Then chaos.
In my mirror, I saw the debris from my car scatter across the track, another car veering to avoid me—and failing. I watched in horror as, ahead of me, the two cars made contact, and I saw the familiar pink and blue livery spinning out?—
Alexander’s.
His car clipped the tangle of wreckage and went airborne. Timestopped.
“Fuck.”
The world tilted as I watched his car flip once, twice, and slam into the barriers with the kind of impact that made my soul lurch. Someone was trying to talk to me over my radio. I knew I needed to confirm I was okay, but my mind was buzzing like the static of a radio.
“Red flag, red flag—incident on Sector 3. Medical on the way.”
“Matteo, status check. Are you okay?”
Smoke filled my back wing, but I was moving.
“I’m fine. I’m okay,” I gasped, ripping off the steering wheel and forcing the harness release. I shoved my body out of the cockpit and jumped down, boots sinking slightly into gravel.
But I wasn’t thinking about the crash anymore.
I wasn’t thinking about my race.
I wasonlythinking about him.
Alexander’s car had rolled, and was half-crushed against the barrier, with smoke pouring from the engine. The marshals hadn’t reached him yet.
I broke into a sprint, lungs burning, legs heavy from adrenaline and panic. I heard someone yelling at me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.
“Alex!”
No movement.
I was slipping on gravel, dodging bits of debris, a sick, sharp fear cutting into my chest like glass. Not him. Not now. Not when things were finally—fuck, not when he was finallyhappy. Not when Lucia was waiting in the garage. Not when Gia looked at him like he hung the damn stars.
I reached the car just as two marshals converged. One grabbed my arm to hold me back, but I wrenched free.
He was still in the car, helmet on.
“Alex,” I called, voice cracking. “Come on, mate. Say something. Move.Do something.”
The marshal beside me radioed something I couldn’t hear. Everything was muffled under the roar of fear in my head.
If he didn’t move?—
“Alex,” I said again, voice loud, desperate. “Get up! Get up!” It felt like a thousand moments before he moved, before he responded.
“I’m okay, I’m okay.” His voice was scratchy and muffled. He pushed up his visor, seeing me, and thenI finally allowed the marshals to pull me away, a medic car arriving behind us.
I climbed in behind Alexander in the medic car, just watching for any signs. Hand on his shoulder to steady him, or me, I wasn’t sure. Did I know what signs to look for? No, but fuck, I just wasn’t about to take my eyes off him.
“I’m okay,” Alex said, turning to look at me, eyes clouded. My hand squeezed his shoulder before letting go.
“Scared the hell out of us, mate,” I said on an exhale. Alex only nodded then rested his head back on the headrest.
He was okay,I kept repeating it to myself until we pulled up to the medic tent. I stayed with him for a bit before they dragged me away to check me too. When I was finally cleared, I walked straight to my family,half-answering and half-ignoring everyone who saw me on the way.
The moment I laid eyes on my sister, my heart broke a little. She looked so small, her eyes glassy and red. She looked scared, and I wanted to fix it. I wanted to do anything or everything to make that fear disappear.
