barely legal | max verstappen ✓

chapter 8 | family affairs

«Don't you find it strange? Only thing we share is one last name. Did I beat you at your own game? Typical of me to put us all to shame.»

---

The moment she opened the door, Sloane wished she could just close it again. But that wouldn't be polite as the couple standing in front of her would say. Her parents looked a lot like two people who were about to lodge in a vacation hotel in Italy. Not as business-like as they always did. It was like they went from Succession to The White Lotus. Her mother smiled first, sliding her shades down her nose so Sloane could notice that she was checking her out. It was so strange to see them together. They resembled a normal marriage and could fool anyone, really.

Her grip on the door was tight, and she forced herself to smile. "Mom, dad." It came out like a breath. "What a surprise." A terrible, awful, not at all pleasing, surprise. She wouldn't say that out loud though. "Oh fuck," Her mother glared. "I mean, sorry, come in." Sloane ushered them inside waving a hand, nervously laughing as if she'd been caught smoking in her room when she was a teenager.

Her father stepped into the flat first, and her mother followed him behind. Sloane took a deep breath and slowly closed the door. Her father, Leo, scanned the flat with his gaze, checking that everything was in order. Her mother, Marjo, looked her up and down. Priorities. She felt small under her gaze. There was something icy and threatening about her green eyes. They always made her feel like she was under surveillance. Or like Marjo was waiting for her to do something wrong so she could point the mistake out.

Sloane fiddled with the hem of her shirt and awkwardly smiled. "I'm happy to see you." She cleared her throat, feeling like her voice had come out too squeaky.

"How is Charles, Sloane?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

She could feel her jaw clenching and her heart beating. It was a bit painful. "I don't know, ma. We're not together anymore. Remember?"

"Yeah, but you're still friends with Aurora. Am I wrong?" It took everything in her not to pull a face, or say something bad. She just resorted to silence.

Her father adverted his eyes from the big window that led to the terrace and fixed them on her. His lips curved into a smile. She knew he liked her, he had to, she was his daughter, but she wasn't sure how much he liked her. Things had changed a lot for the whole family in the past years. It was like none of them could actually deal with one another without feeling out of place or forced. That was why she wondered why they were still together.

"We were in Turin for business, well your mother was in Milano, but decided to come here and pay a little visit to our girl. See how everything is going." He mentioned nonchalantly.

She looked at him, and then at her mother. Marjo was staring. "How thoughtful." If they noticed any sign of sarcasm, they didn't mention anything. "All is well, haven't broken a window or a bone, so I guess so far so good." A chuckle came out of her but it sounded strangled.

They shared a look, and Sloane knew what that meant. It meant they had something to say, that they weren't there simply because they wanted to see her and make sure she was fine. No, they were there for a reason, and it really didn't take a genius to understand what the reason was. It was surprising it'd taken them, especially her mother, that long to actually mention something about the recent news.

Leo motioned with his hands. "We heard—"

"We saw." Her mother interrupted him, sounding more pointed and stern.

Her father sighed. "We saw," He repeated with the same intonation Marjo had used. "We saw some things about you, on the internet. We just wanted to come here and talk." It obviously hadn't been his idea to go all the way over to Monaco just to scold her.