Counterpoints Book 3 Read online

“What are you talking about?” it was Isabella who spoke then.

  She looked around the room again, in shock.

  “Don’t you dare deny this, I saw you speak to Camilla. You two were talking business I heard you”

  “What does Camilla have to do with this?” Isabella demanded to know.

  “Oh, for Christ sake” Mr. Jenkins slammed his hand on the table. “You know very well she has been blackmailing Christopher for the last year and you just helped her get what she wanted. Now thanks to you, she has more shit to write in that damn book of hers”

  “Camilla is the person behind the book?” Isabella’s eyes went wide. She stared at Christopher, waiting for him to say something but he didn’t speak. He just let out a deep breath and kept looking at her, like he was waiting for Isabella to say something else.

  Confess, you knew about it. His face became hard.

  “What book?” Hillary asked, looking at Isabella now.

  She was totally out of the loop and, from the expression on her face, she was hating every second of it.

  “Stop with the act!” Mr. Jenkins shouted and it was Mr. Johnson who intervened, to calm everyone down.

  “Camilla is blackmailing you? She is the one who is blackmailing you?” Isabella asked Christopher, her voice low.

  He nodded, without saying a single word.

  “See, she just admitted she knows about the blackmailing” Mr. Jenkins pointed at her and then looked around for confirmation.

  “I know because I heard you and Christopher talk about it. I know because Christopher told me everything” she said but Mr. Jenkins burst out in a hysterical laugh.

  Isabella looked down at the table and then up at Christopher again.

  “You talked to her…” Mr. Jenkins went on.

  “I took a break with her from work during a race and she asked me if I wanted to work with her. I assumed over at Chiellini”

  “She has pictures of you and Christopher, private, intimate moments of you two together. She showed me and asked an extra three hundred thousand pounds If we don’t want her to write an additional part of the book, of how Christopher likes to crap where he eats, fuck every person he works with…”

  “Alfred” Christopher shouted.

  The veins in his neck tensed and Isabella saw his jaw twitch.

  “She will use your pictures and the story you told her about you two together”

  “I didn’t tell her a single thing” Isabella shook her head. She didn’t understand how she had gotten involved in this, she didn’t understand how Camilla had their pictures or how they could possibly damage Christopher in any way.

  They had probably been taken while going out secretly during race weekends, when their relationship had still been a secret to everyone else. Maybe some shots were taken in bed, but they were never compromising in any possible way. They were just about happy moments, they had shared.

  “Those pictures I don’t even have them anymore. They stole the camera from me”

  “Of course they did” Mr. Jenkins grunted and went on talking to Mr. Johnson, about how pathetic Isabella’s story was.

  “They robbed my house. I don’t know what this is all about, Chris” despite the shouting in the background, Isabella ignored everything and everyone and looked straight at Christopher. Her heart was in his hands.

  He stared at her for another moment and then something in his eyes changed. His voice came out sad, defeated.

  “I don’t know, Isabella”

  “You don’t know what?” Isabella asked.

  Christopher didn’t say anything back, but for the first time since he had stepped in the room he looked down for a moment.

  He doesn’t believe me, he doesn’t trust me. He thinks I am behind all this.

  There were so many things she didn’t understand, so many events and details had been kept from her- why was Camilla behind all this? Why had she written a book about Christopher? Was she the person he had trusted?

  It hurt to know someone was trying to damage Christopher, but that could be overcome. What killed her though, was to realize Christopher didn’t believe in her innocence.

  How could he even think that she could do something like that to him? Sell him off, agree to be on a book. How could he doubt her, after all that they had shared and been through?

  Had it all been just a joke? The connection, the feelings, the intimacy?

  Isabella stood up and closed her laptop. She shook her head, as she realized that she and Christopher could overcome everything – a meaningless kiss, the exes, the madness that came with popularity, the life style differences- but not this. Trust was essential and it was clear that there was none between them in that room.

  That was it, the end. His doubt had just written the end of their story.

  She willed her eyes to take a last snapshot of him, his ruffled hair and his deep green eyes. She willed her eyes to trace the lines of his scars- the one on his upper lip and the fresher on the side of his mouth- one last time.

  She looked away.

  “It’s okay, Christopher” she said, as she gathered her stuff.

  Bag in hand, she walked over to Mr. Johnson and stretched out her hand. The man took it and held it tight, no smile, no angry stare.

  “Thank you, for everything” Isabella said to him and then walked over to Hillary, who was sitting right beside Christopher.

  Isabella placed a hand on her shoulder, sensing Mr. Jenkins hard eyes on her, and smiled weakly.

  “I’ll email you my resignation” and she took off her badge and placed it on the table.

  “No” Hillary shook her head but Isabella gave her a weak smile.

  “It’s okay” Isabella said and eyed Christopher to the side. He looked her way too without speaking, hand over his mouth. His silence was killing every single breath of air that Isabella was trying to take in.

