[3] MARANELLO || C. LECLERC

THIRTY EIGHT

* you really don't want to miss this chapter - and i want to see your reactions to what is revealed. so much drama at the minute. don't forget to comment, and vote, too!! it really means a lot to me, and it encourages me to write more for you guys. enjoy x *

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CAMILLE

"Charles," I was awoken from my peaceful slumber by his ringtone. It was the first time I'd actually been able to get a good night's sleep, and I was awoken by the sound of his phone ringing out into the darkness of our hotel room. It was barely dark, with the sun entering the room through the crack in the curtain, but I was just comfortable. My head resting on Charles' pillow, beside his shoulder, and I was able to feel his warmth radiating off of his body. However, he didn't seem to hear his ringtone like I did. "Charles, your phone! Answer it, will you?"

He always kept his ringer volume up a little, in case he needed to be contacted while he was sleeping. It was an effective choice, clearly, but it woke me instead of him. Typical. I jabbed his side before he sat up, startled, and picked up his phone. As he looked at the caller ID, he seemed to stiffen, and he turned himself so that he was perched on the edge of the mattress. I kept my eyes closed and rolled over, pulling the duvet further over my face.

"Buongiorno." I had no idea who was on the other end of the line, but I would listen to Charles speak Italian any day of the week. It was rather soothing. I couldn't hear anything of the phone conversation which wasn't Charles, so I just relaxed, and allowed him to take care of it. The chances of it being work related were high, especially because we were already in Austria for the upcoming race weekend. All I could understand right now, amidst my tiredness, was that it must've been early, since neither of our alarms had rang out yet.

"Sorry, he's done what?" Charles stood up from the bed rather suddenly, and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't really focus on sleeping again, especially with all of the ambiguity I was feeling regarding his phone call. "Oh my God, okay. Yes, I understand."

I sat up and looked at my fiancé, who was now pacing around the room and running his fingers through his hair. His cheeks seemed to have lost their usual rosy red colour. Seeing him like this, especially because of a phone call, was unpleasant. I didn't like it when I had no control over what was going on.

"Yes, I'll tell her. Of course I will. I'll do it straight away," I swear my heart stopped when Charles looked at me. I couldn't decipher his emotions because his face was blank, but that gave me enough reason to worry. "Thanks, Mattia. See you soon."

Charles ended the call and sat down on the bed again, his phone dropping from his loose grip and hitting the floor with a thud. He was trying to remain calm when all he wanted to do was scream - I could see it, I could feel it. I sat up and reached out to touch his back. Charles' muscles were tense and I could feel that even through the softest touch of my fingertips.

"What is it?" Tiredly, I rubbed my eyes and tried to keep my legs covered beneath the sheets because of the warmth. Charles said nothing and instead, the sound of his incoherent breaths filled the air and surrounded us. He sounded so panicked, and I'd not seen him like this for a long time. "Charles, you can tell me."

"It's Stefan," he shook his head. His words caused a hot lump to burn in the back of my throat and I didn't care about keeping warm beneath the soft duvet anymore. I shuffled across the sheet so that I could sit comfortably beside Charles, while still able to look into his eyes. "It's all over social media. He handed himself in for what he did to you."