Page 83 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 1-4
‘You made a vow,’ she murmured.
Right.
She gently covered his hand with hers. ‘You were only a child, Massimo.’
‘I was thirteen.’ Old enough and it was no excuse. He didn’t relax. He couldn’t. ‘My grandfather was right about several things. Iwashot-headed. I was wilful and impetuous. I shouldn’t have been out there that day and certainly not after Mum told me not to. But I was defiant and angry. There’s no room for emotion on track.Everyonemakes mistakes when emotions are engaged.’
He was better off without them. He’d made mistake after mistake until he’d learned that keeping cool, calm,remotewas everything. Emotions had to be controlled. Dealt with later—or ideally never at all. Just thinking about this had his stomach churning and cold sweat of regret slicking his skin.
‘You were left withhim. Your grandfather.’
‘As I was all that was left, he became determined to make me into the man he’d failed to make my father into. I let him. I got disciplined, got grades, learned everything I could from him about the business. Because I’d decided I would do all the things my father had wanted to do at Hearnshawe. I would enact the reformshe’ddreamed of. I decided to take everything from my grandfather and I did. I took revenge for the way he’d treated my father for all those years.’
‘So it’s true you locked him out of the premises?’
‘It was billed as a ruthless takeover of the entire operation that destroyed the man, but while I did lock him out, it was only from the factory. He still had his home and several millions. It was time for him to enjoy those, retire and live well rather than slowly grinding Hearnshawe into dust.’
‘Did he ever forgive you for it?’
‘When he saw the sales figures, I got a call inviting me to dinner. I didn’t go.’
‘Did you ever forgive him?’
‘No. And while I’ll never race for Hearnshawe, a Costa now does, which is an unintended bonus that made the old bastard deeply unhappy.’ He stiffened, taking his hand from under hers and turning to make sure she understood. ‘That’s not why I brought Emiliano to England. If he wanted to stop racing tomorrow, that’d be fine. I won’t letanyonetake advantage of him, including myself.’
‘I know that. I know you care about him.’
Right. He’d helped Emiliano. He would help her child, too. He could set him up in the same way.
‘Do you think it was really revenge on your grandfather, or are you trying to make reparations to your parents?’
He slowly blinked, confused.
‘You’ve done all the things your father had wanted to do in the company,’ she elaborated. ‘You look after Emiliano for your mother. You want to make them both proud.’
‘But Ican’t,’ he argued hoarsely. They were dead because of him. ‘I destroyed so much.’ There was more that he could never, ever make right.
‘Mum waspregnant.’ The words slipped from him in a breathless slide of agony. ‘They’d not told anyone, but that morning they told me I’d be getting a baby brother. Mum was so happy but I was so self-involved, all I wanted was to get to the track so I could practice, and I didn’t give a damn about that or bother checking the weather forecast.’
‘Massimo.’ She moved closer and gripped his hands. ‘You can’t blame yourself.’
Of course he could. What hecouldn’tdo was change what had happened.
Her eyes were huge and soft. He bent his head to avoid them, appalled as emotion overwhelmed him. He clamped every muscle in his body, stopping the shaking. Stopping thefeeling.
‘I’m so sorry you lost your parents,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry you never got your brother.’
She leaned against him and he stiffened even more. But she just rested against him—not with all of her weight, but all of her warmth. She simply stayed close so that in this moment, as memory burned, he was not alone. All he could do was breathe. Slowly, the intense horror sank back down—a bedrock of remorse buried so deep in his gut that he could never get rid of it. He had no right to even want to—the recklessness of that day was something he would live with forever.
Lily had lost a brother, too. She’d lost her whole life when her family had rejected her. So she knew there was nothing to say to make it better.
But the difference was his brother’s death was his fault. The child hadn’t even had the chance to live. He couldn’t make those kinds of mistakes again.
He clenched his muscles and stepped back from her. ‘We should get back to the hotel.’
She nodded and said nothing. He was a jerk. This was supposed to have been a relaxing sightseeing trip. A chance to see a little of Singapore before they had to go home, and he’d just dumped his emotional baggage all over her.
‘I’ll order dinner,’ he said the second they got back to the villa.
