Page 157 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

Snowed-In Enemies

Bella Mason

PROLOGUE

Three years ago

The screaming revsof V6 engines attached to cars that had more in common with a jet than anything Katherine Ward ever drove circulated around the Melbourne track. The noise, the vibration, was like a pulse in the ground. In the air. In her chest.

Katherine had made it.

All the years of study and single-minded determination had led her here: to the paddock of Alpha One. Single-seater racing was her greatest passion. A passion she shared with her father. One that she knew made him proud. And growing up, there was nothing she’d wanted more than to be an Alpha One journalist.

Now she would be doing just that.

Support cars were on track, which meant there were Alpha One drivers around who she would have to interview as the new pit lane correspondent for VelociTV. Drivers such as the world champion Lukas Jäger, who she was excited to talk to.

She could hardly control her elation. Her pounding heart. She was living her dream, and she would let nothing spoil this moment. Not even the burning anger and irritation that still lingered from earlier. Katherine had known being a woman in a male-dominated sport would be hard, but she’d hoped that good manners would prevail.

She was sorely mistaken.

Which was why she was currently in a secluded spot in the paddock, where she could breathe and find some much needed patience to deal with her VelociTV colleagues.

Katherine was the only female on the team, and she was certain if the others had anything to say about it, she wouldn’t even be there. She had been excluded from the dinners at the hotel restaurant. The night before, the others had gotten a table with enough seating for only them and considering they had an uneven number of people, it must have been a deliberate arrangement. So she had sat by herself, quietly stewing until she was joined by two other women. Both of whom were Alpha One engineers, and now, valued contacts.

But it hadn’t ended there. With the internet abuzz with the sexist comments made by back-marker driver Roman Poulet, conversation had been steering towards the topic for days.

‘He’s right,’ her producer had said as he stood by the OB van earlier today. ‘This sport is no place for women. I can bet you anything that the rest of the team are having to pull the weight of those female engineers.’

‘Not just the engineers,’ her cameraman had added, ‘it’s the wannabe drivers too. They don’t have the strength or mental fortitude for racing.’

‘Or understanding. I refuse to believe any woman could understand this sport like we can.’

Katherine had heard enough. She’d known they could see her examining the equipment that she would have to carry around as she did the day before. She hadn’t been trying to hide her presence. She’d walked away then.

It had been clear they didn’t want her around and being so new, there hadn’t been much she could say to defend herself or any other woman in the sport. Which was why she was trying her very best to calm herself and thicken her skin. It didn’t matter what they thought, she knew this sport inside out and she wasn’t going anywhere.

She was just about to leave her place of refuge when her every cell went on high alert. She turned to find Lukas Jäger strolling through the paddock, chatting with Roman Poulet. The man who’d said women belonged in the home. That a woman could never physically compete with him. A man that raced for a back-marker team because he was too slow to earn a seat higher up on the grid.

All the Zen she’d attempted to achieve melted into disappointment as she watched Lukas smiling at whatever Roman was saying to him. Roman was a problem the sport was scrambling to fix and yet here was Lukas making no effort to keep his distance. He hadn’t made a statement condemning Roman’s opinions either.

Was this a secret side of the champion? Did he hold similar beliefs to Roman? The two of them seemed friendly and Katherine wondered if this was a case of ‘birds of a feather.’

She stored the information away for a possible story. But right now, she needed to make her way to the press area.

Once she was miked up with her cameraman behind her, Katherine put on her brightest smile, speaking to as many drivers as she could, waiting for her moment to speak to the champion.

And then it was happening. Lukas Jäger was about to enter the pen.

Almost in slow motion, she saw him walk towards her, his manager by his side, her anticipation ramping up.Thiswas what she had worked so hard for. It was only the second day of the season opener, but she had so many questions for Lukas.

She never took her eyes off him. She couldn’t. He was magnetic. So she saw when he looked at her and his expression turned cold, his brows drawing in a frown. The antithesis to how broadly he had smiled with Roman. She’d wondered if they held similar beliefs and Katherine felt like she was getting her answer.

She saw him mutter something to his manager and attempt to turn away, but almost instantly her producer was there, and she held her breath hoping he was trying to convince Lukas to give her a moment. Ultimately, they all wanted great footage for VelociTV.

Her hands wrung the microphone in a hard grip. It was the only sign of her anxiety, because she had to remain calm. Professional.

And then her heart sank.