Chapter Fifteen #2
‘We’ve moved past the hate, Katherine, and if it’s anything like what you’ve written before I’ve already seen it all.’
But she shook her head. ‘No, you haven’t,’ she said gruffly. ‘I called Jennifer after the helicopter ride and asked her to kill this article. She said she would.’
‘But she hasn’t.’
‘No, she hasn’t.’
‘How bad is it?’ Katherine wouldn’t answer. ‘Katherine, I asked you a question.’ Still there was no response. And suddenly the sun lost all warmth. He was cold. Standing on a precipice. But it didn’t have to be that way. Maybe if he could see what she’d said, they could figure out a way forward.
‘Show it to me.’
Katherine stepped away from him, a pleading look in her eyes. ‘Can we talk about this first? Do you really want to see it? We’ve come so far from the people we were.’
‘We are still those people, we’ve just learned to understand each other. But I have to tell you that I don’t like the fact that you don’t want me to see it. When is it coming out?’
‘Tomorrow,’ she whispered.
‘Great, then Dominic should know all about it.’ Lukas turned to walk back into the bedroom, ready to call his manager.
‘No. Wait!’
‘One way or another, I will see it.’
‘I know.’ She covered her face. ‘I just don’t want you to yet.’
‘There’s no point in putting it off.’
Katherine tapped the screen of her phone a few times and then handed the device to him before taking several steps back until she was against the balustrade. As if she had to get a safe distance away from him.
‘I feel sick,’ she said more to herself than him but he could see it in her face, and it was this reaction that made him so adamant that he know what she had written. He looked down at the screen in his hand and began reading.
Lukas J?ger: One of the Greats or Overrated Has-Been?
A truth of Alpha One is that you’re only as good as your last race.
For Lukas J?ger, it has been a season to forget.
Outside of showing brief glimpses of a talent he once possessed, it has otherwise been twenty-three races of mistakes, spins and slow practice times, which begs the question: Are we really surprised that he was replaced by Easton Rivers? The answer is no.
Lukas looked at Katherine, who had hugged herself, standing silently awaiting her judgement.
She’d been there at those races. She knew the spins had been caused by a bad aerodynamics package.
The practice times had been slow until they found a workable set-up for the race.
Lukas had outqualified Will, his teammate, twenty races to three and finished all but one race ahead of him, and that one slip-up had been due to mechanical issues.
He went back to reading without saying a word.
But before we analyse his past season, perhaps we should look at his rise through the ranks thanks to experienced race manager, Dominic Wilson. Coming from a part of Austria not renowned for producing any racer of significance, Lukas received a lot of attention from the start…
Lukas could feel his pulse racing faster after each word.
…an argument could be made that, in his winning years, a lack of serious competition likely made him appear far more skilled a driver than he was. He did in fact have the most dominant car on the grid, which often meant he had no one to race, due to him starting from pole position.
With each excerpt that stood out to him, the calm he promised slipped away and was replaced with fury. This article covered his life in the worst way.
The question on people’s lips right now is: Were Florian J?ger’s sacrifices worth it? A year or two ago, even in seasons that weren’t J?ger’s best, perhaps an argument could be made that they had been. But after this year, one could no longer answer that question with a definitive yes.
This was Katherine’s magnum opus. Her masterpiece of all the pieces of utter hate she had written.
She now knew exactly how badly Lukas needed to honour his father’s memory, and perhaps she had seen it before.
After all, they seemed to understand each other in the strangest way, so she’d known what a nerve writing this would strike.
Often described as cold by members of the paddock, Lukas has earned a reputation for being ruthless and selfish.
He would be seen walking around with a notebook for the weekend.
Data on the car, tyre performance and conditions collected from his observations, which he steadfastly refused to share with his teammates on the other side of the garage.
Noted commentator Benjamin Stevens called the move immature and unfair.
After all, it was the team that had to win the constructors’ championship to remain competitive and to reward all the men and women working hard at the factory.
But no feature would be complete without a look at off-track antics as well.
J?ger’s publicist, Erin Walker, had her hands full after the scandal surrounding the strained relationship between him and his mother came to light—when it became clear that she had been all but exiled from their small Austrian hometown, where her son is hero-worshipped.
In a sport like Alpha One where the media is your friend, J?ger opted to shun all attempts to get his side of the story, leading many to speculate about his culpability in her fate.
