My Formula 1 System-Chapter 599: Family Man. 2

Chapter 599: Family Man. 2
By late morning, the city’s sky had an empyrean cloud design, especially the vantage overlooking the roads to Luca’s property.
Luca’s visitors were here. Two cars were enough for them, containing Vance, Mallow, Sara, Manuela, Lawyer 1, Lawyer 2, and Lawyer Assistant.
When they arrived at the estate, stepping out of the cars, they spotted Luca in a farther field, pushing a small mower across grass he didn’t need to mow himself.
Luca sometimes mowed and chopped firewood. They were hobbies that gave him a sense of rhythm and provision.
This time, he chose to mow the mound that held four trees because the mound gave him elevated vision of the road leading to his house.
Sitting beside him was an upturned glass jar.
Before going to meet his guests, Luca spotted a grasshopper. That was the purpose of the jar.
Swiftly, he bent like a predator, turning the jar expertly in his hand before he slammed it to the earth, trapping the hopper. The insect leapt and jumped in captivity, but Luca had already sealed the jar’s mouth.
"You’re capturing insects now?" Mallow asked him as he approached them. The entire team had seen his primitive stunt.
Luca tightened the lid with a smile on his face, dressed in plain, ragged clothes, and garden gloves. The grasshopper was meant to be a collection, not individually, but part of an ecosystem he was building. It would be his second ecosystem this year.
His first terrarium wasn’t robust enough, so he wanted to make another before trying out an aquarium.
When he told Mallow all this, his agent didn’t seem impressed with his aspirations. "Aren’t you supposed to let the system grow life, not you manually introducing life?"
Luca shrugged. "This is faster," he replied.
Vance snorted. Manuela laughed. Lawyer Assistant, Sigrid, laughed too. Lawyer 2, David, nodded like this had just given him an idea of what to do to cure boredom.
Luca greeted everyone with calm warmth, handshakes with his gloves off, and hugs for those closer. Then he guided them toward the house, mowing abandoned, but his jar in hand.
Inside the house, they scattered out from the entrance into the grand living room, the most populated the property had ever been since Luca moved in.
While they settled down, Lawyer 1, Gregor, told everyone a real story on a funny problem he encountered during the acquisition of the lands in this estate.
He said the owner and co-owners had family disputes, leading to unresolved litigation that tied up Luca’s investments. But in the end, the crew solved the encumbrance, and he was also hired to solve the family legal dispute!
"Jesus Christ!" yelled Sara all of a sudden.
Everyone looked at her. She looked startled, staring at the doorway next to the bookcase. Standing there was Laura, holding her child against her hip.
Luca exhaled.
"You all know Laura, right?" he said. "She’s been here for a bit since visiting the team."
"And that’s the baby boy?" Sara asked.
"Yes, that’s ’em."
Everyone relaxed after Luca’s confirmation, only Manuela looked troubled, staring at Laura.
"Oh my, come here, come here!" squealed Sara as she embraced Martin and his mother, especially Martin, whom she attempted to carry. The boy resisted, but Sara couldn’t care less as she took him away.
Sara had reached that stage in life where she wanted children herself. So, she adored anyone that came her way. Martin, she described as "a perfect baby boy."
While Luca disappeared upstairs to change from his casual abandon, Laura took it upon herself to greet everyone properly, promising refreshments.
Everyone reciprocated her kindness. They thought she was beautiful and sweet. Mallow liked Laura immediately, but he felt like she was way out of his league.
So, he relaxed on the sofa he sat, exhaling like a caveman as if savouring a memory of his own family, long past.
When he noticed Manuela’s grim expression at the edge of his vision, he looked at her with knitted brows.
"You don’t look bright, young lady. That boy has no father. Don’t feel bad for them? Or don’t like her?" he asked.
Manuela shrugged to his question, folding her arms.
Of course she felt bad for what happened to Ansel, and his son, Martin growing up to learn the tragedy. But Mallow was right, she didn’t fancy Laura.
Manuela felt disturbed that another young woman that’s not Isabella, was moving in Luca’s domestic sphere. The closeness unnerved her in ways polite conversation could never explain, making her distrust the woman.
~~~~~
Laura served the pastries she baked herself with a jug of orange juice. The sunlight flattened furniture shadows by the time Luca came down, dressed better. He had a tablet and a laptop with him.
