Love and Rivalry {Female F1 driver}

Until...

Waking up the next morning, completely naked and wrapped in Charles's strong embrace, I never felt happier. We had made it official in the best way possible, and I knew, that a love like ours was hard to find. It was the kind of love you only ever read about in novels and fairytales, dreaming to come true your whole life. I never thought I would find a love this strong, with a man this perfect. But here I was, and I couldn't complain. 

We spent the last day in Monaco with Arthur at his mother's house and had a great time. I was officially welcomed into the family, and we had a feast for dinner. Charles had been begging for me to stay longer in Monaco, or even for him to come with me to London, but I had to tell him that I needed the time alone with my dad, and he understood. 

On Sunday morning, he saw me off at the airport with a big hug. One that I didn't want to let go of, ever, but had to. The paparazzi were around as well, so we decided to keep the PDA to a minimum. Although even tho we agreed on that, Charles just couldn't help himself. He pulled up the hoods of both of our hoodies and connected the edges, so we could share a private, but not secret kiss. At that moment, it felt as if nothing could ever tear us apart. It felt like it was us against the world, and that would never change. Oh, how I wished that was true.

The next two races of the F2 season were matching up with the F1 races, meaning I would spend a lot of time with Charles as well. I got a podium in each place, meaning there was only one race left, and one left podium to win before I had officially won the bet with Red Bull and secured my spot in F1 next season!

The last race was in Abu Dhabi, and was in November, on the same weekend as the last race in F1. This meant I had another break of a month and a half, where I could relax at home, as well as attend the F1 races with either Charles or Red Bull. I spent the days in the garage of Red Bull studying Max and his driving style, he also kept mentoring me and even watched me practice on his days off. We went to the gym together and would get quite close during those months. 

I would see all the other drivers around a lot as well, and they had already accepted me as part of the grid, even if I weren't an F1 driver yet. They would help me practice for the F1 Liberty tests, and some of the teams even let me drive in their cars for some laps here and there. 

Everything was great, my driving, my love life, my dad came around more often and my life was just about perfect. 

Finally, it was time for the last race of my first F2 season. We arrived in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and were shown around and had some briefings with the team. I had heard rumours, that not only Red Bull but also McLaren and Mercedes had started working on contracts with my name on them. I didn't know how much was true, or what the contracts held, but I was excited about what was to come, and what my future held. 

Charles and I had spoken about it a lot, and he always said, that even though he did not doubt in his mind, that I could do it all, he didn't want me to get his hopes up. He would hate to see me disappointed, he said, and I listened to him. I knew that nothing was certain, and even the bet didn't mean that they would necessarily keep their word. But in the back of my mind, my hopes were high, and my confidence was bigger than ever before.

Since it was the last race week of the season, there was an odd vibe around the paddock. Everyone was happy to be there, but it was also kind of nostalgic. We all knew, that there were gonna be changes in the grids for next year, but no one knew who would stay, who would go or where to. Isack and I had decided to get the best out of it and spend a lot of time together, along with Arthur as well. 

The free practice went alright, Arthur finished last though, Isack in tenth place and me in fifth. In the Qualifying though, Arthur managed to get a P13, Isack was still in P10 and I was in P3. And then came race day. I was on top of the moon, everything was great and went to plan. Until...

We had an hour until we had to get ready when my phone rang... It was my mother... 

Charles's POV

When I arrived at the Hitech garage I noticed that Yn wasn't anywhere in sight, neither was Isack. I decided to strike up some conversation with some of the mechanics, to kill time. I was there to watch her last race, and to wish her luck before she went on track. While talking to the mechanics, I noticed a middle-aged woman I had never seen before. She was standing with Clive, as he was explaining all about the track, the car and such. 

"Who is that with Clive?" I asked out of curiosity, the mechanic looking in the same direction. "Oh, I'm pretty sure that's Cart's mother!" He said, and I could feel the panic rise inside me. "What? Does YN know she's here?" I asked, but before he could answer, he was called over to work on something. 

I was about to hurry and go find her when I saw she calmly entered the room with Isack by her side. She seemed very upset, and I could only imagine what she was going through. Why did her mother always have the worst timing to show up and ruin everything? I wanted to walk straight to her, but stopped in my tracks, as she was pulled over by her strategist. While she was talking to him, her eyes locked with mine. I had never seen her eyes like this. They were stone cold, almost unrecognizable. There was no way she was okay, and all I wanted was to go and hug her.

I took a step forward but was immediately stopped by Isack, who stood in front of me. "Is she okay?" Was the first and only thing that left my mouth. Isack shared a somewhat similar look to hers, his eyes also very cold. He didn't say anything but just looked back as she put on her helmet and got straight in her car. He then looked back at me, and without another word, he did the same, and they both drove off onto the grid. 

The race began, and I was standing right beside who, apparently, was Yn's mother. She seemed oddly invested in the race, but I didn't take too much time to study her more, as I was more invested in the race. 

She didn't seem to drive as well as usual, and she was not leading the race. She kept on fighting with Arthur for P3, and it seemed as if they were racing hard, rather aggressively actually. "Yn, be careful on the turns, you're almost off track." I heard a voice on the radio. "Obviously! This jerk is trying to push me off! Fuck!" She replied in frustration and I knitted my eyebrows. I didn't think Arthur was doing anything unusual or unfair, especially considering her own driving. I also never expected her to talk about him like that. Something seemed off.

"Yn, you need to box, you've got damage." They said after she and Arthur made contact with the cars. "Is Leclerc going in the box?" She asked, stalling the box for another lap already. "No, it doesn't look like it. But you need to box. Please confirm." I looked at the race, and the damage didn't seem to slow her down, but neither did she race more carefully, so it would end up way worse if she didn't box. 

"I'm staying on track. I need the podium." She said and switched off her mic. What was she playing at? 

"Carter, Box. Now." They tried again, but she ignored them and kept racing, head to head with Arthur. 

At one point, he pressured her a little on a turn, causing his back tire to make contact with her front tire, spinning her off at full speed out the track and straight into a barricade. Immediate panic was filling the room as they were trying to contact her on the radio.

"Carter, are you okay?" No response. "Carter, if you can, please reply," No response. "If you can hear me, stay put, the medics are on the way, okay?" No response...

There was no movement on the cameras set up in the car either, so now all we could do was wait until the medics made their way there and could tell us some news... Please... Please be okay, Mon Amour...