Chapter 1

I wiped away the blood from the wounds on my face. Then, I hoisted myself back into my wheelchair with my hands.

Giselle Stewart's gaze was fixed intently on my legs. There was a grim expression on her face.

"What kind of stunt are you pulling now, Craig Dorsey?" she snapped. "You vanished into this air for nearly six years, only to turn yourself into a wretched mess like this?"

The wounds on my body made even breathing painful. The thugs from the debt collectors had no intention of letting me off easy, and they rapped the thick steel pipes in their hands, rapping them sharply against my wheelchair.

Then, they turned their aggression toward Giselle.

"And who the hell are you? I'm warning you to stay the hell out of this, bitch."

Giselle shot them a cold, dismissive glance, and her bodyguards immediately closed in around them.

The thugs' next cuss words died in their throats at once. They weren't interested in getting involved in more trouble, so they just spat in my direction with dark, sullen expressions on their faces.

"Consider yourself lucky this time, brat! If you don't pay up next time, I'm going to make sure you won't even be able to get up from bed next time!"

Then, they sauntered off and disappeared, leaving only me and Giselle behind.

I sat in my wheelchair, silently wiping the red paint off the rolling shutter doors of my tiny workshop.

Giselle looked around.

This cramped auto-repair workshop was my only source of income. The pungent smell of motor oil made her stop in her tracks outside the entrance.

"Do you owe people money?"

Her sudden question made my fingers clench tightly. I replied in a cold, distant voice, "That's none of your business."

Just as the tension hung heavy in the air, a cheerful voice approached.

"Aunt Gigi? What happened…"

Dennis Turner caught sight of me at once. His eyes widened in shock and astonishment.

"Uncle Craig! It really is you! Where have you been all these years? Aunt Gigi and I have been looking for you everywhere!"

Even if he referred to me as his uncle, I still saw him inching closer to Giselle, reaching out and holding her hand, interlacing their fingers together at times and hooking her pinky with hers at times. The couple rings on their fingers shone brilliantly whenever they caught the light.

Giselle ruffled his hair in a helpless manner before turning her attention to me.

"Come home with me, Craig. You don't even know how much trouble you've caused for me over the past six years because of your disappearance.

"It was just a championship. What's the point of you throwing such a huge tantrum with me like this just out of spite?"

I looked down at my legs and felt a sense of helplessness.

To Giselle, it was nothing but a championship race, but to me, it was something that completely ruined my life.

"I don't have anything to do with you anymore," I said. "I have a home now. I don't need to go back with you anymore."

I then pulled down the roller shutters, shutting her out. She looked like there was still something she wanted to say to me, but Dennis pulled her back.

"It'll be fine, Aunt Gigi. Uncle Craig's just doing this to spite us. He'll come back to us after he's finally thought things through."

The roller shutters completely rolled all the way down. I also ignored the voices that I could still hear outside as I turned my wheelchair around to pick up the tools on the ground.

The motorcycle that I'd been working on earlier was still leaking motor fluid.

My glove rubbed against a wound that hadn't yet scabbed over, sending sharp stabs of pain through my hand.

Suddenly, my phone chimed with a text message from an unsaved number.

"Dennis runs his own racing team now. I'm giving you a chance to be in charge of vehicle maintenance for his team.

"I'll clear your debts as long as you're willing to accept him."

Even though the sender didn't say who they were, I knew the message had to be from Giselle. Nobody else would speak in a tone like that.

I felt a sudden urge to laugh. Yet, a bitter sense of resentment and frustration welled up in my heart.

Giselle still didn't realize it yet, but she could no longer afford to repay me with the thing I truly wanted from her.