Deadly Embrace Jackie Collins (the reader ebook .TXT) 📖

of leaving his office until he reached her.

Dani Castle. He’d never expected to hear from her again.

‘Well,’ Tina said, throwing open the door of her house, ‘it’s only taken you seven years to get here.’

Dani stood there smiling. ‘I encountered a few problems along the way,’ she said, observing that Tina had put on about fifty pounds although she was as pretty as ever. ‘This is my son, Vincent,’ she added, giving Vincent a little shove.

He stepped forward, reluctantly shaking Tina’s hand. Lately he had not been getting along with his mother, finding her far too controlling. It had taken Nando’s visit to open his eyes.

As soon as Tina got a look at him she did an immediate double-take. ‘Oh…my…God!’ she gasped, shooting a quick glance at Dani. ‘Now I know what you want to see Michael about.’

Dani frowned, to shut her up. Tina got it.

‘What a lovely house,’ Dani said, walking inside.

‘Yeah,’ Tina said proudly. ‘Max did okay for us. He recently bought me a new Corvette. I figure the kids are so old that if I don’t get a Corvette now I swear I’ll never get one.’ She took another long look at Vincent. ‘How old are you, dear?’

‘Seventeen,’ he answered, wondering who the hell this woman was and why they had had to go see her.

‘You must meet my son, Harry, he’s sixteen,’ Tina said. ‘Can’t believe I’m the mother of a teenager!’

They all trooped into the large, comfortable living room. There were dogs, cats, oversize couches, books and magazines everywhere. It was a real home.

‘I made that call,’ Tina said quietly. ‘The one you asked me to.’

‘Thanks,’ Dani said, glancing at Vincent, who was prowling restlessly round the room.

‘So, uh, Vincent, is this your first trip to New York?’ Tina asked.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘First time out of Vegas.’

‘Las Vegas is spectacular,’ Tina raved. ‘Did your mom ever tell you about the time we went to see Elvis? I still remember it as the most exciting night of my life. And that includes my wedding night!’

They all laughed.

Harry slouched into the room. Overweight with an abundance of freckles, he had a permanent sneer and a fiendish sense of humour.

‘Say hello to Vincent,’ Tina said cheerfully. ‘He’s from Las Vegas. And this is his mom, Dani.’

‘Hi,’ Harry mumbled.

‘Maybe you can take Vincent upstairs and show him your room.’

‘My room,’ Harry said, making a face. ‘Dontcha mean my pigpen? That’s what you usually call it.’

‘Harry!’ Tina said warningly. ‘We have company.’

‘All right, Mom,’ Harry said. ‘C’mon,’ he added, beckoning to Vincent.

A reluctant Vincent followed him upstairs.

‘Oh my Lord!’ Tina said, turning to Dani. ‘He’s Michael’s son, isn’t he?’

‘Is it so obvious?’

‘Obvious!’ Tina said, her face all flushed. ‘For God’s sake! He’s the spitting image!’

‘I suppose he is.’

‘How come you never told Michael?’ Tina asked excitedly. ‘He doesn’t know, does he?’

‘No, he doesn’t,’ Dani said, shaking her head.

‘And now you’re going to tell him?’

‘I finally decided it’s only fair.’

‘You do know Michael is married?’

‘No, I didn’t know that,’ she said, experiencing a sharp stab of regret. ‘It doesn’t matter, though. This is strictly about him and Vincent.’

‘You broke Michael’s heart when you left him waiting at the airport,’ Tina confided. ‘Can I ask what happened?’

‘I found out about Beth.’

‘Oh, God!’ Tina exclaimed. ‘I warned him that he should tell you.’

‘Unfortunately he didn’t,’ Dani sighed, ‘and when I found out, it was quite a shock.’

‘He didn’t do it, you know,’ Tina said quickly. ‘He was set up by certain lowlife people he was involved with. Y’see, Michael’s mom was shot in a robbery before he was born, and Beth’s murder was some kind of complicated revenge thing.’

‘I knew about his mother. I didn’t know about Beth.’

‘You should’ve called me. I would’ve explained everything.’

‘I didn’t think about doing that.’

‘Y’know, Michael’s a great guy,’ Tina said earnestly. ‘He’d never hurt anyone. Ask Max, he’ll vouch for him.’

‘Too late now,’ Dani said wryly.

‘Anyway,’ Tina continued, ‘the problem is, how will you tell him? You can’t walk in with Vincent like you did here, he’ll know immediately. And I wouldn’t think his wife will take it too well.’

‘What’s his wife like?’ Dani couldn’t help asking.

‘A major cold bitch!’

‘She is?’

‘Oh yeah. Nobody can figure out why he married her, except I suppose she is beautiful. The deal is he wanted a mom for Madison, and Stella’s it. Michael adores his little girl. He used to bring her over all the time, but now we never see them.’

‘How do you think I should handle this?’

‘Tell him straight. Say, “Listen, Michael, you’ve got a seventeen-year-old son”. No point in dragging it out.’

‘You’re right.’

‘Does Vincent know?’

‘I haven’t got round to telling him yet.’

‘Wow, Dani. You’ve sure got a whole lot of explaining to do.’

‘I know,’ she said, realizing how right Tina was.

‘Wish I could help.’

‘You can’t, although I appreciate the offer.’

Later, back at the hotel, the phone rang. Dani quickly picked up.

‘This is Michael. Tina said you wanted to speak to me.’

Uh, yes, I do,’ she said, glancing over at Vincent, who was busy flicking through TV channels with the remote.

‘So, I’m calling you. What is it?’

He sounded cold and distant and angry. She didn’t blame him.

‘Can we meet?’ she asked in a low voice.

‘Is that necessary?’

‘Actually, it is. I have something important to tell you.’

‘And you can’t tell me on the phone?’ he said, not making it easy.

‘No.’

‘It’s ten of nine,’ he said abruptly. ‘I can meet you in the bar of your hotel in fifteen minutes.’

‘I was thinking maybe dinner tomorrow night.’

‘At the bar in fifteen minutes, or forget it,’ he said brusquely.

‘I’ll be there,’ she said, understanding his anger, but saddened by it all the same.

‘Where’re you going, Mom?’ Vincent asked.

‘I have to meet an old friend downstairs in the bar,’ she said, pulling out her favourite blue dress from the closet. It matched her eyes.

‘Then why’re you getting all dressed up?’

‘I wish you wouldn’t ask so many questions,’ she said, choosing a pair of small gold earrings and clipping them to her earlobes. ‘Can’t I