Charles Leclerc's Daughter

Chapter 7

I stood by my car waiting for the race to start, my crew chief was talking to me but I wasn't paying attention. That seemed to be happening a lot lately, I couldn't focus on anything my mind keeps wandering back to Faith. I was surprised the kidnappers hadn't asked for money yet. Which concerned me more and more as the days go by, was Faith even still alive?

"Charles?" My crew chief waved his hand in front of my face, jarring me out of my thoughts,
"Sorry, what were you saying?" I asked, I blinked a couple times and turned my attention to him,
"Focus on consistency this race, okay?" He said, I nodded. He handed me my helmet, I glanced around me a little shocked that it was already time to get in the car.

I pulled my helmet on and climbed in the car, i smiled a bit as the engine started. I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself. All the people around the cars disappeared to the side, and I focused on the lights. My breathing slowed as the lights slowly one by one came on, then they went out and I went into race mode. Everything was muscle memory, I din't think about it I just did it.

My starting position was p7 and I made up two spots on the start so I currently sat at p5. I stayed focused, in the moment, just driving. It was like the outside world had completely disappeared, it was just me and the car.

.

I tiredly climbed out of the car after the race, I had finished p8 which was pretty good considering I hadn't eaten or slept properly in a week. I pulled my helmet off and ran a hand through my hair. I tiredly did my interviews, the media had been asked not to ask me questions about Faith, so they went pretty smoothly. I went and collapsed on a couch in the drivers lounge, I was about to fall asleep when the door opened and a bunch of drivers walked in.

Pierre sat next to me and max sat on the other side of him, the other drivers sat on the other couch's and chairs and for some strange reason Lando was sprawled out on the floor. I congratulated Lewis on his win and max and checo on their podium finish. They thanked me before we all fell into a tired silence, I started to fall asleep again and laid my head on Pierre shoulder, using it as my pillow. I closed my eyes and was almost asleep when the doors opened again, I raised my head and watched as Lorenzo walked in, he had a mix of emotions on his face and my heart sank, my kind immediately going to the worse case scenarios.

The room was dead silent, nobody moved and inch as Lorenzo sat in the chair next to me, he pulled out it his phone and handed it to me. I too it and looked at it , tears sprung to my eyes as I looked at a photo of Faith, bruised and dirty, skin and bones with bags under her eyes, she was holding todays newspaper, she looked completely terrified. I scrolled down past the picture and read what was written below, it was a demand for 30 million.

Pierre wrapped his arms around me as I started to cry,
"Hey it's going to be okay, look on the bright side of all this you know she's alive now." He said trying to calm me, I pulled away,
"Look at her, she's beaten, bruised, skin and bones, she looks like she isn't eaten in weeks, she scared out of her mind, and there's nothing I can do but wait!" I yelled before getting up and leaving.

.

I walked through the streets of Imola, I had my hood over my head so no one would recognize me. I eventually sat down on a bench in a park and just sat there in my thoughts.

I glanced up sometime later when I heard foot steps, I was slightly surprised to see lewis come and sit down next to me.

"You okay?" He asks gently, I shake my head,
"No, my life really sucks right now."
"Don't give up, we at least know she's alive, plus your and f1 driver you want have a problem finding 30 million."
"That's not what worries me, what worries me is how scared and sickly she looked"
"You don't lol much better Charles." Lewis said, he gestured towards me, i frowned and looked down at myself,
"What'd you mean?" I ask confused,
"You look terrible Charles, you look sick, when was the last time you ate? Or slept properly? You've lost a lot of weight in the last two weeks." Lewis explained.

"I know." I whispered, "it's not that I want to starve myself, but I actually can't seem to make myself eat anything, and when I sleep I always get nightmares. I'm trying to stay strong for her but Lewis I don't know how long I'm going to last." I break down and pour it all out to him, he wraps me in a hug and holds me tight,
"Charles you have so many people that care for you and are more than willing to help you, don't shut us out, let us help." He said, I slowly nodded.

"Okay, we'll we should go back to the hotel and to the going to try to eat something, okay?" Lewis said while standing up, he offered me a hand which I expected and he pulled me to my feet. We walked together back to my hotel.

Lewis pov:

I texted Carlos to come to Charles room with food and he met us there, we all sat down in Charles room and put a plate in front of Charles. Carlos and I also ate some food so that there was less pressure on Charles, but it didn't seem to be working, Charles just sat there and stared at his food.

"Come on Charlie." Carlos encouraged, Charles picked up his fork and shakily picked some food up, I watched proudly as he brought it to his mouth and started to chew it.
"Good job, see that wasn't so hard." I said proudly.

Charles ate four more bites before I sadly noticed he looked like he was gonna pass out,
"I think that's good for today, you should go to sleep." I said, I put away the food and by the times I finished Charles was already asleep, he was sprawled out on top of his bed. Carlos chuckled and took Charles shoes of before throwing a blanket over him. We both stood there for a couple minutes watching him before I left and Carlos stayed in case he had a night mare.

When I got back to my room I texted the other drivers and Charles brothers, we made a plan to help Charles and I went to bed feeling confident he'd get better.