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‘Did you get a chance to talk to Carla?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘She was resting after her training.’
Rebel twirled the straw through her drink. ‘So what now?’
‘We can go down to dinner. Or we can stay here and have dinner brought up to us. We are newly engaged, after all.’
The thought of not having to put on a show in front of strangers was hugely appealing. She’d fallen asleep before she’d worked things through and now the events of the afternoon came flooding back.
Setting her half-empty glass down, she braced her elbows on her knees and massaged her temples.
He frowned. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m trying to wrap my mind around all this.’
Draco sighed, a wave of cold misery rushing over his face before he schooled his features. Then he released a breath. ‘Perhaps a further explanation would help?’
‘Please,’ she murmured.
For almost a minute, his jaw clenched tight. ‘After my knee blew out and my career ended, I shut everyone out. I was angry with myself for not seeing what Larson and his team were up to. I just gave my statement to the police and let them handle it. What I didn’t know was that they’d missed one crucial member of the team. Larson’s nephew.’
Her heart leapt into her throat as she made the connection. ‘Tyson Blackwell?’
Draco nodded grimly. ‘He was in charge of my sister’s training.’
‘Your sister?’
‘Yes.’ He blew out a ragged breath. ‘Maria was a figure skater. She and Carla are best friends. They don’t see each other as regularly any more, but she idolises Carla. Watching Carla’s videos was the only thing that pulled her from the brink after the accident.’
‘What happened to Maria?’
‘What always happens when Blackwell’s in charge. He pushed her past her limit. She was doing a quadruple rotation she was woefully unprepared for when she fell and hit her head on the ice. She fractured her third vertebrae and lost the use of her arms and legs.’
A sob strangled Rebel’s chest. ‘No!’
‘By the time I got my head on straight after my own accident, Blackwell had covered his tracks. He stood trial but he only got an eighteen-month ban for two of his trainees missing doping tests. He got off scot-free for what he did to Maria.’ Bitterness and anger twisted his face.
The same expressions he’d exhibited this afternoon as he’d watched Carla skating...
Had she got it wrong? Had she attributed a different spin on Draco’s feelings for Carla? The pressure eased in her chest. Surely he wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of engineering a fake engagement to put off a woman he could have had if he felt so inclined? From the first, it’d been Olivio’s manipulation and Tyson Blackwell’s presence in Carla’s life that had enraged Draco.
Relief punched through her, startling a laugh from her throat.
‘What?’ Draco demanded.
‘I...nothing.’ She sobered and reached out, curling her hand around his jaw before the action fully registered. ‘I know it’s hard to believe, but what happened to your sister wasn’t your fault.’
He shook his head. ‘It was. Larson didn’t broadcast it but I knew he had a nephew. I was so focused on my career, I didn’t pay attention to the team my father had hired for Maria. If I’d been around more, I would’ve noticed that things weren’t right.’
‘Sorry to break it to you, but if you couldn’t see it in your own team, how would you have noticed it in your sister’s team?’
Raw anguish propelled him to his feet. ‘I was her older brother. I was supposed to look after her!’
The weight of her own guilt crushed down on her. ‘Blind spots when it comes to our family are dangerously common.’
He stopped and stared down at her. ‘Your father?’
She shrugged, her chest clamped in a steel vice. ‘Me. My mother. We all have our faults. Some are a little more unforgivable than others.’
Exhaling sharply, Draco strode to the terrace railing a few feet away and gripped it hard. The muscles in his back bunched as tension gripped him harder. ‘I had you investigated—I’m sure you understand why. Your mother died in a skiing accident. You weren’t responsible for her death.’
The blood drained from her face, and her lungs closed up. Dropping her head forward, she desperately tried to get her blood pumping again.
Sound faded in and out as she tried to breathe.
‘Arabella!’
A moment later, Draco swung her into his arms and strode back into the suite. The sofa was the closest comfortable surface. He placed her there and drew the blanket over her and crouched before her. ‘I shouldn’t have left you in the sun for so long.’
