Chapter 45 Chapter 45
Leo’s POV
While everyone stood frozen in shock, Aria leaned back against the Lamborghini, all casual confidence.
I noticed she'd thrown on a black leather jacket over black leather pants. The kind of outfit that screamed "don't fuck with me."
Her body—curves in all the right places—drew every eye in the vicinity.
Watching her pose against that fire-red Lambo, she looked like she'd walked straight out of an action movie. Some badass assassin on a mission.
She stood there, all effortless and electric, leaning against that supercar like she owned the world.
Then those red lips parted:
"My bad, had to pick up my ride. Just got here."
"But hey, I'm not late, am I?"
I could hear it—the words "my bad" came out of her mouth, but there wasn't an ounce of apology on her face.
I stared at Aria's outfit, then at that red supercar behind her.
Even though Aria didn't have her wolf yet, the aura she was giving off reminded me of the first Alpha Female of Riverbend Pack!
Of course, that thought only lingered in my head for about two seconds before I shook it off.
Because right now, all my attention was focused on Aria and that Lamborghini Veneno behind her!
I remembered clearly—
When that Lamborghini Veneno first appeared earlier and stunned all of us, it had driven away from the crowd.
We'd all assumed it had been driven to wherever its owner was.
But now... Aria had driven it to the race venue...
What did this mean!
Before I could process my thoughts, I heard Wyatt's voice ring out:
"Wait—that car—how the hell do you have that!?"
I saw Wyatt gasping for breath, eyes wide with disbelief.
I could imagine how much terror he must be feeling right now.
And besides the terror, there was probably shame too.
After all, however hard he'd been mocking Aria just moments ago—that's how humiliated he must feel now!
Justin also blurted out in shock: "Hold up—is that thing actually yours!?"
I saw him stumble backward several steps as he spoke.
Every member of the Howlers racing team stood there completely dumbfounded.
And the shock of Jax and Blake beside me—I could feel it wasn't any less than theirs.
I stared at my sister Aria with an expression of utter disbelief.
My sister's words kept replaying in my head:
'You like that car too?'
'You wanna drive it?'
My heart was pounding hard.
So everything my sister said to me before... it was all true!
That car really was hers!
Angelina’s POV
Even though I really wanted to openly admit that this car was mine, Leo was still here at the scene.
I couldn't expose my identity.
Because if I did, the Sterling family would never let me stay with them anymore.
I lowered my eyes, a wave of complex emotions surging through my chest.
In the end, I still didn't want to return to the life I had in my previous existence—a world without family affection, filled only with killing.
"Got it from a friend." I crossed my arms.
Before anyone could say shit, I was already in front of Leo.
"Here."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I raised my hand and the high-end car key flew from my grasp.
The key traced a beautiful arc through the air, and Leo caught it easily.
Watching Leo's shocked expression, I spoke:
"You wanted to drive it? It's yours."
My voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to everyone present.
The surroundings instantly fell into dead silence. I could feel everyone's shocked gazes—this precious, limited-edition Lamborghini, of which only three existed in the entire world, I'd just handed over to my brother to drive?
Everyone was stunned beyond belief.
Even Leo himself, holding the car key, trembled slightly:
"Wait, I can't—"
He wanted to refuse. I could tell. He felt he wasn't worthy of this car.
But I didn't give Leo a chance to respond.
It was time to let those people get a good look. I raised an arrogant smile, full of disdain, returning all the mockery and contempt right back to Justin and Wyatt:
"But there's a condition." I cut him off, grinning. "You're taking that car and you're gonna destroy all of them. The entire Howlers. All six."
My voice wasn't loud, but it was light yet powerful—arrogant enough!
The six members of the Howlers racing team instantly turned pale!
"You... there's no way you're—"
Justin's eyes widened, his voice trembling.
Looked like this guy wasn't completely stupid—he'd guessed my plan.
I smiled calmly and spoke decisively:
"What's wrong? Show me where it says he can't. Unless the six of you are too chicken to race one person? Scared he'll make you look like idiots?"
I knew very well that this race was indeed a team battle, meant to be competed in one-on-one matches.
But the rules didn't say that one person could only compete once.
What I meant was—our team would only send out Leo, and he'd race against all six members of the Howlers racing team, one by one.
As for myself and the other four team members, we wouldn't be competing today.
Sure, I was exploiting a loophole in the rules.
But it was perfectly legitimate.
Looking at the expressions on the six Howlers team members' faces, I knew they couldn't argue back at all!
Justin’s POV
"This is bullshit!"
My fists clenched so hard my nails dug into my palms. My face was burning up. I knew I looked pissed as hell, but what was I supposed to do about it?
Anyone with eyes could see how this was gonna go down.
Whoever raced against Leo was screwed.
Why?
Because Leo was driving a fucking Lamborghini Veneno.
My heart kept sinking. Earlier I'd been calculating that tonight there were six races, and it would take all six to determine the final outcome. Even if we lost the race against Leo, our team could make up for that loss in the other five races. That way, we'd still have a chance at winning.
But what happened?
Aria actually made Leo race all six matches!
Ruthless!
This woman! So ruthless!
She had no intention of leaving us any way out!
I was so angry I could barely breathe, my chest felt like it had a boulder pressing on it.
"Bullshit?"
She repeated the word slowly, like she was tasting it. That look in her eyes made my stomach drop.
"Oh, you think this is bullshit? Keep talking. See what happens."
Her voice was calm. Too calm.
And that's what made it worse. My whole body went cold. I could feel myself starting to shake.
No, I couldn't stay here any longer. I had to think of something fast!
"Fuck this. We're leaving. Track. Now."
I pretended to stay composed and led my crew away from here.
Of course I didn't want to just sit and wait for death. So I planned to use the time heading to the track to think of a way to deal with Leo. Maybe I could find some weakness...
But just as we were about to leave, Aria's voice rang out again.
This time, she changed from her previous playful tone, using a voice cold to the bone:
"I'd keep your little schemes to yourself. You know what happened to Tyler, right? Hotshot racer. Thought he was untouchable." She paused. "He's dead now. Your call."
At those words.
Those of us who'd been about to leave suddenly froze in place.
What?
Tyler!?
My brain exploded.
He'd won the Wildpath Championship three years running. In the North American werewolf racing scene, he was basically unbeatable.
But not long ago, Tyler had a racing match against a mysterious female racer.
In the end, that mysterious female racer won.
And Tyler...
Actually went over a cliff with his car!
Dead!
And according to insiders, before Tyler died, he'd been staring with terrified eyes, as if he'd seen the most horrifying thing in his life.
Regarding Tyler's bizarre death, people inside and outside the racing circuit had all kinds of theories. Some said that female racer had done something to sabotage things; others said the mountain road was too slippery and he'd accidentally fallen off.
But I was more inclined toward the former.
So after hearing Aria's words, I was extremely terrified.
A horrifying feeling rose from deep within my heart.
Could it be that the mysterious female racer who killed Tyler...
Was this high school girl standing in front of us!?
I stared at Aria with a horrified expression. The guys beside me had the same look.
"Justin, what the fuck do we do?"
Wyatt had been all cocky earlier. Now he was practically whimpering next to me.
I glared at him. "What can we do? Take the L. No race is worth getting killed over."
I led the crew and walked away quickly. I knew very well that not many people could play with their lives in racing like Aria did. Of course we wanted to win, but the premise for all of this was that it wouldn't threaten our lives.
What's the point of winning if you're dead?