Chapter 2

"Benjamin, it looks like I really left a scar on you. I can't believe you actually took up racing because of me."

Shane looked at me with a pitying shake of his head as he clicked his tongue.

"Too bad I never see your name on the leaderboard. Racing isn't a hobby you just pick up. You're getting up there in age, and you've always been a bit clumsy. Stop trying to force it."

I glanced at him indifferently.

Just minutes ago, I had clinched the overall championship trophy while he finished dead last.

I had no idea how he could still stand there looking so full of himself. His scorecard was so embarrassing that I felt secondhand embarrassment just looking at it.

Moreover, the only reason he hadn't seen my name on the roster was that I raced under a pseudonym, Blade.

But I didn't bother correcting him. My wife and daughter were probably waiting for me.

To him, however, my silence was obviously a cop-out.

He sized me up from head to toe, noticing my bare face, just like the old days, and a satisfied smile spread across his lips.

"It's been a rough few years for you, hasn't it, Benjamin? Why did you have to be so stubborn back then? Now, you're all alone."

He held up his hand, flaunting a diamond ring. "You didn't believe me when I said Natalie and I were just friends. Well, look at us now. We're getting engaged."

The ring was a replica of the one Natalie had used to propose to me.

I was at the peak of my career when Natalie fell for me at the track and pursued me relentlessly after that.

I was young, successful, and entirely focused on my career. Having never been in love before, I fell completely under her spell within a few months.

When Natalie proposed, my career was hitting a new high.

She had held out a simple, modest ring, her eyes burning with an intense passion.

My temporary lapse into that romance was what ultimately ended my professional racing career. Hence, looking at that ring now, I felt absolutely nothing.

Natalie misread my silence for heartbreak, and a smug satisfaction twisted her cold features.

She let out a chilly laugh. "You made your bed, Benjamin, now you have to lie in it. I still don't get what the hell you were thinking when you walked out on our marriage.

"The second the papers were signed, you vanished off the face of the earth. Do you have any idea how much Cody cried over you? And I—"

She cut herself off mid-sentence, her eyes darkening as she stared at me.

My hands froze on the zipper of my racing suit.

They were completely flipping the script, and I could barely believe what I was hearing.

I walked out on our marriage?

She was the one who used to pick apart everything I did, constantly holding me up against Shane. Even when I swallowed my pride to apologize, Natalie would just look at me with sheer disappointment.

"Shane would never act like this," she used to say. "He has self-respect and ambition. He doesn't cling to people like a pathetic loser."

In my previous life, her constant mind games would drive me to emotional breakdowns, yet I had desperately held onto the marriage anyway.

Meanwhile, she kept dragging my name through the mud in front of our friends and family.

"How did I end up married to such a lunatic?" she would complain. "Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life tied to a guy like this?"

Her friends all took her side, even staging a group intervention just to pressure me. "Benjamin, just let her go. Don't you see how selfish you're being?"

Even Cody turned on me. "Dad, Mom and Mr. Maddox are genuinely in love. You don't even bring home a paycheck, and Mom treats you well enough. Why can't you just let her be happy for once?"

In this life, I had given them exactly what they wanted, yet they turned around and pinned the blame on me. It was absolutely sickening.

I looked at them, my expression as blank as if I were staring at total strangers.

"You're flattering yourselves," I said. "I've never regretted the divorce for a single second. I'm only here to fulfill my own dream. Besides, I already have a new—"