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Edward noticed the tension between us and tried to lift our spirits but to no avail. Truthfully, I was too focused on my anger at Luca to really delve into the Henri situation. The week had started off incredible, with Luca and I finally starting to connect. When I had that panic attack in the car, he comforted me with the kindness that I knew he had buried inside him somewhere. That kiss we shared at the race was phenomenal, and I felt like I was starting to get past the resentment I held for him. It felt like there was a possibility we could be something other than enemies.
As the plane landed at the airport, Henri and I hopped into a shared car we had hired to take us home. When I found out I had received a spot on the Valkyrie F1 Team, I immediately purchased a condo in Henri's building. His next-door neighbor was selling, and it just made sense to move close to Henri since we would be traveling so much of the globe together. Plus, it was fun to live so close to all my brothers again, but at this very moment, I was regretting that decision. The tension in the car was palpable. Clearly, neither of us knew what to say. As we unloaded our bags at the complex, Henri let us in, and we both proceeded straight into our apartments, not uttering a word to one another.
Did I deserve the silent treatment? Maybe. I knew I should have told him about my relationship with Éliott, but it had been six years. Seemed a little too late and irrelevant to bring it up now. Not to mention, I didn’t owe him,or any other man,anything.
The next morning, I woke up to a knock on my door. Luca wasn’t coming into town until after the Maison de Klotho meeting on Wednesday, so I knew it couldn’t be him. Fortunately, Lizzie had alerted me that it was still on. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted.I could breathe again.
As I opened the door, I came face to face with Henri, baked goods in one hand and two lattes in the other.
“Can I come in?” he asked, nodding for me to take the coffee.
I nodded and took the bag of baked goods, setting them on the coffee table as I sat down on my sofa next to him. Henri unpacked the baked goods from the container and set them on a plate next to us.
We let another few moments of silence engulf the room as the two of us silently sipped our lattes.
“I’m sorry,” Henri finally admitted, a sad look on his face. “I’m sorry for what I said to you. You’re right. You don’t owe me an explanation. And while I am upset that you didn’t tell me, I never asked you if you had feelings for Éliott. It’s not like you lied to me.”I nodded in agreement, taking another sip of my coffee as I contemplated my next words.
“I am sorry I didn’t say anything. I can understand how you would feel blind-sighted by this. Truthfully, it only lasted six weeks; there didn’t seem like much to say. We were young and eighteen. We were a terrible fit, so we went back to being close friends. If it had progressed, we obviously would have told you. Although Éliott was too nervous to tell you,” I added with a chuckle, and Henri grinned.
“As he should be. I guess I was more upset that Luca knew. You didn’t even tell your own brother, but he knew? But when I mentioned it to Éliott last night, he said a couple of years ago, he had told Luca at a party accidentally.” I wasn’t entirely sure that I believed Éliott had told Lucaaccidentally. Éliott knew that Luca had stood me up because he was the one I called that night. I suspected he had purposefully let it slip, but I would discuss that with Éliott later.
A few more moments of silence went by before Henri added, “Don’t be so mad at Luca. I was mad at him for talking to that woman at the bar, and when he mentioned you and Éliott dancing as a defense, I yelled at him that you guys were never a couple and implied that what he was doing was worse. I was kind of an ass to him,” he admitted. I could see Henri, all high and mighty, Hermes' golden boy, arguing with Luca, thinking he had the upper hand.
“And then when he scoffed at me, I pressed him further, telling him he was stupid for thinking that you guys were ever an item and that Éliott was simply a friend and you were allowed to dance with a friend.”Things were starting to make sense. I had been so angry at Luca, thinking that he had just gone and just told Henri unprovoked because he wanted to get under my brother’s skin. But what I had really done was thought the worst of Luca. I had expected him to be a dick, but in truth, he was just defending himself – and drunkenly, nonetheless. I knew as much as anyone that alcohol caused loose lips.
“Thank you for telling me that. I guess I was blaming Luca for just telling you out of the blue, but honestly, I can’t really think why he would do that. Luca had no reason to think that you didn’t know… I didn’t know that Éliott had told Luca. Éliott and I didn’t want to make anything weird between the group, so we just didn’t say anything.”
As we continued to talk, I was starting to feel better; another weight lifted off of my shoulders, but I also felt guilty for yelling at Luca. I was so disappointed in him that night. He had texted me yesterday, asking if he should just get a hotel instead of staying at mine.
Luca had won the Monza that day, and I made him feel like shit, but I would make amends. I didn’t know how, but I knew I had to apologize before Monaco. I picked up the phone and texted Luca that, of course, he should stay at mine. I debated on whether I should text him an apology but decided it would be better to do it in person.
* * *
I arrived at the Maison de Klotho offices in Monaco shortly after 10 a.m. Isabelle, Lizzie, and Lily were already outside, waiting for me to arrive. We walked into the beautiful conference room together and sat down. While there was still an awkwardness between Isabelle and me, we had both decided to just ignore it. Today had to go perfectly.
Within a few minutes of us sitting down, the Maison de Klotho executive, Sara, walked into the room, all smiles.“Good morning, ladies. Thank you so much for meeting with us before a race weekend. We are so excited to have Formula 1’s newest female drivers here!” She squealed. I was a little taken aback. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a fangirling executive. Before I could respond to her earlier statement, I was dragged into a hug by Sara, and a beautiful Maison de Klotho purse was placed in front of me and then in front of Lily.
“Just a little something from us as a thank you for the meeting.” Sitting in front of me was a beautiful shoulder bag colored with our team colors. Lily clapped her hands in excitement, a huge smile on her face.
“Thank you so much, it’s beautiful,” I said with a genuine smile.
“Lovely! Glad you like it. We’re just so excited here at Maison de Klotho. And when we heard that yourprecious boyfriend Luca Rossi was interested in doing some modeling with you?” she turned and pointed to me, “We were just thrilled! Luca sent us thesweetestnote on Monday, and when we noticed that beautiful Aphrodite’s Jewelry necklace he had designed for you, we figured it would be some great cross-brand promotion with one of our subsidiaries.
“Honestly, I have never in my years at Maison de Klotho seen a note that cute and adorable as the one Luca sent to us about you.” There was a shocked silence in the room, with none of the Valkyrie women knowing what to say to that.
“You’re a lucky woman, Georgia; that manclearlyloves you. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a little engagement ring promotion between the two of you,” Sara added with a giggle as she wiggled her shoulders like a mom who had consumed one too many mimosas.
I tried not to choke on my coffee. Even if this relationship wasn’t fake, I wasn’t going to marry Luca Rossi after only dating for a month. Had it even been a month?
I’m not sure if my face showed it, but I was completely stunned. Luca had reached out to Maison de Klotho. I turned to Isabelle, but she looked as shocked as I did. It’s not often that I saw Isabelle have a look of surprise on her face, and honestly, it was a little refreshing. She was shocked and possibly –no, definitely– relieved. I felt like I was drowning in questions.
Luca: 1 Isabelle: 0
Sara didn’t even register our shocked expressions as she continued, clearly lost in her sales pitch. “We have a lovely new men’s and women’s collection we would love for you and Luca to try on. Luca told me you would be in Majorca after the Monaco race. We have an office in Madrid, thought you both might like to stop by before you head on your little trip.”
So, Luca had planned a little vacation for me?News to me,I thought to myself, a little annoyed, but I knew I should have expected it. Had the asshole assumed that he would get back in my good graces because he had reached out to Maison de Klotho?
Cocky bastard.Although, he wasn’t entirely wrong on that front. I smiled and nodded at Sara, trying to regain my composure.
