Rachel Recchia Wants to ‘Move on with My Life’ After Tino’s Infidelity: ‘I Still Believe in Love’

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Tuesday’s finale of The Bachelorette.

Despite riding out of her proposal on a white horse, Rachel Recchia’s fairytale love story with Tino Franco came to an end when she learned he cheated on her.

Rachel, 26, ended the engagement and faced Tino for the first time since their split on Tuesday’s “After the Final Rose” special.

The Bachelorette star tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that she hopes she and Tino “can get to a point where we are at peace” but ultimately, she wants to “move on with my life.”

“I obviously still believe in love and I really know it’ll come along when it’s ready,” says Rachel, 32. “I am looking forward to this time to myself and to be able to reflect on everything and move forward.”

While Tino had hoped to be able to move forward with Rachel, the flight instructor knew she couldn’t continue a relationship with someone she didn’t trust.

“When I did sit down with him, I didn’t see much of him owning up to his actions or feeling sorry,” Rachel says. “I was still hitting lie after lie. And I just don’t know if I can continue a relationship when I don’t feel like there’s trust. I know that isn’t what I deserve.”

Craig Sjodin/instagram

Rachel started to sense something strange when Tino kept bringing up allegations against another season 19 cast member and concerns about leaked messages over the summer.

“I couldn’t figure out why he was bringing it up so much,” Rachel says. “And I really wanted to talk to him about what happened in previous relationships: ‘Is there anything you need to tell me?’ And he told me, ‘No.’ And shortly after going home from that happy couple visit, he did call me and I slowly worked out the details of some infidelity. It wasn’t something that he felt like he needed to tell me by any means. It was something I had to pull out.”

The Florida resident admits she and Tino hit a “rough patch” and she asked for space. “But there was never ever a point in which we called off a relationship, called off an engagement or we weren’t committed to each other in my mind,” Rachel says.

Sami Drasin

Tino eventually owned up to cheating during that break, although Rachel thinks the infidelity actually carried on for longer than she knew. “I think, in my personal opinion, it was probably going on for longer,” she says. “I do believe that I don’t have the facts.”

Rachel understood there would be challenges on the road to the altar, but she expected to have Tino by her side for them.

“When I said yes, I was accepting forever. That meant that we were going to be navigating this together,” the reality star says. “We broke at the first crack in the glass, essentially. There really is no other way to look back at it, other than just hoping it’s something I can take and move forward.”

Craig Sjodin/ABC

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Along the way, Rachel has had support from her family, co-Bachelorette Gabby Windey and host Jesse Palmer, who called her as soon as he found about what unfolded with Tino. Rachel credits Windey, 31, with helping “get me in the right headspace.”

“It truly was honestly like a godsend for me,” Rachel says of being able to lean on Windey. “I really can’t thank her enough for being there for me. I am so thankful for her. I came in here with Gabby and I came out [with her]. I didn’t walk out with a love story that I necessarily hoped for — doesn’t mean I’m not walking out with all the love in the world at the end of the day.”