Page 219 of Knot So Lucky
"Adrian?" My voice sounds distant to my own ears, like I'm hearing myself through water.
He says something—his mouth moves, concern evident in his expression—but the words are far away. Muffled. Incomprehensible through the sudden roaring in my ears.
My eyes catch on something I hadn't noticed before.
A sticky note.
Small and yellow, stuck to the wall behind the counter where my coffee had been sitting.
I stumble toward it, my legs not quite obeying commands properly. Everything feels sluggish, disconnected, like my brain is sending signals through molasses.
The note has a single word written in neat block letters:
"Checkmate."
The word registers with horrible clarity even as my vision starts to blur at the edges.
Checkmate.
Game over…
Someone drugged my coffee. Not just drugged it—poisonedit, possibly. And they left a note to make sure I knew it wasn't an accident. That this was deliberate, planned, the culmination of weeks of threats and sabotage.
"Adrian—" I try to speak, try to warn him, but my tongue feels thick and uncooperative.
The garage spins violently, and suddenly I'm falling.
Strong arms catch me before I hit the concrete, Adrian's amber-and-vanilla scent wrapping around me even as consciousness starts to slip away.
I hear shouting—distant and distorted.
Richard's voice, maybe.
Jenny screaming for medical.
Marco's panicked cursing.
But it's all fading, pulled away by whatever was in that coffee.
My last coherent thought before darkness claims me completely is of that note.
"Checkmate."
Someone finally made their winning move.
And I walked right into it.
CHAPTER 43
Counter Checkmate
~ADRIAN~
The steering wheel is slick under my gloves.
Not from sweat—though I'm definitely sweating—but from the particular grip tape Aurora prefers, slightly different from what I'd choose but familiar enough after watching her work on this car for weeks.
"Rory Lane is in third and rushing in!" The announcer's voice crackles through the track's speaker system, audible even over the roar of the engine. "What an aggressive push from the Thorne Racing rookie! Fighting for position with only three laps remaining!"
