Deadly Embrace by Jackie Collins (ebook reader for manga TXT) 📕

take you out to lunch, and we’ll get to know each other. How’s that?’

Vincent hesitated for a moment. ‘I’d like to know you,’ he said tentatively.

‘Then we’ll do it, huh?’

‘As long as you stop calling me kid.’

‘That’s a deal.’

‘Should we call Mom? She’s probably going crazy wondering where I am.’

‘Why not?’ Michael said, picking up the phone.

Dani answered immediately. ‘Vincent, is that you?’

‘No, it’s me, Michael.’

‘Oh.’

‘Vincent’s here with me. We’re doing some family bonding.’

‘I thought you—’

‘Don’t worry about it, Dani. He’s spending the day with me. I’ll drop him back at the hotel round six.’

‘But, Michael—’

‘I said don’t worry about it.’

‘Fine,’ she said, and put down the phone.

Things were looking up.

Chapter Forty-four

Michael and Dani: 1982

After her evening at the opera, Stella decided that the time had come for her to spend a few days at a health farm. She did this on a regular basis, placing her beauty treatments above all else.

Michael was relieved. Now that he’d got used to the idea of having Vincent around, it helped that Stella was absent, and since Madison was away at school, he had no commitments.

He’d spent the last three days with Vincent, and discovered that the son he never knew he had was a smart kid, able to converse on any subject, and interesting to be with.

Vincent spoke a lot about his friend Nando, in Colombia, and how they were planning to do stuff together.

‘Isn’t Dani expecting you to go to college?’ Michael asked, as they stood in a men’s store, trying on jackets.

‘Did you go to college?’ Vincent retaliated.

‘Naw,’ Michael said, grinning. ‘I dropped outta school at fifteen to run the family convenience store. I should tell you about your great-grandma Lani–what a character!’

‘How about your dad?’ Vincent asked, picking out a black leather motorcycle jacket with silver studs. ‘What was he like?’

‘That’s another story. We’ll get into it one of these days.’

‘So what’s the deal?’ Vincent said, reminding Michael of himself at the same age. ‘Why do I have to go to college?’

‘’Cause it’s what your mom wants,’ Michael replied, trying on a dark blue Armani sports jacket that suited him admirably.

‘You said it,’ Vincent said heatedly. ‘It’s what she wants, not what I want. Nando and me, we’re gonna travel around the world.’

‘You are?’

‘Hey, if I don’t do it now, when’ll I ever get the chance?’

‘And how can you afford to do that?’

‘Nando inherits a shitload of money when he’s twenty-one,’ Vincent said enthusiastically. ‘He figures he can score an advance from the bank.’

‘I see,’ Michael said. ‘So you’re gonna travel around the world on somebody else’s money–is that it?’

‘Nando and me are like brothers.’

‘Word of advice: never take advantage of a friend’s dime.’

‘College is not for me,’ Vincent said, shrugging off the leather jacket. ‘I know what I want to do.’

‘Yeah, what’s that?’

‘Something in Vegas with Nando. We’ve been talking about it. We want to open our own place.’

‘What kind of place?’

‘A bar or a restaurant. Maybe even a hotel.’

‘I like it,’ Michael joked. ‘He thinks small.’

‘We can make it work if I don’t have to waste my time in college. Will you talk to Mom for me?’

‘Okay, okay.’

‘You’ll do it?’

Michael nodded thoughtfully. ‘Maybe the three of us should have dinner tonight,’ he said, thinking it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to see Dani again.

‘That’d be great,’ Vincent said.

‘I’ll call her later,’ Michael said, wondering if he was making a wise move inviting Dani to dinner. She’d looked so beautiful the other night. He’d tried not to be influenced by that–an impossible task. But now, having spent time with Vincent, he’d kind of got used to the situation, and he had to admit that Dani had done an excellent job in raising the boy, and she’d done it all by herself. They could be friends, couldn’t they?

He decided he should give her money–money he would have been sending her over the years if he’d known she’d had his child.

The sales assistant came over, a gay man thrilled to be dealing with two such handsome customers. ‘Well?’ the young man questioned. ‘Have we decided?’

‘Whatever my son wants,’ Michael said. ‘And I’ll take the Armani.’

‘Of course you will,’ the sales assistant murmured admiringly. ‘It looks so good on you.’

Later that day Michael sat at his desk considering how much he should give Dani. He finally made her out a cheque for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Whether she’d accept it or not was another matter. He’d insist. She couldn’t say no.

His next problem was where to go for dinner. It would not be wise to take them anywhere Stella’s friends might see them, so he called Tina and requested suggestions.

‘Come over here,’ she said. ‘Max is barbecuing. It’ll be all family and fun–or chaos, depending.’

‘You sure?’

‘Why not?’

‘We’ll be there.’

‘Is everything going okay?’

‘It’s an odd situation, but you’re right, I should get to know Vincent, so that’s what I’ve been doing.’

When he finally called Dani, she was initially reluctant. But after Vincent got on her case, she called Michael back and agreed to come for dinner.

That night he picked them up in a cab at their hotel. As usual, Dani looked breathtakingly gorgeous in a white silk pantsuit, her long blonde hair piled on top of her head, gold hoop earrings hanging from her ears.

‘Hey—’ he said, thinking about the good memories they’d shared.

‘Hi, Michael,’ she murmured, wondering why she’d agreed to do this, although relieved to see that he was obviously in a much better mood than the other night.

Deep down Michael knew that Dani would have been a more caring mother to Madison. Only he couldn’t allow those thoughts to live in his mind. Stella was Madison’s mother, and that’s the way it had to stay.

At Tina and Max’s house, everyone was gathered in the backyard. Harry had a bunch of his friends over shooting hoops, while Susie was sitting round with a couple of her teenage girlfriends, who took one look