Chapter 8
Now Everyone Knows
My phone vibrated non-stop on the nightstand. I smiled to myself as I scrolled through over a thousand notifications.
Sebastian had reposted our photo with the caption:
FINALLY.
Charlotte posted a photo of us from Monaco weeks earlier, completely lost in each other.
Logan had posted:She agreed to marry him. The bravest woman in Europe.
I laughed quietly as I scrolled through the comments—the internet had lost its mind over us again, but this time it was different. No scandal, no chaos.
Just happiness.
Photos of us popped up everywhere: the paddock, airports, restaurants, walks in Paris, the kiss in Montreal, Monaco, Saint-Tropez.
People were piecing together an entire timeline of our relationship like it was some investigative documentary.
“They’re coming up with theories about when we started dating,” I said.
Maxine stayed buried in the pillow.
“Don’t want to know.”
“There’s a woman saying she fell in love with our story because ‘you look at each other like you forget the world exists.’”
She finally looked up.
Her blonde hair was a total mess.
Gorgeous as hell.
“That was strangely specific.”
“Because it’s true.”
She rolled her eyes, but I caught the corner of her mouth twitching up. I moved closer to the bed and kissed her forehead.
The ring still sparkled on her hand.
My fiancée.
Fuck.
My chest still tightened every time I thought about it.
“You’re smiling to yourself again,” she murmured.
“Because I’m going to marry you.”
“This is still going to inflate your ego.”
“Too late.”
My phone vibrated again.
Team PR with extra interviews and an official request for a statement.
Photo shoot for sponsors.
Invitation to a gala in Barcelona after the GP.
Formula 1 turned any personal moment into a spectacle in under twenty-four hours, but strangely, this time I didn’t want to run.
I wanted to show her off to the whole world.
Maxine Webster was mine, and I was completely hers.
#
The paddock in Barcelona felt different when we arrived days later. Photographers swarmed us the instant we stepped out of the car.
“Adrien! Maxine! Over here!”
“Show us the ring!”
“How was the proposal?”
“Maxine, did he cry?”
“Have you set a date yet?”
Maxine let out a tired sigh beside me—she hated this part of my job. I laced my fingers through hers without thinking twice.
The flashes went wild. She turned her head slightly toward me.
“You like this too much.”
“I like you with me.”
Her expression softened immediately.
We entered the paddock surrounded by security, but eyes followed us the whole time.
“So… fiancé now.”
Sebastian appeared in the lounge area with that annoyingly satisfied smile.
“Fuck off.”
“Did you cry during the proposal?”
“Fuck off twice.”
Charlotte appeared right behind him, laughing.
“He cried. I knew it.”
“She cried first,” I shot back immediately.
Maxine looked up from her tablet.
“Liar.”
“Babe, you were literally shaking.”
“Because you showed up kneeling in the middle of the room at three in the morning like an emotional lunatic.”
Sebastian laughed so hard he nearly fell off the couch.
“Oh my God, I waited YEARS for this.”
“You’ve known us for four seasons,” I said.
“And it was four seasons of unbearable tension.”
Maxine grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Her smile was so easy, so genuine, I had to stop for a few seconds just to look.
It was absurd how she could still completely undo me.
The interviews that weekend were hell.
“Adrien, does the engagement change anything in the dynamic between you two?”
“No. I’m still in love and she still bosses me around.”
“Maxine, is there any concern about mixing personal and professional life?”
“We got past that phase a long time ago.”
“Was the proposal planned?”
Maxine slowly turned her head in my direction.
“Don’t let him lie.”
I sighed dramatically.
“It was supposed to be perfect.”
“And it turned into an argument.”
“An emotionally traumatic argument.”
“You made me think you were going to break up with me.”
The journalists burst out laughing.
“But it worked,” I said, looking at her. “So I guess it was perfect anyway.”
And it was, because that was us—messy, intense, and so in love we’d completely lost our minds.
#
On the night of the gala, Barcelona looked golden.
Maxine emerged from the hotel room bathroom wearing a long black dress that made me instantly forget my own name.
I leaned against the counter, watching her put on her earrings.
“You really need to stop doing that.”
She met my gaze in the mirror.
“Doing what?”
“Existing like that near me.”
Her laugh was low. She approached slowly, stopping in front of me. Her hand adjusted my tie while I held her waist.
“Nervous about the event, world champion?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“I just hate it when everyone looks at you.”
She arched an amused eyebrow.
“Jealous?”
“Obsessively.”
Maxine laughed again before kissing me slowly. When we arrived at the event hall, camera flashes went off again, but this time there was no tension.
Only pride.
I laced our fingers together and led Maxine inside while the photographers shouted our names. I’d spent my whole life trying to prove I deserved my place in the world. But beside her, it finally felt like I’d found exactly where I belonged.