Page 82 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 1-4
‘But there’ll bepressure. To be the heir to the Hearnshawe empire? Would you want our baby to be a driver, or the next CEO? You’ve got awfully big shoes to fill, Massimo.’
‘That Hearnshawe pressure can’t be avoided whether or not we’re married. In fact, it’s why it’s even more important that weare.’ He was certain of it. ‘I want our child to be free to find their own purpose. It’ll be up to them to choose whether that’s within Hearnshawe Group, but they’ll need to be able to handle their heritage. When you have immense privilege, youhaveto learn how to deal with it.’
‘Or?’
‘It’ll mess you up.’ He was messed up. Hehadmessed up.
She was quiet. Waiting. He met her unspoken query with a sigh.
‘It took Dad far too long to stand up to my grandfather and call off the other engagement,’ he said.
‘Yourgrandfather?’ Lily’s jaw dropped.
‘He had an iron grip on everything, bit like your father. There was only one way things should be done and it was his. He wanted Dad to marry someone else. Dad caved and got engaged but stalled on the wedding for years. In the end, marrying my mother and bringing us to Hearnshawe was the only fight he ever won against the old guy.’
‘How did it finally happen after so long?’
Massimo stared at the delicate orchids, but barely saw them. ‘You have to understand. Dad was such a dreamer. He had all kinds of innovative ideas, especially regarding safety standards, but my grandfather saw safety as weak, somehow watering down the spice in racing. He wouldn’t give his ideas a chance. He belittled him over every last little thing and rubbished him for not being forceful enough. When Hearnshawe began to decline, that only made him dig his heels in more. He wouldn’t listen to anyone, not even experts.’ He’d been a domineering, blinkered bully. ‘When Dad saw me karting in Italy as a kid, he realised I could be a driver. If I won championships in his cars for Hearnshawe, he would finally get the old man’s attention and maybe he’d consider the broader changes my father wanted to make within the company.’
‘So your dad only brought you to Hearnshawe once you’d shown you could drive?’ Lily’s voice was thin.
Massimo stiffened. ‘It wasn’t that callous. He and I… It was our thing.’ He paused. ‘Outwardly, my grandfather welcomed us, but privately he still didn’t accept it. He constantly questioned if I wastrulya Hearnshawe. Apparently, I didn’t act like one. I was too impulsive and wilful. Even my success in racing raised his doubts—how could myfatherhave a son who drove so fast? In the privacy of the estate, he fully questioned paternity. He was awful to my father and awful about him. He told me that Dad had been unfaithful to Mum through the years, that I wasn’t theonlybastard, just the eldest and the only one with any driving talent. He was constantly cruel.’ He bent his head. ‘He undermined Dad so much. I understandhowDad was weakened in the way he was.’
‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Were you weakened?’
‘I was thrust into a world where I could suddenly have everything I wanted. At the time, that was to race. I was officially a Hearnshawe. I was fast and I wasspecialand I wasn’t letting that old jerk or anyone else stop me.’ He bitterly mocked the idiocy and arrogance of his youth. ‘I thought I was better than anyone, that I could do anything I wanted, and I did.’ He looked at her. ‘You were right about me. I was shockingly spoiled then.’
There was a sharp silence. He turned towards her.
Lily’s gaze skittered away from his and he saw her swallow. ‘What about your mother? Was she happy to have married him at last? To move to England?’
‘I don’t know if it was true about other women, but from what I saw theywerehappy,’ he said huskily. Every visit in the early years, there had been laughter. ‘I think if he’d had the courage, Dad would have moved to Italy, but he couldn’t find it. And as I got older, she wanted better opportunities for me.’
‘Ones that could be found with Hearnshawe.’
He nodded. ‘She encouraged Dad to work on those safety designs. She believed in him. Her father was a test driver who crashed when she was in her teens. She knew about other accidents. She was particularly paranoid about racing in the rain.’ He drew in a difficult breath. ‘Her father had died in the rain.’
‘Oh no.’ Lily wrapped her arms around herself. ‘No wonder you were stressed during the storm in qualifying the other day.’
‘And when you were on the track. I know you think I overreacted, but it hit old wounds.’
‘Your parents’ accident.’
‘Mine, too.’ Massimo lifted his hand to show her the scars on either side of his forearm. ‘Shattered both ulna and radius. The bone broke through the skin.’
‘It must’ve been painful.’
The physical pain hadn’t been enough. He’d deserved so much more.
‘It was a private practice karting session. I was spoiled enough to have them all the time. Mum phoned and flipped out about the weather but I was arrogant enough to think I could master it and angry at her interference. We argued, I hung up on her, determined to prove her wrong. But on track I lost focus, spun out and flipped. I was thrown from the kart and landed badly. Crushed a couple of ribs as well as the arm. But they weren’t life-altering injuries. Aside from the scar, I’ve no permanent damage. I recovered full physical strength after a couple of months.’
‘And raced again?’
‘No,’ he whispered. ‘I didn’t know that Mum was so upset she’d decided to come to the track to stop me. Dad got in the car, too. It wasn’t a long trip but a driver coming the other way skidded onto their side of the road. There was nothing they could have done.’
‘Their accident wasthatsame day?’ Lily paled.
Their accident was his fault entirely. He stepped forward, taking hold of the barrier blocking off the viewing area. ‘I was in the hospital waiting for surgery, waiting for my parents to come and sayI told you so. Instead, my grandfather arrived and informed me that my parents’ bodies had just been brought into the morgue. Then he told me I wouldneverbe a driver for Hearnshawe. I would never fulfil my father’s ambition. I would never be awinner. As if I cared at that point.’ He gripped the rail more tightly. ‘But he was right. I would never race again.’
