Page 97 of Racing Hearts
The moment I pulled into the pit lane, I ignored everyone. I refused to climb out of the car, even as engineers hovered nearby. I stayed strapped in, frozen, staring at the massive garage screens like they were life support monitors.
I just needed one image. One sign.
But the feed dragged on. Camera angles changing. Marshals still gathered. No sign of him.
Why was this taking so long? I closed my eyes. Tried to force in air through clenched teeth. In, out. Count to three. Again. But the panic was winning.
The sound of cheering cracked through the air. The camera was zoomed in on Luca.
He had gotten out.
The roar of applause rolled through the paddock like a wave as Luca was helped toward the ambulance.
“Luca is out, G,” Mel whispered into my earpiece. “He’s safe.”
But the relief didn’t come like a flood. It came like a quiet ache. The kind that lingered in the space left behind after a bomb has gone off.
Averting my gaze from the giant screens that now replayed Luca getting out of the car, I tried to shake off the horror from the last few minutes. The horror would likely stay with me for months, a constant reminder of how dangerous racing could be.
I sat in the pit lane, still strapped in, eyes forward, waiting. The announcement came a few minutes later: standing restart. I’d be in second, thanks to Luca’s DNF.
I was so lost in my thoughts, lost in my breathing exercises, that I almost missed the radio turn on. An unfamiliar—and yet familiar—voice came onto the radio.
“You didn’t have to set my car on fire to get second,amore. I’m sure you would have passed me anyway.” His voice was gravelly, amused. Tired. I let out a strangled laugh, choking on it as fresh tears filled my eyes.
Luca had stolen Mel’s headset.
“Fuck off!” I cackled into my radio, grinning from the flood of emotion.
“Oh, and Georgia,” he said, voice soft. “I love you, too.” Three words. Eight letters.
Finally, after all this time, we’d finally both had the courage to say it.
Suddenly everything around me felt a little more bearable. The race, the impending Maison de Klotho sponsorship. None of it felt quite as scary.
The sound of metal on metal echoed in the background, along with Mel’s distant voice yelling at Luca to stay away from the Valkyrie pit wall.
“Sorry, intruders in our camp,” Mel chuckled into the feed. “Alright, G. Race will begin soon with a standing start. You sure you’re ready?”
“Let’s do this.” With each exhale, my heart rate started to return to normal. My knuckles finally unclenched, shoulders dropping.
It was as if new life had been breathed into me.
And after a successful restart, I was back into second place.
Chapter Forty-Five
Luca
“Have you seen my son?”
I perked my head up, recognizing my dad’s commanding tone.
Fuck, he’s going to be furious with me.With that sort of damage to the car, it would be unlikely I could race next week.
“Luca? Luca are you in here?” my father called out.
“I’m over here!” Looking up, I saw my father’s panicked face. The moment we made eye contact, I could see him visibly relax. He took a moment to catch his breath.
