paddock princess [ln4]

the ring

Immediately, Charlie drops the weapons in her hand and pounces on the man in front of her. His arms automatically found their place around her shoulders, grasping the girl in a tight hug.

"Seb," she exclaims, "What are you doing here?"

While most drivers lost contact with the girl after she left racing, mainly due to Charlie losing all connections to anything related to Formula 1 or racing in general and getting rid of social media in its entirety, her godfather; Sebastian Vettel was the one that she had never lost. She has spent Christmas with the German driver every year and has gone on many holidays with the Vettel family.

Pulling herself away from his hug, she noticed just how disheveled the man in front of her looked. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair knotted, like he had just woken up and traveled here in a haste. Yet his eyes were sunken with dark purple bags that suggested the opposite.

"Seb," she started again, her brows furrowing at the unusual silence, "What is it?"

The man offered a small, sad smile towards the girl before bending down to pick up the glittery, pink weapons left on the floor. A breathy laugh left him, "Smart girl," he muttered before gesturing inside.

Charlie gulped as nerves pulsed through her body at his behavior. Worry flowed through her mind. Was something wrong with the kids? Was it Hannah?

Sebastian still hasn't said anything. Instead, he gently sat the items on the table before turning towards the girl, "Charlie," his voice slightly faltering, "Why don't we sit down?"

She let out a shaky breath before settling in the dining table seat next to him.

"Lottie," Sebastian started, not meeting her eyes but instead focusing on the table. His hand tenderly reached across the wooden space to settle on top of her own.

Charlie has never, not once, seen Sebastian this distraught. Not when he told her he had chosen her over his best friend of 13 years, and especially not when he announced his retirement to her.

Sebastian suddenly met her gaze, and all she saw in his eyes was heartbreak.

"What's wrong, Sebastian?" she started, "You're scaring me."

Suddenly the man unclasped the hand settled on top of hers, and she felt a small object drop into her palm. Looking down, her breath caught in her throat as she was faced with her father's ring.

The ring that she had never seen him take off. The ring that carried him through 10 years of marriage and 18 years desperately longing for more. The ring that he used to joke about having to cut off his hand, that he would never depart from, even in death.

The same ring that Sebastian recently told her had sat in an empty bedside drawer. The ring was dust-covered and rusted, but a permanent tan-line was a placeholder for the piece of jewelry once homed to the man's scarred hands.

Charlie wasn't dumb, she had experienced great heartbreak in her life. Starting with her mother, to Jules, to her father.

But this, the cold metal on her palm cemented a heartbreak that she could never come back from.

In Charlie's dreams, her naive imagination wonders if there is ever a chance at renewal. If a relationship so broken could ever be fixed.

Now, the metal in her hands seemed to slice those "What-if" dreams to shreds right in front of her.

Sebastian knew he didn't need to confirm what the girl already had realized was true. Charlie tore her gaze away from the ring to look at him once again.

"How?" she forced out, the words felt like chalk in her mouth. She choked back the sob that threatened to fall out and swallowed the guilt back down her throat.

She didn't even know the man, not anymore. But that was what hurt the most.

Knowing that she would never get the chance to know him, to hold him and laugh with him as they once had ever again, was a pain worse than anything she had ever experienced before.

Sebastian placed both of his hands on top of her own, once again covering the ring in her palm. It didn't matter, she didn't need to see the object to know of its betrayal.

"Charlie, he hasn't been doing good," Sebastian spoke gently, as if his words would leave bruises on the girl, "he was heavy on the bottle, and three packs a day paired with a life on fast food," he trailed off, figuring that the puzzle pieces forming inside the girls' mind held enough hurt without him voicing it.

Charlie nodded, yet no words could form on her tongue. Her mouth felt dry as the multitude of thoughts traveling through her mind were unable to process.

She couldn't physically wrap her head around the idea that her father–a fucking two-times World Champion– became a shell of a person.

That someone who got salted caramel gelato with her after every race as a celebration, could just disappear.

The silence was telling as Sebastian watched Charlie break down in front of him. Tears traveled down her face as the girl's small body began to shake in hyperventilation. He didn't say anything to her, just wrapped the girl into a hug. Charlie fell on top of her godfather's lap, as the silent tears expanded into sobs.

He could wait to tell her that she was the only one left to settle all of Jacque's affairs or that she has just inherited 170 million dollars and a Monacan mansion.

He could wait to tell her that her father's funeral was being held in three days, in Monaco. Or that the Monacan Grand Prix–which was exactly two days after his funeral, was dedicated in tribute to the man and the F1 association wanted Charlie to come.