Chapter 19 #3
“I know, I was ready to take her down after what we found out. Let me speak to her and find out what happened.”
“Ok, I’ll leave it up to you.”
They finished their scones and chatted about the upcoming race. Ingrid felt sick after eating more food and had to run to the bathroom. She wasn’t sure how she was going to hide this all day.
“Lizzie, I know we have a race to focus on, but could we chat privately?”
“Of course, Ingie, what’s this about?”
Ingrid told her everything she knew and suspected.
“Does Jonny know?” Elizabeth asked, her eyes anxious.
“Yes, I said I would speak to you, though. Neither of us wants to ruin your new career before it has even started; Jonny’s words, not mine.”
Elizabeth started crying, and Ingrid took her hand.
She let everything out about the brief relationship with Mark.
He had assaulted her one evening. She was so ashamed and didn’t tell anyone because it was “Mark fucking Blake”, so she thought no one would believe her.
When the other reports started coming through, she spoke to Mark directly and told him that if he continued, then she would go public. He stopped after that.
“Oh, Ingrid, and then he hurt you. I felt so awful.” She continued crying. “Especially because you were so brave when it became public.”
“Did either Erik or Jonny know anything about this?”
“No, absolutely nothing. I thought I could handle it myself. Hold that leverage over him. I had photos of the injuries and a sexual assault kit done.”
“Alright, we’ll get on a conference call with the other survivors, Jonny, and Julia after the race is done. This is going to be a shit show in the media, but we’ll get through it.” She hugged her reassuringly.
Ingrid went back to the garage and hugged Erik tightly.
“I’m so sorry, again.”
She then quickly looked for a bin to throw up in.
“Are you sick, my love?”
“I think the room service I had last night was a bit off, or maybe it’s this heat,” she said quickly. “I’ll be fine.”
He handed her a bottle of water.
Ingrid went to let Jonathan know the brief version of her conversation with Elizabeth and told Julia what was happening. Julia was a mixture of shock and worry about the friend she had worked with for so many years.
“Jules, I know, but we have to focus on what’s in front of us, which is a championship battle that could be won today or not,” Ingrid said calmly, but firmly.
“God, you’re worse than your fiancé,” she responded.
Ingrid went to the grid to speak to Antoine and Bonnie as if nothing was going on. She hadn’t just found out she was pregnant. She hadn’t just found out all this news about Mark. It was race time.
“Are we all good to go?” She asked.
“I think so,” Antoine responded.
“No ‘I think’, I want a yes,” Ingrid said.
“Ok, then I’m not ready to go,” Antoine said. “Erik is behind me, and I don’t like that. He should be leading.”
“You focus on your own race, and he’ll focus on his. If he gets past you, then he leads. If he doesn’t, then you lead. Simple as that. But no crashing into each other, please. I want to see you both safely at the finish line.” She kissed his cheek.
Erik came over for their ritual.
“Mate, please don’t crash into me when you start overtaking.”
“I promise I won’t. Just focus on your race and get us a podium.” He hugged him.
Ingrid put her hand on Erik’s chest. He gave her one of his long, lingering kisses, and she whispered in his ear, “Don’t crash”. They walked to the garage together so he could have a few quiet moments, and she got ready for the race.
Antoine watched Erik take him off the line.
They didn’t take each other out. Erik was soon up to P3.
Antoine was now chasing his old teammate, Nakamura.
He got him by lap 18. Ingrid watched next to Jonathan as the pit stop calls were made.
She had to throw up again. When she returned, Erik was in P2, and Antoine was in P3.
Callipel was leading the race. Nico had lost it at one of the turns when Ingrid was gone.
He was now chasing Antoine and closing in fast.
“Nico is driving like he has nothing left to lose,” Julia commented.
Ingrid was concerned that he might just take that out on Antoine. Two laps later, in an attempted overtake, he did just that. Both of them were out. Jonathan kept his cool for the cameras, but Ingrid could feel him tense up beside her.
“I’m ok.” Antoine came on the radio. “Fucking madman.”
The stewards would review the incident after the race. It resulted in a 5-place grid penalty for Nico in the final race in Abu Dhabi. At the restart, Callipel was caught napping, and Erik took the lead. A very unhappy Antoine had returned to the garage by this point.
“Sorry, TP, he came out of nowhere,” Antoine said.
“It’s ok, the stewards moved quickly on that one, and he’s been given a 5-place grid penalty for the final race.” Jonathan gave him a slight squeeze.
Erik maintained the lead to the finish. As long as both Wentworths finished in the points in Abu Dhabi, then the Championship would be theirs.