Her jaw clenched. “You didn’t give me a job description when you volunteered me into this, remember?”
“I volunteered you because I thought you could handle it,” Julian said, his voice dropping to that quiet, disappointed tone that cut deeper than shouting. “I thought I could rely on you to protect the team’s interests. Clearly, I expected too much.”
Christ. The guy knew exactly which buttons to push. Selene made a quiet, strangled sound, looking anywhere but at them.
“It won’t happen again,” Violet said stiffly, her voice tight. Not angry. Apologetic.
Julian didn’t even acknowledge her. He just turned his cold gaze back to me. “Do you even understand what you’ve done?”
I shrugged. “I had a shit qualifying session and made an offhand comment. Hardly a crime.”
“You’ve given the press a brand new narrative. You’ve distracted the team. And you’ve invited speculation into your personal life, which will now become a problem for all of us.”
Selene tapped furiously at her tablet. “Headlines are already running. They’ve stopped talking about qualifying. This is the only story now.”
Julian didn’t react. “So tell me, Griffin. Do you have a plan to fix this?”
I didn’t break eye contact. “There’s nothing to fix.”
Selene let out a short, sharp laugh, barely glancing up from her tablet. “Oh, that’s rich.”
I tipped my chin. “The press can write whatever the hell they want. I won’t confirm anything. I won’t deny anything. I won’t engage. It dies when they get bored.”
“You think they’ll get bored?” Julian asked, his tone incredulous.
“The car won’t run without fuel, Julian. If I don’t give them a name, they have nothing to burn.”
Julian stepped closer.
“You want me to apologize? Not happening. You want me to deny it? Not happening. The only way this dies is if we stop feeding it.”
Selene scrolled furiously, scanning whatever fresh disaster was lighting up the internet. “We’re already getting calls from sponsors.”
“Then tell them what I just told you. It’s my personal life. It’s not up for debate.”
She lifted her gaze, expression flat with disbelief. “Oh, yes. I’m sure they’ll love hearing ‘don’t worry, he’ll just ignore it until it goes away’. That always works.”
I smirked. “You sound stressed.”
Selene threw up her hands and turned to Julian. “I’m going to kill him.”
Julian didn’t react. He was still watching me like he hadn’t quite decided whether I was a liability or just a massive headache.
Finally, he sighed. “You’re right.”
Selene froze, eyes narrowing. “Sorry. What?”
“He’s right. It dies when we let it.”
Selene blinked, like this was the worst possible outcome.
“That means no more mistakes,” Julian said, his tone hard. “No more slip-ups. You keep your mouth shut, you do your job, and you don’t give them anything else.”
I nodded once.
Julian turned to Selene. “Push a statement. Keep it short. Aedris doesn’t comment on personal matters.”
Selene rubbed her temples. “That’s not going to stop them.”
