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I grabbed Lily, and we padded on over to the Hermes garage, where we saw Luca and Henri sitting in the garage, playing chess. We walked into the garage, waving at Francesco on the way in as we made our way over to the boys, who looked up as we approached.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Principessa,” Luca said with a slight shiver in his voice. I looked down, and he was wearing his Hermes F1 jacket, but still, he looked quite cold.
“Figured you boys would need some company,” I said sweetly, sitting next to Luca on the bench. As soon as I sat down, Luca scooted a little closer to me, linking his arm to mine and putting his head on my shoulder. I looked at Henri and Lily, a look of shock on my face, which I quickly changed to a look oflove. There was never a moment in public when we weren’t being watched.
Even though Luca and I weren’t actually dating, it had become clear to me that his love language was touch. Luca was the most touchy-feely person I had ever met.Henri and Lily just smiled at me, clearly noticing my discomfort.
“Awww,” Lily said, “aren’t these two just the cutest.” Henri nodded, his eyes turning to meet mine. Behind his eyes, I could see his mind assessing the situation. It was as if he had another thought behind the joyful face he was giving me, like he was evaluating the two of us, trying to piece together what he was actually witnessing in front of him.
I did my best to ignore Henri as I looked down at Luca and I’s hands, which were now intertwined. Luca was still staring at the chess board, clearly oblivious to the three of us around him. I looked around to see if a Hermes F1 social coordinator was watching, but the garage was surprisingly quiet. For a moment, those pesky butterflies returned as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that Luca was holding my hand and snuggling with me without any prompt from Matteo and without any media around us.
It’s as if he was enjoying my company. I tried to shake that thought from my head. Now was not the time to be getting sentimental with anyone, especially not the enemy.
As the rain began to clear up, I heard Lizzie call for us to return to the Valkyrie garage. Qualifying would begin soon, and the rest of free practice had been canceled. We quickly said our goodbyes, and I gave my brother one last hug, wishing him luck – well, good luck on getting P2, of course.
* * *
Luca
The rain had briefly slowed down to just a drizzle, and I had been asked to hop into the car since Q1 was beginning in five minutes. As I slowly went out on track for my out lap, I could feel how slippery the roads were – even with my wet tires. The Monaco streets were old, and they didn’t drain well.
I didn’t do as well as I had hoped in Q1, only coming in P5. Henri had managed P1, and Georgia P2, only a hundredth of a second between them. As Q2 began, the rain had picked up a bit, but we were still instructed to continue, the FIA insisting that the track was dry enough. Within one minute of starting, one of the Stella Luminosa team cars had spun out and crashed, causing a yellow flag to appear. The small wreck was quickly cleared, but it meant the teams had less time to get their flying laps in – and on a track like Monaco, that was a major problem.
Still, I was able to squeeze out P4, which would send me into Q3 of qualifying – where the actual pressure was on. Monaco surprisingly had a low pole-to-win ratio, and yet, every driver that took pole was the expected winner of the race. The track was nearly impossible to pass, and with the right defense, you could hold on even if you went under your top speed.As we put in our flying laps, I could feel the rain start to get harder – the track was getting more dangerous.
“We continuing?” I asked my race engineer, who responded in the affirmative.
I asked about the lap times, and he informed me that Henri was still P1, with Georgia a very close P2 behind him. Still, she had time for another flying lap – and then one after that. As I expected, after the next round of laps, Georgia was P1, and Henri was now P3 since Noah Hendriks had put in a solid lap, although after that lap his front wing had taken minor damage, and he was asked to come into the pits.
We were all instructed to do one last lap, and I was the third car to cross over the racing line before time ran out. It was Georgia, then Henri, then me over the line – with Oscar Parker of Rennen and Edward Davis of Wilmington right behind me, also on flying laps.
Last lap, Luca, let’s make it count, I encouraged myself. I could see Henri in front of me. His precision and movements looked incredible, and I started to believe that he just had to take the pole after this. It seemed like the lap of his life. I felt a little pang in my heart for Georgia. She was the presumed pole sitter, and while I obviously wanted to take pole position, a small part of me desperately wanted to see her up there.
But then, as I turned the corner, I saw a nightmare unfold in front of me. In Henri's aggression to get P1, he had hit Georgia’s car, and it was tumbling into the corner before the Monaco tunnel. Her car spun twice before hitting the barrier, but fortunately, Henri's car had stopped right before it could crash into Georgia. As I watched the wreck in front of me, I felt a huge pang of fear in the pit of my stomach; even though the safety in Formula 1 was top-tier, there was always a risk when we raced.
I immediately slammed on the brakes, got out of the car, and ran towards Georgia’s car, ignoring Henri as he climbed out of his car, hot on my trail. Georgia wasn’t getting out of the car, and that had me worried; that kind of force against a barrier would leave a driver stunned.I approached the cockpit of the car, but Georgia still wasn’t making a move to get out. As I started to pull her out, she began to move a bit more. I wasn’t sure if she was injured, or just in shock, but I wanted to get her out of this car before any potential engine fire could happen.
I could feel Henri come up behind me, attempting to push me out of the way so he could get to his sister. I stood my ground, turning my back to him so I could get a better grip on Georgia’s shoulders as I pulled her free from the racing seat.She held onto me, still not saying a word, as I felt her wobble a bit, using my body for balance. I put my arms around her and pulled her into me.
At that moment, it felt like time had stopped – for just that moment, I felt like Georgia and I were the only people in Monaco.
She then looked up at me, and I could see her eyes lock onto mine. I couldn’t see her whole face, but I knew that she had a look of utter despair. My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces as I looked around and saw debris from her car all around her. Still, I let out a sigh of relief because while her car was damaged, she was alright.
I stumbled back a bit as I felt Henri grab his sister, turning her to him. He had taken off his helmet, and he was pulling hers off, demanding to know if she was alright – although the look on his face was anything but concerned. Georgia took a step back as her helmet came flying off, taking a deep breath before picking up her pointer finger and poking Henri in the chest. At that moment, I wasn’t sure which Dubois twin had the scarier look on their face. They looked as though they were about to enter a boxing ring.
“Youfuckingidiot!” Georgia spat out at Henri – there was nothing but rage in her eyes, just rage and fury. Edward stepped forward, putting his hand on Georgia’s chest as if to signal she should take a moment to breathe.
“Me? Why were you driving like an absolute moron, blocking my flying lap?” He demanded, squaring up to his sister. “Scared I was going to beat you?” he added, his voice laced with venom.
“Whoa, mate, let’s calm down a bit, eh,” I heard Oscar say to Henri. “Your sister just had quite an accident; let’s get her to the medical tent.” Oscar went to put his hand out to Georgia, but she just ignored him, still staring down her brother. We must have looked quite the site to fans, the five of us drivers now all standing in the middle of the wreckage, our helmets off, arguing away.
I heard the ambulance sirens behind us, and as the safety car arrived with the ambulance, we were instructed to hop into the SUV. Both Georgia and Henri were to head straight to the medical tent. As we sat in the safety car, no one said a word as we approached the makeshift paddock. Georgia stormed out of the safety car and into the medical tent situated within the paddock. After a few minutes, I entered the tent, and I saw both Isabelle and Fiona hovering over Georgia, who was getting tests done.
“Do you think the car can be fixed?” Georgia asked in such a small voice I had barely heard her. There was sadness in her voice, and if I looked closely enough, I could see tears forming in her eyes.
“We’re assessing the damage now. We’ll stay all night if we have to,” Fiona confirmed. Georgia just nodded to her, her eyes catching mine. I approached the medical bed and smiled at her.
“You ok?” I asked, nodding to the bruise on her arm.
