Love Always Wins

88

Spread out around a large oblong shaped table, Seb sat with a laptop in front of him. At the end of the table, Mattia sat with his laptop and at the other end of the table sat Britta, taking notes.

Mattia's expression was grim, he'd never had to deal with anything like this before and especially not from a driver but Seb had been resolute in his decision, insisting that Viviana had well and truly crossed the boundary between being professional and personal and he'd insisted that something was done about her. He watched as Britta took notes while his driver spoke with determination in fluent Italian; Viviana had been making remarks and touching him, making him uncomfortable around her, and she'd done it especially if she knew Chloe was around, she'd invited herself over to his motorhome in Silverstone and wouldn't leave and then after the race in Mugello she'd got drunk in the hotel bar and made a pass at him, trying to kiss him. Seb also thought that the media officer was out to wreck his marriage and he was worried that she wouldn't stop until she'd got what she wanted. The allegations he was making were serious and worrying and as team principle, Mattia didn't want any of this to become public knowledge, the press would have a ball with allegations of misconduct or sexual harassment. This had to be sorted as soon as possible, but how? He listened as Alessa, from the HR department in Maranello, went back through everything Seb had said, listing the remarks Viviana had made, the little touches to his arm or back, the way she'd tried to cause trouble between the driver and his wife and what had happened the night the team had gone for drinks after Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix. Seb also added how Viviana had tried to convince him that they'd actually kissed and how she'd thought he was too drunk to remember what had happened. Mattia didn't need Alessa to tell him that his driver had a good case to at least have Viviana suspended, if not dismissed.

Having got everything across that he'd wanted to, Seb sat back in his chair listening to Alessa explaining that she'd use the recording of their Zoom meeting to make notes and bring together a case for Viviana to answer to. He agreed with Mattia and Alessa that because they were bang in the middle of a race weekend, Viviana would not be spoken to until Monday when they'd ask her to attend a meeting in Maranello. He was relieved to hear that he hadn't got to be present for this meeting but he would be contacted once the Italian had been spoken to and a decision had been reached on the best way to deal things. He just hoped that they'd reach what he thought was the only logical conclusion, Viviana would have to go and she'd either have to leave herself or be fired. Their meeting was then brought to a conclusion and both men closed down their laptops. Seb could already feel Mattia looking at him, he knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? These are serious allegations."

He gave himself a moment before he replied, not wanting to say something to his team boss that he'd regret. This was typical Mattia, brush it under the carpet and hope that it all goes away. Well not this time. "I'm very sure. Surely even you can see that what she's been doing is overstepping the mark. She's unprofessional, she doesn't belong in a team like Ferrari."

"But if this gets out to the press...."

He cut Mattia off, of course he'd only worry about his precious team's reputation. "You'll just have to make sure that it doesn't and you do that by getting rid of her on Monday."

Mattia shoved his laptop away from him, he could see that Seb wasn't going to budge on this and while he knew his driver was right to speak out, he didn't want this hanging over the team, adding to their problems with the performance of their cars. He gave his driver a nod of his head. "We'll do what we can to keep it within the team."

"Just remember, if this had been a woman sitting here making accusations about me or a another male member of the team, you would have absolutely no choice but to fire whoever was in the wrong. It would have been instant dismissal. This would have been dealt with today." He jabbed his finger on the table and then stood up. Seeing that Mattia still looked hesitant he added, "I feel uncomfortable with her around, either she goes on Monday or I do." With that he left the room, making Britta run out behind him.