Page 54 of Red Flagged
He pulled out another folder. “This one’s for your attorney. Let them lead with whatever they think will stick. But I suggest giving copies to the GPDA tonight.”
“Wait,” I said. “You want us topresentthis?”
Reinhardt’s expression sharpened. “Morel sits on the GPDA board. The moment he sees this file circulating, he’ll panic. And panicked men make mistakes. We can rely on Fraser and Bianchi as votes.”
We all murmured in agreement.
“And if he doesn’t?” Callum asked.
Reinhardt’s smile was thin before he nodded in Ivy’s direction. “Then you leak it.”
A collective inhale echoed off the walls.
He turned to me again. “You’ve got a window of opportunity. The court of public opinion is already leaning in your favor after yesterday. Use it.”
I nodded, throat tight. “We will.”
Then Callum, still quiet beside me, let out a slow breath before he detonated the entire room. “Maybe it’s time for me to retire.”
Every head whipped toward him. Even Reinhardt looked startled.
I turned to him sharply. “What?”
“I’m serious,” Callum said, eyes on the folder in front of him. “I’ve done everything I set out to do. Four titles, maybe five. I’ve been in the sport for a decade. I’m injured. I’ve got a target on my back for every opinion I voice. Maybe I could do more from the inside. Help do the right thing, make the sport a better place. Same as you, sir.”
My pulse spiked. My stomach dropped like I'd missed a corner at 200 kilometers per hour.
But I didn’t let it show. I didn’t flinch or frown. I didn’t even blink. I just stood there, motionless, as a white-hot crack opened up somewhere beneath my sternum and began to splinter outward.
This couldn’t be real. Not here. Not now.
Marco’s jaw dropped. “Are you seriously saying this right now?”
He looked between us like he was waiting for someone—me, maybe—to laugh and say Callum was joking. “You’ve never mentioned retirement before,” Marco added, incredulous. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
The room erupted.
Ivy immediately pivoted toward Callum with wide eyes. Kimi muttered a stunned Finnish curse and dragged a hand down his face. Marco rounded the breakfast bar, still shaking his head like this had to be some kind of twisted prank. Even Victor blinked in mild surprise, though he remained silent amidst the noise, arms folded, unreadable.
“I’m saying I’ve been thinking about it,” Callum said, his voice low but steady. “Just… recently. I’ve been thinking about my future outside the cockpit. I’ve got other ventures already—investments, real estate, engineering, media. There are ways to stay close to the sport while making it better from the outside.”
He glanced at me then. Quickly, almost apologetic, like he had forgotten I was there and that this decision would impact me.
“And if we want long-term reform… maybe someone like me has to step out of the driver’s seat and into the control room.”
Marco groaned and paced around the room before stopping by Ivy’s other side. “Mate, are you hearing yourself? You’re not even thirty! Youarethe sport!”
But Callum didn’t flinch. “Maybe it’s time to make space. For drivers who’ve never gotten a shot. Women who’ve graduated from the F1 Academy but can’t break past the barriers. Maybe it’s time someone made the ladder easier to climb.”
God, it was noble. Devastatingly noble. And that was the worst part. Because I understood him. Of course I did. I always understood him. The same conviction that made me love him was the same blade now gutting me open. He wasn’t saying this out of ego or exhaustion—he meant it. Every word. He wanted to make the sport better. Wanted to build something that outlasted him. And that’s what destroyed me. Because for the first time, I realized his vision of the future didn’t need me in it.
He’d already built a world where he wasn’t mine. A future where he could walk away clean, justified, righteous, and I’d justbe another story in the archives. Another beautiful footnote to the legend of Callum Fraser. And the cruelest part? I couldn’t even be angry at him for it, because I believed in the cause too. I believed in him. And that made this burn even deeper.
Reinhardt didn’t say anything. Just watched him like he was reevaluating every word Callum had ever said.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t breathe.
I stood there, fingers twisting together in front of me to distract myself.
