LOGINEmily POVFontaine's interview was everywhere by four PM.Every motorsport outlet and sports channel. His face on screens saying words that were designed to sound reasonable and were not. “Unusual data. Questions that deserved asking for his integrity.” He spoke words that create doubt without making a direct claim.I sat in the study and read every version of it.Nathan stood in the doorway. "Stop reading it.""I need to know what he's saying.""You know what he's saying. He's saying the same thing with different words in every outlet." He came in and sat across from me. "Emily, Fontaine resigned this morning and his testimony has been submitted to a governance committee. Three separate investigations are running. He has no power, no position and no legal standing." He held my gaze. "His interviews are just noise.""Noise with three million views," I said."Numbers don't make something true.""No. But they make it loud." I closed the laptop. "Nathan, two weeks ago I gave a press conf
Nathan POVThe team briefing started at nine AM sharp.Every chair was filled. Davies and Lucas at the front, James beside Claire and the full engineering group behind them. Blake in the corner with his tablet. And Emily at the head of the table looking like someone who had spent the last forty-eight hours watching the sport she loved get cleaned up and was now ready to build something inside the cleaner version of it.Marcus sat against the back wall. Nobody had told him to leave."Right," Emily said. "Four weeks to Silverstone. I'm driving and that's not changing." She looked at Davies. "What do you need from me?"Davies leaned forward. "Honestly? Your sector two data from Barcelona. Whatever you found in turn nine, James has been modelling it and we think it's worth more than three tenths if I can replicate it consistently.""It's not something you replicate from data," Emily said. "It's something you'd feel. The car tells you when the window is there." She paused. "I'll drive with
Emily POVI woke up knowing what day it was.Thursday. Geneva. Marchetti.Nathan was already awake beside me. Phone in hand. Reading something."How long have you been up?" I asked."An Hour.""Fontaine's second injunction?"He turned the phone toward me. A legal filing headline in a dense text. Submitted to the Geneva court at four AM."So Marchetti testifies.""Ten AM Geneva time. That's nine AM London." He looked at me. "Three hours."I sat up. "Blake?""Already at the office. Sarah Morrison is in Geneva personally. She called at six." He paused. "Emily, when Marchetti names Fontaine publicly, every journalist who has your number is going to call within minutes. We need a plan.""We need to come up with one pre-written statement and release the the moment his name is public." I got out of bed. "I'm not doing press calls. Not today.""Blake already drafted something.""I'll rewrite it.""Of course you will." He stood up. "Emily""Nathan, I'm fine.""I know you are. I was going to sa
Nathan POV The kitchen table had too much food on it.Emily and Sofia had cooked pasta and garlic bread. Young Catherine had arranged the cutlery and was currently explaining to Marcus why his fork was in the wrong position.Marcus was listening with complete seriousness. As if fork placement was the most important conversation of his evening.I stood at the counter watching all of it and felt something I didn't have a good word for. "Nathan." Emily appeared beside me. She handed me a glass of wine. "Stop watching us like we're a painting.""I'm not.""You absolutely do." She leaned against the counter beside me. Our shoulders are touching. "You get it when something is happening that you want to remember."I looked at her. "Is that a problem?""No but I prefer it thoughtful.""Of course you do." She clinked her glass against mine. "Forty-seven minutes to midnight ."The acquisition is complete. Forty-seven minutes away."How do you feel?" I asked."Ask me at twelve-oh-one," she sai
Emily POVWe used the Lothan-Lotus press facility.My name on every title document. That mattered today more than any other day.Thirty journalists with twelve cameras. The whole team behind me, Davies in the front row trying to look calm. Lucas sat beside him actually calm, James with his arms folded, and at the back Marcus standing very still exactly where I'd told Nathan to put him.Nathan was to my left. Not behind me. Right beside me.I stepped up to the podium."I'll keep this short," I said. "The FIA ethics committee has confirmed that the complaint filed against my 2019 championship was processed improperly and had no evidential merit. It is withdrawn. The championship stands."A hand went up immediately.I kept talking."I'm not here to discuss where the complaint came from. That process is still running and it's not mine to speak on." I looked straight into the main camera. "I'm here to say one thing. I drove every race of the 2010 season. I earned every single point. I stoo
Nathan POVI called Blake at six AM before Emily woke up."Tell me," I said."Gerard Fontaine," Blake said. "FIA Vice President of Sporting Governance. Thirty-one years inside that organisation. Nathan, he's been there since Emily was five years old.""And Marchetti reported to him directly.""Eleven years. Fontaine authorised the internal routing that made the complaint look procedurally legitimate. He gave Becker the green light to process it." A pause. "Nathan, he was at the Barcelona race weekend. He was in the Phoenix reveal press room. He shook Emily's hand at the post-race function and smiled for a photograph."I stood at the kitchen window."She shook his hand," I said."It's already off the team's social media. I pulled it at five AM." Blake's voice was careful. "Nathan, she needs to know today. Not Thursday when Marchetti names him publicly. Today, journalists will call her for an immediate reaction and she cannot be caught unprepared.""I know. I'll tell her this morning."
Emily POV Blake arranged the transfer through Lothan Industries emergency funds. One billion incryptocurrency, routing through blockchain networks designed to obscure origin anddestination.Within hours, the money vanished into some anonymous accounts.But Blake's team caught something, a three-
Blake POVFifty-five hours remaining.I watched through surveillance feeds as the St. Petersburg warehouse exploded in a fireballvisible from three miles away. The blast was massive professional demolition, not justimprovised explosives.Michael had been planning to kill everyone we sent."Jason'
Jason POVMy name is Jason Blackwell, and two years ago, I was sentenced to twenty years in afederal prison for fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion. The charges stemmed from myuse of Emily's family connections to build Blackwell Industries connections I'd obtainedthrough marriage under false pr
Blake POVMy phone buzzed with an urgent alert. "Richard's transport is moving now. Theydetected our surveillance. We have less than ten minutes to intercept.""Go!" Emily shouted.We raced down the mountain road at breakneck speed. Ahead, the medical van's taillights appeared, our only chance to







