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She pondered those questions as the car left the test track and within a few minutes they were on the busy roads and heading back to Milan. Charlie sat in silence, watching the countryside flash past, so caught up in her emotions she didn’t even give the car they were in any thought. Her mind was with the man she loved. A man she should never have fallen in love with.
‘Goodbye is hard, no?’ The driver spoke, dragging her from her despondent thoughts.
‘Yes,’ she said before she’d realised it, adding quickly, ‘but only because it is also saying goodbye to my brother.’
She hadn’t expected this personal conversation and was glad to see they had reached Milan. Very soon she would be on her own, which was what she craved more than anything right now.
Thankfully, the traffic congestion took the driver’s attention away from the conversation and she smiled at his exasperated sighs as they negotiated the streets towards Alessandro’s apartment.
‘I will get a taxi from here,’ she said as she got out of the car outside the old building that she still couldn’t believe was home to such a modern and powerful man.
‘No, my instruction was to bring you here,’ he said as he pressed the required numbers into the keypad, obviously used to letting himself in. Was this Sandro’s right-hand man? Could he tell her the truth about the accident report? ‘Then we go to the airport.’
She sensed he wanted to deliver her to the airport as soon as possible. Maybe that would be for the best. Alessandro had obviously asked that she be escorted all the way, to ensure she had actually left. ‘Thank you. I will only be a few minutes.’
The driver handed her a key and she rushed up the stairs, into the apartment, trying not to think of all that had happened there in such a short time. Not wanting to linger, she grabbed her already packed case and left. As she shut the door, she closed her eyes briefly, pushing memories of being with Sandro to the back of her mind. But it wasn’t easy. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she loved him. How did you switch that off? Finally, she went back down to where the driver was waiting.
Moments later they were once again in the traffic, heading towards the airport. She kept her eyes firmly fixed ahead of her as she thought of all that had happened. Would Seb have approved of her and Sandro—would he have been happy they were together?
‘Did you know my brother?’ She asked the question casually. This would be the last chance she got to talk to anyone from the test track and she wasn’t going to waste this opening, no matter how small.
‘Sì, he was a good driver, a very good driver, but things got too much for him. We tried to help.’ His attention was kept on the busy road, his words had been said in such a distracted way, he obviously hadn’t thought about them.
So it was true. She tried hard to keep her voice normal when all she wanted to do was scream and shout, but she couldn’t. It was obvious this man thought she knew all about it.
‘I didn’t realise you’d helped him too,’ she said as calmly as possible, luring him into divulging more of the truth. Each word he said confirmed all she’d seen in the report.
‘Alessandro helped most, but I was also there that night and it became my secret too.’
What kind of sister had she been, not to have noticed Seb’s problems? Guilt spiked cruelly at her. Not a hint of what she’d read had reached the press. Part of her clung desperately to the hope that this was because it was all part of an elaborate fabrication by Alessandro. She didn’t want to believe it of Seb; it was too painful.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,’ he said and she opened her eyes to see him looking at her whilst they’d stopped at a red light.
‘I do still find it upsetting, sorry.’ She dabbed the corner of her eye with her fingertips, glad when the lights changed and they moved off, taking his gaze from her. Did he know he’d walked into her trap?
‘The airport,’ Giovanni said as the terminal buildings came into view and the relief in his voice would have been comical if she hadn’t been so strung out by his conversation.
He pulled into a space and got out, but she wasn’t done yet. Whatever he knew, she had to find out. Good or bad, she just had to hear it. Could it be any worse than all she had just read?
‘Please—’ she put her hand on his arm, using all her feminine charm, bombarding him with questions. ‘You said you were there too. How bad were Seb’s problems? Did they really cause the accident?’
