TWENTY-FIVE
I WRAP MYSELF IN a robe and open the door to find Letitia Haddon standing in the doorway, make-up free and with her blonde hair uncharacteristically tousled. She looks like she got up in a hurry.
‘Maisie!’ She seems startled. ‘I thought this was Izabel’s room?’
‘It is.’ I gesture towards the bathroom. ‘She’s in the shower. The hotel was booked up, so I stayed here.’
‘Well, since I was coming to ask her where you were, this is perfect.’ She makes a face. ‘As perfect as anything can be this morning, anyway. We need to talk.’
‘Is it Gio?’ My heart leaps into my throat, sending me from groggy to wide awake in under a second. ‘Has something happened?’
‘He’s fine. Can I come in?’
‘Um … sure.’ I step aside to let her pass. It occurs to me that maybe she’s here to order me to leave. Maybe now that Gio and I are no longer a couple he wants me out of his life as quickly as possible and he’s sent Letitia to do his dirty work, though that seems a little beneath someone of her stature. I just hope he’ll still pay for my return flight, otherwise I may have to apply for Singaporean citizenship.
‘Maisie, I need you to be completely honest with me.’ Letitia confronts me the moment I close the door. ‘Are you involved with Luc Farron?’
‘What?’ I laugh because obviously she’s joking, although it’s a bizarre kind of joke. ‘No!’
‘So you weren’t in the bar with him last night?’
Oh.
I flick on the coffee machine and slip in a pod because something tells me I’m going to need a lot of caffeine, then sit down on the end of my bed. ‘OK, yes, I went to the bar with him. I bumped into him in the lobby on my way back from seeing Gio at the medical centre.’
‘I see.’ Letitia sounds sceptical. ‘I didn’t realize the two of you were friends.’
‘We’re not. I was just in a really bad mood and Luc was a sympathetic ear.’ I suck in a deep breath and then heave it out again. ‘If you must know, Gio and I had a huge row last night and Luc offered to talk.’
‘So you and Luc only … talked?’
‘Yes!’ I glare up at her. ‘How can you ask me that? What do you think, that I’m some kind of Formula 1 groupie?’
‘Of course not. But …’ She gets her phone out and hands it to me. ‘Here. You’d better take a look. This is from a UK tabloid, but it’s all over social media.’
I feel a heavy sensation in my stomach, like I’ve just swallowed a lump of dough. Even before I look I know what I’m going to see. There we are, Luc and I, his arms wrapped round me and … Oh no … The look on his face makes the situation seem way more intimate than it was. I clasp a hand over my mouth. Whenever I’ve imagined being savaged in the press it’s always been because somebody found out about Gio and I fake-dating; I never imagined it would be for something like this.
‘Have these been altered in any way?’ Letitia asks. ‘Because if they have …’
‘No.’ The lump in my stomach is rising up into my throat now, making my chest heave. ‘They haven’t been altered, but they’re being presented as something they’re not. It was totally innocent.’
‘So you hugged him because …?’
‘I didn’t. He hugged me. It was unexpected, but there was nothing sexual about it.’ I close my eyes. ‘Has Gio seen this yet?’
‘Mark’s with him now.’
‘Oh no.’ I leap up as another thought occurs to me. ‘What if Luc’s wife thinks we’re having an affair?’
‘I thought I heard voices.’ Izabel emerges from the bathroom, also in a robe. ‘What’s going on?’
‘We have a problem.’ Letitia hands her the phone.
‘Can you put out a statement saying it’s not what it looks like?’ I ask.
‘Not really.’ She looks apologetic. ‘We’re a sports team. We don’t comment on our employees’ personal lives.’
‘But Luc and I have been set up. Somebody in the bar was obviously spying on us. They took pictures without our permission!’
‘You were in a public place. And if we put out a statement it only gives this thing oxygen.’
‘Shit.’ Izabel finishes reading. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’
‘That’s what I thought.’ Letitia turns at the sound of a knock. ‘That’ll probably be Mark.’
I sit, exchanging desperate looks with Izabel for a few seconds before Mark Haddon strides into the room, his expression even more thunderous than yesterday.
‘Maisie.’ He narrows his eyes at me.
‘Mark.’ I resist the urge to hide under the bed. ‘Have you seen Gio?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘He’s not in a communicative mood. First the race, now this.’
‘I know.’ I wince. ‘It’s awful.’
‘I’ve seen Luc too.’
‘How is he?’ I sit up straighter. ‘Does he want me to speak to his wife?’
‘That doesn’t sound like the best idea, given the circumstances.’ Mark’s voice is clipped. ‘Maisie, what you do in your personal life is none of my business, but when it comes between my drivers and causes a scandal for my team, especially on a race day …’
‘We only went for a drink!’
‘That’s not what Luc told me.’
‘What?’ I gape at him, not comprehending. ‘He told you … what ?’
‘I don’t want to go over the details.’
‘But there aren’t any details! Nothing happened!’
‘Not according to him.’
