Faster Longer (Take Me...#3) (New Adult Bad Boy Racer Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I
stopped thinking of this sport as my entire universe.”
    “You were always a good mother,” I protest.
    “Well, I’m glad you think so,” Mom laughs, “But do you
understand what I’m trying to tell you, Siena?”
    “I do,” I say, clutching her smooth hands, “But I don’t
think I can do what you’re telling me to do. I don’t know who I am outside of
F1.”
    “That’s only because you’ve never known anything else,” my
mother says, “You were born into this, Siena. But you don’t have to stay. You
can walk away from the team, from the entire sport. It doesn’t have to control
you. You are in control of your own destiny.”
    “But I don’t want to walk away,” I tell her, “I love this
world, and this sport, and this team. It’s my life. My work is my life, and I
want to take on even more. I want to have influence, I want to shape the sport
for the better. And I don’t want to be chased away from what I love because of
some bullshit gossip campaign.”
    “Then don’t,” my mother says, “Don’t let the narrative that
the world has written define you. Step up and be who you want to be. Love who
you want to love. Refuse to let someone else write your story for you. Hold
your own, Siena. I know that you can.”
    “Do you think it’s possible?” I ask, “Do you think I can
come back from this?”
    “Absolutely,” Mom tells me, “You’re a Lazio, aren’t you?
You’re tough, and you’re smart, and you’re stubborn as hell. You can do
anything you set your mind to. Including sort things out with that delicious
man you’ve taken up with.”
    My chest tightens painfully as I think of Harrison. “I think
that ship has sailed, Mom.”
    “Nonsense,” she says, “You don’t have to give him up just
because the press is hounding you about—”
    “Did you see the paper?” I ask, “He was with that woman. He
said those awful things. He could be setting us all up and we wouldn’t even—”
    “Please tell me I raised you not to believe everything you
read,” Mom laughs, “Did you talk to Harrison about it?”
    “Sort of...” I say, “I mean, he didn’t deny...I left in a
hurry.”
    “You can’t walk away from the man you love just because of
some tabloid article,” she tells me.
    “How do you know I love him?” I ask.
    “Because you’re my daughter,” she smiles, “I only had to see
those pictures for a second before it became abundantly clear. You’re in love
with Harrison Davies. And that doesn’t make you a damsel in distress, or a
traitor, or a fool. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, either.”
    “I have no idea how to fix any of this,” I say quietly, “I
don’t even know where to begin...”
    “I think a good first step might be figuring out who,
exactly, has been trying to destroy your reputation,” she says, her voice icing
over. “I’m of a mind to find that special someone and throttle them within an
inch of their life...”
    “I’m not sure about that,” I tell her. “But you’re right. We
need to figure out where all this supposed information is coming from. That
article was naming sources from just about everywhere. I’m sure most of them
are made up, but the intel is coming from somewhere.”
    “Do you have any idea who took those pictures of you?” she
asks.
    “Actually, yes,” I tell her, “Harrison and I caught some
punk kid stalking us at the hospital, after the crash. He owned up to taking
the pictures. But he also told us that he was working for someone. Someone who
was paying him a lot of money for those pictures.”
    “Any idea who might have hired him?” she asks.
    “I did have some notions,” I tell her, “But I think I’m way
off base. You won’t believe it, but I honestly thought—”
    “That Charlie Spano wanted to keep Harrison Davies far away
from you?”
    “How the hell did you guess that?” I ask.
    “We think alike, my dear. If it wasn’t for the fact that
Charlie is currently courting that adorable