[3] MARANELLO || C. LECLERC

NINETEEN

»»——⍟——««

CAMILLE

"I'm so scared," I whispered, gripping onto Charles' hand as he looked at me with fear in his eyes. Dilara and I were in mine and Charles' hotel room because I knew that I had to tell him what happened today. "Charles, I'm so scared."

"What the fuck did he do?" I could hear the anger in Charles' voice and I couldn't hold my tears in any longer. My whole body seemed to crumble as I let out a sob, my limbs shaking and tingling with terror as Charles tried to take my hand. "Camille, is this because of Stefan?"

"He stopped us in the paddock." I struggled to find the words to explain what happened and it felt like I wasn't ready, but I knew that Charles needed to know. I watched as his face fell, almost in disgust, and it was like I could hear his heartstrings snapping. This affected Charles similarly to how it affected me; neither of us were unable to figure out why this happened to me. He felt that his support wasn't enough for me, but it was everything I could ever need and I was truly thankful to have him. I knew that this would be enough for Charles to force Stefan to be removed from the Ferrari garage at race weekends. 

"Please don't tell Max yet," I shook my head whilst allowing Charles to wipe my tears away with his soft fingertips. "I'm not ready for him to find out. I need to process it first."

"I won't, you know I'll keep it between you and I," Charles pressed a kiss to my burning forehead whilst cupping my cheeks. He flashed me a reassuring smile, but I could still see the seriousness in his eyes. He was angry and I could feel it, but there was nothing I could do about that. "But I need you to tell me what happened, Camille. I need to know."

"He was all up in my face, begging me to be alone with him so we could talk, but Dilara didn't leave me," I felt sick to my stomach as I loosened my grip on Charles' body. I didn't even realise that I was holding onto him like he was the only thing I had left. "He told me that everyone will know my secret soon. I didn't know what he was talking about."

"Can you remember what else he said to you?" Charles caressed my jaw with his delicate fingertips as my breathing rate increased. Anxiously, I spun my engagement ring around my finger, chewing on my lip as I focused intensely on remembering what Stefan said to me. It was a conversation I wanted to forget.

"He asked if I was excited for our wedding and told me that 'you're too nice for a slut like me,'" I gestured some speech marks with my fingers as I watched Charles' face fall. I could see that he was mad and I was afraid that he would ruin his second season with Ferrari before it even started if I continued talking. "Dilara tried to get us away from him, just as much as I did, but he didn't want me to go. He was rough with me and he was touching my face. I feel like the whole paddock saw us."

Charles pulled me into his arms, allowing me to clutch onto his Ferrari team shirt as tears rolled down my cheeks, Dilara's soft hand also placed on my back to calm me down. His biceps tensed around my head as I tried to gasp for air, finding it difficult to do so right now. I hated how this was happening to me. I thought Stefan would have given up already, but it was rather apparent that was not on his to-do list.

"Lando took us into McLaren because he was passing," Dilara explained, and I was relieved that Charles heard that from her instead of me, knowing that his jealous side would begin to surface and potentially worsen the problem. "We stayed there until Camille was calm and waited until you were finished in the car. He passed us at the right time."

"I don't want to go into the paddock until he's gone," I looked up at Charles as he brushed his lips against my forehead. The feeling of his stubble against my skin was quite soothing, goosebumps rising on my limbs as I shuffled closer towards him. "I'll stay here. I can't put myself through that again, please don't make me go tomorrow."