My eyes closed as I replayed the last thirty minutes in my office. Stephanie had walked in and said Robby had left his phone. She had put it on my desk and we started talking about the party for Adaline I was planning. Everything had been fine until Stephanie started talking crazy about Adaline finding out about—“No,” I whispered. The front door, I could have sworn I heard the bell ring, but that’s when Stephanie started talking nonsense.

She heard Adaline coming in.

“Holy fucking hell. Mom, I’ve got to call you back.”

“Emmit! Emmit wait!”

I hit End and rushed to the door. Throwing it open, I screamed out Stephanie’s name. She ran out of her office and up to me. “Emmit, I’m still here.”

My hand came up in a motion to stop her. “What. Did. You. Do?”

Stephanie wore a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten before looking back at her. “You planned it didn’t you? You arranged it so Adaline ended up here at the shop. Once you knew she was here, you put your little plan into action.”

Stephanie let out a nervous chuckle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

My heart was pounding against my chest. I grabbed her by the arms and shook her as I shouted, “Don’t fucking lie to me! You are messing with my life, and I swear to God I’ll get the truth out of you somehow, Stephanie.”

“Emmit, we could be happy together.”

I looked at her with a stunned expression on my face. Where in the hell was this coming from? “I don’t love you! I love Adaline! I’ll only ever love her. Now tell me the fucking truth!”

Stephanie broke down crying as she said, “All right! I set the whole thing up. I saw her in the mirror in the hallway after I heard her come in, and that’s when I started to act like we were keeping a secret about us from her. I knew she would step into the room and when I saw her movement, I kissed you.”

My mouth dropped open. “How could you do this to me?”

Her eyes softened as she grinned slightly, “I love you, Emmit. No one will ever love you like I love you.”

How did I not see this coming? With a quick push, I stepped away from Stephanie. “You’re fired.”

“W-what? Y-you can’t fire me!”

I hit Robert Elliot’s number and glanced over my shoulder. “I just did.”

“Hey, Emmit my man, what’s up?”

“I just fired Stephanie. She has lost touch with reality and has seriously overstepped her boundaries. I need you to make sure she is cleared off the property as soon as possible.”

“Oh, um yeah, I’ll get on it right now.”

With a quick nod to no one, I said, “Thanks, Robert.”

Racing into my driveway, I jumped out of my car and ran into the house as I called out, “Addie! Addie!” I had to believe in my heart that Adaline knew I wouldn’t cheat on her. She had to know I loved her.

My mother and sister appeared from around a corner. “She’s not here, Emmit. What in the world is going on?”

My eyes closed as the reality of what happened hit me hard. My eyes snapped open as I said, “She’s gone. She left.” Turning, I punched the wall as I cried out Adaline’s name and fell to the floor.

My mother and Ashley ran over to me as they both fell to the floor next to me. “Emmit, sweetheart, please tell me what is happening.”

Not knowing how I was forming words, I blurted everything out. “Stephanie! She set it all up to make Adaline think she was walking in on us . . . kissing. She twisted our conversation around about Adaline’s party. She . . . she made it seem like we were hiding . . . an affair. When she saw Adaline step into my office, she threw herself at me and kissed me.”

A look of horror moved across my mother’s face as her hands came up to her mouth as Ashley mumbled, “That low-life whore.”

I dropped my head and cried. “I can’t lose her again, Mom. I can’t breathe without her.”

It had been a little over a week since Adaline disappeared. She’d called and left a message on her father’s voicemail during the last race. She knew he wouldn’t be able to answer it. The only thing she said was that she was fine and had sent Mr. Elliot an email giving her notice for personal reasons.

My mind was a blur. I couldn’t sleep, eat or think clearly ever since Adaline left.

“Emmit, you’ve got to stay focused. You’re all over the place.” Waldo’s voice said as it echoed in my helmet.

“Yeah well if that little fucker Newbury would stop bumping me, maybe I wouldn’t get loose. I’m going to pound his fucking face in when I get out of this goddamn racecar.”

“Okay, well I know you’re angry, but try to focus through the anger.”

The spotters voice was next. “Bumper, door, door, bumper, clear.”

I hit the gas and passed another driver. I’d never driven like this before. I was on a mission. I’d never won at Chicago and today I was going to change that.

“Emmit, let’s remember to conserve gas,” Waldo said as his voice invaded my thoughts.

“It’s the chase, Waldo. I’m going to win this.”

Not two seconds later, fucking Malcolm Wallace bumped into my right rear, causing me to slide up the track just enough for that ass hole to get past me. He was now in second and I was running in third.

“That motherfucker!” I shouted as I hit the gas and hit his bumper.

Waldo yelled, “Let’s calm down, buddy.”

“He fucking pushed me out of his way, Waldo.”

My spotter came over the radio again, but I didn’t hear a damn thing he said. All I could focus on was the rear of Malcolm’s car. If I couldn’t pay him back on the track, I’d do it after the race.

“There’s a caution, let’s see what everyone else does. We only have ten laps to go.”

“I’m staying out,” I said matter of fact.

The silence in my car would have been deafening two weeks ago, now I welcomed it.

“Emmit, you need to come in. With four fresh tires, we could take this thing.”

I watched Malcolm as we rounded the turn. Whatever he did, I was doing. Jerking his wheel to make it seem like he was pitting, Malcolm stayed out at the last minute.

So did I.

I could hear Waldo cursing over the radio, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything anymore.

The only thing I cared about left me.

Again.

“You just cost yourself the race, Emmit,” Waldo said with anger in his voice.

I knew my head wasn’t in this race. If I didn’t snap out of it soon, things would turn dangerous.

MY MOUTH DROPPED OPEN WHEN I saw Emmit didn’t pit. I had the team communications pulled up on my phone as my eyes stayed glued to the TV. Glancing down at my phone, I saw my voicemail with one unread message.

It was Stephanie. Why she was calling, I had no idea. Emmit called at least ten times a day, each time leaving a message I had yet to listen to. I needed to clear my head and the more time I had to think about what I saw, the more I questioned what I saw.

The one thing I knew for sure was, Emmit hadn’t been driving well since I left and that filled me with guilt. I’d missed two races since I abruptly left.

“What in the fuck are you doing, Emmit!” my father screamed. “I told you to bring your ass in!”

Things were getting personal between my father and Emmit, and it was my fault.

Emmit laughed. “Yeah well, I decided to do things my way for once.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I could picture my father now with steam coming from his ears.

The next thing he said broke my heart. “You just cost yourself the race, Emmit.”

“Nothing matters anymore, Waldo. The only thing that mattered to me left me over a week ago.”

My breath caught in my chest as I let Emmit’s words sink in. He hadn’t mentioned me once in the last race. Not that I thought he would.