chapter two.
( fucking agliardi.)

One of my first memories is watching Stefan Agliardi sprinkling champagne on TV after winning his seventh World Championship title. That day, he became a legend in motorsport. The all-time best, the non plus ultra. The Queen even made him a knight or something after that. My Dad was sitting next to me and said "Someday, you'll drive that car, Bean!".

Twenty-something years later, I sat in the Monaco Headquarters of Scuderia Degrassi, while the engine revving muffled through the glass windows from testing the cars on the tracks outside. And I watched as Carter Agliardi, the aforementioned legend's son, waltzed into the room as if he owned the place.

And as Stefan Agliardi had shares in Degrassi, he probably did own some of the place, actually.

I've felt the gazes on me. All of them, seeking my reaction. A maniacal, diabolical, hysterical outrage. Maybe some slaps and window shattering. The very things I did inside my own head. But in reality, I've kept my composure. I didn't even swallow my own salina. I was completely still. My hands didn't shake, my eyes didn't twitch.

I didn't want to be the angry, sad, unprofessional little girl who they could call immature and unstable. I've worked too hard to decrease myself like that.

So I just stood up as Arlo shook hands with Carter Agliardi, and I stepped closer to them, relaxing my shoulders a bit.

You should tell him that you're excited about your work together. That you think that he is special and great. That you already have great plans for you two. For him to be World Champion. That you two will be the perfect team.

Everything, to stroke his ego a bit. That's what he always wanted. That's why he did everything on the track. I knew him well enough to declare that.

I quickly glanced back over my shoulder, checking on Mason, who chewed his gum quite rapidly. That was the only thing that gave away a clue about his annoyance. Carter Agliardi gave me the ick. But Mason presumably despised him, to say the least. And he had to stay number two again, for god knows how many more seasons.

All because of Carter motherfucking Agliardi.

"Oh, here she is!" Arlo caught me looming closer behind Carter's back. I forced a real-looking smile on my face, which I carefully practised over the years. Not too maniac, not too forced, not that girly. Just inside the "professional content" borders. After Arlo's exclamation, Carter Agliardi himself followed the Team Principal's gaze and eventually landed on me. He looked just like I remembered him from last season's closing event. Honey-blonde hair, oozing old money rich boy vibes, gentle but also ice-cold stare. Like a golden retriever in armour from Ancient Rome. "I believe you know each with Sullivan, Carter."

"Just out and about in the paddock." His voice was even more neutral and soulless than his face. It made my blood run cold in my veins and made my legs weak.

"Not in an official setting, yet," I gently smoothed the situation. Mason also requested that they wouldn't put him in a single interview with Carter, so our relationship was not daily. Mase claimed that Agliardi brought down charisma with his oozing entitlement. But right then, I saw the future unfold in front of my eyes. Multi-year contract, Arlo said. When they didn't state how many years exactly put together the multi-year, it seems undetermined and indefinite. Not temporary. Which means, I got stuck with him as well, indefinitely.

I couldn't make a fuss about it. I noticed the very quick look that Arlo gave to Finley behind me, giving her the power to take videos and pictures for Social Media. Of the moment when our new driver makes an entrance and joins the team. And damn, I understood that I was in an iconic moment overall in Formula One history. Stefan Agliardi's son finally joined the father's golden team, where the legend made all of his titles.

Carter Agliardi is making history right now at Scuderia Degrassi.

This team is basically family right for him. He's taking his rightful place, continuing his father's legacy, and making sure their name will not get in vain.

These will be said in the comments. Everyone, every fan will go hurray.

Carter Agliardi's two championships were separated by Mason's one, which happened just before Covid hit. He won both champion titles with Furia Motorsport where he allegedly had a five-year contract (as Furia likes to not announce the details of their contracts). I've done the math in my head and yes, the years add up.

His commitments with Furia ended. Everyone had it coming that this step will happen sooner or later.

Carter Agliardi is now a Degrassi driver. With a woman on his side.

This will rock the motorsport world.

And Arlo, being a genius, already saw everything in advance. Carter's legendary name required a Team Lead just as legendary. This is why he named me.