‘You mean, he’s saying we slept together?’ I swing towards Letitia, horrified. ‘We didn’t! I swear!’
‘I know.’ She turns to Mark. ‘If she says nothing happened, I believe her.’
‘Me too.’ Izabel speaks up. ‘Maisie slept here last night.’
‘Here?’ Mark’s brow clenches. ‘Why would Luc lie?’
‘Why do you think?’ Letitia lifts her eyebrows.
‘Fuck!’ Something clicks in Mark’s expression. ‘Fucking driver mind games!’
‘What’s going on?’ I look between the two of them as Luc’s words from last night float back into my mind: he’s a better driver when he’s with you. Calmer and more focused … I gasp so hard it hurts the back of my throat. Luc is behind this. He did it to make Gio angry and undermine his focus.
And I helped him do it.
‘He set me up,’ I whisper.
Letitia goes to stand beside Mark. ‘He’s getting desperate. He’s been in F1 for seventeen years and this is his last chance at the championship.’
‘So he’ll do whatever it takes to win and I’m just collateral damage?’ I clench my fists. ‘Fuck him! I’m not letting him get away with this. What room is he in?’
‘I don’t think—’
‘Two-twenty-one, down the hall.’
‘ Mark! ’ Letitia exclaims as I storm out of Izabel’s room and down the corridor. I’m still in my robe, but what’s the worst that can happen? More pictures on the internet?
‘Good morning.’ Luc opens the door after I’ve banged on it furiously for thirty seconds. He’s shirtless, ripped and looking a lot like an underwear model, but I couldn’t give a shit.
‘How could you?’ I put my hands on my hips and glare at him.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Last night! You arranged a photographer, didn’t you? That was what your phone call was about. You set me up to make it look like we’re having an affair!’
‘Maisie, you can deny it all you want, but we both know …’
‘Shut up!’ I slam a hand against the wall. I’m vaguely aware of other doors in the corridor opening and faces peering out, but I keep going because the more people who hear this, the better. ‘Do you know what I think? I think you know that Gio is a better driver than you. That’s why you have to resort to cheap tricks. Because you’re scared. You’re so scared and gutless you’ll stab your own teammate in the back while he’s injured, just for the chance of a trophy.’
‘Maisie …’ Something like guilt flashes into Farron’s eyes, though it disappears again quickly.
‘I bet you’re the one who invited Iris to all those races in Europe too! Because you assumed Gio would go back to her, given the opportunity. You probably arranged those photos of them together last month as well.’
He shrugs. ‘I knew Iris wanted him back. All I did was offer to help. It wasn’t personal.’
‘You’re despicable!’ I hiss, passing Letitia and Mark as I storm back along the corridor. Mark’s wearing an expression that would make me start running if I wasn’t already so incensed.
‘I need to go home,’ I beg Izabel the moment I get back to the room. ‘I need to get out of here.’
‘What about Gio?’
‘We broke up.’ I reach for the coffee I made earlier and drink it down in two gulps. It’s cold, but the caffeine hit feels good. ‘Yesterday, at the medical centre. Technically, I was free to do whatever I wanted with Luc last night, though I didn’t.’
‘I know.’ She puts a hand on my arm.
I close my eyes and press a hand to my forehead. It occurs to me that Gio and I really are broken up now. If it wasn’t final before, this ought to do it. I’m still too angry with him to know how I feel about that. I only wish it hadn’t happened like this. I should never have gone for a drink with Luc. If it hadn’t been for our argument, I wouldn’t have.
‘Could you do me a favour and tell Gio that photo isn’t what it looks like?’ I say, opening my eyes again to look imploringly at Izabel. ‘Even if he doesn’t believe it, I want him to know. Please?’
‘You could just tell him yourself?’
‘No.’ I shake my head. Maybe it’s cowardly to run away, but something tells me he’ll want to see me even less than I want to see him. We both said everything there was to say yesterday – and more. ‘There might be more photographers.’
‘OK.’ She nods sympathetically. ‘I’ll tell him, I promise.’
‘And if Luc wins today, could you please trip him up on his way to the podium?’
She presses her lips together like she’s trying not to laugh. ‘Mark might not appreciate that.’
‘Right. Maybe just a mild case of poisoning afterwards?’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ She squeezes my arm. ‘In the meantime, I’ll arrange a car to take you to the airport without any press finding out.’
‘Thank you.’ I sniff. ‘Thank you for being so nice too. I know I don’t deserve it.’
‘Yes, you do.’ Her smile wavers. ‘This is partly my fault. Luc has a great public persona, but his reputation behind the scenes is pretty terrible, among the women anyway. I should have warned you.’
‘Gio did warn me, but I assumed it was just rivalry.’
‘Take care, Maisie.’ She gives me a hug. ‘I’ll give you a call when the season is over. We’ll go out and think of ways to get revenge on Farron.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘And try not to worry. I’m sure all of this will blow over in a couple of weeks.’
I force myself to smile. There have been a lot of lies flying about this morning, but that might be the biggest one so far.