“I’m sorry, Mama, I wanted to see Alex,” she said, her bottom lip quivering, tears welling. Lucia’s eyes softened, her own eyes looking like she could start crying too. I hated it. I wanted to make every worry disappear—pluck them out of this situation and keep them both safe. I shook my head, refocusing on Gia.
“I know, baby, but you can’t do that again, okay? It’s not safe, there are too many people here. If you want to see Alexander far away, you ask me, and we go together, okay?” Lucia asked her gently, her hand on her daughter’s cheek as Gia stayed in my arms. Gia sniffed, tears escaping her eyes. She turned her head and buried it into my chest with a sniffle.
“I’m sorry!” She cried and my heart just about broke in half.
“It’s okay, G. We just want to keep you safe.” I soothed her as she buried her face into my shoulder. We stood like that for a moment, the room was quiet, the outside noise muffled. Gia was holding onto me with a fierce grip, Lucia was rubbing circles on her back, her brow creased. It was rare she cried, but her eyes glistening gave her away. I let out a sigh.
“Anna took care of it and had the photos deleted,” I whispered to Lucia. She met my eyes and nodded. I reached out my extra arm, motioning for her to come closer. She wiped at her eyes and leaned into me.
“I just don’t want her hounded, or scared, if we are going to be around the circuit a lot. I know it’s hard and she’ll be in photos sometimes and that’s fine. But here, inside the paddocks and around the circuit, I thought maybe some separation would be good? I don’t know if that even makes sense.” I understood. Being in the spotlight was hard, controlling the narrative was near impossible, and all of it was overwhelming. But wanting the place we worked in to feel safe shouldn’t be a hard ask.
I would make sure it felt safe for her.
The door swung open and Matteo walked through.
“Luce, I am so sorry. We had them all sign NDAs days ago, they knew better.” Lucia only nodded. Matteo came over to us, and his gaze reached Gia, who was still hiding her face, smooshed against my race suit.
“G, you okay?” Matteo asked, the worry thick in his voice. Matteo was a fierce protector of his niece. He had once said he would burn down the world for her. We were drunk, but honestly, I believed him, because, as protective as I felt over her, I knew Matteo’s was tenfold.
“I didn’t mean to run away,” Gianna mumbled as she brought her head away from hiding. Her eyes were rimmed red and I wanted to fucking kill those asshole photographers. Gia reached out for her uncle, who took her from me. I took the moment to step away from them, letting Lucia and Matteo talk. I pulled out my phone, texting Dante.
Alexander
We were surrounded by paps, me with G. Get rid of them.
Dante
On it
Alexander
Don’t let it happen again on circuit.
Dante
Understood.
My fingers buzzed with the need to fix it. I knew Dante would make sure it never happened again on circuit, but we would need to be careful when we went out too. Matteo could fly under the radar as a newer driver. But the paps followed me everywhere. Maybe I should give them their space, they didn’t need me there anyway. I was a magnet for the paparazzi, even since I had cooled down on the partying. Anna had fixed it all, shielded me from the pissed-off managers and made my PR image sparkly clean. But the paparazzi were always trying to catch me in the act of something they could spin into drama.
Alexander on a date with a model!
Alexander Wright dating a new actress?
Is she knocked up?
New model, new week!
They were just friends, but the magazines and tabloids didn’t care. Needed to sell a story. And I would not involve Lucia or Gia in that. The press could be vile, I didn’t want them to experience that.
“It’s taken care of,” Anna said with a big sigh, breaking me out of my thoughts. The door slammed shut behind her. She sunk into the chair, looking defeated. I genuinely don’t think I had ever seen her like that. It made me pause.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Lucia and Matteo all looked at Anna. Lucia scurried over to her, sitting next to her and reaching out a hand. Anna nodded to me and then talked with Lucia in quieter voices. Lucia’s arm wrapped around Anna, making me admire how easily Lucia loved and took care of people, despite her past, despite everything that had happened, she loved so fully. Matteo walked to me with Gia still in his arms.
“I don’t think I have ever seen her look…” He paused. “Defeated?” He glanced back to her, then to me again.
“What the fuck is going on?” I shook my head, running a palm over my face. Today was a fucking day. Suddenly the exhaustion seemed to hit me like a battering ram. My body felt heavy, my eyes felt sore, and was that a headache starting? Fuck, I needed to get it together.
“We were going to go out tonight, but I think we might just chill at the hotel,” Matteo said, bouncing Gia up and down. “Wanna build forts?” he asked. Gia beamed.
