Page 70 of Formula Chance

He swallows hard. “Honestly, I’m afraid to say anything.”

It’s amazing. I’ve never heard him sound so humble before.

Brienne’s eyes glimmer with satisfaction. “I’d say you’re on your way to learning then, because sometimes, it’s best to keep your mouth shut.”

“I’ve learned my lesson,” he says hastily.

She shakes her head. “No, you haven’t. It goes beyond disrespect. You directly disobeyed instructions relayed to you by your chief strategist in Jeddah. You placed full blame for a poor finish on her, without looking inwardly at yourself, or even acknowledging the dozens of factors that can make or break your race. You’re immature and you don’t deserve to sit in one of my cars at this time.”

I glance at Nash who’s staring at Matthieu with an unreadable expression, but I can tell by his relaxed demeanor that he’s not shocked.

“Matthieu… I’m moving you over to development where you’ll work with our design engineers to develop and test our upgrade packages on the car. You’ll keep your same salary, which is exponentially more than what you’d normally earn in that position. It is my hope, that with time, you’ll learn the benefit of teamwork because this is not an individual sport. Maybe one day, you’ll earn your way back onto the competitive track.”

Matthieu looks crushed, but he nods his acceptance. “Can I ask who will replace me?”

“I don’t have an answer,” Brienne replies as she nods toward the door. “But if you’ll excuse us, we are going to have a meeting about that very thing.”

He stands and to my surprise, looks to me. “I’m sorry, Bex.”

That’s it. No further words of remorse or regret, but honestly… it’s enough because he sounds genuine. Whether he’ll change his ways remains to be seen.

Without being told to do so, Nash rises from his chair as well and follows Matthieu out the door. I watch him retreat, gaze pinned to the door long after it’s closed.

When I glance back to Brienne, she’s staring at me. “I wanted Nash in this appointment in case Hendrik or Matthieu tried to dispute facts, but his place isn’t here as we discuss who to put in the empty car seat. That’s for top management. Unfortunately, we do not have a chief engineer at this point, so the three of us will have to brainstorm.”

“Francesca Accardi,” I blurt out. “I think now’s the time for a woman to join the top tier.”

Brienne’s smiles with her approval, and I glance at Luca, who looks amused as well. It’s clear they’ve already floated that driver between themselves and wanted to know what I thought.

“She’s a prime consideration,” Luca says. “Let’s discuss pros and cons, as well as a few other candidates.”

Luca pulls out folders from a briefcase on the floor and passes them to me and Brienne. “I’ve got all the prospects here for us to review.”

I glance back at the door, only briefly wondering where Nash will be when I finish this meeting. We have unfinished business.

But for now, I’m stepping into my role as the chief race strategist for Titans Racing, and I’m ready to give it my all.

CHAPTER 25

Nash

Ifocus onthe center of the Batak metal frame, letting my vision haze just a bit so I’m not staring at any particular light. They’re spaced out at intervals—twelve in all, each about six inches in diameter. Spreading my legs, I start the program and wait for the countdown to begin.

A pattern begins, random and unknown. Lights come on and it’s my job to tap it with my hand before it goes out. I get between half a second and a full second to get my hand to the light, then I’m looking for the next one.

It’s one of the best ways to improve a driver’s hand-eye coordination and I practice it nearly every day. Formula drivers have some of the fastest reaction times in the world, launching our cars off the grid on average just 0.2 seconds after the lights go out. The training also helps to improve peripheral awareness and depth perception.

It’s also a good way to kill time and disconnect my brain from wondering what’s going on in that conference room.

The drivers’ recreation room is quiet—most of the crew has cleared out for the day—and I’ve been tapping lights for the last half hour. I’m starting to get tired though and consequently, my mind drifts.

The past week has been nothing short of chaos. Finding out that Bex had resigned felt like g-forces pulling my guts out through my belly button. Showing up at her empty apartment and hearing from her neighbor that she’d moved out nearly crushed me.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching out to Brienne was a gamble—one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. But it was necessary. I wasn’t about to let Bex walk away, not from her career, and certainly not from me.

In all my life, I’ll probably never know another person as commanding as Ms. Norcross. She showed up, cool as ice and fierce as hell, turning everything upside down in her way. I know she talked to Luca a few times on the trip over, and there’s no doubt they both had a solid game plan going into that meeting. I can’t even imagine what Bex was thinking when Brienne showed up at her doorstep, essentially ordering her to get back on the job.

Watching her confront Hendrik and Matthieu was like a master class in power and authority. Hendrik never saw it coming, and Matthieu? Well, let’s just say I hope he takes his new role seriously and learns from it. They both deserved what they got, but honestly, I didn’t give a damn about them. I care about only one person—Bex. Seeing her walk into that conference room… I felt like I could breathe again.

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