The Paddock Pact

Chapter 8: The Falling Edge

POV: Mateo

The factory simulator felt like a metal box meant to torture me, and I was completely stuck in it.

The hydraulics kept slamming me left and right, trying to simulate g-forces on a track I could usually drive with my eyes closed. My head was not really there. I was getting all mixed up. I could not stop it. The track on the screen was a big mess of fake road and my hands on the wheel felt like they were not even connected to what I was looking at.

“Mateo, you missed the apex at turn three again. You’re braking three meters late,” Marcus said over the headset. He didn't even sound angry—just dry, flat, and tired of my bullshit. “What is wrong with you tonight? Snap out of it.”

I took the wheel off and shut down the program. I got out of the cockpit, pulled the balaclava off my head and wiped the cold sweat off my face.

It was Saturday night late way past midnight. The factory was practically dead, just dark shadows and empty halls because they turned off the main lights for the night shift. In less than two days, I had a flight to Austria, and my life was a total mess.

Ever since Tuesday, when Anya looked at me on that wet street and told me to go ruin myself somewhere else, I hadn't slept properly. I was lucky if I got three hours of sleep a night. She did not just walk away, she completely destroyed me with a few simple words.

Those damn words just would not leave my head. Every time I tried to close my eyes it kept playing over. The worst thing was, she was absolutely right. All my life I thought that if I did something wrong I could just pay for it and say I was sorry and everything would be okay. But she was not like this. She did not care about my money, my team or my fame. She just did not care about any of it.

"Management wants you in the briefing room, Mateo," Sarah said, coming into the office. My PR manager looked really tired like she was running on coffee and not much else. "The main sponsor is getting really upset. They are not sleeping at night either."

"I figured that," I said quietly. I sat down on the couch and put my face in my hands.

"When the photos from the hotel came out I told the press that she was your assistant," Sarah said, walking back and forth across the room. Her heels were clicking on the floor at the time. "It made it look like you two were just working late or something like that. But the people in charge are not fools. They want to know the truth. They want her name on the list of people who are allowed to be in the press area. If she is not in the garage by Thursday, they’ll know we lied—and they’re ready to drop you for breaking the morality clause.”

"I know," I said, talking into my hands.

"Did you talk to her? Is it handled?"

"I tried," I said, looking up at the floor. "She hates me, Sarah. And honestly? Why wouldn't she? We threw her name to the media without asking, told everyone she works for me, and then I ran after her begging her to fly across Europe just to fix my mistake and save my career. I sounded like a crazy person."

Sarah stopped pacing. For a second, she looked almost sorry for me, but then her work face came right back. "Well, you better hope for a miracle, Alvarez. If your fake assistant doesn't show up in Austria, you're done. The team already has three reserve drivers waiting for your seat."

She walked out and shut the glass door. The click sounded like a lock turning in a cell.

I stared up at the ceiling lights. Twenty-three years old, able to drive a car at three hundred kilometers an hour, and I was about to lose everything I worked for because I couldn't keep my s**t together.

My phone started ringing on the glass table. It was sliding all over the place.

I did not even check to see who was calling me. It was probably my agent who was going to yell at me or my dad who was going to tell me that I messed everything up again or some team executive who was going to give me some news before they fired me. I just picked up the phone to make it stop ringing.

"Yeah, Mateo speaking," I said with a totally flat voice. I did not sound happy or anything.

"When is the flight to Austria?"

The voice on the phone was really calm and serious.

I think my heart stopped beating for a second. I jumped up so fast that my knee hit the corner of the table. A bottle of blue energy drink fell over and spilled all over the carpet, but I did not care. I did not even feel any pain in my knee. I was just holding my phone so tight that my fingers were hurting.

"Anya?" I asked, my voice was shaking a little bit and my heart was beating fast. "Is that really you? Wait, you are going to Austria? You are actually coming? Oh my god thank you so much, you have no idea…"

"Stop talking, Mateo," she said, cutting me off. It was like being drenched in water. "Let me make something very clear before we go any further. I'm not doing this for you. I don't care about your contract, I don't care about your sponsors. And I definitely don't care about your team."

I was standing there completely frozen, holding my breath and listening to her talk on the phone.

"I am doing this for myself," she said, her voice was totally calm. "I need to get out of here for a while and your big mistake with the public is a good excuse to leave. Do not think that I am doing this to help you."

There was absolutely no kindness in her voice. She did not say "it is okay" or anything nice. She was not being gentle at all. But that did not matter. It was my way out of this disaster, and, believe me, I was willing to take anything she gave.

I took a breath and tried to sound okay and serious. "Whatever you want, Anya. Tell me what you need. I will get the team to book your ticket now. Business class?"

"Economy is fine," she said. She sounded really calm like she had not just literally saved my ass. "Just send me the flight details. I will see you in Austria, Alvarez."

She hung up before I could even say thank you or goodbye.

I slowly put the phone down and looked at the black screen, letting out a quiet, breathless laugh in the empty room.

My new “assistant” was cold, strict, and terrifyingly efficient. She was definitely going to make my life absolute hell for the next few days.

But looking down at the blue liquid spilled on the carpet, I didn't even care. For the first time in days, I actually smiled.

I was still in the game. And it starts now.