A girl chasing her dream. A boy looking for the light.
When Florence Nyx started her internship at a Formula 1 paddock, she expected a lot. Fast cars. Exclusive impressions most people could only dream of. An entire array of skills she'd acquire...
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Fuck, I missed driving my F1 car. Just speeding through the corners, missing the wall by mere inches every damn time... it was what kept making me feel alive, what kept the blood flowing through my veins.
Right now, Florence was in charge of making me feel anything. But while she did a spectacular job at it, I also knew I couldn't rely on her alone. It was damn hard to keep my mind at ease, to keep my feet from running straight to Sebastian Williams's house and bash his head in. I'd learned to cope with the violent thoughts — but fuck me, this fucking asshole deserved them all to be true.
"Okay. Basically, nothing changes." Amara's voice made me set my thoughts aside. She was sitting opposite me and Florence at what had become our regular table at the Hideout, with Rafael by her side. "We've got our plan, and as long as Phoenix is still on board, we'll go along with it. If anything, he just gives us more leverage now."
Leverage. Hah. Funny how I'd become something as simple as that. Leverage over the man I'd hated since the day I'd met him. The man who'd helped create me.
"We just have to hurry, since the wedding is in three days and none of us want your mother to be married to that shithead. Not now or in the future." Amara added, a sympathetic glimmer in her eyes.
She was right — no matter how much I hated my mom for how she'd handled things, I'd never allow this marriage to happen. It didn't matter what she'd done. She was my mother, the woman who'd raised me, and she deserved a lot more than Sebastian Williams.
"I'm sorry." It was Rafael who addressed me next. The look in his eyes was similar to what I'd seen in Florence before, apologetic in the most senseless of ways. "If it weren't for our dad, maybe this wouldn't—"
"If it weren't for your dad, then he would've found another way to destroy my life." I interjected before he could put the blame on his family, much like Florence had tried to do before. "My relation to that shithead has nothing to do with your father. This idiotic grudge is just one way for him to be part of the power play he loves so much. That's all it's about, really. Power."
Flo's hand found mine beneath the table, the squeeze she gave it making me turn and look at her. She looked tired — as we all did. The past few weeks had taken a toll on all of us, even if we'd tried not to let it get to us. I couldn't wait for it all to be over.
"Still," Rafael chimed in again, "I want to apologize for the part we've played in all of this. Even if it wasn't our fault. We're standing right behind you now."
"Thank you." There wasn't much else I could say. Not much else I knew to say, at least. And so I turned to Amara. "When do we do this?"
"The wedding. It's when he least expects it, given he thinks he succeeded in tearing your mother and you apart. She already sent out two more invitations so we can be there, so we just have to be subtle. Sebastian's need for a big show will come in handy for once, with him inviting a couple hundred people and all. Guy's ego is bigger than his brain."
