Chapter 147
Chapter 147:
“Who was responsible for inspecting this vehicle?” he demanded, his voice icy and sharp.
No one in the pit lane answered.
Brinley glanced around. Bowman was nowhere to be seen. Jensen stood rigid, pale as chalk, a walkie-talkie clutched tightly in his hands.
Once the Maybach glided away from the track, the shock finally hit Brinley.
For a moment back there, she had thought she would never make it off the track alive.
Her arm throbbed fiercely, anchoring her to the grim reality of how close she’d come.
Austin pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed a first-aid kit from the back.
His movements were rushed, even clumsy, yet when his fingers touched her wound, they were astonishingly gentle.
Brinley groaned as the antiseptic burned across her raw skin.
𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯
Austin froze, his hand going still as his eyes met hers.
The dread lingered on his face, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. “Does it hurt badly p>
“Not too much.” Brinley turned her face away, unable to meet his intense gaze. In that split second of desperation, she had fallen back on Rosara’s self-rescue moves without even thinking. Would he…
“Why didn’t you just aim for the safety zone?” Austin asked quietly, breaking the silence. “At your speed, you would’ve walked away with a scratch. Why risk everything like that p>
Brinley’s heart pounded.
What? He saw the way she lunged toward the passenger seat?
She clenched the fabric of her clothes, scrambling for an excuse. But Austin didn’t give her time.
“When you shifted to the passenger side, your left hand was still adjusting the steering wheel’s angle. That’s not something a casual driver does. That’s the instinct of a professional racer. Brinley, what are you not p>
“I… I learned!” Brinley blurted, cutting him off, her voice trembling. “I picked up emergency techniques from friends before. Just theory. I never thought I’d actually use it p>
Even to her own ears, it sounded flimsy.
Could someone with only theory really react so precisely in a split-second, life-or-death moment?
Austin didn’t argue further. His attention returned to her arm as he carefully wrapped it in layers of white gauze.
The silence inside the car was stifling, broken only by their breathing. The tension thickened the air until it felt suffocating.
After a long pause, Austin spoke again, his voice weary this time. “Was this Milly’s doing p>
Brinley’s eyes snapped to him in shock. How did he know?
A cold smile cut across Austin’s lips. “She thought her bribery of a technician would go undetected. What she didn’t realize is that the Moore Group recently acquired the racetrack’s surveillance system p>
He paused, then stared straight into her eyes. “Brinley, how much longer are you going to keep things from me? I don’t understand why you insisted on racing, but now this sabotage is endangering your life. Can’t you just be honest with me p>