Battle of The Gods

Trentacinque

"I may have a good idea as to what's happening," when Lewis jumped in, Charles was quick to snap his head towards his teammate, the fear increasing as he wondered if he also knew what was happening between the two team principals last December, "and it's because of me."

Charles could have let out a loud sigh of relief when he realised that Lewis did not know anything about the secret affair, and he was talking about his move to their team, suddenly remembering what Alessandra had told the Monegasque about the conversation she had with Lewis regarding Toto.

"Why because of you?" Arthur asked, "wait, is it about you joining Ferrari?"

"Did Toto take the move bad?" Max asked, his eyes wide in surprise, leaning back into his chair as he waited for his 2021 rival to continue talk.

"I had told Alessandra that I didn't want Toto to know about the move, let him find out with everyone else, you know, better for optics," the British world champion started, "I then decided to tell him out of curtesy a few hours before the news dropped, and I guess he didn't take it well, because he called Alessandra yelling."

"Wait seriously?" Heidi asked, her face matching her boyfriend's in confusion, "why was he angry at Alessandra?"

"He thinks that Alessandra was the one who came up to me and convinced me to leave Mercedes for Ferrari, and that she did not have the curtesy or respect to talk to him about it, feeling like she did it all behind his back, " Lewis shrugged, "when in reality, I had decided to leave Mercedes, and I was the one who contacted Alessandra for the seat after my departure was announced."

"Stupid moment from Toto, I won't lie," Kelly chuckled, shaking her head, "so if the issue was just that, why are they acting like there's a war against each other?"

"Because Toto has become fixated on this image he created of Alessandra as a villain, suddenly acting all high and mighty and thinking that she is not trustworthy, without letting her explain to him how the Lewis deal actually went down," Charles quickly replied, "and we know how Alessandra is, if someone's acting stubborn with her, she's not going to give them time of day. She only talks to Toto because they're public figures with eyes all over them the moment they step in the paddock, but until Toto comes to her, apologises for the things he said to her and let her explain, she won't talk to him unless she has to."

"Wait what things?" Alexandra asked, eyes wide in concern, "what did Toto tell her?"

"Apparently during the argument he went personal on her," Lewis said, "Alessandra wouldn't tell me what he said, and when I asked her to let me talk to him, she said it's between him and her. That's all I know."

"Fucking hell," Max muttered, glancing at his childhood friend, who was deep into her work to notice the conversation they were having about her, "she's truly stronger than me, because if he went personal with me I would've probably punched him."

"She's stronger than all of us, mate," Charles chuckled as he also glanced at his best friend, "I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but she wouldn't let me."

"This trip will do her good," Mick said, "have her away from anything related to F1 for a while, and enjoy a race as a spectator!"

"And Matteo will be there too," Charles continued, looking at the German, "I know how much she misses Luna, so she'll be happy to chat endlessly about her with him there."

10 hours later, the group landed in Tokyo in the early hours of the morning, all getting into the van that awaited them at the airport and headed to their hotel. Some slept on the plane, others, well mainly Alessandra, did not sleep a wink, so as those who weren't feeling tired discussed how they wanted to spend their morning, the others were just excited to settle into their hotel rooms and sleep.