𝐃𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 & 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 (M.V.)

19

"So, I need to almost die for my dad to check up on me?" I asked sarcastic.

"Dyl, I didn't come here to fight. I was really worried about you." He spoke and I shrugged.

He sighed going silent. I looked down at his hand and saw his phone. He had a photo of him and a little girl. It wasn't me, it looked recent and she was blonde.

"Who is she?" I asked pointing at his phone and he looked at it and then back at me, I raised my eyebrows.

"I met someone, her name is Carla. This is Quincy." He explained showing me his lock screen.

I swallowed hard seeing the picture. The blonde girl wrapping her arms around my dad's neck, a huge smile on both of their faces. A knot appeared in my throat.

At least he wasn't doing drugs anymore. Maybe he needed it to be happy, he needed to be away from me and everything that reminded him of his past.

"She's pretty." I grabbed the phone forcing a smile.

"She reminds me of you." He spoke and I looked up at him.

I sniffled subtly and looked down hiding my tears. I handed him back his phone.

"Uh, I'm feeling pretty tired dad." I lied stills voiding eye contact.

"Okay princess, I'll come visit you in a few days, okay?" He spoke and I nodded. He walked towards me and placed a kiss on the top of my head. I closed my eyes smiling a bit. "I love you Dyl."

"Love you too dad." I replied trying to keep my voice from cracking.

He walked away and closed the door behind him, not even looking back at me a last time. As soon as I was left alone I closed my eyes letting the tears slide down my cheeks. I put my hands on my face as I sobbed silently.

The door opened and I took my hands off my face, wiping my tears immediately. I saw Theo.

"I saw your dad walk out, are you okay?" He asked and I shook my head. "Should've guessed." He pursed his lips walking towards me.

He wrapped his arms around me comforting me as I sobbed into his shoulder, he rubbed my back and I held him tighter.

[...]

Theo was sitting in the chair in front of my bed. I held my phone as I pressed the record button, trying to remember what I had been practicing in my head the whole day.

"Hey guys, thank you for all your kind messages, I'm doing fine, I'm stable." I spoke forcing a smile in front of the camera, Theo swallowed hard having to watch me fake a smile. "I have news....they're not good." I paused for a second. "Ferrari and I have decided to part ways at the end of the 2022 season, I'm grateful for everything I learned and uh...yeah just that. Thank you to Charles, he was an amazing teammate and an amazing friend as always. Just sad it had to end so soon."

I looked at Theo and he nodded, giving me silent support.

"I'm not sure of my future in the sport, nothing is sure in this sport. What I'm sure is I'm going to keep fighting in this last races and give it all. Thank you so much for your support guys, I hope to see you next race weekend." I blew a kiss and stopped the recording.

I closed my eyes letting out a deep breath. I looked up at the ceiling, dropping my phone on the bed feeling numb.

"Dyl, are you okay?" Theo asked concerned and I shook my head.

I put my hands on my face and sobbed into my hands. I heard Theo stand up and felt his arms around me as I cried. I was so grateful to have him always standing by my side.

I didn't know what I would do if he wasn't here. If I would even be here. I let out a shaky breath as he comforted me.

[...]

Max's POV:

Thank you so much for your support guys, I hope to see you next race weekend." Dyl's voice came out of Lando's speaker and the video paused.

We all went silent as we looked down. The silence in the room speaking volumes.

"Did you know?" Lando asked looking at Charles.

"No." He replied.

"Don't lie." He raised his voice.

"I didn't know!" Charles exclaimed annoyed.

"Hey." Lewis scolded them. "Fighting isn't going to make anything better." He added and they went silent.

I looked at Danny, he was unusually silent. He was getting dropped by his team too, no seat left for him.

"Are you okay Danny?" I asked concerned and he took a deep breath standing up from his chair.

"Yeah, it happens to the best of us." He replied in a disappointed tone and walked away, leaving the room.

"Yeah." Mick sighed standing up.

"Mick." Seb called him but he walked away, leaving the room too.

I looked around the room and remembered the dinner at the start of the season. How did we go from that to this? What was going on this season?

[...]