Burning Heart // CL16

One

Act One

Seven and a half months earlier
Bahrain race day 2022

I can hear the rhythmic clicking of my heels as I walk down the paddock despite the flurry of activity and noise, the white flowing material of my dress was clinging to me in all the right places, revealing everything while also not really showing anything. It was a confusing paradox for those that looked at me but the most important thing was - I knew that I looked hot as hell, especially with my black hair straightened and falling down my back. The red belt, shoes and clutch bag were the only things that let people know that I was exactly where I was meant to be as I flashed my paddock pass at those checking on the doors and walked into the Ferrari garage.

"Alessia," I hear Christian call out and I frown at the unfamiliar name before realising that it is in fact for me when I look around the loud and busy garage before walking over to the source of the voice, glad that I have large sunglasses on that will help hide the frown of annoyance from the man who calls himself my father, Christian Amon. "Alessia, this is Mattia Binotto, the team principal of Scudderia Ferrari," he informs when I come to stop next to him and I look with a smile on my face at the man on my fathers right, I reach out a hand to shake his and take a moment to thank the heavens that I am wearing sunglasses. He looks a little bit like a crazed scientist, dark curls and bold glasses making him seem more like a caricature than a real person.

"Ah, you are the spokesperson for SnapDragon?" Mattia asks and I just smile and nod again before my 'dad' nudges me and so I relent and talk.

"Right, yeah...I just graduated with a business management and computing science degree from NYU," I confess to the Italian who nods, seemingly impressed that my perfectly manicured appearance was hiding real intelligence, clearly not expecting it and I couldn't blame him. He wasn't the first and he wouldn't be the last.

"Your dad was telling me how excited you were for this opportunity," he persists and I try not to let the surprise I'm feeling visibly cross my face because if I remember correctly - that is not in the slightest how that conversation went.

"Of course, I'd have to be crazy to turn down the opportunity to travel around the world with the most iconic team in Formula One," I tell him with a smile that I know will seem genuine as I recite the words Christian has relayed to me time and time again when forcing me to agree to the position. He wasn't a bad person...he just wasn't my dad and all of a sudden was trying to act like he was and telling me what I could do.

I'd spent the first twenty years of my life being bought up by my mum, I knew my dad sent her some money for me but I didn't know him. I was very much treated as his 'bastard' child, born out of wedlock and the clear evidence of him cheating on his wife so I understood why he and his family never wanted to know me or have me around and quite frankly I didn't really need him. My mum was incredible and all the family I needed. Then suddenly in the last year of my degree and the height of Covid, he reached out, saying he finally wanted to get to know me and now two years later, I had been strong armed into being the SnapDragon ambassador. Despite all that I still wanted to do a good job, I wanted to make it so that he didn't regret reaching out to me...however I was hating all the changes he had tried to make to my life from before he was there. I was comfortable without him in my life, this was an adjustment more than anything else.

I'd never needed his money, only really using what he had given for the first year of my university degree - other than that, I lived off the money I made for myself. I'd somehow managed to create a really successful online following and was more than a little comfortable posing semi-nude because I worked really hard for my body and so when OnlyFans blew up, I was one of the many who joined. I was also one of the more successful people due to the following I'd already gotten online from Instagram.