Starstruck (Fusion #1) (9 page)

Indi

This time Indi managed to drift off into a more comfortable
continuation of her own sleep. She awoke some hours later, just after twelve.
Upon checking her phone, her heart missed a beat when she noticed a flashing
message notification, indicating an unread text message, which she hoped was
from Xander.

Her heart dropped with a thud when she saw it was from Angel,
confirming that he would pick her up at Manchester Airport when her plane landed
the next day.  She tapped in a quick response before wrapping her body in
a short, silk wrap that matched her Babydoll nightwear underneath. She was
determined to enjoy her last full day in the villa with or without Xander. 

After making a batch of pancakes with a sprinkling of
berries over the top, Indi plated up a portion and took it out on to the
terrace to enjoy her breakfast in the morning sun. Next, she changed into a
cream summer dress and lazed out by the breakfast table, typing some email
replies on her laptop prior to settling down to finish reading the book she had
started at the beginning of the holiday, before she became distracted by Xander.

Indi was disturbed from her reading by the shrill female
voice of the previous evening. Looking up from her book, she was glad the
breakfast table was tucked away from view.  With the voice getting louder
and nearer, curiosity overtook her senses; she wanted to get a proper view of
the Wicked Witch of the West for herself. 

Getting up from the table, Indi moved discreetly to the
hammock area where she could stand and observe the gardens of Xander’s villa
while being obscured from sight for the most part. All she could see was a
bleach-blond, willowy woman dressed in a vulgar orange swimsuit, sat with her
back to her as she dipped her legs in the pool. 

“Xander, come and join me by the water,” the English-accented
woman spoke. 

“Caitlin, has none of what I’ve been saying sunk into your
head?” the recognisable tones of Xander retorted.  “I don’t want to be in
the same town as you, let alone by the same pool!”  His voice dripped
distaste at the mere thought.

Not even flinching, the loud woman continued, “Come now, Xander,
you know it is best we try to get along.  I’ve already told you what the
doctor said about me not getting stressed over the next few months.”

“The best way to do that would be to stay the hell away from
me then. You don’t fool me, Caitlin, if you even think for one second I believe
it’s even mine.”

The woman let out a chilling laugh as she rose to her feet
and turned sideways to step out of view in the direction of Xander’s
voice.  “You wound me,” the bleach blonde declared as she casually swept
her hand over the prominent bump sticking out of her lower abdomen, which could
not be mistaken for anything other than a baby.

A baby... a baby growing inside this woman’s belly! Could
it really be Xander’s baby?

Thoughts thundered through Indi’s mind as she tried to make
sense of what she had seen. This woman had to be at least five months pregnant.
Maybe the child had simply been a mistake, but why hadn’t he told her? Was
all the talk of a future together just a façade that he never planned to see
through?  That was the only possible reason she could come up with for him
not being truthful about something so fundamental to their future.  If he
had been serious about making a life with her, Xander would have known she would
find out about this eventually. Perhaps all the father issues were another
exaggerated excuse.

A sense of overwhelming betrayal tormented Indi’s senses as
realisation swept over her.  She could not stand to be in the villa
another second and had to get away before there was any chance of him appearing. 
There was no way she could face him now that she knew he had not been honest
with her.

Blinded by tears, Indi gathered up her belongings that were scattered
around the villa as quickly as she could manage and placed them messily in her
luggage.  Her racing mind planned to drive to the airport now, rather than
tomorrow, even if she could not get on an earlier flight, preferring to sleep
at the airport than stay here a moment longer.

Grabbing her cases and the keys to her rented car, Indi slammed
the door to the villa and accelerated away from the last three weeks of her
life as fast as she could manage.

***

Indi arrived at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport just after 5pm,
only to find there were no evening flights. She had no alternative but to stay at
a nearby hotel and fly out on the original ticket. 

Once she had eaten some dinner in her room, Indi felt it was
late enough in the evening to be able to turn on her phone and check her
messages quickly without Xander trying to call her. She expected he would have
discovered her gone by now and she dreaded hearing what he would say. Indi felt
a sense of anger over his deceit, but at the same time she experienced guilt
for just upping and leaving.

Perhaps Xander would have shared a reasonable explanation
with her if she had stayed and confronted him, instead of running off. However,
Indi reasoned that she should not have had to confront him over it – he should
have been upfront with her from the start, without the need for prompting.

Despite the strength of her feelings for him now, Indi could
not help wondering if they had been heightened by the idyllic location and the freedom
from any sense of reality – their lifestyles were really different after all.
She realised there was no point in dwelling on what might have been as he would
probably have replaced her with someone else soon enough.

Indi discovered two messages waiting on her phone. The first
was from a polite, but slightly abrupt Xander, asking her to call him back when
she was on her way back to the villa. The second was from a more
anxious-sounding Xander, simply asking why she had left without saying a word, but
still asking her to return his call urgently.

Hearing his voice the first time caused Indi’s heart to ache
and made her regret rushing off so hastily, but the second made her remember
the mistrust he had caused, and she felt angry towards him again. She felt on
an emotional rollercoaster between the two emotions. Despite all the reasoning
her mind put forth to her feelings, she missed his presence.  

