Billionaire in Disguise

Chapter 9

Genevieve

It’s almost time for the race and the audience area is starting to get flooded with people as well as the racetrack. Drivers from different companies came and I think I’ve seen some of them in magazines and in the news. I am surrounded by professional racetrack drivers who made their names known in this field and here I am, a farmer princess who’s never been to a racetrack before.

Deep breaths, Evie, deep breaths.

“Nervous?” I blink my eyes when I heard a voice behind me.

“A little.” I told George truthfully but honestly, I am extremely nervous that I might mess things up and I can’t tell him that. He might lose his faith in me.

“Win or lose, the most important thing is you did your best.” I frowned. Did I just hear him right? Or did George really say that?

“Why are you looking at me like I’ve grown two heads?” I hear George ask and I can’t but continue to stare at him.

“I just can’t believe those words came out of your mouth. You can be so arrogant sometimes; no offense.” George smirked and I think I can see his eyes twinkling with amusement.

“You never fail to amuse me, Evie.” I shrug my shoulders at his comment and I said no more. It made me wonder what’s so amusing about being honest. I use to believe that honesty can either bring you good or bad and in my case, it’s a little both. I was trying to brutally honest with him so he’ll stop bothering me but it backfired. It seems he got more interested in me. I am not being conceited, but my woman’s instinct is telling me that he had a crush on me.

There’s no harm in assuming just make sure you don’t fall victim to your assumption; it might only cause pain in the end.

“Georgiieee.” I turn my head when I heard a high-pitch voice calling him. And what was that? Georgie? What is this, college? I feel like I’m in a university and I am talking to a jock then suddenly one of his fangirls came.

“Olivia, why are you here? This area is for racetrack drivers only.” I hear George say to her. I just took a quick glance at her and I can tell she’s wouldn’t like me. I saw her eyeing me from head to toe.

“What is she doing here then? And who is she? Don’t tell me she’s your new girl. She’s average. Your standards are getting low George.” Wow. Average huh? Never doubt a woman’s instinct, so they say and I was right; she’s not gonna like me. I bet the feeling’s going to be mutual, depending on the turn of events.

“Watch your tongue, Olivia. She’s Evie Lewis, our representative.” I hear George say to her and for some reason she laughing hysterically, which made me turn my body to face her. No one laughs at my face.

“Are you serious? You’re putting your company’s name in the hands of this----“ she looks at me from head to toe before she continued, “-----this newbie? Can she even drive?”

I was grinning then I took a step forward and guess what, even with her heels I’m still a few inches taller than her. I was looking down at her and tilted my head to the side before saying, “Believe me, sweetheart, there’s nothing I can’t drive and I’m f*cking good at it.”

Who says my sister Veronica is the only one who has a bitchy attitude? She’s my younger sister. I may be a little bit reserved but I never let anyone laugh at me or at my family.

I can see Olivia’s eyes burning with rage as she looks up at me. “No matter what you do, you’re still not winning. I bet George is aware of it, right George? You know he’s racing today and no one has ever won against him. NO ONE.”

Olivia turns her body around flipping her hair and left. I can’t believe I’m still seeing those kinds of women this time of the year.

“Ignore Olivia. She’s always been like that.” George said.

“I can tell.”

The race was delayed for an hour because there were some technical difficulties but we all turn our heads when they announced that the race will start any moment soon. The drivers are asked to stay in the standby area.

“I guess I should go.” George gently tapped my back maybe as encouragement then he said, “Good luck, Evie.”

“Thank you, George.” I went to the standby area where Miranda and the rest of the team are waiting. I fixed my uniform and I got into the car. All the racers were asked to line up on the starting line. I glance at the big screen and surprisingly there are only ten racers participating. The track is an oval-shaped track and I think it’s more or less 1 mile? Three laps. We’ll race for three laps.

The official is waving the green flag up so I wore my helmet. When the green flag fell down, I step on the accelerator and focused my eyes on the road ahead. There are four cars ahead of me and they are making sure I won’t get past them. The car behind me speeds up, so now we are side by side.

I can hear the crowd cheering and I am trying my best to stay focused. One wrong move and I might end up getting into an accident. I maintained my speed on the first lap and remained on the fifth spot. I want to observe how the racetrack race works without getting too far behind. I think it’s no different from a street race; the only that’s different is in a racetrack there are general rules to follow. We are approaching our second lap and I managed to drive past the two cars ahead of me. I am on the third spot on the second lap. Now for the last lap, the racers are getting a little aggressive. The cars behind me are trying to catch up with me but I choose to ignore them. I need to focus on that part of the track.

The car in front of me is moving from left to right and I smirked. I let him do what he wants and waited for an opening. When he moved to the left, I turn the wheel to my right because I know he would try and block the path but when he did, I was ready to go left.

I step on the gas and increased my speed. I drive past the car that was once ahead of me. We are not too far from the finish line and I step on the gas, then I move the wheel to the right. My car is moving side by side with the first racer. I glance to the side and I was a little surprised when I saw him looking at me.

I shrug the thought and I speed up ahead crossing the final lap. What? Final lap? I stopped the car and stepped out. All the racers crossed the finish line and I see Miranda and the team running towards me with smiles on their faces.

What just happened?

“Congratulations, Evie.” Mike lifted me up and spins me around but I can’t still grasp the situation. Did I win? I look at the monitor and I breathed when I saw my name on it. I won. Oh my god, I won.

I hug Miranda tight and I can hear her laughing as I did. “It took you that long to realize that?”

Breaking the hug I had small tears in my eyes as I look at her. “I did it, Miranda.”

