Chapter 232 Callum
callum
He taught me how to chase the dream. But he never once stood in my way of becoming it. –Auri
The room was quiet except for the rustling of fabric, the occasional click of a makeup compact snapping shut, and the distant hum of the city beyond our hotel suite.
I lay sprawled on the bed, my bowtie loose around my neck, the top buttons of my dress shirt undone. My jacket hung over the chair in the corner, forgotten, and my legs were crossed at the ankle as I scrolled through my phone, waiting.
Waiting for her.
“Can I admit something?” Auri called from the bathroom, her voice carrying over the soft music playing from her phone.
I smirked, locking my screen and resting my forearm against my stomach. “That depends. Am I about to be set up?”
She peeked out from behind the doorframe, lips curving. “You know your media crossover event with MotoGP?”
I tilted my head. “Yeah?”
She stepped fully into view, her weight propped against the doorframe. Her hair was wrapped in rollers, and she looked so domestic, so soft, so… ugh, wifey. “That’s my Roman Empire.”
I blinked. Then smirked. “Oh?”
My wife disappeared for a second before returning, phone in hand. “I have been thinking about you on a motorcycle ever since. But I haven’t stopped thinking about you for a long time.”
She tossed it onto the bed beside me, and I raised a brow before picking it up. My eyes flickered over the screen. I leaned closer, snatching it off the comforter to make sure I was seeing it right. Edits. Hundreds of them.
Not just from my actual motorsport crossover, but thirst traps.
Legendary edits. Montages of me over the years, set to filthy audio.
Slow-motion shots of me adjusting my gloves, taking off my helmet, licking my lips before a post-race interview.
Edits spanning my entire career. My interviews. My wins. My occasional tantrums.
I let out a low whistle. “Jesus Christ, baby. How long have you been sitting on these?”
Auri slid onto the bed beside me, her chin resting on my shoulder as she scrolled through the folder. “Years.”
My heart stuttered. She actually had been watching me for years. She wasn’t joking. I mean, I knew it in the sense that she was a fan—I saw my posters in her childhood bedroom—but I didn’t realize she was obsessing over me the way I was her.
I turned my head slightly, inhaling the faint lavender scent of her perfume. “And you say I’m the obsessed one.”
She beamed, nudging my jaw with her nose. “I think we’re equally insane for each other.”
I hummed, slipping a hand beneath the sheet she had wrapped around herself, tracing my fingers along the soft skin of her thigh. “You know what’s funny?”
“What?”
I exhaled, dragging my hand up her side, feeling the curve of her waist. “I saw you in passing. I was fresh out of F2. Back when you were still in F4. Just a glimpse. And I remember thinking—fuck, she carries herself like she already belongs here.”
Her breath hitched.
“I kept tabs on you after that. Watched your races when I could. You were relentless, tactical—every single move was calculated, and I knew, even then, that you were going to change the sport.”
She blinked up at me, wide-eyed, lips parted.
I brushed my nose against hers. “You had no idea, did you?”
She shook her head, dazed. “No.”
“Good. I like surprising you.”
Auri rolled her eyes, but before she can retort, she pulled back, slipping from my grasp.
I groaned as she stands. “Where are you going?”
“To finish getting ready.”
I sighed dramatically, sprawling out on the mattress and closing my eyes. I didn’t open them again until I heard the click of her heels against the floor.
And when I did, my breath left my lungs in a single exhale.
My wife stood in the doorway, draped in light blue chiffon, the delicate fabric cascading down her body in soft, weightless folds. The fitted bodice hugged her waist, accentuating the elegant slope of her shoulders, and the sheer, flowing skirt trailed behind her like something out of a dream.
Her golden hair was swept up, soft curls framing her face, and her makeup—subtle, ethereal—made her hazel eyes glow under the soft lighting of the suite.
She looked like a fucking princess.
I sat up slowly, my eyes dragging over her from head to toe, drinking her in. She was the most breathtaking thing I had ever seen.
“Auri.” My voice came out rough, hoarse.
She smiled, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “Yeah?”
I swallowed hard, running a hand through my hair before shaking my head. “You—you are absolutely unreal.”
She stepped forward, placing her hands on my chest, looking up at me through thick lashes. “You think so?”
I gripped her waist, fingers sinking into the soft chiffon, as I pulled her between my legs. “You’re ruining me, mo chridhe.”
She giggled. “That’s the goal. Pretty sure that was in my vows”
I grinned, shaking my head, then leaned up, brushing a kiss against her jaw. “Let’s go.”
Aurélie lifted a brow. “To the FIA Awards?”
I trailed my hands lower, gripping her hips. “No, so I can marry you again.”
She threw her head back, laughing. “You are unhinged.”
“And desperately in love with you.”
She cupped my jaw, kissing me softly, sweetly, reverently. “I know.”
I closed my eyes briefly, savoring the warmth of her, then stood, linking our fingers together as I led her to the door.
Our last night in Formula 1 as a racing couple. Our first night stepping into the future together.
The stage felt different tonight.
It felt… final.
I stood at the center, my hands steady, my breath even, the weight of twenty years pressing against my ribs—but not crushing me, not suffocating me like I half expected.
Because I wasn’t sad.
I wasn’t lost.
I was ready.
The crowd was silent. The entire room—drivers, team principals, engineers, reporters—watched me, waiting for me to speak, to make some grand statement about my career, my legacy.
