Chapter 328\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vic turned and even through the blood trickling from his nose I could see his smirk. \u201cProve it, sweetheart. Accidents happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Accident?\u201d The word came out sharp. \u201cYou sped up into him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He was in my way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He\u2019d already won. He\u2019d already crossed the finish line.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d Vic pulled off his helmet and spit blood. \u201cHe humiliated me. Made me look like a fool in front of everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ARE a fool,\u201d Sarah said, appearing beside me. Her voice was shaking but her eyes were fierce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got what he deserved,\u201d Vic said. \u201cThinking he\u2019s so much better than everyone else, showing off, making the rest of us look bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe IS better than you,\u201d I said. \u201cHe\u2019s better than all six of you combined and you can\u2019t stand it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWon\u2019t matter if he\u2019s dead,\u201d Vic shrugged, actually shrugged, like Tristan\u2019s life meant nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to kill, to suck the filthy life off him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The violence in my chest exploded outward and I moved toward him, my hands curling into fists, not sure what I was going to do but knowing I was going to hurt him, going to make him pay for what he\u2019d done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion caught me around the waist. \u201cAthena, no. The babies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The babies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word stopped me cold and I looked down at my still\u2013flat stomach, at the tiny lives growing there that needed me to stay calm, stay safe, not get into a fight with a man who\u2019d just tried to kill their father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere won\u2019t be a next time,\u201d Orion\u2019s voice cut through the air, that Alpha command that made humans instinctively back up. He was standing now, having left Tristan\u2019s care to Derek, and he was moving toward Vic with Sarah right beside him, her hand in his.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vic\u2019s two friends stepped forward, trying to look threatening. Three humans against two Alphas and a very angry woman, they had no idea how badly\u00a0<\/p>\n
outmatched they were.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You want to do this?\u201d one of Vic\u2019s friends asked, a big guy with a shaved head and prison tattoos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek didn\u2019t answer, just grabbed the guy\u2019s shirt and threw him aside like he weighed nothing. The man hit the ground hard and didn\u2019t get up, clearly deciding this wasn\u2019t worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second friend swung at Orion and Orion caught his fist mid\u2013air, squeezed until something cracked, bones breaking with audible pops, and shoved him down. The friend screamed, holding his crushed hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vic backed up, eyes wide, finally realizing he\u2019d made a mistake. Finally understanding that Tristan had family, had people who loved him, and they weren\u2019t going to let this go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re done racing here,\u201d Orion said, his voice deadly calm. \u201cYou\u2019re done in this city. If I ever see you near another track, near my brother, near\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
1:25 pm P\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 328\u00a0<\/p>\n
ANYONE 1 care about, I will end you. Do you understand?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vic opened his mouth to argue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek hit him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The punch was precise, controlled, catching Vic in the stomach and dropping him to his knees gasping for air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He asked if you understand, Derek said calmly, then hit him again, this time in the jaw. Blood and what might have been a tooth flew from Vic\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vic nodded frantically, wheezing, curled up on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d Orion turned away, dismissing him. \u201cGet out of my sight. And if I find out you\u2019ve raced anywhere, told anyone what happened here, or done anything other than disappear, I\u2019ll find you. And it won\u2019t be a fist you\u2019ll have to worry about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The threat was clear, the dominance rolling off Orion in waves that made even the crowd back up. Vic\u2019s friends helped him up and they stumbled away, Vic limping badly, his face already swelling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd parted to let them through and I heard the muttering, people already creating the story of what had happened, how Vic had tried to cheat\u00a0<\/p>\n
again and paid the price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was already back beside Tristan, taking his hand carefully. His eyes were open now, barely, unfocused and glassy, and he was trying to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena,\u201d his voice was barely a whisper, thick and slurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t talk,\u201d tears were streaming down my face, falling on his jacket. \u201cThe ambulance is coming, just hold on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I\u2026 win?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A sob\u2013laugh burst out of me. \u201cYes, you idiot, you won. You beat all of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d his eyes tried to close. \u201cWanted to\u2026 make you proud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did, you did, just please don\u2019t leave me,\u201d my hand gripped his tighter. \u201cPlease don\u2019t leave us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 328 Chapter 328\u00a0 Vic turned and even through the blood trickling from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}