  Handbag and laptop in hand, Isabella walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

  No tears, she closed her eyes shut tight and pushed them back. She let the disappointment run through her, she let it hit her where it hurt the most. Her chest, her heart was in pain.

  “This is fucking crazy” Hillary’s voice sounded from the other side of the door but it didn’t matter. Isabella was already walking down the long blue and green corridor of the MB training facility for the last time.

  The bedroom was dark and lifeless. Isabella didn’t switch on the lights, but only a side lamp near the bed. It was better that way, so she didn’t have the time to look around and see what she was really saying goodbye to.

  She moved around the place like a robot, not feeling things the way she should have, like she was numb. She told herself to feel nothing, even though the part of her she was repressing was screaming to storm out.

  She filled the suitcase with her stuff and didn’t have the energy to look around for more.

  Her fingers went to her ears, as she sat on the big double bed and she gently took the earrings off.

  Christopher’s earrings. She stood then and dragged the suitcase down the stairs.

  On the small table near the entrance, she placed the earrings down and wrote a note.

  ‘Thank you for letting me stay. These are yours, they can never be mine. I told you once I only wanted you and nothing else. So If I cannot have you, if I haven’t owned your trust, I don’t want anything.

  Thank you, for making me feel so alive, for loving me like nobody ever has. For seeing things in me that I was scared to let out.

  I love you.’

  Isabella placed it down and wiped a tear from her eye.

  I feel dead now. A sob echoed in the empty, dark house.

  She pushed her hair back and kept inside the tears, her sobs, her emotions.

  She knew she had to get out from the house now, before she would crumble and wait for him to get back.

  No, I won’t wait for him. She straightened up and walked to the front door. Isabella stepped on the porch and closed
the door behind her, her set of keys spread next to the note on the table.

  “I believe you” Hillary said and Isabella’s heart warmed to the words.

  They were exactly the words she had hoped to hear from her- from a person she had worked with for six long months, from the person who had trusted her from the very beginning.

  If only Christopher felt the same way, the thought stabbed her in the chest, but Isabella didn’t even wince. She held her face straight.

  While they sat in Hillary’s living room and talked, Isabella was informed of everything that regarded Camilla and Christopher.

  The story was surreal and at times it made Isabella sick.

  Camilla and Christopher had had an affair, before and during her time at MB racing team.

  This is why everyone kept warning me, of what I was getting into. Isabella realized all of a sudden.

  That was why from the very beginning, Mr. Jenkins had been hostile- and had never really trusted her. That was why, everyone had warned her, of what a flirt Christopher was. He had been in that situation before. He had been involved with someone he worked with before.

  Camilla, Hillary informed her, had won Christopher’s trust over the years, as she had known James quite well, too. They had become close, to the point she had comforted Christopher in a delicate moment of his career. He was feeling under pressure at times, not living up to the expectations, stressed for being under the spyglass of certain sports journalists.

  Then the most shocking thing had happened. Last year Camilla had started asking for money. Money or she would publish this book she had been writing about James Taylor and his son Christopher.

  “Why is she doing this? Why would she write a book about Christopher and his father? Why would she want to hurt Christopher, why write a story about James?” Isabella asked.

  Not for money. She doesn’t need money, one would think she is well off.

  As Isabella reasoned with herself, Hillary took in a breath and went on.

  “She has a great story in her hands, Isabella. She had a relationship with James, when he was at the beginning of his career. When they both were at the beginning of their careers. She had a relationship with both James and Christopher” she gave Isabella a worried look, as horror registered on her assistant’s face.

  She’s been in a relationship with both. Father and son.

  “Oh god” Isabella covered her mouth and felt sick.

  Apparently, Camilla had pictures of her love affairs, she had documented many aspects of it and had wrote about her role in the book, as the woman behind the man. Or as Hillary put it, the woman behind the ‘men’. Yes, Camilla had slept with both James and his son Christopher. At some point, she had been their lover, their friend. And she had written one hell of a romance novel on the two drivers.

  “Christopher had no idea about her being his father’s lover” Hillary cleared that point immediately, seeing how distraught Isabella looked. “He was unaware of it all. He just trusted the wrong person”

  Then, Hillary went on. She told Isabella that Mr. Jenkins and Christopher’s lawyers had tried their best to negotiate with Camilla and find a solution- the best way out of this unpleasant situation- but Christopher had put his foot down.

  No. He wasn’t going to authorize the biography, not even if that meant having some control on the content. He didn’t want to give Camilla any authorization on his life, his father’s life. He didn’t want to give her his blessing. And he surely didn’t want her to gain profit from her story.

  “Poor Chrisotpher, he had to tell his mother about it too. He wanted to prepare her for the scandal” Hillary had said at some point.

  “Thank you for telling me all this” Isabella looked down at her hands “And thank you for letting me stay, before I leave. I just gave the keys back to my landlord”

  “You are very welcome. I am sad to see you go” Hillary gave her a glass of wine “So, what now?”

  Isabella shrugged. “I guess I’ll go back to my old job, try and talk myself back into it. Or maybe just go do something else. I’ll go back to Rome and start from there”

  Hillary nodded and went quiet.