"I'm excited to work together," I managed to squeeze the required out of me, as I held out my palm to shake hands with him. Like a decent human being.

Carter just took a look at my hand, like someone who has never come across such social cues and civilised introduction. Like I would be the alien in the conversation. A long second later, he took his hand out of the jacket pocket and shook mine, finally. Firmly.

"I hope you'll live up to your name," he warned me like it would be a caution. For a millisecond, I froze, feeling the threat. Because it felt like one, a threat.

"I hope you will too," I shot back, just as hauntingly. He was an Agliardi. I was a woman. We both had to bring something to the table, and bring in the results as fast as we could. We both knew what was expected of us. And we were equally prepared and qualified to deliver the results.

After my sentence, which came out ruder than I intended with a cold head, Carter started smirking like the Devil as he shook my hand one more time before finally letting go. I have started to feel like I would volunteer to tame a wild lion.

He always was a rogue one, the one who brought chaos.

I have to tame a lion. Or become one next to him.

"Nice meeting you," Carter smirked at me, and then he passed me to introduce himself to the rest of the team. I was in shock as I looked after him. How confidently he walked around a meeting room where he never roamed before. How effortlessly he brushed off the stunned stares. Like every step of his life would have led to this exact moment.

Like mine did.

Mason stood up, and shook hands with him courtly, as it was counted on. Finley was alert to catch this moment for socials. That picture will go viral, I knew that. Rightfully so. And no one will see the pain in Mason's eyes. His fake smile. I could see his anger just by looking at his bobbing Adam's apple. No one else looked as closely at him. He walked closer to me, carefully looking around to check that no one would find our closeness suspicious of any sort. But no one paid attention to us. Everyone was way too busy with the Agliardi who breathed in the same air as us. I was stuck in my place, folding my arms around me in defence.

"You really should get used to this golden retriever here," Mason warned me with precaution in a low voice. I couldn't take my eyes off Carter. He won the entire team over in the meantime.

"You always say he is more dangerous when he's in the rearview mirror," I reminisced about the fitting sentence he said to me last season. Carter was fearless and ruthless on track. Not afraid to crush anyone to reach his goals. That's why he was almost always on the podium. If he's ahead of you, good, he can't harm you. But if he's behind you and you see him closing up on you? He is more than dangerous. Because he will do anything to get ahead of you. To crush you. To beat you.

"Yeah, he is." Mason nodded, turning his eyes on Carter. It was clear that he had more reservations than me. More bad memories. "But the fact that he is a golden retriever-looking Monegasque guy... Does not help."

I finally looked at him. Really looked. He tried to keep it together and not show how much irritation hides beneath. He had to demonstrate good sportsmanship, a great athlete who supports his new teammate.

"Are you okay?" I asked, nudging his arm with my elbow.

"Yes. Sure," Mason sighed, but that sigh indicated something different. Like he would have been defeated. "Being a second driver at Degrassi is still better than being in any other team."

The Degrassi name meant something on its own. Driving a Degrassi means having a lot of pressure. Driving a Degrassi means that if you don't win, you are an idiot. Driving a Degrassi also means having a responsibility because you do not drive a normal Formula One car, you drive a legend. You drive something unique. You wear the name on your jumpsuit and jacket. You represent the age-old brand and tradition. Excellence and professionalism. If you make a stain on that jet-black car... There is no coming back from that.

And as Mason said, having any kind of role at Degrassi is placing you in a higher position than any other team in Formula One. Even if you are a small strategical engineer, you can call yourself more qualified for anything than anyone else from the Holy Trinity.

In recent years, the press started to call the three best-performing teams the Holy Trinity. Scuderia Degrassi, Furia Motorsport and AVAX Racing. The world champion comes from those teams. The constructor's champion is coming from those teams. They are the real competition. And we just snatched Furia's previous champion.

Checkmate, before the season even started.

"He was just... Avoidable all through my career. But now..." Mason continued, driving me out of the flood of my thoughts about team hierarchy. "He is all over my career, we will constantly be named in the same sentence. And I'll have to fake-like him in interviews and social media content. Keeping the team together and all."

That was the most important. Other crews or fans couldn't see any conflict inside the team.

