Chapter Eight #3
Apollo’s jaw tightened, knowing that the same thought had plagued him for the past few days as well.
It didn’t make sense; even with privacy laws, any decent private investigator would have been able to discover who had been renting the penthouse in the Venice hotel that night.
He remembered how Allegra had mentioned Luca at the track and the nugget of suspicion in his gut grew further.
He knew there were more questions he needed to ask.
‘My father’s family don’t have the best track record when it comes to honesty,’ he said bitterly, noting Astrid’s immediate wince at his unintentional pun.
‘That’s an understatement.’
‘I’d like to think that their tricks and underhanded dealings are strictly reserved for racing…but perhaps not.’
‘The timing is a little too perfect for coincidence. Coming at it from a PR perspective, if I were Allegra Accardi right now, and I had any kind of information that would discredit you, overwhelming you with bad press would be a great way to try and get control of a team that’s already in flux, no? ’
Apollo nodded, hearing what she said and knowing she was right. If Enzo had known how ruthless his only granddaughter could truly be, maybe he would have left her the team instead.
Apollo had put his entire reputation on the line only to find out that his grandfather had been cheating and that his first and only drivers’ championship win had been sullied by the revelation of espionage against another team.
The realisation had shattered many of his illusions about himself and the family who had raised him, and spurred him to distance himself from them entirely.
He would never know if he’d still have beaten Grayson Koh in that championship without Enzo’s meddling, but it didn’t matter, because that win was worthless to him as a result.
He’d spent as much time as he could here on the island since he’d walked away from Elite One, building this villa and the surrounding nature reserve with his own two hands and reconnecting with his mother.
He’d still flown round the world to try his hand at various motor sports, just to prove to himself that it wasn’t just his grandfather’s influence that had made him a success.
He’d then focused on growing his ‘Apollo’ sports brand, which had succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.
To think, during all of that time, Astrid had been growing their son, giving birth to him alone and figuring out how to raise him.
He’d missed so many of those first moments a father was supposed to be present for.
Thanks to a love of parties and a penchant for sleeping with his co-stars, Santo Accardi had been inconsistent at best during the tumultuous years of Apollo’s childhood.
When it came to choosing between fame or parenting moments, his father had always preferred the spotlight and accolades.
He turned away, scowling out at the horizon.
His plan to spend his time here getting to know his son and exploring his chemistry with Astrid had seemed so simple at the start.
Then, he’d decided that there was only one logical solution to their secret love-child dilemma: for he and Astrid to marry.
He’d seen her ground rules as a challenge and prepared himself to regroup and begin again from a different angle.
He was no stranger to changing tactics and starting over with a fresh plan of action in the face of difficulty…
But, as he stared down at Astrid’s worried face, he suddenly saw all of this from her perspective.
Her life was in chaos, and the world she’d built as a single mother for her young son was being threatened.
He had barely known of his son’s existence for more than twenty-four hours before he’d essentially caused their orderly life to implode.
He had grown up indoctrinated into the importance of what it meant to be an Accardi. Did he really believe it was the best course of action to have his son become one too? Or was that simply his own selfish nature and arrogance at play?
‘Apollo?’
Astrid’s worried tone jolted him from his thoughts and he tried to remember what they’d been discussing. ‘Let me handle Falco Roux and Allegra. I brought you here to let you regroup in privacy, not monopolise your PR skills.’
‘My skills are currently useless, considering Tristan Falco has essentially put me on suspension.’
Apollo stilled. ‘He did what?’
‘Not as a punishment or anything; it’s more that my ability to quell any media storm is only useful to the team when I myself am not a large moving piece of the scandal.’
Apollo narrowed his eyes. He’d avoided Falco’s calls thus far out of necessity, on advice from his legal team, but perhaps he needed to remind his ex-boss of a few choice facts.
He might not have had anything to do with the media storm they found themselves in, but he hadn’t been proactive enough in ensuring his son’s existence was kept secret.
One thing was for sure, his desire to connect with his son could not come before his duty to protect him from harm—protect Astrid too.
He’d allowed his judgement to become clouded with idealism and the desire to put the past seven years to rights, but he hadn’t considered that perhaps Luca’s distance from the tangled web of the Accardi family had been a gift in itself.
‘You didn’t cause this scandal, Astrid. I will not allow you or Luca to be punished because of my family’s machinations.’ He took a deep breath and turned, disappearing back into his study and closing the door firmly behind him.