The words bypass official equipmenthit Blaze like a shot of adrenaline. The greed inhis eyes vanished r eplaced by the manic, obsessive spark of a technical geniuswho had just been handed an impossible puzzle.
He didn't say another word. He spunaround, marched to his workbench and grabbed the handle of a massive, black metal tool chest. He dragged Ít across the concrete and heaved it into the trunk of the SUV. Blaze rippedopen the back door and threw himself onto the leather seat. “St ep on it" he yelled
Caleb floored the accelerator. The SUV shot onto the northbound highway.
In the backseat, Blaze poppedopen his chest. It was filled with custom- built micro-endoscopes and non destructive ultrasonic scanners.
Anissa handed him a tablet. ‘This is the exact schematic of the Apex teams brakingsystem "
Blaze swiped through the blu eprints his eyes tracking the lines of the hydraulic system, his brow furrowed in concentration. ‘Standard sabotage-cutting the line, tampering with the fluidit all leaves a trace the pre-race diagnostics would catch, This is smarter,’ he muttered, more to himself than to them. He zoomed in on one section. "So if | wanted to kill a driver and make it look like an accident, Id attack a blind spot in the diagnostic system. Let's see... Aha. Here,” Blaze said, tapping a specific junctionon the screen. "The brake pumphas a pressure sensor blind spot right behindthe primary manifold. If someone used a micro- 509% 1104 81
NA SỐ $8 +120 Points at most laser to score the inside wall of this hydraulic ine... it would took flawless from the outside.”
Anissa's blood ran cold
“But?” she prompted, her heart hammering.
“But Blaze said grimly, the second the driver hits the brakes hard at two hundred miles an hour, the pressure will blow that weakened wall wide open Total brake failure.”
Anissa closed her eyes. The autopsy r eport of the car from her past life flashed in her mind Catastrophic brake failure. He was exactly right
An hour later, the SUV tore off the highway exit. The deafening. high pitched scream of V12 enginesripped through the air. They had reached the outer perimeter of Thunder Speedway.
The security at the VIP entrance was absolute. Heavily armed guards stood behinda thick metal barricade.
Anissa didn't panic. She pulled out the military-grade, encrypted tablet Harding had given her. She connected a physical cable to the gate's external intercom box.
Her fingers flew across the glass screen. She bypassed the track's civilian firewall in less than thirty seconds, using the Snow Empire's backdoor access codes.
Aloud be ep echoed from the gate. The red light tumed solid green. The heavy metal barricade automatically swungopen
Anissa pulled her baseball cap lower. Like a ghost slipping through a locked door, she led Caleb and Blaze into the heart of the racetrack. 100.0% 1104 NEỊ
< Mamying My Exs Powerfui Blfonare Un.. #* 1100 Points at most The air insidethe pit lane was thick and suffocating. It smelled violently of buminghighoctane fuel, melted synthetic rubber and hot asphalt. Anissawalked quickly, her combat boots silent against the concrete. She navigated the chaotic maze of mechanics and screaming crew chiefs entirely by memory. She knew exactly where the Apextearris garage was located
She rounded a stack of fresh tires and stopped.
There it was. Garage numberseven.
A massive crowd of sports journalists and sponsors blocked the entrance. Standing in the center of the flashing cameras, leaning casually against the hood of a red and white stock car, was Forrest
He was wearing his fir eproof racing suit, the top half unzipped and tied around his waist. His bright red hair was a messy halo under the harsh garage lights. He was laughing flashing that bright genuine smile that was the only source of warmth Anissa had ever knownin her miserable childhood.
Anissa's throat tightened. Her eyes burned He was alive. He was standing right there.
She took a st ep forward, but her boot froze.
Standing just a few feet away from Forrest, holdinga cup of lukewarm complimentary coffee and looking desperately for someone important to talk to, was Brendan Roy. His usual smugness was r eplaced by a tense, hunted look. He was loudly taking credit for the track's recent renovations to a groupof sponsors, acting as if he owned the entire VIP section, deliberately trying to steal the medias attention away from the driver he had always treated like dirt. And clingingto Brendan's am, wearing a Chanel tweed suit that, upon closer inspection was a season old and slightly frayed at the cuff, was Ashlee. She was looking at the cameras with wide, innocenteyes, making sure she was in every shot.
A wave of pure acidic disgust washed over Anissa's tongue
She ignoredthem. She pushedher way throughthe outer ringof r eporters. She took a de ep breath, filling her lungs with the toxic air of the pit lane. 00% 1107 NI
Sindee $4 +120 Points at most “Forrest! she shouted
Her voice wasn't incrediblyloud, butit cut through the mechanical roar of the garage like a blade.