"Finley is smart, she will make you comfortable," I tried to encourage him. Finley was a great Social Media Manager, she always created unique content that never felt forced or ridiculous. She will thrive with these two. Two heartthrobs young women can thirst over. I was sure Finley thinks she just hit the jackpot.

"I know she will," Mason nodded, trying to convince himself as well. Then he looked down his shoulders, checking on me. "What about you? Will you be okay?"

"I have had bigger challenges in life. And actually, this was my goal, right? Team Leader." The title itself felt thrilling. And also natural. Well deserved. I worked my gut out to have this position. But fuck, not for Carter Agliardi. But I had to swallow the bitter pill. "I'm sorry I can't be yours, though."

"Hey, don't apologize for something you had no control over!" Mason always tried to keep me in check and keep the habits that I've developed in the overly manly sport world in line. So I won't apologize all the time, for example. Men don't apologize, women apologize for everything. Mason urged me to find the middle ground. "You didn't know. Arlo didn't tell you."

"Just imagine how happy we would have been if Jack Lawson walked in the door!" I sighed, referring to the young driver who won the previous Formula Two championship.

I had to turn my thoughts into business mode. Thinking about the big picture. Carter Agliardi, the Rogue Prince, let that sink in. A huge win for Scuderia Degrassi. A huge shocker. Groundbreaker.

Into the history books.

"Yeah, well... This guy is no Jack Lawson," Mason nodded his head toward Agliardi, who was schmoozing through the leaders and won everyone over.

Fucking asshole.

Everyone. Except us.

My Monaco apartment was... Simple. Natural. Like a modern Nordic interior.

Except it was not a Scandinavian apartment. It was a Wasian girl's apartment who was in her 20s.

I barely spent time in that place. Only the off-season period and some weekdays when race weekends were not following each other back to back. It was a soulless place with very little personality. A fridge that was always nearly empty; a squeaky clean living room because a cleaner lady came by every Monday to sweep through the already clean loft; a TV that still had some plastic wrappers on its stand. It was a weird lifestyle. A lonely one. My personal belongings could fit into a bigger suitcase. I could possibly squeeze them into a carry-on.

It was a bourgeois apartment that I could safely spend half of my paycheck. Representing Degrassi meant that I had to represent a certain lifestyle too. A luxury apartment, a clean look, and a great car.

I parked that car in my reserved parking spot in front of my building as the sun set behind me. I gritted my teeth as I recognized, I was already late. I rushed through the lobby to the elevators, barely said hi to the doorman and when I stepped into the lift, I pressed the button next to the penthouse. I swept through my hair with my fingers as I quickly typed in the password that gave the authority to the elevator to go up my level. I huffed and puffed as I got rid of my clothes, piece by piece. My sneakers, then my suit jacket, and then I unbuttoned my shorts.

As the elevator door slid open, I immediately found myself in front of a clock that pretty much shouted at me, blaming me for being late.

Fuck, shit, fuck.

The light air conditioning almost swept me off my feet as I entered my hall, placed my bag on the kitchen counter and dropped my clothes next to it. I quickly grabbed the controller to dial down the cold, because then I was only wearing my bra and my shorts. And while I set up Facetime on my iPad, I stripped off the shorts too.

"Please, please, please..." I muttered, praying that she would accept my video call. On the screen, there was little old me, in my very fancy, laced La Perla underwear that I got on myself for confidence. And I was preparing for the night. I wore the sexy bra and panties for her and her only. Other than me, she was the only one who would see my undies.

Seven-hour time difference... I had to count a little. I got home at eight in the night, I promised her I would be home by three. That's exactly seven hours too late. She fell asleep and woke up already, probably. It was just past three in the morning in Singapore, and she mentioned that she had to wake up super early for a photoshoot. She didn't even want to schedule this talk, because she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay up late to wait for me.

I promised her she wouldn't have to.

But in the end... I failed her. Again.

Fuck.

I insisted on having a sexy time because we were both sexually frustrated. And I let her down.

A minute passed by when she finally appeared on my screen, in comfy clothes, hair in a loose ponytail, with eye patches to flatten her puffy eyes.

