Roman stared at Selene.
For a second, the roar of engines around the pit lane seemed to disappear.
“What are you talking about?”
Selene looked toward the VIP balcony.
The man in the gray suit was already moving toward a private exit.
Finn grabbed Roman’s arm.
“That’s the man who took my dad.”
Roman didn’t hesitate.
“Stay here.”
He ran.
Security followed.
The man disappeared through a steel door at the end of the balcony.
Roman slammed it open.
Behind it was a private service corridor leading beneath the grandstand.
“Stop!”
The man kept running.
Roman chased him down a flight of concrete stairs.
Finn suddenly appeared behind him.
Roman turned.
“I told you to stay back!”
Finn was crying.
“He knows where my dad is!”
Before Roman could answer, a metal door slammed somewhere below.
They followed the sound.
At the end of the corridor was an abandoned team garage.
Roman forced the door open.
Inside—
Gabe Mercer was tied to a chair.
Alive.
Finn screamed:
“DAD!”
Gabe looked up weakly.
“Finn…”
The boy ran to him.
Roman cut the restraints.
“Who did this?”
Gabe looked toward the doorway.
“The man you were chasing.”
Roman turned.
“He escaped.”
Gabe shook his head.
“No. He wants you down here.”
Roman froze.
“Why?”
Gabe pointed toward an old race car hidden beneath a black cover.
“That car belonged to Lucas.”
Roman stared at it.
“My brother’s crash car was destroyed.”
“No.”
Gabe pulled the cover away.
The damaged black chassis underneath still carried Lucas Pierce’s number.
Roman went pale.
“They lied to me.”
Gabe nodded.
“I found it six weeks ago.”
Roman walked around the car.
Then stopped.
A small metal plate had been welded beneath the cockpit.
He wiped away the dust.
There was a company name engraved on it.
Not Pierce Automotive.
Roman read it aloud.
“Vale Dynamics.”
Finn looked at him.
“What is that?”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“My father’s first company.”
Gabe shook his head.
“No.”
Roman turned.
“What?”
“It wasn’t your father’s.”
Gabe reached into his torn jacket and pulled out a folded legal document.
Roman opened it.
His eyes moved rapidly across the page.
Then stopped.
The original owner was listed as:
Lucas Pierce.
Roman stared at Gabe.
“My brother owned the company before me?”
“Not just the company.”
Gabe pointed to another page.
“The patents. The factories. The race division. Everything.”
Roman’s breathing changed.
“That’s impossible. Lucas was twenty-three when my father started Pierce Automotive.”
Gabe looked at him carefully.
“Your father didn’t start it.”
Roman froze.
“Then who did?”
Gabe answered quietly.
“Your mother.”
Roman’s face went blank.
“My mother died when I was a child.”
Gabe nodded.
“She built the original electric drivetrain system. Your father transferred everything into his name after she died.”
Roman looked down at the papers.
“And Lucas found out?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why they killed him?”
Gabe hesitated.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
Roman looked up.
“That wasn’t why.”
Gabe stared at him.
“Lucas found something much worse.”
Finn moved closer to his father.
“What?”
Gabe looked toward an old surveillance monitor mounted on the wall.
“I recovered footage from the night of the crash.”
Roman’s eyes widened.
“Show me.”
Gabe powered it on.
Static.
Then grainy garage footage appeared.
Lucas stood beside the race car arguing with someone.
Roman stepped closer to the screen.
The other person’s face was hidden.
But the voice was clear.
“You sign the transfer tonight, or Roman takes your place in that car.”
Roman’s face drained of color.
Lucas answered:
“Leave my brother out of this.”
The mystery person stepped into the light.
Roman stopped breathing.
It was his father.
Victor Pierce.
Roman whispered:
“No…”
Finn looked at him.
“Your dad?”
Roman stared at the screen.
Victor handed Lucas a document.
Lucas tore it in half.
Then Victor said:
“Then you’ve made your choice.”
The video cut.
Roman stumbled backward.
“My father ordered the crash.”
Gabe nodded.
“But Lucas did one thing before he died.”
Roman looked at him.
“What?”
“He changed the beneficiary on the company trust.”
Roman frowned.
“To who?”
Gabe stared at Finn.
Roman followed his gaze.
Finn froze.
Gabe whispered:
“To my son.”
Roman’s eyes widened.
“What does Finn have to do with Lucas?”
Gabe looked at his boy.
Then at Roman.
“Finn…”
His voice broke.
“…is Lucas’s son.”
Roman stared at the child.
Finn looked terrified.
“What?”
Before Gabe could explain, the garage lights suddenly went out.
A red emergency light came on.
Then Victor Pierce’s voice echoed from a speaker above them.
“Now you know why the boy can’t leave this building.”
Roman looked up.
“Father!”
A mechanical lock slammed shut on the garage door.
Finn grabbed Gabe.
Then the race car behind them suddenly started by itself.
Its engine roared.
Roman stared at it.
And Victor’s voice came through the speaker one last time:
“Lucas refused to sign. Let’s see if his son makes the same mistake.”
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