Checkmate - [F1 - Pierre Gasly / Lance Stroll]

9

The following race weekend was Silverstone. Rose was far too excited to be heading to the United Kingdom for the first time in her life. Eleanor and Rose pulled up to the private airstrip in Montreal this time in Eleanor's car. They arrived shortly after Lance.

They grabbed their suitcases out of the back and headed onto the plane. Lance was rifling through his bag blocking the path to Rose's usual seat in the back corner. The fact that she already felt that she had a certain seat in a private jet still boggled her mind.

She sighed heavily, to indicate her displeasure with having to wait for Lance. They hadn't spoken since they came face to face in the club in Austria.

Lance looked out the corner of his eyes, locked eyes with Rose then continued to go back to looking through his bag.

Rose sighed again because the thought of actually speaking to the man in front of her was revolting.

He finally sat down in his seat, and she started to walk past him.

"Lord, you have no patience," Lance sneered

"You don't even know me," she spat back as she passed him.

"Like I would even want to," he shot back.

She just shook her head and walked down to her seat. She sat down, pulled out her eReader, popped her headphones in, and waited for the plane to take off.

Seven hours later the plane came screeching down on the tarmac in London. Eleanor, Rose, Lawrence, Lance and 4 other staff members disembarked the plane. Awaiting the group were three luxury SUVs. One for all the luggage and the two others to transport everyone to the hotel that was about an hour away.

Eleanor instructed Rose to follow her into the back seat of the first car, thankfully Rose was instructed to sit on the third row of the SUV.

As the vehicle started down the road, Lawrence turned slightly from the front seat passenger seat.

"Rosemary, I looked through the report on that business deal with Proviva Technologies. Great job on outlining those lengthy terms and conditions," he said.

The praise caused Lance to sigh. Rose knew that Lance was rolling his eyes, she didn't even need to look at him.

"Thank you, sir," she said loudly. She wanted her voice to carry from the back row of the massive SUV, and maybe to rub it in with Lance.

"I'm going to need you to do an in-depth look at the company, and do some digging into the CEO. I want to cover all my bases," he instructed.

"Okay sir, I'll get started as soon as I can," she responded.

"If she's able to stay focused," Lance muttered under his breath.

"Shut up," Rose said in a hushed voice, hoping to avoid any questioning from Eleanor.

After that quick exchange, Rose was able to avoid any conversation with Lance for the hour-long drive.

The SUV stopped at the Aston Martin Headquarters in Milton Keyes. As soon as the two men exited the car, Eleanor turned around to face Rose.

"Care to enlighten me?" Eleanor said as she raised her eyebrows.

A pang of hurt went through her chest. The way Eleanor questioned her felt so much like her mom.

"Rose?" Eleanor spoke again, getting her attention.

"Oh, what do you want to know?" Rose responded, trying to play it cool.