She hasn’t seen anything yet.
Just as I finish my thought, she walks in with her legal team trailing slowly behind her. I notice a weariness in their eyes.
Good.
Looking up, I notice the scowl she is attempting to mask. The smiles and nonchalant nods, the “thank you’s” that aren’t even close to genuine, and most importantly, the look of annoyance in her eyes. Behind her stand three women looking anywhere but my gaze. It seems like they’re intimidated by my presence.
“Mr. Donatello, this is my team.” She gestures her hand towards her colleagues.
I nod standing up as she introduces them to me.
“This is Lucia, my manager.” A woman with brown hair looks at me with a faint smile.
“This is Lauren, my publicist.” Her hair contrasting to her peers, a blonde woman with gray eyes shakes my hand firmly.
“And finally, this is my lawyer, Anastasia. She’s Italian so if you have difficulty communicating throughout our meeting, she is here to help.” I look up at the black-haired woman. Her round face is framed by her stick straight black hair and her curtain bangs leave space to see her big brown eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you all.” I nod, gazing at the gigantic black marble table I was just sitting at while dealing with an immature young woman.
They all follow my movements as I sit down ready to negotiate.
Let the games begin.
ChapterSix
Maria Alejandra
Iwant to die.
The cause: The man sitting right in front of me. His stupidly smug looks and dominating smiles make my blood boil. My acrylics indent markings into my palms. After three hours of basic agreement clauses, we are finally getting to the important part. My pay.
No matter how rich an F1 driver may be, being paid a low-ball number is insulting. It’s not like you can hide the contract after signing it. Eventually every news outlet becomes curious, which results in every little detail of your agreement being plastered all over every sports channel known to man. The most important part of any driver’s contract are three basic things:
1. Your pay.
2. How many seasons you will be driving for them.
3. When can you renegotiate and reevaluate terms.
Looking down onto the table, I see him take his pen out and quickly scribble something down onto his bright yellow sticky note.
Slowly but surely with a steady hand, he takes the sticky note and slides it across the table landing between the empty space between my arms.
Looking down at the small square piece of paper right in front of me, I quickly look back up and quirk an eyebrow, challenging him. Reaching for the bright yellow sticky note I unfold it slowly, making sure to never once break eye contact.
The slight change in his demeanor shows me his annoyance.
Finally unfolding the last crease, I look down, but I don’t let my eyes focus on the number just yet. I need to mentally prepare myself for this life changing moment that is going to determine my future and even my pride.
Taking every single ounce of courage that my body and mind can muster, I finally look down and focus intently on the number.
HELL. FUCKING. NO.
Shooting out of my seat, my chair slides backwards away from my body abruptly. I notice Lauren, Lucia, and Anastasia flinch at my sudden movement which leads to Lucia grabbing that fucking piece of paper. Slowly, I raise my gaze to meet his. One thing is absolutely fucking clear, he wants to intimidate me.
He may terrify other people but there’s one thing he’ll soon understand.
I grew up with wolves.