Chapter Fifteen
THEY DECIDED AGAINST taking Luca back to London, calling Jem to ask if she’d consider ending her holiday early.
She readily agreed, happy to join them all in Monte Carlo and keep the little boy busy and safely away from prying eyes.
The press here was usually a little less intense than that in England, being more used to wealthy people roaming its streets.
But, from the moment Apollo’s jet touched down, they were inundated with photographers, journalists’ requests and Elite One fans shouting both cheers and accusations.
Apollo was immediately called into meetings with his lawyers to prepare, while Astrid gathered her own war effort and prepared to battle for their public image.
By the time they tucked Luca in and both fell into their own bed that night, Astrid had no energy left to do more than fall asleep in his arms. When she awoke the next morning, Apollo had already got up to eat breakfast with Luca, before heading off for a day of training and more meetings.
Not that Astrid was any less snowed under with meetings and emails, but the reminder that he was also preparing for the upcoming racing weekend had caught her off-guard.
As she showered and dressed casually to work from her laptop for the day, she couldn’t shake that vague cloud of unease.
She’d always been nervous watching Grayson head out on the track, especially in rough weather or after any scrapes or incidents.
The life of an Elite One racing driver was fast-paced and unpredictable.
Roux Racing had been one of the oldest and most revered Monaco racing companies and, even after the swift rebrand by Tristan Falco in recent years to Falco Roux—following the Roux family’s former scandals—their fans were still intensely passionate.
They had been initially lukewarm in accepting the grandson of Enzo Accardi as the primary driver the year before, and this latest revelation in the press about Apollo’s involvement in race fraud seemed only to solidify those initial suspicions that he was a plant from their biggest rival.
In her line of work, Astrid was used to having to undo difficult narratives and take control of public opinion; it was one of her greatest strengths that she could always seem to find just the right way to swing a story to get them out of hot water.
But, no matter what angle she worked with her team over the coming days, she made very little headway.
The Falco Roux fans had turned on their star driver and, in her experience, when that happened, it only spelled disaster for the rest of the season.
The meetings at Elite One headquarters were highly publicised, day-long affairs that required all ten team owners to be present and a handful of drivers willing to testify on Apollo’s behalf against the historical accusations—including Grayson, who luckily had already returned to Monte Carlo for testing in the Elite E league.
Izzy surprised them with a visit and Astrid felt her throat tighten as the other woman embraced Luca and her in the hallway of Apollo’s shiny marble apartment.
‘Yikes, you wouldn’t want to have a problem with mirrors around here.’ Izzy smirked at her blooming reflection, placing her hands on her sizeable baby bump. ‘Don’t even think about asking me if I’m sure it’s not twins; beware, my mood can change at any moment.’
‘I’m glad I ordered in lots of pizza and gelato, then,’ Astrid laughed.
Izzy’s eyes turned cartoon-wide. ‘Oh, how I missed you, boss lady.’
The two of them studiously avoided any talk of the crisis at hand as they dined on the large terrace, devouring copious amounts of food while Luca jumped in and out of the pool.
Astrid filled Izzy in on every detail of the past month, from realising Apollo was Luca’s father to their whirlwind trip to Grenada, finishing with the large ring on her finger.
‘It’s all so wildly romantic.’ Izzy sighed, one hand rubbing her rounded belly.
She and Grayson were expecting their second child in a few months.
Astrid remembered her own bump and how protective she’d been; how overjoyed she’d felt at the first kicks and every other little milestone, despite the stress of going it alone.
She remembered Luca’s excitement at finding out Grayson and Izzy were going to have another baby.
Unbidden, Apollo’s words on that intense night in Grenada seemed to echo in her mind: I’d make sure I didn’t stop till I got you pregnant.
A shiver coursed through her body, one not entirely made up of anxiety, as she remembered once again their lack of protection that night.
It had been so, so reckless and completely unlike her.
