Page 37 of Driving the Billionaire Wild

She waited, watching the slow rise and fall of his shoulders as she stood there, one hand braced on the handle of her suitcase for what felt like for ever…until the timecame to admit that it was over. Just as she had that night in Venice a lifetime ago, Astrid walked away, leaving him standing there alone.

* * *

Apollo didn’t know how long he sat waiting after the jet disappeared from view, nor did he know how long he drove around aimlessly along the coastal roads afterwards. Phone calls from the PR team and Tristan Falco lit up the car’s dashboard, but he ignored them. He briefly entertained the idea of driving back to Lake Como and sharing a bottle of limoncello with his father, just as Santo had been urging him to.

His father had yet to meet Luca, which he regretted to a certain degree. But Santo was not the kind of influence that Apollo wished his young son to have. He loved his parents, but perhaps his childhood did have a lot to do with why he held on to people as tightly as he did, as Astrid had accused him of doing.

It might explain why he was so guarded, why he expected people to leave him, so that he kept them at a distance. Astrid had said she loved him, but she might as well have thrown a live bomb between them.

He growled, thumping his hand down upon the wheel at the memory of the hurt on her beautiful face as he’d just stood there, stunned. At how he’d willed himself to say something—

anything—to make her stay. With every moment that had passed without him responding to her, he’d felt her slip further from his reach.

But how on earth could he ever risk falling in love when the example he’d been set as a child was all he knew? His only experience of love was the toxic battlegroundof his parents’ marriage. Even his grandfather, the person he’d relied on to comfort him, had ultimately tried to control him for his own purposes.

Apollo’s decision to purchase the house had felt right at the time; he’d thought he’d be able to convince Astrid that they could all be happy together in Monaco. Luca could be happy, too; Apollo had already drawn up a handful of excellent schools and shortlisted some local nannies who had experience with autism, in case Jem didn’t want to come to Monaco. He hadn’t been completely idealistic, as she’d accused him of being.

Still, even as he’d tried to justify his own actions to himself, he knew that he had messed up. He had pushed too hard once again, and this time he had possibly pushed her completely away. They had barely been engaged any time at all, and he had already lost her.

His phone rang as he drove and he hit a button to answer on the speaker.

‘I’ve been trying to contact you all afternoon. Where are you?’ Tristan Falco’s voice boomed.

‘Out,’ Apollo snapped.

‘I come bearing good news,’ the other man announced triumphantly. ‘The hearing result is in.’

Apollo paused, opting to take the next turn off the motorway into a sightseeing spot that overlooked the entire bay. He stepped out into the sunshine, switching the call over to his handset.

‘Okay, let’s hear it, then.’

‘You won,’ Tristan said. ‘We won, more like. The stewards have ruled in favour of scrapping the charges and allowing you to race for the remainder of the season.Grayson’s testimony helped, of course, but mostly it was your lawyers.’

His team had finally revealed the full extent of his grandfather’s actions. The press now knew all the details of his ‘secret love child’ too. Not that he cared what the public thought. If his grandfather hadn’t interfered, Luca would never been a damned secret in the first place! Apollo growled, kicking his foot at a nearby tree. His grandfather had a lot to answer for.

‘You know, I’ve been thinking,’ Tristan said. ‘Accardi Autosport could really benefit from strong leadership right now. Your cousins are clearly not going to comply with any of the rules you put in place to eradicate corruption. Perhaps a tiny part of your grandfather knew that, too—that there was only one honourable Accardi fit to run that team.’

Apollo thought of the man he’d grown up idolising. Could this have been the reason Enzo had asked to speak with him the day he’d died? There was no way he would ever truly know for certain, of course. But he could take control of his bad memories by taking the helm at Accardi and making something good of the connection he’d had with the man who’d helped raise him. Something held very tightly inside him finally relaxed at the thought.

‘I’m confused, Falco; are you suggesting that your primary driver and main chance for a win this season abandons you after all?’ he teased gruffly.

‘Nina is second behind you in points; she has just as good a chance at winning for us if you choose to drop out,’ Tristan said with a laugh. ‘Plus, we already have a reserve driver ready to go. No one would blame you if you chose to prioritise whatever makes your family life easier.’

Family life.

Apollo closed his eyes and felt the breeze rustle his hair as he thought of his tiny family that was so far away. The family he wasn’t even sure he had a right to be part of any more, not since he’d been so utterly selfish and possessive. Had he already ruined everything?

The image of Astrid telling him she loved him with tears in her eyes shamed him anew. He hadn’t responded to her declaration, he had frozen like a coward. She’d accused him of trying to have everything and giving nothing in return.

She was right. He had been stubborn and selfish, fearful of having his last chance to prove himself to the world as a racing driver taken away from him. But, really, had he ever truly needed a chance to prove himself? He had done it eight years ago. His reputation had been cleared, and it had been ruled that he’d had no part in any of the dealings his grandfather had engaged in. His lead that season had been so far ahead of the driver in second place that there’d been no real chance that he could have ever caught up, anyway. Apollo had deserved the win.

But even if he hadn’t, even if he’d been banned from the sport today and his racing career had been completely taken away from him, he realised that nothing could make him feel the same amount of pain and devastation as the thought of losing Astrid. At the thought of losing what they’d begun to build together and his connection with his little boy.

He only half-listened to Tristan describe the various ins and outs of the Elite One hearing. Apparently, it had been decided that he could race the rest of this season for Falco Roux, if he wished, and still maintain ownershipof Accardi. He could have everything he wanted, everything he’d been working for…except the one thing he actually wanted.

Complicated emotions swirled within him, filling his chest and tightening his throat as he stared into the distance. None of it mattered, not without the woman he loved by his side.

Love.