“Now…” Leo’s gaze is shifty, and it puts me on edge. “As for the conflict of interest brought to our attention by Lucas Pierce.”
Fuck.
Vince interrupts them. “What conflict of interest?”
Leo glances at me, and I take it as a warning for what he’s about to say.
“Lucas Pierce informed us of a romantic relationship between Rome and his head engineer…”
Also known as your daughter.
Vince remains still; he doesn’t utter a word.
I’m a dead man walking if the FIA has possession of the photo.
The only one who saw it before I threw my dad’s phone across the room was the steward in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Leo gestures to him. “With the photo that Lucas showed Robert–”
“About that…” Robert interrupts.
Leo pauses, and I swear there’s a slight uptick of his mouth.
“It could have been anyone or anything,” he says. “I didn’t get a good look at the photo.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vince look in my direction, but he’s pulled back to the screen when Leo clears his throat.
“Well, given recent events and the investigation regarding Pierce Racing, it would be unfair to take Lucas’s word for anything without physical proof, given his unethical behaviors as of late.”
Thank God.
“However…”
I hold my breath.
“If there were a conflict of interest…we would strongly recommend reassigning positions within Vanstone Racing to avoid such an issue again.”
“Understandable.” Vince nods.
After saying our goodbyes, each steward’s face disappears one by one as they hop off the call. My palms sweat, and my stomach knots, but in the last few months, I’ve grown humble enough to turn and face him to repent for my wrongdoings.
I don’t regret falling in love with Tessa, but if I could go back, I’d do it right.
We could have avoided the mess we found ourselves in, and maybe I’d be able to sleep at night if she were beside me, instead of tossing and turning with thoughts of her keeping me awake.
Vince waits patiently for an explanation. He doesn’t glare or press me. He just waits.
I exhale and force myself to look him in the face. “I won’t lie to you,” I say.
“I know you won’t.”
“Tessa and I were in a romantic relationship–”
“Were?” he asks.
A slice of pain cuts into my chest, and I nod. “I don’t want what happened between us to affect her as one of Vanstone’s head engineers. She’s phenomenal at her job, even when I didn’t make it easy on her. I will gladly step down and remove myself from this team if that’s what it takes for her to remain in her position.”
I start to list all the different scenarios I’ve come up with in the last several days with Vince listening intently.
