Please tell me we’re not going out now, Michael, because I really don’t think I’ve got the energy.”

He kissed her forehead again.
 
“Hey, don’t worry about that, we’re going nowhere.
 
Dr Goldman’s on his way over to take a look at you then we’re gonna spend the evening in bed watching old movies.
 
How does that sound?”

She pulled away from him slightly, looking up at him.
 
“That sounds perfect.
 
Except that bit about the doctor.
 
I don’t need a doctor, Michael, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, you passed out.
 
You don’t pass out for no reason, honey.
 
Let Dr Goldman check you out, ok?
 
No arguments.
 
Come on, into bed and I’ll go sort everything out downstairs.”
 
He kissed her quickly, stroking her face gently.
 
“I’ll be back as soon as I’ve got rid of everyone, ok?”
 
And although he was smiling, inside he was worried.
 
She looked pale and exhausted.
 
Had he been working her too hard?
 
She’d been going non-stop for so long now, maybe it was time they both took a break.
 
When this movie was finished they were going on vacation - decision made.

India
was too tired to argue, and as she got into their wonderfully comfortable bed she curled up, closed her eyes, and finally let that tiredness wash over her without fighting it.
 
And she must have drifted off to sleep pretty quickly because the next thing she knew she was being woken by Dr Goldman.

“Where’s Michael?” she asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position, running a hand through her hair as she tried to get her head together.
 
She could have slept for hours but she must have only been out for a few minutes, looking at the time.

Dr Goldman sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling at her.
 
“He’s downstairs.
 
I just want to run a few tests,
India
.
 
See if we can find out what made you faint.”

“Everyone’s fussing over nothing,” she said, holding out her arm as Dr Goldman prepared to take some blood.
 
“I’m fine.”

“You don’t faint for no reason,” he said, gently piercing her arm with the needle.
 
“So, we’ll do a few tests and see if we can get to the bottom of it.”

“I’ve just been working too hard, that’s all.
 
I haven’t had any real time off in a while.”

“Well, that may be the case, young lady, but we’ll just get these tests done and see for ourselves, ok?”

She looked at him and sighed.
 
“Ok.”
 
It was pointless arguing.
 

He smiled at her.
 
“It won’t take long.
 
I promise.”

Half an hour later and Dr Goldman returned with the results, sitting down on the edge of the bed, an expression on his face that India couldn’t really read.
 
She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her that she’d been right, she was fine, she just needed a break.

“Is Michael still downstairs?”

“I wanted to talk to you by yourself first,
India
.
 
People react differently to what I’m going to tell you, and maybe it’s something you need to take in on your own for a few minutes.
 
We can get him in soon.”

“Is it serious?”
 
She was starting to panic now but Dr Goldman smiled that Californian smile of his and she relaxed slightly.
 

In his early forties, and a very good friend of Reece’s, Dr Jacob Goldman was a handsome and extremely kind man who had looked after
India
’s health ever since her arrival in
Los Angeles
.
 
She could go to him with anything and he’d always be there to help, she knew that.
 
But, the most important thing was - as with most of the celebrity physicians in this town - he was discreet.

“No, it isn’t serious.”

She was still looking at him, still waiting for an answer.
 
“Well?
 
What’s wrong with me?”

He smiled.
 
“You’re pregnant,
India
.
 
You, young lady, are having a baby.”

CHAPTER 19

Charley opened her eyes and turned over in the huge king-size bed that took up a large part of the bedroom.
 
Jimmy wasn’t there.
 
A small wave of relief washed over her and she turned onto her back, closing her eyes for a second.
 
She wouldn’t be spending the day alone, though.
 
Jimmy never went anywhere without making sure she had her “babysitters”, as she liked to call them, hanging around.
 
They’d be hovering outside the bedroom door right now, listening out to see if she used the ‘phone, which she never bothered doing anymore.
 
What was the point when Jimmy had it bugged?
 
They might think she was stupid but she wasn’t.
 
Far from it.
 

She sat up and flung off the covers, getting up and going into the en-suite bathroom, stopping to look at herself in the mirror.
 
She truly did look a shadow of her former self.
 
Gone was the beautiful dark hair and the perfect complexion.
 
Jimmy had made her go blonde and it didn’t suit her, and her once flawless skin was now dry and prone to breakouts, which she’d never suffered from before.
 
She knew the drugs weren’t helping but she had to have something to get her through the day.
 
Her whole body ached too, which she knew was because of yesterdays filming, a nightmare of a shoot where Jimmy had stood by and watched as she’d been made to have sex with ten men, one after the other, all for the camera, every second of it recorded.
 
Her once illustrious porn career was now nothing but a sham.

She knew Jimmy got his kicks from making her do things he knew she hated. She didn’t even want to think about some of the things he’d made her do lately, all perfectly legal – just - but things Charley would never normally have considered doing when she’d started out in this business.
 
She knew he got his biggest kicks out of watching her with women though, which was slightly ironic as Charley didn’t mind the girl-on-girl action quite so much.
 
There was always a little bit of female solidarity during those shoots, and whatever they were told to do the majority of the girls she worked with respected their co-stars, which made those days fairly tolerable.

She finished brushing her teeth and dragged a brush through her longer - thanks to extensions - blonde hair.
 
She wondered if
India
had got the letter.
 
She was close to desperation now.
 
She didn’t know how much more of this life she could take. Sometimes it felt as though she was living on auto-pilot as it was, but without help she had no idea where to turn or how to get out of this mess she was in.
 
Jimmy was dangerous, and maybe it hadn’t been wise to drag
India
into this but what choice did she have?
 
She didn’t know anyone else she could trust in this town.
 
People were too afraid of Jimmy to do anything that might go against him.
 
India
had been her best friend once.
 
Maybe she’d remember that, remember how much they’d used to care for one another and try and help her.
 
If she didn’t then Charley was left with only one other option.
 
And she hoped she’d never have to choose that route.

***

Michael sat up on the bed, dressed for work and almost ready to leave for the day’s location shoot, although he was reluctant to move anywhere in a hurry, with India sat between his open legs, dressed only in white knickers and one of his shirts, leaning back against him, he was perfectly happy right where he was.
 

He rested his hands gently on her still very flat stomach, his mouth nuzzling her neck.
 
“If you’re coming with me, baby, you’re gonna have to get dressed.
 
And I can’t believe I’m asking you to put clothes on when you look just incredible the way you are.”