“The lads and I’ll keep an eye on him,” Jordan says quickly. “He’s not going to bother anyone.”
“I have a shoot in the morning.” I sigh heavily. “We can’t put our lives completely on hold.”
“I’ve organised for security to accompany you for the next weeks,” Kasia says, checking over the binder in front of her. “Your PA has shared your calendar with me, and we will assure you are all safe.”
I regard Kasia with quiet awe. “You know, I think you could rule the world if you wanted to.”
Kasia smiles as she continues to write something in the binder. “I know my powers must be contained, so I content myself with the club.”
27
DOMINIC
Lambeth Cemetery,where my mother is buried, is quite possibly the only quiet place in London. Traffic drones in the distance, but the paths here are empty. The sky is dark and overcast, and the weather has turned so cold I almost expect flurries of snow to start drifting to the ground.
My father hasn’t spoken a word to me since I picked him up. Every attempt at conversation is met with tight-lipped silence. I gave up halfway here, helping him wordlessly from the car and setting his oxygen tank on the ground.
We have to stop a few times along the path, pausing so he can catch his breath, and when I try to offer him my arm he waves me off angrily.
The past two days have been a quiet nightmare. Barry left a very stern email in my inbox stating that he didn’t know if he could remain at the club in light of this scandal. I didn’t respond to it. If Barry wants to quit right when it looks like we’re about to win the season, then that’s his choice. I know he won’t. But the fact he thinks so little of me still feels like shit.
The media have been relentless. The picture of Mia and I in her kitchen pops up on every morning show, even the sports channels have latched onto the story. Everyone is dredging upmy sordid past, every dalliance, every divorce, every misstep I’ve made as a man.
That feels like shit, too.
But what worries me more is that Archie’s infidelity has fallen off the radar. While I’m still the villain, the big bad man with too much money and time on his hands, I’m worried the tide will start to turn against Mia. I’m worried they’ll start portraying her as the adulterer, and that Archie will use the chance to paint himself as the victim.
I played right into his fucking hands with this one. Like an old fool.
My father and I come to stop at my mother’s grave, the pink marble headstone looking dull in the muted light. The graves of my brother and sister lie beside hers, and I don’t think I’ve ever wished more that they were still here. I wish I had someone to talk to. Someone who knew me as well as they did.
“An utter bloody embarrassment,” my father mutters suddenly, pulling out a white handkerchief from his pocket to dust down the facade of my mother’s headstone. “I’m just glad she’s not here to see it.”
“See what, Dad?”
His furious eyes flash up to mine. “Her son making a cuckold of her own grandson, that’s bloody what.” He shakes his head and goes back to his polishing. “I can’t even imagine what she’d say.”
“She’d at least talk to me about it.”
“Oh, you want me to talk?” My father straightens up and meets my eyes, fists balled at his sides, the white handkerchief shaking in his hand. “I’ll talk. And you’ll listen. What you’ve done is a disgrace.”
“It wasn’t planned. It just happened.”
“Rain just happens!” My father grits out a low growl and shakes his head. “I told you to look after the girl, to be there for her, not to go and bloody shag her!”
“It didn’t start until she told Archie it was over.”
My father laughs, his mouth curled into a cynical grin. “Is that so? How many hours after she told him it was over?”
I turn away from him and run a hand through my hair, which is damp from the mist settling over the cemetery. “I didn’t plan this. It wasn’t meant to be like this, but… she’s just… she’s wonderful.”
“Plenty of women are wonderful, it doesn’t mean you have to shag them all.”
I spin back to face him, and my lips pour out a laugh laced with so much pain I can practically taste it. “That’s rich coming from you.”
He holds up a gnarled finger in my direction. “Don’t you start that again. I loved your mother.”
“And she loved you Dad, she loved you so much she wouldn’t leave you no matter how many times you bloody cheated on her.”
