unconditional

chapter twenty third

We finally landed in Spain, the warm air hit me as soon as we got off of the plane. I already felt myself sweating immensely, which was just the thing I needed. I thought Monaco was hot, but Spain was something else.

I hugged Charles, Kika and Pierre goodbye as they made their way to their car to go to the hotel, I unfortunately headed straight to the circuit with no time to stop at the hotel to freshen up or even drop my luggage off.

I headed to the Mclaren unit, running up the stairs to the meeting room since I was already a few minutes late. I opened the door to see everyone had already been seated and discussing some other plans and ideas, I felt a wave of embarrassment hit me instantly when everyone looked up at me and stopped their conversations.

"You're late, Miss Monet." Zak Brown said with a stern face as he lifts his arm up to show me his watch.

I quickly turned my head down as I go to sit in the empty seat next to him, "I'm so sorry Zak, my flight was a little delayed" I explained with an apologetic look on my face.

"That's why you should've come with us, like you were meant to" Lando interrupted with a scoff as he rolled his eyes at me.

I looked at him with anger in my eyes but thankfully held back what I truly wanted to say, if no one else was here I would've probably killed him. Instead, I just nodded and redirected my attention back to Zak.

Zak raised his eyebrows in confusion, not knowing that I didn't get on the same plane as Lando and Daniel.

"So, shall we begin?" I said as I got my laptop out of my bag and began to connect it to the projector screen.

Everyone nodded in unison and turned their heads to the screen.

"So, I'm thinking we really should push out some more collaborative media content with other F1 teams this week" I explain as I stand up to point at my presentation slides.

"What teams do you have in mind, Ella?" Zak asks, attentively.

"Let me guess. Ferrari? Alpine?" Lando mumbles under his breath, not even paying any attention to my presentation. It was clear to see he's developed some sort of issue with Charles and now Pierre after the yacht trip.

"No, actually I'm thinking Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari." I explain, not even looking at anybody but Zak. "Filming some challenges, games with the Mclaren boys competing with other drivers would do really well. The audience love to see friendships between other teams."

"Very well. Ella, set this up as soon as possible. Have a look at the other drivers' agendas." Zak said with a faint smile.

"Great!" I responded with enthusiasm, I was happy that my idea seemed to be well received by all of the team, except Lando. Daniel, however, was ecstatic about it. He always loved the light hearted challenges we'd been doing.

I went on to discuss our media engagement, statistics and many other things like different events and photoshoots that Lando and Daniel should attend this week in Spain.

The meeting, overall, went really well which gave me a lot of confidence. Despite, Lando's snarky comments, I felt happy with my prospects and ideas.

The meeting finally reached an end and I was the first one to head out of the conference room doors. I was so ready to just get to the hotel and have a much needed nap. I headed to leave the Mclaren unit doors when I felt a hand pulling my arm. I was startled and immediately jumped, turning around to see Lando.

"What do you want?" I asked him, my eyebrows furrowed as I free myself from his tight grip.

"Ella. I'm sorry." Lando said with a disappointed face, his sad frown becoming more apparent.