The Formula One tires screeched against the asphalt as it swerved to the right of the practice track. Then, the same thing happened when it made a hard turn to the left. It became a known cycle of ear-splitting sound for at least ten minutes - a time most car racers deem lengthy for a test drive.

Although it was a cold, gloomy evening, thick, white-to-gray smoke could be seen coming out under the engine of the race car. It wasn’t an alarming sight for the spectators, however. No one wasn’t concerned when they knew who drove the said vehicle. They just watched in awe in the sidelines, watched with complete adoration on the driver pulling the shots.

After about two laps of run, the race car finally stopped directly in its inspection area and out came the one who did it all: a woman, wearing a black full-face helmet and loose jumpsuit of red and white.

The NASCAR mechanics call her, “The Empress Hand, ” owing to her skillful and sometimes believed to be magical-works on busted car engines, but her family normally names her, Amanda Caitlin, a twenty-four-year-old independent, sociable, and health-conscious only daughter of the O’Malley Family.

Whether in or out of her dear stepfather’s company, many admire her not only for the comely, exotic beauty she exuded but also for her activeness in extreme sports and her uncanny knack for all things related to masculine work - engine troubleshooting included.

Had it not for this reason, she would have been in New Zealand still where her stepfather’s main office specializing in motorsports was located. And, had it not been for her gay best friend’s insistence to visit his hometown, she would have been in her apartment, eating her home-made dinner and cuddling her white Persian cat.

“Red Panther is good to go, ” announced she pertaining to the highly-prized vehicle of slick red paint. She took out her helmet and tossed it inside the driver’s seat.

The Head Mechanic, Robert, who directly stood near the engine side nodded. He had a graying hair, an overgrowth of beard and wrinkles in his forehead that was expected of a forty-year-old.

“Yes, many thanks Cait, ” he stated with a pat on her back. “You really have talent on fixing engines.”

“Hmm, that’s the reason why I’m here after all Rob. It’s my job.” She winked at his way and strutted out of the restricted area leaving the man sheepishly tilting his head. It was more of an effect from her charms that’s why he did so, and not because he felt slightly belittled that she did better than him in the mechanical aspect.

“I’m glad we requested the boss to let you travel with us to Spa, Belgium, ” another man said with a hint of an Italian accent.

He stood at the boundary line waiting for Amanda to cross. He was about ten years younger than the Head but has his rightful place in the Company being that he was the Vice President, second to her stepfather, Mr. Arnold O’Malley.

With a copper short hair brushed up neatly to the back, a perfect five o’clock shadow beard, and striking masculine features, he could easily pose as Amada’s boyfriend - if she was even open to the prospect of having one.

“Yeah, and you should thank Noman too because he is a major contributor of me coming here, ” replied Amanda as she unzipped the back of the jumpsuit in the man’s front not caring that many pairs of eyes were still glued on her, his included.

The Vice President, who was named Matteo Nikos Threvelli, cocked a brow. “Where is that gay best friend of yours by the way? I thought he wanted to tour you in his hometown?”

Amanda finished pulling the uniform out of her ankles and stilettos before answering him. She balanced herself against the metal railing not wanting to ask for his help with regards to this aspect. But Matteo was very much willing to if only to play gentleman in front of her. So, without waiting for her to say anything, he helped keep her balance intact by slipping a hand around her waist.

Amanda was unfazed by the intimate contact. She merely owed it to his gentlemanly behavior as had always been for about two years of knowing each other.

“Well, he did, yesterday, immediately after he gave me just four hours of sleep after my twelve hours of flight, ” she answered finally and made a cheeky grin. She handed the uniform to him who in turn handed her the brown leather jacket he had been keeping before the start of the test drive.

“Thanks, ” she said, easily forgetting about the contact of his hand on her waist.

“You’re welcome, ” he nodded appreciatively.

“And now he is in an anniversary party probably grinding his ass off. He wanted me to come saying that this party is one of the most awaited parties every year in this country, but as you can see, ” she paused and gestured to the heavily-spotlighted surroundings of metal benches, race tracks, unused tires, and parked race cars with a wave of a hand and continued, “I’m here, tending to my stepfather’s prized Formula Ones.”

Matteo chuckled at her subtle remark of disappointment.

“Hmm, I can sense that you want to join in that party, ” he cited.

Amanda shrugged her shoulders and adjusted her white V-neck tee. “Well, who wouldn’t be? As per Noman’s claim, it would be a fun night of debauchery.”

The man cocked a brow again. “I thought you disliked such stuff. I don’t see you as a happy-go-lucky woman.”

Amanda puckered her lips and grinned. “Of course I am not like that, but it sure would be interesting to see how it plays out on him.”

“Ha! You really are one of a kind Cait.” His eyes glinted with warmth - a rather quick change from his friendly light earlier. “So, I take it you can have dinner with me tonight? I don’t want to have you returning to your best friend’s unit and eat alone on the couch.”

The latter wasn’t taken aback by his smooth intro of a dinner date. She just gave him a playful brow lift and said, “Hmm, let me se—”

But then her answer was cut off when her cellphone rang and vibrated inside her jeans pocket.

She held a hand up near the face of this six-footer dressed in impeccable clothes and continued, “Wait, I should take this first.”

Matteo nodded and observed her take out the gadget.

“Caitlin O’Malley speaking, ” she answered as soon as the phone touched her ear.