Lukas sat in the chair beside the small Christmas tree with the twinkling snowflake and read to the end.
…so we would have to say signing William Bell and Easton Rivers was a genius decision from Thomas Dudek, who has now secured a young, scandal-free, talented duo that will take the team back to the top.
As for Lukas J?ger, it was a good career while it lasted but perhaps bowing out of the sport now would be his wisest move.
There’s no denying his wealth of knowledge; perhaps a consultant role at a smaller team should be his next career choice.
Clack.
In the silent room the sound of Lukas placing the phone on the table beside him was as loud as a shout.
‘Lukas, say something,’ Katherine begged from the balcony.
He pressed his fingers to his forehead. ‘What would you like me to say?’ His voice was empty.
A sharp pain cut through his chest, his heart aching, his pulse thrumming.
These words had eviscerated him. This article was going to undo all the work he, Dominic and Erin had done to win him a seat.
The woman he loved would be the reason his career ended, and he could feel from the tone of the writing that that was exactly what she had wanted.
‘Was this revenge for me accidentally getting you fired?’
‘What? No? I’d like to think I’m more professional than that,’ Katherine said defensively. ‘I—I didn’t know you like I do now. I told Jennifer we couldn’t run it because it wasn’t the truth anymore.’
Lukas laughed at that. Heat radiated from his eyes. His teeth ground together but he laughed. ‘It was never the truth.’
He looked at her and she shrunk away from whatever she saw on his face, but then he witnessed her screw up her courage and approach him.
‘Please, Lukas, please understand things were different when I wrote that.’ She knelt at his feet and took his hands in hers.
All he wanted to do was shove her away but he couldn’t because even though he was furious and hurt, he always, always wanted more of her.
It was infuriating. ‘It was before you showed me who you are. Jennifer blackmailed me with this article in that meeting at Aero. If I didn’t agree to fake a relationship with you, she was going to release the article.
I couldn’t let that happen. I told her I’d write something else.
I thought you could have a say in it. I tried to fix this before it got out. I tried to make sure you weren’t hurt.’
And then Lukas did push her away. He got to his feet, marching angrily away from her. Looking around wildly for some way to calm down but there was no use because Katherine was lying.
‘That’s bullshit and you know it,’ he spat.
‘You had several opportunities to come clean with this. In Lapland when you knew it would run, you had your phone and your laptop but stayed quiet. All the time here, even though you asked for the article to be killed you could have confessed and been open with me. You hid it and still you’ve made no apology. ’
‘Lukas, I’m—’
‘Don’t fucking say it now, Katherine. Just don’t.
’ He gripped his hair tightly in his hands, the pain a welcome distraction.
He felt stupid for ever trusting her. For falling so hard for her.
‘The woman who wrote this would have no problem coming into my life under false pretences. I think this person—’ he said, pointing at the phone ‘—would have cooked up a scheme with Robert and Courteney just to get those extra clicks.’
‘That’s not true.’ She tried to cross the room to him but he wanted none of it.
‘I should have seen it from the start. You only got close to me for a story.’
Katherine didn’t stop the tears then. ‘I would never do that!’
Lukas had enough. He went to Katherine and wiped the tears from her eyes.
For all he knew, she was faking them. ‘And to think that it was my good word that got you this job at Aero.’ Her eyes widened, jaw slackened at his words, and he took pleasure in her shock.
‘I told them it wouldn’t hurt to have a beautiful woman who knows the sport on the presenter team.
I said the drivers wouldn’t mind talking to you. ’
‘You hated me.’
Lukas dropped his hand to his side. ‘Leave.’
‘You hated me!’ Katherine cried, near hysterical.
‘I didn’t at first,’ he said softly. A finality to his tone as he took a step back. ‘Leave.’
‘I don’t want to,’ Katherine said, her voice broken. ‘Christmas is days away, I don’t want to leave you.’
‘Get out, Katherine.’
‘Lukas, please. Maybe take some time to calm down and then we can talk.’
‘I said get out!’ he yelled. They stood there, staring at each other until she dropped her gaze and walked out of his bedroom.
He wanted no one in his home. Least of all this person who could be so utterly hateful towards him, even while he loved her. Never again. He was done with the media and done with love.