Unbreakable Ties: An Arthur Leclerc Story

Chapter 19

The days following my birthday had been perfect. 

My dad had managed to get the full week off work, and we had been playing tourists in Monaco. We'd gone to the gardens, gambled at the casino and visited the automobile museum (complete with our very own F1 pilot and tour guide in the shape of Charles). Arthur had joined us here and there, but I could tell that he was trying to give us our alone time, knowing I wouldn't see my dad until Christmas.

Besides, I was spending every night at Arthur's anyway.

And now, both would be leaving me the next day - my dad back to England and Arthur off to Singapore for a race. I was pretty upset if I was being honest, the timing not being great, but I was trying to hide it for both of their sakes.

Which would have been easier if the three of us weren't having lunch together.

My dad had insisted on treating Arthur and me so the three of us could have some quality time together. I wasn't sure the extent of their interactions in the planning of my party, but I had a feeling that Arthur had a "if you hurt my daughter, I know how to get away with murder" speech coming today.

Not surprisingly, my dad had always been protective of me. As a detective, he'd seen some of the worst of life and spent most of my youth reminding me to "trust my gut" when something felt off and to "keep my eyes open." He'd also taught me how to throw a punch if all else failed.

And so, meeting my dates and boyfriends had always gone the same - he'd remind them he was trained to solve crimes, thus would be great at committing one (always with a laugh) and then tell them about his golf outings with the head of Scotland Yard (my godfather).

Most of my dates would be too scared to bring me home a minute past curfew, let alone kiss me. It had made for frustrating teenage years.

But as I sat across the table from my dad and Arthur laughing together, I couldn't help but feel he was going to get off easy on this one.

"So, Arthur, your mum was telling me that you just signed a mega deal with a sponsor in the US?" my dad prompted Arthur who had just taken a big bite of food.

He chewed quickly before replying. "That's right - it's a tech company out of Boston. They're trying to break into motorsport with a new cloud system and sponsoring an F2 driver is a good way for them to network. They'll be covering up to 15% of my annual costs for three years."

"That's incredible. How do the sponsorships work overall? Do you have a lot of little ones or a few big ones?" my dad continued to question him.

"Ideally you want a lot of little ones so that way if you lose someone, it's not a huge impact," he replied.

"Makes sense," my dad nodded.

"I used to have just a few," Arthur continued and scratched the back of his head. "Actually, Charles was my biggest sponsor, almost 50% of my costs, and the remainder was split between four additional sponsors."

Wait. What? Charles had been his sponsor?

"I didn't know that" I broke in. "That must have been so stressful for you both."

Arthur flushed and nodded. "It was. It's why Lorenzo and I have been working so hard this year to secure more. It wasn't fair to Charles, plus it just wasn't good business for any of us."

God, how had I not known that Charles was so important to his career. "How come you never told me?"

"Emmy girl, give the boy a break," my dad jumped in, admonishing me.

"No, it's okay," Arthur insisted. "I guess I was just embarrassed that my big brother was financing my racing career. I truly would not have been able to do it without him."