Chapter 88 What's left of us
Then he heard footsteps leaving. He was right,it was probably one of the mechanics. The hum of engines echoed through the stadium, each roar bouncing off the curved metal beams and settling heavy in the air. Tires screeched against asphalt, the echo vibrating through Dante’s chest with a familiarity he hadn’t felt in months. He sat alone on the third row of the bleachers, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tight.
For a moment, he let himself breathe.
He watched a sleek black prototype slice through the track, the speed a blur. His pulse matched the car’s rhythm, every turn pulling a memory from the night of the accident, headlights, the scream of metal, the jolt of impact, his body going weightless before everything went dark.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
He almost forgot how alive racing made him feel. Or how badly it hurt him now.
Just when the pressure behind his ribs threatened to explode, a soft voice pulled him back.
“Dante?”
His eyes flew open. He turned.
Sienna stood at the end of the bleacher row with hair wind-tousled, eyes reflecting the silver of the track, chest rising and falling from what looked like a long walk to reach him.
He stiffened. “What are you doing here?”
She didn’t look away. “I’m here to check something for myself.”
His jaw tightened. “Are you stalking me?”
“No.” Her voice remained calm, too calm. “You don’t matter that much anymore.”
A lie. He felt it. And yet anger flared hot under his skin.
She walked closer, leaving only two steps between them. “I didn’t take the necklace.”
He stood up instantly, needing distance. “Sienna.”
“I left you a note,” she continued, ignoring the warning in his tone. “A note in my room. Maybe Isabelle saw it. Maybe one of the maids. Whoever sold that necklace wasn’t me.”
He scoffed. “Convenient story.”
“Why would I lie?” she shot back.
“Because you’ve done it before,” he said sharply.
Her face flinched, like he’d struck her.
He inhaled, trying to steady the sudden shake in his hands. She had that effect of pulling old wounds wide open just by breathing near him. And yet as she stood there, wind blowing hair across her cheeks, some buried part of him ached.
He looked away.
“I came here to be alone,” he muttered.
“Then I’ll go,” she whispered, turning slightly. “You’re tense. Sit down. I’ll leave since my presence disgusts you.”
He closed his eyes again, pained. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“You don’t have to say them,” she replied. “I can feel them.”
He opened his eyes and found hers brimming with something raw and desperate.
Then she asked about it.
“Dante, did you ever love me? Was any of it real, or was it just another game to you?”
His breath caught.
She stepped closer, her voice cracking. “Was I something to pass time? Something to warm your bed? Something to help you walk again so you could go back to the woman who left you without a second thought?”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then what happened?” she demanded. “Because one minute we were together and you were telling me I was your peace, and the next minute you were in another woman’s arms while I was fighting for my career. Fighting for my name.”
His heart slammed against his ribs. She wasn’t supposed to say that. She wasn’t supposed to still make him feel anything.
“What do you want me to say, Sienna?” he growled. “That I miss you? That I hate what we’ve become? That I still am.” He cut himself off.
But the words were already hanging in the air between them.
Sienna’s breath hitched. “You still what?”
Any softness inside him hardened instantly. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“It shouldn’t,” he snapped. “You’re not my responsibility. You made your choices. Live with them.”
She froze. “My choices? My choices?”
He nodded sharply.
Sienna laughed. “I lost my license, Dante.”
His head jerked up. “What?”
“My license was withheld. They want to revoke it entirely.” Her voice wavered. “My entire career is gone. Everything I worked for, everything I gave up, all the lives I wanted to save were taken away in one sentence.”
His face paled.
“I showed up to that hearing alone,” she went on, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I defended myself alone. And while I was being destroyed, you were busy kissing Isabelle for the cameras.”
“That’s not fair.”
“That’s reality.” Sienna wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “I was falling apart, and you didn’t even look back.”
Dante’s jaw clenched, guilt crawling up his throat. For a moment he softened, she saw it, the crack in his armor but then anger drowned it again.
“You expect me to forget the files? The leaks? The lies?”
“Those weren’t from me!” she choked.
