She jutted one hip out and looked me up and down, assessing me. She clucked her tongue when she landed on it.
“Get me an interview with him. On air. His side of the story.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. That was mine. If, and it was a big if, he agreed to do an interview it was going to be with me. “Anything else.”
“An interview. Or I tell the world that the woman who broke this story is fucking the driver who cheated his way to three world titles.”
It was my turn to look struck. I glared at her, my hands were shaking.
“What if he won’t do it?”
“I think he will, if you ask him. Tomorrow, we sit down with him and my crew. Make it happen.” She turned and stalkedaway, stomping all over our years of friendship with her black stilettos.
“Fuck,” I hissed in her wake. This was not the victory lap I’d imagined. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off.
Chapter Thirty Five – Bahrain Media Day
Elena Archer – Bahrain, Thursday Evening
I took extra precautions getting to Aleks’s room. I wanted to be certain no one was following me, and that I wasn’t spotted. I knocked softly on the door and he opened it immediately, ushering me inside. He closed the door and gathered me into his arms.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, my face smooshed against his firm chest.
“I knew it would be a grilling. But it still burned.”
“Yeah, I could tell.”
He finally released me and led me into his suite. Like the last hotel, this one was sleek, modern and luxurious. I was in a different hotel, and my room had about ten percent of the square footage of this suite. I let out a whistle as I gazed around at the seating area overlooking a twinkling view of the city.
“It might be the last suite I get to stay in for a while,” he said, a tired smirk ghosting his lips.
“I heard about the company’s share value. I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged.
My stomach was twisting in knots. I turned my attention to the view and raised a thumb to chew on the nail.
“It feels like a year since we were alone together,” he said, moving over to stand behind me. “But it’s only been a week.”
“What a week, though. How long did you spend preparing for today?”
“Let me put it this way, I normally spend about thirty hours in the simulator before a race. I managed two this week.”
“Two hours?!” I turned to face him, my eyes wide.
“But I spent about fifty with Heidi.”
“Well, it paid off, you did really well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You kept cool, you gave good answers. But I know you and I could tell it was draining for you. Most people wouldn’t have noticed that though. Even if they did, any decent person would understand why.”
“I don’t think most of your colleagues are decent people.” He turned away and moved over to a bar against the wall.
I tried not to feel the sting of his words. He wasn’t wrong, unfortunately. Caroline’s cruel ultimatum was fresh in my mind. But I couldn’t tell him about it. It would only make him angry and more resistant.
“Agreed,” I replied, struggling to lift my voice. “But I meant the people watching. The fans.”
