Chapter Four #2
The world-famous Elite One racing track in Milan was, unsurprisingly, named the Accardi Autodrome, and was located just outside the city in the rolling Lombardy hills.
She’d been here countless times in her career, first as a young recruit, proving her worth, then waddling around pregnant or carting a wild toddler.
That chaotic time had wound down over recent years as she’d transitioned into more senior leadership roles and left the majority of non-essential travel to her team.
The venue staff whom she knew from the previous racing weekend greeted them cheerfully as she and Apollo disembarked from the sleek silver chopper and made their way to the track.
She tried to calm her nerves as she walked alongside him, but found her heartbeat just wouldn’t behave.
In the space of one morning she’d seen this world-famous racing driver naked, she’d had a life-changing realisation then she’d confessed they had once slept together.
Her mind spun; everything seeming almost dream-like as she fought to figure out how on earth she should reveal the rest of the things she’d discovered today.
Because she would tell him about Luca; she had to.
She had never planned to keep her son’s identity from his father and, now that circumstance had given her that chance, she would take it.
She could only hope that Apollo would accept the news.
Would he even want to be part of her son’s life?
He was a busy man with a very demanding career; she couldn’t imagine him dropping everything to come and attend a morning show and tell.
Would he be accepting? Her son’s autism diagnosis had been a welcome explanation for his differences, but she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t found it overwhelming to process at the start.
They’d found an easy rhythm in London with some great teachers and strong routines these past couple of years.
Now, the thought of bringing what would essentially be a stranger into his life filled her with worry.
Nerves coiled low in her belly as she took a seat in the viewing area, watching as Apollo appeared moments later on the track below.
He had changed into one of his Falco Roux racing suits, a sleek maroon jumpsuit emblazoned with his name and racing number along with various sponsors’ logos.
He held a helmet in his hands, one of many she knew he had designed specially for every race he’d taken part in.
This one was jet-black, with white chevrons at the back.
The small crowd of teenagers in plain driving suits of varying colours quietened when Apollo approached them, their faces awash with nervous excitement as they were greeted by one of the world’s most celebrated racing drivers.
She couldn’t hear what he said as he addressed them, but she knew it would be a balance of charm and encouragement.
She’d seen clips of him at events in the past, and as far as PR training went he was a dream.
Or at least, he had been…until whatever had got into him this week.
He was a consummate professional who had never been part of any scandals, other than the usual on-track drama.
His rivalry with Grayson Koh, one of her dearest friends, had been legendary, with the two almost coming to blows many times throughout their careers.
Apollo had been a legend himself, before his sudden unexplained departure from the sport.
He’d come third place in his first ever Elite One Premio at the age of eighteen, racing for his family’s iconic team, tirelessly working year upon year until finally bringing them to victory in the drivers’ championship.
Rumours at the time had been that Apollo’s fraught relationship with his controlling grandfather and airtight contracts had forced him out of Elite One and into the other leagues of motor racing, where he’d made a name for himself.
As Astrid watched some of the Accardi mechanics join the crowd, with smiles and claps on Apollo’s back, she wondered if it had been hard for him to leave.
Shaking off her thoughts, she busied herself with greeting the photographer she’d hired for the afternoon and outlining her plan.
Usually, she would have her team with her for official photoshoots or events, but with the league on a one-month summer break she had cleared everyone to work from home.
Just as she had planned to do herself, she thought with a groan, as she set up her work station on a bench at the edge of the track.
The next hour passed as she oversaw shots of Apollo’s one-to-one mentoring of the teen drivers, instructing the photographer to keep close and focus on building the story she wanted to curate.
She sneakily took some candid shots on her own phone to upload to their team social story when everyone gathered in the garage, just short clips of the group driving around the track, and the serious look on Apollo’s face as he slid into the gleaming Falco Roux racing car they’d had transported from Monaco for the day.
He switched easily from English to Italian, with some French thrown in for good measure.
Drivers in Elite One tended to speak multiple languages; it was part of the job.
On the night they’d first met, had she not noted his distinctively deep baritone?
His accent had seemed more typically Italian then—probably because he’d been in his home country, she realised now—but usually it held distinctive inflections from both his parents’ cultures, beneath the polished neutral tone he adopted for public speaking.
She quietly watched him behaving in ‘racing star’ mode but occasionally his eyes slid to where she stood, as though he ensured she was still there.
She wasn’t sure whether to feel threatened or excited by that knowledge, but she hadn’t lied—she wouldn’t leave, not until she’d told him the full truth, no matter how much that terrified her.
The big finale of the afternoon mentoring session was a short qualifying race between Apollo and the six academy drivers.
Working in Elite One, the actual racing had always just been a background part of her job, one of the few parts that she didn’t have to worry about and could happily leave to the professionals.
But, as she waved the drivers off one by one, she felt… different.
She found herself tensing up as she watched Apollo’s car line up on the grid.
He’d taken the very last spot behind the other drivers, likely to give them a head start, but once the lights went out and the racing was in full throttle it didn’t take him very long to pass them all.
Did these cars always need to be driven so fast?
Craning her neck, she stood and watched the progress of the drivers as they practically took to the air along the long straight and disappeared from view.
‘One would think he’d go easy on them,’ a feminine voice drawled from the opposite end of the pit wall.
Astrid turned, instantly recognising one of Apollo’s cousins, the PR manager for Accardi Autosport.
Allegra Accardi moved with an almost regal grace, her designer suit and perfect blonde chignon seeming to sparkle in the light as she closed the distance between them and leaned in to place the customary Italian greeting upon both of Astrid’s cheeks.
‘I’m very sorry for your loss,’ Astrid said, standing from her seat and trying not to crane her neck to see the view of the racing on the camera monitors behind her. The pit crew and engineers around them had gone suddenly quiet, everyone watching their exchange.
‘Grazie.’ Allegra smiled, but her dark eyes narrowed in a way that immediately set off alarm bells in Astrid’s subconscious.
‘Death seems to only encourage the competition in this family.’ Allegra’s attention wandered briefly to the screen where Apollo still dominated the track. ‘Come, let’s find somewhere a little more private, shall we? I believe we have lots to discuss.’
Apollo felt the tension coming off Astrid’s body in waves as he entered the executive suite and both women turned to face him. His cousin stood near the windows, a smirk on her lips as Astrid remained seated with her arms folded tightly across her chest.
‘Apollo, I was just filling your PR manager in on Nonno’s last wishes. It seems you forgot to mention that you’ve just inherited an entire racing team.’ Allegra frowned in faux concern.
Astrid’s eyes met his with a subtle nod, a signal to him not to engage further. A short man with a thin moustache entered the room behind him, announcing that Allegra’s presence was needed at a meeting with the Elite One Academy team.
‘I’ll be right there,’ she said with an easy smile. ‘Astrid, it was lovely chatting again after so long. It seems not long ago you were waddling around the tracks trying to hide that giant baby bump. The child must be what…six, now?’
‘He’ll be seven in a couple of weeks.’
She turned her attention to Apollo. ‘Time is a thief, as they say.’