“Someone signed your name,” he retorted. “Someone used your access. Someone from your side. So yes, Sienna, you expect too much.”
Her chest tightened so painfully she had to breathe through her mouth.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from behind them.
A young engineer from Varon Motors, Marko, someone Dante trained years ago froze when he saw the two of them.
His eyes widened. Then he grinned.
“Oh, wow,” Marko said. “Dr. Hale? Mr. Varon? Are you two.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “having a secret date or something?”
Dante’s face darkened instantly. Sienna went red.
“It’s not.” Dante began.
“We’re not.” Sienna said at the same time.
Marko laughed awkwardly. “Okayyy. I’ll just go check the left-wing garage. And pretend I didn’t see anything.”
He jogged away, whistling like he already planned to tell half the engineering team what he witnessed.
Dante exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. “Great. Just what I needed.”
Sienna stared at him. “That bothers you?”
“It complicates things,” he muttered.
“Because Isabelle might hear?” she asked quietly.
He froze.
Sienna nodded slowly. “Got it.”
She turned to walk away again.
“No,” he said suddenly, grabbing her wrist gently but firmly.
She stopped.His hand was warm. Her heart lurched painfully.
“Sienna.” His voice softened. “Just stay like this for one minute.”
She looked over her shoulder. “Why?”
He didn’t answer at first. His throat moved as he swallowed.
“Because I don’t hate you,” he finally whispered.
The words were barely audible under the roar of engines on the track.
Her eyes glistened. “Then why do you treat me like you do?”
“Because everything hurts,” he said. “Everything connected to you hurts.”
She sucked in a trembling breath. “I hurt too, Dante.”
He flinched.
She gently pulled her wrist free. “But I’m done apologizing for things I didn’t do. Isabelle lied. Someone framed me. And instead of standing by me, you left me.”
He looked down. Her words cut deeper than she knew.
She continued, quieter. “You chose her. And I know why, she’s familiar, predictable, part of your world. But familiarity isn’t love.”
His chest rose sharply. “Don’t talk like you know my life.”
“I do,” she said softly. “I lived in it for a few weeks.”
He had no argument. His voice dropped. “Sienna please.”
She blinked, confused. “Please what?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it.”
Her heart broke a little more.
She let out a shaky breath. “I came here to tell you the truth about the necklace and to tell you that I didn’t betray you. But you’ve already built your own story.”
He said nothing.
“So I’ll let you keep it,” she whispered.
Dante’s eyes lowered to her trembling hands. The sight made something twist painfully inside him.
“Sienna.” he said, the beginnings of regret forming.
She held up a hand. “Don’t. Please don’t say anything if you’re not sure you mean it.”
He froze.
Then her voice cracked one last time. “And don’t touch me like you care when every day you prove you don’t.”
He looked like she’d slapped him.
A long silence stretched between them, filled only with the distant roar of another car tearing across the track.
Finally, Sienna stepped back.
She looked at him memorizing his face even as it tore her apart.
Her voice was barely a whisper. “I guess that’s all that’s left of us.”
She turned and began walking down the bleachers.
Dante didn’t move.
But his chest heaved like he was drowning.
“Sienna!” he finally called out.
She paused.
For a moment, he almost said everything he was holding back.
But then Isabelle’s voice echoed in his head, the warnings, the accusations, the polished lies and he hardened again.
“Be careful,” he said flatly. “Monaco isn’t the safest place for you right now.”
She gave a sad, tired laugh. “It’s safer than being near you.”
And she walked away.
Dante stood frozen, watching her disappear down the steps, his heart in his throat, anger burning through his chest at her, at himself, at everything he couldn’t fix.
He lowered himself back onto the bleachers, gripping the railing until his knuckles went white.
His heart ached.His body trembled. His mind screamed.
And above it all, the engines on the track roared like they were calling him back to the only thing that ever made sense.
The only thing that didn’t lie. The only thing that didn’t leave.
Speed. Adrenaline. Control.
His world. His escape.His poison.
He stared at the track long enough that he didn’t hear footsteps approaching behind him.