The first topic the team had was sponsorship contract renewals, starting from Associate Sponsors, who had a limited role and visibility as agreed. However, despite their minor support, these kinds of sponsors still brought significant value to Rennick’s table.
From $50,000 per year to making $50,000 per race, Luca had flown from grass level to the skyline in such a short time for an F1 driver.
But Gregor debated that his body should demand a 40% rise from every Associate Sponsor when renewal is due. That would take their highest AS sponsorship to $70,000 per race.
Even when others expressed skepticism about that amount of money, the lawyers were decisive. They even argued it was lenient, given the clause restricting his partnerships with competing brands.
Furthermore, Luca’s personal image metrics had doubled in engagement over the past year. Not demanding a modification to the contract would be an insult to the client, Luca.
As usual, Luca remained quiet during logistical discussions. He had a habit of jotting down important information while reviewing any documents handed to him.
When they told him he needed firmer boundaries, Luca agreed that he had been the opposite of mysterious lately. He promised to drop the social media presence to almost zero and reject more unnecessary interviews.
Luca had the feeling the team also meant Laura, too.
Meanwhile, Laura eavesdropped from the kitchen doorway, pretending to be tidying up the area. Her curiosity couldn’t be quenched. The more figures she heard, the more she wanted to know how exactly it was acquired, not the scale of the money itself.
By $560,000, Luca’s real estate block in Italy appreciated, but the eco-home startup he had put in $200,000 was bleeding money under what his lawyers diagnosed as mismanagement.
Luca inspected the entire list, almost like a merit-and-demerit table of money gains and losses. Some of the details he didn’t even remember giving the green light to, but everything looked valid and structurally organized.
The team debated whether to pull out or fund a reshuffle for each outlay mentioned. For most of them, they decided to stay in for long-term payoff; only a few were agreed to be cut off and they take their early losses.
The rest were placed on varying probation periods of a few months, especially the newer startups, each with imposed performance conditions.
Two hours of brainstorming, talks, and analysis were spent before Luca and his guests relaxed back with their refreshments, drifting into jokes.
More minutes passed, and the meeting fully dissolved. Always punctual, the lawyers were the first to pack their folders and cases.
"Let’s inspect the perimeter before we leave," Gregor said, stepping toward the back door.
Luca’s plot was still the most valuable they had ever secured. So, they moved through the house and inspected the land as if it were being considered for sale all the same.
Still inside, Sara and Manuela played with the baby, Martin. Vance, on the other hand, sat on the arm of a couch, scrolling through his phone expressionlessly.
From a doorway, Luca watched them all with his hands on his waist. Laura made brief eye contact with him in the hallway before she disappeared behind a wall.
"C’mon, champ. I need a word with you," Mallow said, pulling Luca’s attention back.
Mute, Luca followed him outside to the front of the house. The breeze was soft and pastoral, the scent in the air a light blend of perfumes.
Luca was enjoying the scenery, but he frowned when he saw the expression on Mallow’s face. It was a mix of suspicion and amused disbelief.
"Honestly, I didn’t see it at first," Mallow said. "But when Manuela pointed it out, I just—damn, I had to ask."
"Ask what, man?"
Mallow’s mouth twitched.
"Are you shaboinking your best friend’s wife?" he asked after a while.
The question struck Luca strangely. Most times, his brain was slow when contexts had nothing to do with F1.
"Shaboinking?" he repeated. "What... what the actual—Mal, what...?"
"I’m serious," Mallow insisted, beginning to gesture. "Look at her! Look at you! And look at the setting, man. This is—this is suspicious activity!"
Luca dragged a hand down his face with a long groan.
"Firstly, Ansel didn’t marry Laura. They were never married. And secondly, I am not ’shaboinking’ anyone. What kind of word is that?"
Unconvinced, Mallow squinted at him, doubting every word.
"You sure? Because from where I’m standing, it’s looking like a premium, top-grade situationship. Young, hot woman. In your house. Sweet. Single. Long stay. You walking around with a–"
"Oh my God, man."
"Hey," Mallow said. "I’m not judging you if there is. Man’s gotta live. But if you’re saying it’s nothing..."
Luca didn’t know why he had to deny. Only the guilty denied.
"It’s nothing," he confirmed.
For a couple of seconds, Mallow studied him from head to toe before saying, "Alright. If you say so."