I let my gaze sweep over them, taking it all in. The men I had fought against, the teams that had built me, broken me, rebuilt me. The sport that had made me.
And then I looked at the one who mattered the most.
Auri was sitting at our table, poised and radiant, her golden hair catching in the low, warm lighting of the gala. That damn dress—baby blue, ethereal, like she had stepped out of a dream, a fairytale. Her own trophy sat on the table beside her, glinting in lights.
She held my gaze, soft, knowing, something deep and unreadable swirling in her green-gold eyes.
My wife.
My chest tightened. My lips curved—soft, reverent, private. Just for her.
I took the mic.
“Throughout my tenure in Formula 1, and my racing career as a whole, I’ve built a network of people who’ve supported me.
All the way down to the very end. My teammate and best friend, Marco, who I’m fortunate enough to congratulate, came second in the World Driver’s Championship and helped Vanguard Racing win another Constructor’s Championship.
Marco, mate, I’m going to miss you next year.
The entire team that has made this season, and all the others, a complete success.
But this year, someone else came around me to support the change of my life’s trajectory. ”
My eyes scanned the room, at the people watching, the entire FIA and the other motorsports in this room. Many of whom I knew, many I didn’t.
“I’ve spent the last twenty years chasing one thing—winning.” I paused, letting the words settle, my voice even, measured. “I was relentless. I was ruthless. I gave everything I had to this sport because I loved it with my entire soul. I still do.”
A murmur rippled through the room. I felt every eye on me, but none of it mattered.
Not compared to her.
I exhaled slowly, eyes locking onto Auri’s. She had no idea what I’d prepared to say tonight.
“But this year, I realized something.”
I let the silence stretch, just for a moment.
This is it.
“Winning isn’t everything.” Another stir in the audience. Another click of cameras. But I only watched as her lips parted and her eyes widened. She knew me too well. She knew where this was going. At least, she thought she did.
I tilted my head slightly, lips quirking like I was completely aware of what I was about to do to the internet.
“Because this year,” I said, voice steady, certain, “I spent the season next to the most incredible rookie this sport has ever seen. Even though a lot of people didn’t want me to.”
Auri froze.
“Her debut season was a hell of a lot more impressive than mine. She fought a car that made her life a living hell, nearly injuring herself because of the tampered set up, and fought politics she never should have had to, just to be heard. And still, in her first season, is sitting here as Third in the Championship. Can you imagine what she’ll do with a top team next year? ”
I cleared my throat, the weight of my trophy holding me still in this moment as my eyes found hers again.
“I saw firsthand what the future of Formula 1 looks like,” I continued, low, unwavering.
“I watched someone fight for everything—against expectations, against doubts, against people who tried to tear her down before she even had the chance to prove them wrong. Her successes were often overshadowed, but make no mistake what she is capable of. She broke God knows how many records this year for women, blazing a trail that will burn brighter than any of us have ever seen before.”
I let my breath settle before dropping my voice just slightly.
“She didn’t just prove everyone wrong. She made them watch.”
The press was eating it up. The audience was locked in. My wife, on the other hand, was fighting tears. I turned toward her fully, saying this next part with my whole chest.
“She’s an inspiration. To women and young girls across the planet who’ve been told no because of their gender, to the sport as she demands change for unfair and unjust circumstances, and to me, for showing me that happiness doesn’t revolve around one dream, but many.”
Her hand flew to her mouth, and I knew she was going to hate me if I made her cry and messed up the pretty makeup she’d spent so much time on. But I wasn’t done.
“Most of you probably know I was in a bad crash earlier in the season. 48 G-forces should not have been something I walked away from, and I almost didn’t.
In seconds, I went from a normal race to feeling a pain I’d never known before.
It happened so fast, and suddenly I was in the barrier.
The world had faded, and the last thing on my mind before I passed out was whether or not the woman in the navy and gold car behind me was okay.
Because for the first time in my life, someone had given me the greatest gifts I could’ve asked for: hope and love.
Where there’s hope, there’s survival, and where there’s love, there’s selflessness.
And next thing I knew, she was out of her car and standing by my side, sacrificing herself and her race, only to go on and win it. ”
I sighed. “I say all of this for a reason, and that’s that we could all stand to be a little more like Aurélie. She has a recipe for success that none of us have seen before. And I, for one, am excited to see what her future looks like.”
I grinned as I met her eyes again.
“I have no doubt that Aurélie Fraser will be a world champion.”
She wiped a tear away.
“And when that day comes,” I said, my voice cracking just slightly, “I’ll be in the front row, cheering the loudest for my wife, just like she is for me tonight.”
There was only a beat of silence before the crowd erupted.
The noise was deafening. Reporters scrambling, flashes blinding, murmurs and gasps and chaos.
And Auri just stared at me, wide-eyed and clapping like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry., like she couldn’t believe it. Like she already knew it was true.
I didn’t move, I just smiled at her, soft and certain.
Because I already knew it too.
Then she cheered my name, rising to her feet, and the crowd followed.
And there she was again, the woman I’d fallen so hard for, the one who’d changed me completely and rewrote the course of my life. Leading a crowd the way she wanted it.
Because that was exactly who she was, and I would spend the rest of my life making sure she knew how highly I thought of her.
How much I respected her. How much I adored her.
But most importantly, how much I loved her.