But then again, when it came to Apollo she had acted out of character.
She closed her eyes, remembering the feverish love-making in the lift that had bound their fates for ever.
Was she destined forever to lose control of her senses with him?
She inhaled a deep breath in an effort to calm the sudden wave of anxiety in her chest.
‘Are you okay?’
She looked up to see Izzy eyeing her warily and she quickly changed the subject back to Luca and their beautiful holiday, glad when her friend took the hint and began sharing the latest photographs of summer at their home in Ireland and plans to begin fostering children.
Astrid followed the conversation, genuinely interested in catching up with her dear friend, but at the same time doing mental calculations.
She’d been in the very last few days of her menstrual cycle that night in Grenada when Apollo had not used protection, which was the main reason she’d felt safe risking it.
She was due today and had always been right on time… with one Luca-shaped exception.
Once she’d hugged Izzy goodbye, she quickly went about procuring a test, knowing that there was a possibility, however slim, that perhaps she and Apollo had conceived a child.
She stood in the opulently decorated bathroom and stared down at the window in the digital test result, the blinking cursor taunting her.
Another unexpected pregnancy, even if they were engaged to be married, was the last thing that either of them needed right now.
But it seemed that, the more boundaries she tried to put in place with Apollo, the more she just ended up breaking them all by herself.
Her insides shook as she stared down at the tiny screen that would decide her fate. Impatience and fear warred with a flicker of…excitement?
A baby would be loved and adored by both of them.
But it would only be one of them whose career plans would be changed completely when things were already so uncertain and rocky.
By the time the test screen stopped blinking and showed the result, she felt as if she’d already played out every possible scenario in her mind.
Seeing the stark not pregnant was almost like a loss, however momentary.
It made her feel strange…off-balance and silly.
The realisation that she’d been slowly sleepwalking away from the peaceful life she’d built was an unnerving one.
Apollo had said they were on a timeline of their own, but she had to remind herself that control and planning were important to her for a reason, and it was important to Luca too.
She needed to think things through before diving in—she needed to feel safe and heard—and those needs were valid.
In fact they were more than valid: they were completely necessary if she and Apollo had any hope of making this relationship work.
Apollo already regretted agreeing to go out for dinner with Grayson Koh, even knowing that his support was important to their PR campaign.
After another full day away from Astrid, his temper was on a razor’s edge, and his old rival’s easy relationship with Astrid was more irritating than ever.
Even seated next to his wife, Grayson continued to smile and bring up old jokes at which the women gleefully laughed.
Apollo fought the urge to bat the handsome Singaporean away.
His every move was being more heavily scrutinised and photographed than ever, likely adding to his crankiness.
Not to mention that he’d barely had a moment alone with his fiancée in days.
Holding her sleeping body at night was the most he’d managed with their busy schedules.
The tension in his body was at its peak, his annoyance undeniable when the other man mentioned his son so familiarly.
‘Luca must be starting back at school soon, yes?’ Grayson asked, Isabel’s and his hands intertwined on the top of the dining table in the fancy restaurant.
‘In a few days, yes.’ Astrid nodded.
‘He won’t mind not being at home to settle back in after your time away?’
Astrid paused mid-bite of her dessert, pressing her lips together in a look Apollo immediately recognised as guilt.
‘With the press going wild, we decided Monaco was safer for him than London, for now. Luca knows we’ll be back in time for his first day at school,’ he interjected smoothly, pointedly placing his own hand over Astrid’s on the table. ‘We can enjoy more family time here until then.’
Grayson nodded but Apollo didn’t miss the look he sent towards his wife, Izzy.
The other woman had been Luca’s nanny for a year between his ages of two and three.
Suddenly, he felt as though he was missing something crucial that all of them knew.
Their flight back to Monaco had been very different from the one to Grenada only a few weeks before.
Luca had been overwhelmed at every sound, upset by the change of leaving their little island paradise and his new family.