On Top of the World [Max Verstappen - Book 3]

12

Max's POV
December 7th 2027

Well...I had a good season. Took my third title finally, although Ellie really did come back with a vengeance. If it weren't for a collision with Charles in the second last race of the season securing me the win, I think she would have possibly taken it out from under me at the very last moment.

Personally, I was good. Sofia and I were fantastic, she was very supportive, perhaps a bit needy on a race weekend but I can understand how she wasn't used to me being absent both mentally and physically on a race weekend. The only times we argued were about Ellie.

She still didn't know that we dated and I don't know what it was inside of me that kept it a secret from her as well. Maybe I was so glued into Ellie's secretiveness about it but even when speaking to Dr Trijta he suggested that perhaps it was also me wanting to keep the times Ellie and I had to myself.

A private haven of memories that no one could corrupt.

I didn't like that but he asked why else I would keep it a secret from Sofia and I didn't really have an answer. So maybe that was it. Either way, we were good. I loved my life with her and Luca, it was wholesome and stable and I liked travelling back from a race and spending time with the both of them when I wasn't training or working. I never knew for sure that Ellie had started going to Dr Trijta, having tried on multiple occasions to figure out if she was but he would just shake his head and reinforce in my mind the confidentiality agreements in place and so I would stare frustratedly at the books on the walls in all their different languages, wondering if she knew how to read them.

I liked Sofia. I loved my life with her and Luca. Spending the rest of my life with them would make me happy.

It didn't mean I had stopped loving Ellie. That was something only myself and Dr Trijta knew, that the love I had for Ellie was a lot more deep-rooted than even my love for racing. Being around her 27 weeks of the year had an annoying habit of reinforcing that love, even when she was in her stupid Mercedes race suit.

"Max, have you made a decision?" Trijta asks me from where I'm studying a copy of Romeo and Juliet in Italian, picking the book up and letting it fall open as I ignore him and his annoying questions. I don't understand any of the words on the page but I know that Ellie would. She'd scold me for still not having taken her up on learning a language before translating everything perfectly, letting me point out I never needed to learn another language when I did all my travel with her. "Max?" I snap the book shut and put it on the shelf, closing my mind to Ellie once more and focusing on the other man in the room with me.

"No, I haven't. Christian wants an answer soon though." I tell him and he hums, eyes analysing my every move as I go to sit down on the sofa opposite him, resting my elbows on my knees and bouncing my foot over and over again.

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing, everything. I have three World Driver's Championships. Four Constructors. I've broken records and done things no one else thought I could or would do...I don't know what more there is to do in the sport." I say frankly and he nods.

"Lewis got eight," he points out and I let out a laugh.

"I'm not Lewis," I tell him and he smirks back at me, pleased that at least one of his teachings stuck. "I don't know, four would be nice. Do what Sebastian did..." I say looking around and bouncing my leg faster now. "But this is year 13 of doing this..."

"Will you be happy if you leave the sport now? No more wins, no more races? Just now, cut the chord?" He asks and I let out a sigh as we sit in silence and I think.

"If...I don't know what I'd do without racing to fill the gaps in the time." I say and he nods.

"Sofia and Luca?"