Deleting the messages, Indi promptly turned off her phone again,
wishing to avoid seeing Xander’s name flash up on the screen if he attempted to
contact her for a third time; not trusting her willpower to hold up against the
temptation to answer it if he did.

With nothing else to do, but head to bed, Indi tossed and
turned until the early hours before her brain gave into the exhaustion caused
by the turmoil of her thoughts.

Xander

Xander could not get away from Caitlin until early in the
evening, under the pretence of going out for dinner with Adam and Hayden, and
refusing to let her join them. The three men drove off together. Xander got out
of the car a sufficient distance away to be able to double back and enter
Indi’s villa, unseen by Caitlin. As he turned into her driveway, he was perplexed
by the absence of the hire car, followed by the obviously unlit building. Normally,
the lighting from the lounge and kitchen streamed through the shutters. 

He had not expected Indi to sit in all day, waiting for him
to show up, but he’d thought she understood that he would get away to see her
by the evening. Frowning, Xander pulled out his phone and tried to call her
number, but her voicemail was the only greeting he received. He left her a
brief message, asking her to call him back; the irritability of feeling left in
limbo by her sudden disappearance crept into his voice as the device recorded
his words.

Contemplating what to do next, Xander realised that he
couldn’t very well go back to his villa as Caitlin would bombard him with
twenty questions over his quick return without his security detail. He
considered asking them to come back and collect him, but that would also
require an explanation as to the absence of Indi, and he remained unsure of
what he would tell them. He wasn’t even sure of the reason himself, but he had started
to feel a sense of disquiet that she hadn’t simply gone out for the
evening. 

Xander decided to call a taxi, using the local directory
enquiries, and take a walk along the Siracusa harbour front to clear his mind
before meeting up again with Adam and Hayden to head back to Caitlin. He spent
the next couple of hours sitting on a bench, looking out over the sea, and
watching boats manoeuvre back and forth while his mind ran through the events
of the last three weeks, and particularly the last twenty-four hours.

He recognised that Indi seemed to be a skittish type of
person from the way she reacted quite emotionally to everything, but he
honestly had not expected her to leave without word before her holiday was even
over. She had appeared to be interested in a future with him, so he could not comprehend
this abrupt ending. Obviously, she had not felt as close to him as he had to
her, he mused bitterly.

Thank fuck he’d held back over telling Indi about Caitlin
and her pregnancy if this was how she reacted without knowing the full sordid
truth. He might have had a real crisis on his hands.  The vibration of his
mobile phone interrupted his deliberations. Without checking the screen, he
spoke half-heartedly into the microphone, “Hello.”

“Hey, big boy, why do you sound down in the dumps?”

Xander’s jaw tightened. He was seriously not in the mood for
David’s jovial ribbing. “David, I hope this is important,” he said brusquely.
“Otherwise, can we postpone this for another time?”

“Sure, we can do this another time if you wish, but it’s
about your mystery woman’s safety, so you might consider it vital information.”

Wait, did David know something about Indi’s
disappearance?
“What do you know about her safety?”

“Your little friend had a Zak Ellis stalker problem before
you met her,” David answered, matter-of-factly.

Zak Ellis was any woman’s worst nightmare if he started to
take an interest in her as he did not understand the word no. He was well known
to the police, but he had always been shrewd enough to avoid leaving enough
evidence to be charged. The man had been a named suspect in Freya’s kidnapping,
but again, the police could not prove a strong enough connection with Guy Levine,
the man who was successfully prosecuted for the crime.

Guy Levine had known his sister since she was a little girl,
but it had not developed into a sinister obsession until he started working for
their father. Fusion had just started to take off and the band had been away
gigging, so neither Xander nor his brothers were aware of what was going on
until it was too late. 

It seemed that Guy had been doing something shady for John
Keats and when he stopped being useful, his employment was terminated. As
vengeance, he and his crony, Zak, had set about planning to kidnap Freya to get
her father to pay up.  It was only recently that Livvie had unearthed some
forgotten bank statements showing immense payments made just the day before
Freya’s return. Livvie had used a contact and found out that the name on the
bank account was none other than Guy Levine, thus proving their father had
given into blackmail and got Freya back before the police were alerted.

Xander had always wondered why his sister had been returned
so quickly without any contact from the kidnappers. At the time the family were
just relieved and did not question it any further. But now it just proved even
more in his mind that his father was to blame for Freya’s kidnapping and consequent
breakdown. Yet another error Xander planned to use against him.

“She mentioned that her parents had hired someone to harass
her to give them money and that he’d been put away, but she never told me who
it was.” Xander’s blood boiled at the mere mention of the detestable man’s
name, especially knowing that he had touched Indi as well. “How long did he
get?”

“Just two years,” David replied. 

