“Because I didn’t want to be a problem.I mean this kind of story isn’t exactly what sponsors want to see, is it?And I figured why make a big fuss when it’s just some asshole trying to get in my head.”
“Trying to get in your head?”Felix’s voice rose.“They’re threatening you.They know where you’re staying.They have access to you.”He stopped, visibly forcing himself to calm down.“This is serious.This is incredibly serious.We’re going to team security with this,” Felix said finally.“The FIA too.And you’re getting protection.”
“I don’t need—”
“Not negotiable.”His tone left no room for argument.“Someone is threatening my driver.That makes it team business.You should’ve made it team business the moment the first note arrived.”
Shame burned hot in my chest, and I knew my face was red.Felix was right.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“Don’t be sorry.Just don’t hide things like this, Lily.”Felix stood.“It’s not your job to worry about what sponsors might think.We, Rennen F1, selected you to be our driver; their opinion only matters so much.And sure, this article might not be ideal for BetHere Gaming, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that if you’d come to us earlier, we may have avoided this article in its entirety.”
That irony wasn’t lost on me, although I’d sort of hoped it had maybe been lost on Felix.
“Look,” he added.“We’re going to take care of this, but I need you to promise me that if anything else happens, anything at all, you tell us immediately.I’m mostly annoyed it took Henri coming to tell us about it.”
“Which he shouldn’t have done—” I started.
Felix looked at me for a long moment, and something finally shifted, the team principal falling away, replaced by something more personal, more paternal.
“Lily, I want you to think about something.”His voice was measured now, careful in a way that told me he’d been turning this over in his head.“I know you and Ollie have been… hanging out, but I want you to consider this.Two people found out about these threats.Two people acted on that information this week.”
He held up one finger.“Henri came to me privately because he was worried about your safety.He didn’t call a press conference.He didn’t tip off a journalist or tell his team so he could use it to his advantage.He came to your team principal and said, ‘Someone is threatening her, and she won’t ask for help, so I’m asking for her.’”
He held up a second finger.
“And then there’s the person who wrote that article.Who took your pain—your private, personal terror—and published it for the world to consume over breakfast.Who used your vulnerability to build their own platform.”Felix shook his head with disbelief.“One of those people exposed these notes out of care, Lily.The other did it for personal gain.I need you to be very clear about which is which.”
The words landed like stones dropped into still water, the ripples spreading outward through everything I’d been feeling since I woke up.I thought about Henri’s face in the drivers’ briefing yesterday, the way he’d watched me from across the room when he thought I wasn’t looking.The quiet worry in his eyes that I’d mistaken for pity.The calls I’d ignored all week.The texts I’d left unread.
He hadn’t gone behind my back to hurt me.He’d gone behind my back because I’d left him no other choice.
“He promised he’d stay out of it,” I whispered.It was the only defense I had left, and even I could hear how thin it was.
“And if he had?”Felix’s voice was soft.“If he kept that promise and something had happened to you, how do you think he’d have lived with that?”
I didn’t have an answer.Or maybe I did, and it was sitting right there in the center of my chest, aching.
Felix crossed the room and pulled me into a hug.Brief, firm, the kind that said more than words could.When he stepped back, his eyes were bright.
“We’re going to take care of this,” he said.“But I need you to promise me, if anything else happens—anything at all—you tell us immediately.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“I promise.”
Thomas walked me to the door.“We’ll figure this out,” he said quietly.
I nodded, not saying anything in return.What was there to say?
Back in my own room, I sat on the edge of the bed, Felix’s words still reverberating through me.“One of those people exposed these notes out of care, Lily.The other did it for personal gain.”
But before I addressed this with either of them, I had another person I needed to talk to, and it was a conversation I should’ve had much earlier this season.After free practice, I was going to finally talk with my mother.
Chapter Thirty-One
Henri
