“You haven’t even tried yet. How can you be so sure you’ll never race professionally again?”
Selene offered the man a faint, knowing smile. When it came to racing, Adrian understood her better than anyone.
She glanced down at the invitation in her hand, steeling herself for a decision that felt monumental. “I’ll send an email first. If I get a reply… I’ll give that race a shot.”
Adrian immediately guessed who she meant.
It was her old co–driver–the friend she’d drifted away from five years ago.
Since Luna had retired, neither she nor her co–driver had spoken, not once in all those years.
Selene pulled out her phone and logged into her email. Aside from this address, she wasn’t even sure she had any other way to reach her.
She typed in the familiar address she could never forget, then hovered for a
moment, phone in hand, searching for the right words.
She remembered, back when Adrian first appeared before her at the wheel of his Sunfire, asking her:
Did her dream still burn inside her?
And she’d thought of her best friend/
“I want to be Luna again. I want to chase the dream we once shared.”
Selene hit send, and her heart hammered in her chest.
Even after the email disappeared into the void, her nerves refused to settle.
She locked her phone in a rush. Not even during math competitions had she ever felt this anxious.
The elevator doors slid open. Adrian broke the silence first. “Let me drive y home.”
It was the perfect chance to talk more about the international racing circuit. No way would Selene turn him/down!
“Mommy!” A little girl’s voice rang out.
1/3
Selene’s head snapped toward the sound, Instantly spotting Daph.
Daph was perched in the back of a Range Rover, one elbow propped on the window as she waved excitedly.
Behind the wheel sat a tall man, his face hidden in the car’s shadow.
Selene grinned at Adrian. “My brother’s here to pick me up.”
Adrian strolled over, ready to greet Daph, but a fit of coughing caught him off guard.
“Mr. Shaw, are you okay?” Daph asked, her eyes wide with concern.
Adrian, ever the showman, slid into the car’s back seat with practiced ease.
“I saw Harrison at the party tonight, and he-”
The moment Adrian began, Daph’s attention latched onto him, eager to hear all the gossip from the banquet.
After saying goodbye to Leo, Selene was about to get in when Adrian patted the empty seat beside him, his eyes gleaming as if he might burst out: “Come on, hop in already!”
“Out,” Luke Holloway said bluntly, not bothering to sugarcoat it.
Adrian clutched his chest, gasping theatrically. “Ah, ah, ah!”
Daph quickly reached over to pat Adrian’s back, but he only coughed harder.
“Uncle Luke, Mr. Shaw’s hurt! Let’s take him home, okay?”
Selene opened the passenger door and climbed in, then turned to Luke. “Let’s give Mr. Shaw a ride.”
Adrian’s injury was transparently fake, but after tonight’s performance in front of Harrison, he’d earned the part.
Adrian perked up, a smug grin on his face. “Only Selene knows how to care for me. Guys like Lieutenant Holloway–they wouldn’t know tenderness if it bit them.”
If Luke Holloway had a gun at that moment, he’d have gladly put Adrian out of his misery–just to show him the true meaning of pain.
Selene fastened her seatbelt, then glanced up just in time to see Harrison
over to Leo.
Iking
Harrison had changed into clean clothes; even his hair, once sticky with spilled drinks, was freshly washed.
nons
He spotted the Range Rover and recognized it Immediately as Luke Holloway
Through the window, Harrison’s gaze landed on Selene, sitting inside.
Selene didn’t so much as glance his way; to her, he was just another stranger drifting by.
As the SUV pulled out of the garage, Harrison stepped up beside Leo and greeted him with quiet respect:
