Chapter 1

[Give it a rest, you butch villainess. Mr. Black only has eyes for our Daisy. A poison like you is headed for the psych ward sooner or later.]

[Right? Tearing up a painting, big deal. Once Daisy becomes a top driver, Mr. Black will kick this dead weight to the curb.]

[God, he's so sweet. Shame all that devotion is wasted on the wrong woman.]

Watching the text scroll past, I couldn't help the cold laugh rising in my throat.

For eight years I'd stood beside Ethan, from the days he couldn't even afford a set of used tires to now, when he sat at the head of the country's top racing outfit, Redline Racing.

To clear the loan sharks off his back, I quit the circuit and ran underground street races night after night. I drank myself sick in bars chasing down sponsors for the team he was building.

Now he had the name, the money, the empire. And he wanted to use me as a stepping stone to lift up another woman.

"Babe?"

Ethan cradled my hand and blew on it gently.

"Did you cut your fingers? This is my fault. I never should have hung that ugly thing where it'd bother you."

His eyes were soft with worry. The whole performance was flawless.

If the floating text hadn't warned me, hadn't told me he'd one day lock me away and watch me waste to nothing, I'd probably have melted right there.

I yanked my hand back, and the tenderness on his face froze for an instant.

"What's wrong?"

I swallowed the nausea and pulled up a smile.

"Nothing. I don't feel like staying in. Let's go out to the team base. The new season's almost here."

Ethan blinked, then the smile slid back on.

"Sure. Whatever you want."

He drove me out to the base himself. The second we stepped out of the car, the head mechanic came sprinting over.

"Mr. Black, number three's engine is acting up again. You'd better come take a look."

Ethan patted the back of my hand, soothing.

"Babe, wait for me in the VIP lounge. I'll be quick."

Then he was gone.

I watched his back for a moment, then turned and walked the other way.

Toward Ethan's private office.

I pushed the door open and saw it right in the center of the display case. A custom pink helmet.

Two letters were set into the side in crushed diamonds. DD.

[Whoa. Is that the helmet Mr. Black had custom-made for Daisy? Three hundred grand. It's gorgeous.]

[Daisy said she couldn't afford good gear and was scared to go out on the track without it, so Mr. Black ordered her the best in the world, no questions asked. What kind of fairytale is this?]

[That madwoman Sara doesn't deserve a man like him.]

I lifted the helmet, heavy in my hands, and carried it out to the main team's practice ground.

Every driver stopped at once and turned to look at me.

"Whose helmet is this?"

I didn't raise my voice, but it carried clean across the whole floor.

A slim girl stepped out of the crowd, wearing my old racing suit. Her eyes were rimmed red, her lip caught between her teeth, the picture of fragile innocence.

"Mrs. Black, I'm sorry, it was a gift from Mr. Black. If you like it, please take it. I'll wear my old one. Safe or not, it really doesn't matter."

Whispers rippled around me at once, every glance landing thick with disapproval.

As if I were some petty boss's wife throwing my weight around, stealing a rookie's gear.

I smiled and ran a hand over the helmet's smooth shell, then spoke slow and easy.

"This is a fine piece. Top-grade carbon fiber, a limited run worldwide. The custom fee alone runs three hundred thousand dollars."

"Three hundred thousand?"

The room erupted.

Every driver's expression shifted, shock and envy and something more complicated, all of it aimed at Daisy, whose face had gone bone-white.

She opened her mouth to explain, and I cut her off, cold.

"As the boss's wife, I can't play favorites."

I swept my gaze across the room, my voice ringing clear.

"So here's my announcement. Every signed first-string driver at Redline Racing can order a helmet of the same grade. The bill's on me."

A beat of silence, and then the practice ground exploded with cheering.

"You're the best!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Black!"

Daisy stood in the middle of it all, biting down hard on her lip, shaking from head to toe.

That one-of-a-kind specialness of hers, I'd just smashed to pieces with money.

[This shrew. Spending Mr. Black's money to play generous. She'll be out on her ass soon enough.]

The text kept screaming. I'd stopped bothering to read it.

I walked up to Daisy and looked down at her.

"Your name's Daisy, right?"

"I'll remember you."

Then I turned, walked into Ethan's office, sat down in his big leather chair, and waited.

It wasn't long before he came in, still smiling.

"Babe, engine's fixed. See, you walk in and the team's luck turns around."

I tossed the team roster down in front of him, open to Daisy's page.

I tapped the photo, my voice flat and hard.

"Fire her."