Page 33 of Fast-Track Fiancé

She reared back, totally shocked. ‘Why would he do that?’

‘I still don’t know. He said he had a sentimental attachment to the brand.’

Instantly she recalled the garage full of Roux motorcars his uncle had collected, and she ran an agitated hand through her hair.

Alain was still talking. ‘I think the guy just has a hero complex, to be quite honest. Who was I to argue? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all that. He got me into a discreet programme. There is an island off Greece that’s notorious for helping wealthy addicts get clean while also forcing us back to our humble roots. I’ve cleaned beaches, I’ve power-washed streets, I’ve helped the homeless... At some point I finally accepted that I am an addict and that I always will be, but that doesn’t make me a lost cause.’

She felt a painful tweak at what he’d been struggling with. ‘Alain, I never thought you were a lost cause. I know we fought but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love you.’

‘Nina, please, this isn’t even the beginning of me making amends with you. I was so selfish. I don’t know how our parents didn’t ruin you too, but you are such a good person. You didn’t deserve any of that.’

‘Neither did you.’

That simple, brief acknowledgement of their shared childhood pain felt like a knife sliding out from her ribs a few inches. She knew that there was more to be said between them, much more, but perhaps here and now was not the time. She still had to wrap her head around what Tristan had done...and what he’d been keeping from her.

‘Why tell me now?’

‘I saw the rumours of your engagement to Falco on social media and I just saw red. I don’t understand what kind of game he’s playing with you, but as soon as I could leave Greece, I had to come. To protect you.’

She looked over Alain’s shoulder to see Tristan striding towards them, a stunned look on his face. Tristan, the man who had been lying to her all along... Or perhaps she’d simply been lying to herself about the kind of man she’d thought he was? She felt like such a fool. Excusing herself to Alain, she took the coward’s way out and fled.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

NINA WALKED QUICKLY away from the garage until she found herself wandering along the path that lined the empty racing track. She didn’t even know where she was going, she just needed her body to move so that her mind could work through her own confusion. A hand landed upon her shoulder and she spun around with a squeak. Tristan stood before her, his face a mask of pain.

‘You’re running away without even allowing me a chance to explain?’

She could have said yes, because she needed time to think, to try to understand why he would have lied to her about her own brother’s actions and how he’d come to be their team owner. But instead she felt the embarrassing build-up of tears in her eyes. ‘You lied to me.’

‘I was waiting to tell you myself,’ he began, then stopped. ‘I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you so many times, believe me. But apart from the legal agreements we signed, I also wanted to give your brother time and privacy to recover, as he’d asked.’

‘I just don’t understand any of it.’ She shook her head. ‘You knew you were lying to me about my brother. And yet you still kept it from me. You knew that he planned to come back once he’d recovered and take back the helm of the company himself, and yet you were about to let me accept a deal from Accardi and leave Falco Roux!’

‘I would have told you before you took any deal from that licentious old man. Even despite the non-disclosure agreement I made with your brother, I intended to find a way to tell you the truth before you actually left Falco Roux. I only signed Apollo for the rest of this season, thinking it was the right thing to do for the team. I assumed your brother would want to make the decisions about his own drivers when he took over again.’

‘You can see why I find that hard to believe, right?’

‘That’s fair.’

‘None of this is fair. I’m so sick of this. I’m so unbelievably sick of having my future decided upon by men who have assumed all the power behind my back. I’m so sick of working so hard all the time and ending up right back where I started. I trusted you.’

He took a step towards her, closing the space between them. ‘You can still trust me. I made a mistake. Regardless of the NDA, I should have told you sooner, I see that now. But your brother insisted that you not know. Don’t let this ruin what we’ve started between us, Nina. I meant it for the best, to try and help save your family company. I want to make this work. Us. I want to earn your trust back and show you just how serious I am about never breaking it again.’

She bowed her head, wanting that explanation to be enough. But deep inside her, something had split apart at his deception. He’d known far more about Alain than he’d admitted. He’d known he was only caretaking the Roux company until Alain was better. He’d seen how upset she’d been about being forced out of a main driver’s seat, and, despite him erroneously thinking that signing a more experienced driver for the rest of this season was the right thing to do, he’d done nothing to reassure her that it wouldn’t be for ever. He’d lied by omission, but still it was like a knife to her heart.

‘Don’t let this come between us,’ Tristan pleaded, his voice tight. ‘Don’t walk away from what we’ve started to build together, Nina, because I know you feel it too.’

‘We both know that this was just a performance,’ she whispered.

‘It’s not,’ he growled. ‘Not for me, anyway.’

‘No, Tristan, I’m not looking for you to placate me or lie for my benefit any more. I know exactly what this deal was when we entered into it. A sham to hold your mother off a little longer. A PR exercise to raise the company’s profile with fans. It’s just I wasn’t expecting to feel so...affected.’

‘That’s good,’ he rasped, taking a step closer.

‘Is it?’

‘I mean...it’s good to know I’m not the only one living in torment.’ He reached out to touch her, then paused as if rethinking the movement. ‘We spent every single day of the past two weeks together, you in my bed, learning about one another and it still wasn’t nearly enough for me. I have absolutely no idea where I stand with you. Yet, my mother took one look at us together and immediately knew the truth.’

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