God, she was beautiful.

My long-distance girlfriend, Carolynn Mackey, was a supermodel. We got together around a year and a half ago when we met at the US Grand Prix. The brand that she is promoting is the sponsor of AVAX Racing, so she was out and about in the paddock the whole racing weekend. I'm not really fond of workplace hooking up (that was a man thing), but damn... she was so bloody gorgeous. So we flirted, exchanged numbers, and talked on WhatsApp. And when the off-season came, she came to Monaco for work.

Best sex of my life.

Because of my lifestyle and her lifestyle we were rarely in the same hemisphere for too long. So we lived off sexting, phone sex and longing from distance. That was the best I could give her. I was not capable of a tighter relationship and I guess she wasn't either, because she never pressed me about it.

Until very recently.

"Hey, pretty girl..." I tried to be smiley and dopey, which I was only around her. I stand straighter a little, maybe I could win her over with my sexy underwear. Which... Showed me off. A lot.

"Hey," Carolynn replied flatly, and visibly mad. I got it. I was late for the third time in two weeks. And I knew she was losing hope in me. I was getting way too careerist for a supermodel. Who would have thought that even existed?

"I'm sorry. I know I fucked up. There was so much going on at the HQ and everything turned upside down..." I tried to explain myself, very poorly. She knew that I wanted to be Mason's Team Leader, and she knew I had the shot for it now. And she was annoyed by it. I was addicted to it.

"There's always some emergency at work, Sul." The sentence shook me to my core.

"This one really was an emergency, Care!" I argued, quite passionately, leaning on my elbows. "Arlo announced our second driver and it was havoc, and we..."

"Sully, just stop, okay?" Carolynn put up one of her hands, making me quiet with just a movement, while she rubbed her temple in irritation. I felt a storm coming. A long overdue storm. Honestly, I would have made a bet that it was coming a month or two ago. No one before took this long. I already knew the speech she was going to make. "I'm tired... Of always waiting for you and always being the second choice after racing and your team."

"It's my job, Carolynn. My life. My career. My passion." I tried to make her see my point of view. What Formula One meant to me, what being in Degrassi meant to me. But to her, it was only about me, being a workaholic.

"Yeah, and in that job, you lose everything else that has been going on in your life. You have no personal life, Sully. No family, no relationships, no pets, for god's sake. You don't even have a permanent residence permit. It's eating you alive and you let it!" Carolynn was getting overboard. But maybe, in her eyes, this was the truth. But in my eyes... It was the road to my greatness. I was just checking off the list I made when I was just in high school. I was heading towards my goals, towards a future, I could be proud of, towards making a legacy, making something permanent in history.

"Maybe this is fine for me..." I said quietly. I was rarely flustered or even exposed. The term "deer in the headlights" was the opposite of me. But still, Carolynn made me feel like I was a child that just made a huge mistake. Carolynn just gasped. And that's when I knew it was over.

Or maybe I knew the second I parked my car.

Or... The second it started.

"I feel sorry for you!" She hissed to me, her eyes gleaming with a fury that was totally not reasonable. I doubted she developed strong feelings for me, let alone fell in love with me. I was just a... Indefinite harbour for her. And she was just a piece that made me happy and satisfied from time to time.

I would like to think that if I really loved her, I would have fought for her. Dial back on my work, make a better schedule, travelling less. It was doable, I saw people do it in my team. But I never made an effort as I never saw the point in it.

I was more in love with Formula One than I was in love with Carolynn.

Maybe that was my doom.

But in the end, I couldn't let my carefully chosen underwear go to waste. So when I hung up on Carolynn after her breakup speech, I scrolled through my contacts and sent a quick text.

Are you still in the city?

Just for my La Perla. And... For my sanity.

After all, I was a workaholic who got the good fuck.

hello hello and welcome to the second chapter!

it was really all lights out and away we went!

carter agliardi, our rogue prince, spoke for the first time, that shit is legendary! and maybe you could also see some more complex elements of sully's core. starting with her girlfriend. or rather, her ex-girlfriend.

want to know about the person who she texted in the last paragraph?

you have to come back and see for yourself.

stay frosty!