“I was already jumping with joy when I saw you behind Raphael Jackson.” I blink my eyes and frowned when I find the name quite familiar. I think I heard that name before.

“We never thought you could drive past him. Congratulations, Evie.” Mike added. I was about to remove my helmet but I saw reporters coming our way. Mike and the rest of the team must’ve noticed this because they started to surround me, blocking the reporters.

I step into the car and drives away. I can see in my rearview mirror that Mike and the team are talking to the reporters. I think this is far enough from the reporters. I removed my helmet and removed the uniform.

I can see Olivia stomping her feet as she walks and when she finally stood in front of me, she looks at me from head to toe. “I bet you used some sort of cheap trick to win against THE Raphael Jackson.”

Olivia walks past me bumping my shoulder intentionally. Does she really think I’ll let her do that? I grab her arm making her look back at me with a frown on her face.

“I don’t mind you giving me dirty looks but just keep your hands to yourself. I don’t want any part of your body touching me.” I grip her arm tight and she squirmed in pain. “Ouch. Let go of me, you witch.”

“Gladly.” With one last grip, I let go of her arm and that’s when I see George coming our way.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked the moment he got near. George took a glance at Olivia and there is a 99.9 percent probability that she will---

“Look at this George. That woman is violent, I was just congratulating her but she hurts me.” I can’t help but chuckle at her childish acts. Seriously? I feel like we’re in a teen movie.

“Just leave, Olivia.” I can see her gritting her teeth in annoyance then she looks at me with fiery rage in her eyes and I can’t help but wink at her which, I might add, angered her even more then she left.

“I’m sorry about Olivia but congratulations. Should we grab some lunch to celebrate your win?”

Shaking my head in refusal I told him, “Thank you for the invitation but I don’t think I can join you, George. I still have a scheduled meeting this afternoon.”

“But we’ll throw a victory party at King’s Cross tonight. I’ll just text you the name of the bar.” Bar huh? I really had enough of bars but I should at least go and show my gratitude to him, right? He trusted me and he believed in me. I guess I should go to this victory party. It’s our victory anyway.

“I promise I’ll be there.” I walk out of the racetrack and to my car where I see someone leaning on it.

“Excuse me?”

Turning his body around my eyes held recognition seeing who he is. “Dexter? Why are you here?”

“I’m here to congratulate you. It was a really good race. I always knew you could do it, Evie.” Dexter said and I smiled but then it faded when I remembered my appointment with Miss Abigail Chen, well an appointment before that. I am meeting with the person in charge of car rentals because I want to make this car my own. Why? Because with a car like this, I know the three-month rent is a lot of money, if I want to spend that much money to rent a brand new car, I might as well buy it for myself.

“Thank you, Dexter. I wish we could talk more but I still have an appointment---“ Keys. Where is my car key? Bag. It’s in my bag. Damn it. I left in the locker.

“I think I left my bag inside. I’ll see you around Dexter.” I am running back into the racetrack and to the locker room but before reaching the locker room I stopped when I heard George’s voice saying my name.

“You mean Evie? She’s one mysterious woman and she’s feisty. I’ve never met anyone like her. The more I get to know her, the more I want her.” I lean my back on the wall and continued to listen. I feel like I’m going to hear more about me if I stay longer. I am not doing this to make myself feel good. I just needed to know whatever it is that I needed to know.

“You want her, huh?” I hear another man say although he sounded annoyed and agitated.

“Yeah, I know she’s not gonna keep up this hard-to-get act. I mean, come on, who could resist someone like me? I can buy her anything. I can even buy her if she names her price.” I can’t help but scoff at his proud acclamations. That little jerk.

I am not hearing a reply from the other man but then I can hear George speaking again. “Why did you lose anyway? I placed my bet on you and it was a big amount, man. Who would’ve known that Evie could win? It never even crossed my mind that she’ll finish the race at least in third place. My initial guess was, sixth or fifth.” I can’t believe I actually thought that he believed in me; that he had faith in me. Sometimes you can’t see it rotting until you peel off all the layers.

“Then why did you bother to have her represent your company when you don’t have faith in her?” the other man asked and it is one of the questions that I wish to hear the answer.

“I have to admit, Evie is a hot driver. She’s skilled but inexperienced in the field, yet she managed to defeat you and the rest of the racers who’s been to hundreds of race on her first time. It was a good investment. I honestly just accepted her out of fun.”

“I had her assessed which she excelled in. My brother asked me to assess a driver that his friend recommended and seeing that she’s hot, I gave her a chance. Don’t worry dude, I’ll make sure I’ll have her tonight.” that’s what you think. I think I heard enough. I entered the locker room and opened my locker but my bag is not where I left it.

“Evie?”

I turn my head and saw Miranda by the door with my bag in her hand. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought might be looking for your bag.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Miranda.”

“You’re welcome. Anyway, you’re going to the victory party tonight, right?” oh right, the party. Do I still have to go?

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“We’ve chased away the reporters so I guess you safe to leave.” Miranda added. I took my bag from her and we are both standing in the hallway when George came out from the other room with a man I don’t know behind him.

“Evie, I didn’t you’re still here.” George said.

“Yes, thankfully I’m still here……” I stare at him with a cold look on my face then I smiled. “…but I’m leaving. I just came back for my bag.”

“Oh, Evie before you leave, I’d like you to meet Raphael Jackson…. Jackson, she’s Evie Lewis.” the man named Raphael, took a step forward and I offered my hand for him to shake. I think I’ve really heard his name somewhere, I can’t just remember where.

Raphael took my hand, and I was surprised when he lifts it up to his lip giving it a soft kiss then he whispered,  “It’s nice to meet you, baby girl.”