Page 115 of Break My Heart

My breath catches. Holy crap, he said it.

Cameras click furiously. Bentley looks like she wants to both hug him and tackle him away from any live microphones.

Dario looks proud.

Heythrop looks like he’s planning on drinking copiously once the day’s over.

Another question comes from an American sports journalist. “Leo, how does this affect your racing career?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Not even mentally?”

A dry, faint smile appears. “Everything affects me mentally. I’m a race car driver, not a machine.”

A few people laugh. Then his expression steadies. “But professionally, nothing changes. I drive for Apex Orion. My focus is on the car, the team, and the races.”

“Some critics might say this announcement is a distraction.”

“Then they’re welcome to criticize my lap times if they suffer. And if they don’t, then I suppose they’ll find something else to be cross about.”

Despite the weight in the room, I smile. It’s such a Leo answer.

Another reporter leans forward. “Was there someone who influenced this decision?”

“No one made this decision for me.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“No,” Leo says evenly. “It was the answer.”

The reporter persists. “There have been rumors about you being romantically involved with someone close to the Apex Orion team. Is this decision related to a relationship?”

Every muscle in my body freezes.

Dario’s head turns sharply. Heythrop’s face darkens in the way I’ve seen before lawyers start handing out lawsuits.

Leo’s expression doesn’t change, but his voice does. It drops to sub-Arctic levels. “My private relationships are not material to the legal status of my title.”

“Is that a denial?”

“It’s a boundary, one I don’t recommend you push against,” he warns.

The reporter backs off.

Another takes the opening. “Do you worry the public will see this as disrespectful to tradition?”

Leo leans slightly toward the microphone. “I imagine some will.”

“And does that concern you?”

“No, because tradition should not be mandated simply because it exists. It should be honored by people who won’t do it harm.”

A British tabloid reporter jumps in. “Are you calling your family harmful?”

I’m certain Bentley is now the one who wants to knock the mic away from Leo. But she doesn’t.

“I’m saying my life is no longer governed by Hawthorne influence.” His words cut through the room with terrifying precision.