The curve of her smile was clear at first, but then it changed into a thin line. Her brows knitted and she remained silent the whole time the caller reported about her best friend’s state of inebriation.

“Where is that place?” she asked, a sense of urgency coming over her.

The man with a raspy voice on the other side of the line answered concisely including the address and the instructions on how to get there. He even called her ‘Madame’ as if he was like someone of the olden days.

“Alright, I’ll be there in twenty minutes, ” Amanda replied, sure to herself, amidst the fact that she was unfamiliar with the Belgian streets.

“What happened Cait?” asked Matteo as soon as she cut the call.

Amanda huffed. “This is a world record. Noman just found himself already intoxicated early in the night!”

Matteo’s deep chuckle followed. “Wow. That is not a surprise.”

“Oh com’n Matt, give my best friend some credit, ” she slapped his shoulder playfully. “He ain’t that stupid to be in that situation easily.” She tucked her cellphone back in her pocket and raced to leave the grease-splattered waiting area.

Matteo followed closely behind her.

“Let me drive you there, ” was his immediate offer, hoping she would agree. “I don’t want you riding a taxi.”

Amanda stopped and turned to face him. “So kind of you Matt, but do you know where the place is?”

“What’s the name and address of the house?” he inquired instantly.

“House of Vitalis, Libree Road, ” she answered, crossing her arms over her well-endowed chest.

Matteo smiled wildly. “Then, there’s no problem. People who had been in Belgium before knows where that castle is, I myself included.”

“Wait, what? A castle?!” Amanda’s eyes widened.

“Yes, a castle Cait. I haven’t been inside because it is a restricted place, but every year the Vitalis Family opens up their doors to invite the more esteemed of the population for an anniversary party.”

“Wow, that’s typical, ” she commented and rolled her eyes, thinking of Noman and how he pulled strings to be able to get inside. He wasn’t exactly included in the ‘most esteemed’ part of the society being that he was just a budding professor of a famous university in New Zealand and the youngest of a family of teachers. He wasn’t exactly in the super-rich and famous list.

“Now, should we go?” Matteo grabbed his car key from the pocket of his slacks and drew it up to their front.

“Yes, yes, I think we should, ” Amanda bobbed her head, “but only if you tell me what you know about this Vitalis Family.”

***

And so Matteo did, during their travel to Libree Road, which specifically consisted of zero. He admitted to his inadequate knowledge about the Vitalis Family and reasoned because the family was just too private of their lives. No one knew actually of the Vitalis Family history except those who were close to them and by close, meant the family members and first-degree relatives themselves.

Instead of this topic, Matteo took advantage of the opportunity and rushed to cultivate more of Amanda’s love life. The latter however kept herself reserved and eluded the man’s questioning rather skillfully explaining she was just too busy to even welcome suitors.

Once the second topic was dropped, Amanda diverted her attention to the landscape seen through her side of the window.

It was a beauty. Trees after trees were everywhere looking like one mass of black clump against the moonlit sky. This part of the region, many called provincial-looking, and Amanda could very well guess that riding a taxi coming here would be utterly difficult.

“Thank you by the way for accompanying me, Matt, ” she expressed whilst looking at him and noticing how adeptly he drove his newly bought black Aston Martin.

Matteo curved a smile. “No problem, Cait. It is my pleasure.” Although a little bit let down of the way his wooing of her went, he still cherished the fact that they were together.

“We are here, ” he announced, gradually slowing his car to a narrow road that led all the way to the enormous castle stonewall.

“Wow, ” was the only expression Amanda could make as she stared through the windshield.

There lacked a moat, standard towers, and a drawbridge but calling the building a castle was correct in every aspect. It looked like two massive white mansions joined in one.

They drove inside the front courtyard, passing through the already open thick iron-wrought gate.

Amanda’s sense of sight underwent a fiesta whilst looking at how the colorful strobe lights sliced through the darkness of the night. It danced all the way to the cloudy sky in time with the loud, head-thudding techno music.

Metallic, sequined, fluffy, lacy, feathery, and almost all manners of clothing and appliqués could be seen everywhere worn by different races and genders of guests around the mansion; dancing, eating, or whatever hullabaloo they were doing.

It was a real sight to see.

And to think this was just the courtyard alone. How much more the inside of the castle?

A number of valets awaited them as the car neared. All of these men had tidy, brushed-up hair and ramrod straight backs, standing on top the wide marbled stairs of the front arched portico. In their middle stood the oldest man, donning on a complex piece of butler outfit complete with white gloves and a tailcoat.

Though she had a few words popping out of her mind, Amanda was just too dumbstruck to even audibly comment on how staged and stiffly-organized the whole welcome scene was. She eyed Matteo with one brow lifted and the latter just gave her a lopsided smile.

Both had seen high-class parties in New Zealand and in other parts of the world during their car race travels, but not like this one that was too over-the-top.

“Here we are, ” he announced, putting the Aston in a complete stop.

“So it looks.” Amanda resisted rolling her eyes.

Swiftly, two men descended from the stairs. One man wearing a gray tux accepted the car key when Matteo handed it to him after he disembarked the car while another man wearing the same look of uniform assisted Amanda out of the vehicle.

“Thanks, ” she said but was cut off with her planned intro speech when the same raspy voice from before greeted.

“Welcome to the Vitalis Estate, Madame O’Malley.”