Forrest stopped mid-sentence. His head snappedtoward the crowd. His eyes scanned the faces until they locked onto the woman in the black leather jacket and baseball cap.
He didn't care about the live television interview. He shoved the microphoneout of his face, pushed past histeam manager, and sprinted toward her.
“Nissal
Forrest grabbed hes, wrapping his massive arms around her shoulders, and lifted her completely off the ground He crushed her against his chest, huggingher so hard her ribs physically ached.
“You finally came to see me, you brat!” Forrest laughed, his voice thick with overwhelmingjoy.
Anissa buried her face in the heavy, fir eproof fabric of his suit. She felt the strong, steady thud of hisheart against her cheek A single, hot tear es caped her eye and soaked into his collar
“I missed you, she whispered fiercely
The touching reunion lasted exactly three seconds before the toxic reality of the Roy family intervened.
Brendan's face had turned a dark, ugly shade of red the moment he saw Anissa He marched through the crowd, his dress shoes clickingangrily ‘on the concrete.
He reached out and grabbed Anissas wrist, his fingers diggingpainfully into her skin He yanked her backward, trying to pull her away from Forrest.
“What the hell are you doing here?" Brendan hissed, his voice trembling withrage. "Haven't you embarrassed this family enough? Get out of front of the cameras!”
He expected herto shrinkaway. He expected the old Anissa the girl who would lower her head and apologize for existing.
Anissa's eyes went dead.
She didn't pull back. She st epped into his grip twisting her wrist sharply against his thumb joint using the exact leverage technique she had leamed in her past life.
293% 1107 ml
Si 8 +120 Points at most Brendan let out a sharp yelp of pain as his gnpwas instantly broken. Anissa took a half-st ep back She looked at him with absolute, freezing contempt
"Do not ever touch me" Anissa said, her voice dropping to a lethal frequency.
Brendan stared at his empty hand, completely shocked
Forrest instantly st epped in front of Anissa, usinghis broad shoulders to shield her. He glared at Brendan like a territorial tiger.
“Back off, Brendan," Forrest warned, his voice losing all its previous warmth. ‘She's my quest. You disrespect her inmy garage, you deal with me
Brendan let out a harsh, mockinglaugh. He pointed a shaking finger at Anissa. You're defendingher? She's a whore, Forrest! She sold her body to an old man for a black card and ruined our familys r eputation!”
The entire pit garage went dead silent. The mechanics stopped turing theirwrenches. The r eporters stopped talking. The air felt ikeit had been sucked out of the room
Smack
The sound of Anissas palm hitting Brendan's face was louder than an enginebackfiring
She had st epped around Forrest and delivered a brutal, full-force slap directly to Brendan's left cheek. His head snapped violently to the side. Abrightred handprintbloomed instantly on his pale skin
Brendan staggered backward, holding his face, his eyes wide with absolute, paralyzing shock.
Anissa slowly rubbedher knuckles She looked directly into the lenses of the surroundingcameras
I am the legal Matriarch of the Snow Empire” Anissa announced, her voice echoingoff the concrete walls, drippingwith absolute authority. ‘If You ever slander my name again, Brendan, my legal team will buryyou so de ep infederal court you will never see the sun again”
The r eporters gasped. The flashes of theif cameras went into a blinding frenzy. Snow Matriarch. The title was a nuclear bomb.
Standing inthe background Ashlee watched Anissa command the room. Her perfectly manicured fingemails dug so hard into her expensiv epurse that one of them snapped off. She was suffocating with jealousy.
558% 1100 mm
EEE 8 +120 Points at most She needed the attention back. Now.
Ashlee suddenly gasped loudly. She clutched her chest, her face contorting into a mask of extreme agony. Her knees buckled, and she swayed heavily to the side
“Brendan. Ashlee whimpered weakly
Brendan, still realing from the slap, heard the weak cry. His protective instincts overrode his humiliation He spun around and caught Ashlee just before she hit the for.
“Ashlee! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Brendan panicked his face pale. Anissa looked at Ashlees fluttering eyelashes and the dramatic heaving of her chest. A cold, cynical smile touched Anissas lips. It was so pathetic it was almost funny.
She completely dismissed the two of them. She turned her back on her former family and looked at Forrest. The coldness in her eyes vanished, replaced by an intense, terrifying urgency.
“Take me to your car,” Anissa commanded. "Right now."