Chapter 3

For the next ten days, I planned the wedding during the day and trained with Dad at night.

When it rained, we went to the old industrial district. When it was foggy, we took the mountain roads.

Once, at two in the morning during a downpour, I had just dropped off a passenger when the rear of the car suddenly fishtailed.

I hit the brakes without thinking.

Dad shouted from the passenger seat, "Let off!"

I yanked my foot off the brake and steered into the skid.

A few seconds later, the taxi was back in its lane.

Dad glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"That was more like it."

It was the first time he'd praised me.

And suddenly, something clicked.

Sienna hadn't relied on driving skill alone to destroy me in my previous life.

In fact, she'd barely needed any skill at all.

She knew an amateur like me would panic. She knew that when the brakes stopped responding, I would keep slamming my foot down on the pedal.

She hadn't needed any special technique. All she'd needed was one small push to send me crashing.

This time, however, I was beginning to understand how she operated.

Twelve days before the party, Damian's assistant handed me our post-wedding itinerary.

I casually flipped through it.

The first public event after our honeymoon was the Hale Group's racing team's season launch.

But Sienna's name was at the top of the guest list.

I looked up at Damian.

"She's going too?"

He was busy answering an email and didn't even look up.

"She's under contract with the team. Of course she's going."

"But that's our first public appearance as a married couple."

Damian put his phone down and pinched the bridge of his nose with a tired sigh.

"Avery, you're not seriously upset that she's attending a work event, are you?"

In my previous life, this was exactly how I had given in, again and again.

I let her attend my wedding.

I let her arrange the pre-wedding party.

Even at our first public event after the wedding, she stood beside Damian.

The press even caught the two of them stepping out of a race car together.

The headline read, "The Perfect Racing Couple."

Meanwhile, I, his newlywed wife, was only half visible at the edge of the photo.

I closed the itinerary and smiled at him.

"Of course not."

Damian's expression softened, and he pulled me into his arms.

"I knew you were the sensible one."

He paused as though something else had occurred to him.

"By the way, Sienna wants to enter the Blackstone Invitational. The company is planning to buy her a new race car. She wants the silver GT in my garage."

My eyes went still.

That car was the birthday present Damian had given me last year.

I hadn't driven it once.

He looked down at me, his tone making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. "You don't race anyway. Sienna's the only one who can really make use of it."

I was silent for two seconds and nodded with a smile.

"All right."

Damian kissed my forehead.

"Baby, I knew you wouldn't make a fuss over something so small."

After he left, I picked up my phone, my expression turning cold.

I sent Dad a message.

"Add an hour to training tonight."

That evening, Damian told me he was going to a business reception.

An hour later, however, I saw his car outside the racetrack parking lot.

I did not go in.

I simply sat in the back of Dad's taxi and waited.

Less than ten minutes later, Sienna came out.

She opened Damian's passenger door and climbed in.

The window was still cracked open.

"Sienna, that money is enough." Damian's voice drifted through the opening. "Once the marriage papers are signed, I can buy the shares in the racing team."

Sienna laughed.

"I told you, a woman like Avery is easy to manipulate. She didn't even notice that you cut the ring budget in half."

I looked down at the diamond on my ring finger. It was obviously smaller. How could I not have noticed?

I simply hadn't had the energy to argue about it.

Sienna's voice drifted out of the car again. "Once we acquire the team, I want a new GT."

Damian laughed.

"Whatever you say."

Dad looked at me from the driver's seat.

"Want to go in?"

"No."

I put away the phone I'd been using to record them.

"Let them enjoy a few more days."

The next day, I canceled my application for a joint bank account.

I also changed the beneficiary of my trust back to Dad.

The bank manager asked if I wanted Damian notified.

I shook my head.

"No need."

As we left the bank, Dad opened the driver's-side door for me.

"Airport run tonight. You're driving."

I was a little surprised.

"It's raining."

"That's why you're driving."

He got into the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt.

"Remember, a good driver doesn't fear bad roads."

I started the car.

The party was eleven days away.