Chapter 169
“Car One’s in position. The target’s been lured away p>
“Car Two’s ready, but this guy’s tough. I need backup p>
“Car Three here. The target just rolled into a ditch. Ha, nailed it p>
“Car Four, moving in to help Two p>
“Car Five reporting. I see Claire’s car, but that’s not her behind the wheel p>
Car Five was a woman, her voice confident and a little sassy. She was definitely older than Claire, but everyone liked to call her Claire anyway. It had just become a habit.
“Yeah, I’m not driving,” Claire said, sounding relaxed. “It’s a friend p>
A female voice chimed in, sounding amused. “Tsk, a little too careful, aren’t they?” Claire laughed. “Doesn’t matter, as long as it works p>
Was that really true? Usually Claire was the one teasing everyone else, never the other way around. But tonight, the whole group seemed extra confident.
With Claire calling the shots, their car danced through the streets, weaving around the pursuers like it was just a game of tag. The people chasing them only realized way too late that they’d been played, hard.
It was almost unbelievable. Some of them even started doubting if it was really Dane’s car. How could anyone drive like that unless they were a professional racer?
The leader of the operation, completely furious, called someone for answers. “What kind of intel did you give me? Dane’s car disappeared ages ago. I have no clue who the hell is driving now, but they’re crazy p>
“We lost two cars. Another two got forced onto the highway. And my car… It won’t even move, one of the wheels nearly went into the river p>
On the other end, the voice was shaking with anger.
Meanwhile, Claire and her crew had already broken free of the trap.
“That’s it, we’re done. Let’s all head out,” Claire texted in the group chat, dropping a few digital red envelopes so everyone could grab a late-night snack.
Dane watched her, amazed. She felt like a stranger right now, but wow, that whole thing was wild.
Claire was in her element, rounding up her friends and totally outsmarting everyone in their way. She thrived on this kind of excitement, and in the middle of the action, she looked like a whole different person.
But as soon as it was over, she just… relaxed. It was like flicking a switch.
Dane couldn’t help but see her differently now.
“Was that fun?” he asked, still a little breathless.
Claire smiled. “Yeah. It was a blast p>
This side of her was something Dane had never seen before. It was special. If anyone called her unpredictable, they wouldn’t be wrong.
She turned toward him while still sitting in the passenger seat, then leaned back, completely calm, as if none of that had just happened.
This was the part of herself she’d built away from the James family, outside of all the rules and expectations they had for her. Life with them had been stifling for so long that Claire Had learned to cut loose in secret.
No one in the family had any idea how many wild things she could actually do. And this was just one of them.
Dane was making calls. He had a freakishly good memory and rattled off the details of every car that had chased them. Within minutes, people were on their way to handle it. This whole thing wouldn’t cause Claire any trouble and was even less of a problem for Dane.
Someone, probably a big shot, was still apologizing to Dane over the phone. “We’re so sorry. The national
security team missed the signs. We
thought everyone from Apex
already
had
been caught. Any threat to
your safety was our mistake.
Claire stopped listening after a while. She was out cold, sleeping peacefully beside
him.
By the time they got home, Dane hesitated, then gently woke her up.
Claire blinked sleepily, her eyes shining with that just-woken-up softness.
“Are we home already p>
Her voice was barely above a whisper, still thick with sleep.
Dane nodded.
Claire stumbled out of the car, half-awake. Dane rushed to catch up, just in time to
steady her when she almost tripped.
Inside the house, Edison was waiting for them in the living room.