“I knew that scumbag was trouble. I should’ve dealt with him
years ago.” Xander’s fist clenched tightly as it hung down the side of his
body. “I want you to set up some discreet security protection for Indi for the
time being. I don’t trust either of them not to have people on the outside that
will connect Indi to Freya, or to me. I don’t want her to be any more traumatised
by that association than she has been already.”  While he did not understand
why Indi had gone without saying goodbye, he still wanted her to be safe. 

“Discreet, meaning that she isn’t to know about it?”

“Yes. I need to know she’s safe until things are settled.”

“Okay, I’ll get on to it.”

Checking his watch, Xander realised that he needed to catch
up with Adam and Hayden in town soon, so he wound up the conversation. He then
sent a quick text to his assistant, Sam, who worked far beyond normal
five-day-a-week hours, requesting that he try to get him on a flight back to
England tomorrow, or the day after.

Xander detected a note of surprise in
Hayden’s voice when he called to say he was in town, rather than back at Indi’s
place. Now, walking towards the car, he noticed he and Adam exchange raised
eyebrows. Xander knew they must have guessed something was up, but he was not ready
to talk about it.

“Did your evening’s plans change for some reason?” Hayden
asked casually.

“I would rather not discuss it,” Xander said stiffly; an
impassive expression plastered on his face as he coached his emotions down to
where he could tighten his control over them.

“No problem,” Hayden replied.

The car journey took place in silence, except for the odd
comment passing between Adam and Hayden, but a brooding Xander did not pay any
attention to what they said. He remained too solemn to care what was going on
around him, intent on preparing his speech to Caitlin.

As they vacated the car, Xander spoke up and asked for some
privacy with Caitlin for a while. Progressing into the house, Adam and Hayden adhered
to this request, disappearing into their rooms to wait out the storm they
realised was brewing.

Caitlin did not bother to look up as the men entered the
villa. She was busy painting her toenails with considerable difficulty. As her pregnancy
bump stopped her from leaning forwards adequately, her attention was fully
concentrated on getting each stroke of polish perfect.

“I think it’s time we stopped dancing around each other and
laid our cards on the table,” Xander announced as he sat down on the sofa
opposite her, glaring severely, after pouring a large measure of whisky into a
glass tumbler. He placed it on the wooden coffee table in front of him.

Caitlin looked up at him nonchalantly, smiling her usual,
fake sweet smile. “I didn’t realise we hadn’t been.”

The frustration of the last couple of days raged through him
as he banged his clenched fist on the table, causing the amber liquid within
the glass to slosh upwards with the force of the blow. “I said no more games,
Caitlin.” His voice was thunderous and imposing, causing the woman to flinch; he
had her full attention at last.

“Xander, I don’t appreciate you shouting at me. Think of our
child!” she replied.

“The child is exactly what I’m thinking about. You know as
well as I that there isn’t a hell’s chance it is mine.”

“Have you forgotten my visit to your tour bus in Sydney?” she
asked, mockingly.

“You know you spent ninety-nine percent of that visit on the
supporting band’s bus, snorting whatever the latest powder is up your nose. You
may well have flaked out on my bed afterwards, but I certainly didn’t make you
pregnant.”

“I’m hurt! You don’t remember our
lovemaking
?”
Caitlin goaded, raising a perfectly plucked brow.

“You are delusional. I would as sooner be celibate for the
rest of my life than put my cock inside your dirty cunt
ever
. And just
in case you haven’t grasped my meaning, whatever plan my father and you
concocted isn’t going to work on me. In fact, you can tell him from me that the
agreement is off. There will be no marriage.” He leant forward to grab his
glass from the table and took a large gulp of its contents.

Caitlin huffed, “You can’t just rescind on our deal.”

“I can and I am.”

“I’ll sue you for alimony,” she blurted, her voice becoming
more indignant with each exchange as she touched her protruding belly.

“I think you’re mixing me up with the wrong Keats.  You
would be better off suing the right father or you’re going to look mighty
stupid in court when the DNA results show your child is actually my half
sibling rather than my offspring.” The enormity of finally saying that aloud
made him feel so better.

The colour drained from her face. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

Xander took a last swig of the remnants of whisky from his
glass and stood up from his chair, anger flashing in his eyes as he strode
purposefully over to her until his face was just inches from hers.  “Yeah,
sure you don’t.  I think you will find out though, as of now you’re frozen
out by your lover.  Some romantic pictures of you two together landed on
his desk some time ago, so I’m sure he won’t be taking your calls anymore if he
wants to adhere to my demands.”

“Damn you! What have you done to me?” she cried out in
anguish. Placing her perfectly manicured hands on his chest, she pushed him
backwards, increasing the distance from his menacing stance looming over her.

“Nothing more than you deserve,” Xander countered. There was
a satisfied smile on his face as he walked away, slamming the door to his room
behind him.

***

The next morning, Xander had risen early to avoid seeing
Caitlin before leaving the villa. He now sat in the back of his car, with Adam
and Hayden in the front, heading towards the airport. Taking out his mobile, he
rung Livvie and started relaying the events of Caitlin’s pathetic pregnancy
ruse. He told her that he would be going to Warwickshire as soon as his plane landed.
They were to get the rest of the family together before confronting John Keats
once and for all.