Page 111 of On The Edge

“What did you do?” I ask.

A ghost of a smile frames his lips. “Have you ever known me not to follow through on my recommendations?” he asks. Recommendations? He means threats. Asshole.

“Amandine?” I call out as she walks by, my eyes surveying every inch of space in the garage.

“Yeah?” She stops and looks up from her clipboard.

“Have you seen Maddix?”

“No. Not at all. Why?”

My father’s smirk returns and the sight of it has a pit dropping into my stomach. “You should be focused on the race at hand. Not the woman who is a distraction. Verdad?”

“It’s time,” Otis says, pulling me out of this fucked-up and frantic headspace.

“Yes. Okay.” I glare at my father and Esmerelda, no doubt a pawn in this game. Just like I made Maddix become.

You can’t think of that now. You have to focus now. You have to work.

“Amandine?” I call again.

She’s at my side in seconds and I have a hand on her shoulder, guiding her away from the crowd in the garage as a crew member hands me my helmet. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to find Maddix. Something is wrong. She’s not here when she’s supposed to be here. My father . . .”—I glance over my shoulder—“something happened, and that must be why she’s not here.”

“Okay. Sure. He uh . . . he was sorting through the paddock passes yesterday. Maybe things were accidentally mixed up? I don’t know. Let me go grab my phone. I’ll figure it out.”

“Yes. Thanks.” Would he actually fucking do that?

He would.

“Cruz?”

I look over to Amandine. “I’m taking care of this. Clear your head. Go to work.”

“Okay.” My smile is forced, my head already fucked with.

I give one last glance to my father before I slip my helmet on. It’s a glare. A threat. Fucking with me is . . . whatever. But fucking with my woman? That’s where I draw the line.

And then I force myself to compartmentalize. To shut it out. To worry about the track and the race at hand.

But I search the crowd one last time before I climb in the car.

She’s here.

She didn’t walk away.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Cruz

Elation.

The highest fucking high.

Euphoria.

Relief.