  “Just please, do one thing for me” Isabella looked at her wine. It was so dark and ruby red, she craved the soothing taste of it. “Help Christopher with the advertising of the academy. He needs a lot of help now, with the book coming out”

  “Of course” Hillary nodded.

  Isabella smiled and knew she would, she would really do her best to help Christopher sort that out.

  “Take care of him” and her voice broke into sobs.

  Her hand shook a little, but she steadied it before knocking on the door.

  Breathe, Isabella. Breathe and don’t you dare fidget or mess this up. Do it for him, do it for him.

  Camilla opened the door immediately and looked at Isabella a little stunned.

  “What a surpr…”

  “You can stick your circumstantial lies up your ass” Isabella talked over her. “I know what you are doing to Christopher and wanted to tell you that you are a sick bitch”

  “Well, I am sorry you feel so strong about it” Camilla kept her face neutral. “I was actually hoping we would get a chance to talk about it”

  “About what?” Isabella asked, giving her a disgusted glare.

  “About working together at the book, at my advertising campaign”

  “You must be crazy. That book is filth, it is pure filth. You stole Christopher’s memories. You used him. That book is just a bunch of lies, it’s just gossip on Christopher and James”

  “Is it? Is that why you are here? If it’s just lies, what are you so worried about? Nobody will read it…”

  Isabella laughed in her face.

  “You know very well that people will read it, especially because it is filled with crap like every gossip magazine in the news stand. But it’s anything but a biography. Don’t you see?” Isabella said “You are going to write a book, that is just rubbish and it will be a big hit for sure at the beginning but then what? What is it going to be left of you? The whore that wrote silly fiction about two legends. Christopher and James will be remembered forever, you on the other hand, only until you keep sleeping around”

  “You are so stupid. You don’t understand how this could have come to your advantage. You could have made real money out of this” Camilla shook her head and moved as if to close the door.

  Isabella put her foot through and clenched her teeth.

  “Enjoy the money, you’ll need it to buy all the antidepressant when you will be a nobody again”

  “Take your foot out of the door or I’ll call the police” Camilla threatened but Isabella didn’t move an inch.

  “You do that. Please, now. So I can tell the police the exciting story of how you got a hold of my pictures, the ones that were in my camera, the one taken by burglars from my apartment” Isabella tilted her head to the side and waited for Camilla to come up with an answer.

  “I’ll say you sold them to me” Camilla shrugged.

  “Really? Where is the proof you gave me money?”

  “Where is the proof I didn’t give you money? I could have given you cash” Camilla said.

  “Yes or maybe you paid the burglars to give you the pictures, which is even a better story. Imagine, how nice it would be to have the police search your place, sticking their nose in your business. I could also ring a few magazines myself, just to fill them in”

  “Leave, now” Camilla threatened again, this time her face was tense.

  “No, not yet. Give Christopher every single piece of trash or pictures you have, sign whichever agreement he has written for you or I swear if you publish this book the way it is now, I will do anything in my power to make your life hell. My lawyers and I will dump everything I can on you and I’ll have the police look into your things. I promise you that” Isabella kept her eyes on Camilla for the entire time “Have a lovely evening” and she walked away for real this time.<
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  Chapter 18

  The weeks that followed Isabella’s departure from London, were confusing and surreal.

  Pulling up her driveway again, her suitcases spread in the trunk and her emotional baggage in turmoil, was liberating in a way. She was home, next to her loved ones and that was all that mattered for now.

  It’s all I need.

  She hadn’t cried at all since she had left and Isabella was already back on her feet. She kept her head busy, anything not to think of him, of them.

  When she walked back in her old work place on a Monday morning, her boss hugged her tight. They talked for a long time and she was offered a job, not her old job, but still Isabella had her own little space in the sports magazine again and that was all that mattered.

  She was surviving.

  “What was he like?” a girl, sitting at a desk beside her, had asked one day.

  Isabella had smiled softly. It almost made her laugh how people referred to him in the past tense. Christopher was good, he had won two races in a row and even though there were still three races to go to the end of the Championship, he was technically the winning champion of the year.

  “He is a great person. An incredible person” Isabella had replied, a lump forming in her throat as she spoke.

  “It was too good to be true” the girl had said then and Isabella had simply nodded.

  Yes, in the end their relationship had been just that. Too good to be true.

  Isabella had stayed in her home town for a week or so, then she had started working in Rome again and Cristina had handed her the keys of her flat in the city.

  “Take the keys and don’t be silly. I live in Milan now and I’m only here once a week” her friend had said.

  “Once a week? You are getting better at this. Are you liking Milan now?” Isabella’s eyebrow had gone up.

  “It’s not so bad you know, you should come visit” Cristina had smiled.

  And so Isabella had travelled up north, making funny comments and mocking her friend for warming up to the ‘cold’ north –as Cristina herself had once referred to it- and she had stayed with Cristina, Carlo and the twins for a weekend.