Chapter 26
Travis
“You should come out with us tonight,” Skyland insists as we get onto the elevator of our hotel. We’re in Montreal, having completed the race earlier today and will be flying home in the morning.
“Not tonight.” I shake my head, anxious to get back to my room.
Skyland’s agent, Gus, snorts and pats Skyland’s chest. “This guy wins it all this weekend and can’t even go out for a little celebration.”
The reminder that I came in P1 here in Montreal is welcomed but not enough to convince me to go out to whatever bar they’re planning to hit up for the night.
After racing we’ve spent hours doing post-race interviews and going over issues with our engineering team. All I want now is to get back to my room and call Alyssia.
“I suppose becoming a father is really changing this guy,” Skyland comments.
I lift an eyebrow in his direction.
Though Skyland and I aren’t particularly close, we’ve definitely hung out after races together and with other racers.
He’s a decent number two driver for the Amato team.
Skyland grins. “I’m just saying, you’ve never hesitated going out with us after a race until this season.”
“Yeah, well, things change,” is all I say as the elevator stops on his floor. My room is a few floors up.
“I’ll text you the place we decide to go to in case you change your mind.”
“Do that,” I say although I won’t be leaving my room tonight.
As soon as I step inside of my room, my foot lands on a folded piece of paper that’s been slipped underneath the door. A chill runs through me as I know this isn’t anything the hotel staff would do.
Before the door closes, I take a second look into the hallway. It’s empty.
When I unfold the paper, something slips out, hitting the floor. It falls face down. I pick it up and the second I see it’s a picture, everything inside of me goes cold.
It’s a photo of me and Alyssia casually strolling through the market we went to the other week.
In it, Alyssia’s looking up at me, lips parted in a smile that makes my heart warm. One of her hands rests in mine while the other sits on her belly, protectively. My face is partially obscured since I’m turned away from the camera looking down at her.
Whoever took this fucking photo was close.
Too close.
I look back at the paper the photo came in.
Do you think you’re untouchable?
That’s it.
No new number to call, no demands to throw a race like before. But this threat is the worst one thus far. It’s a clear message that whoever is behind these threats aren’t meant to be taken as bullshit.
A red-hot haze covers my gaze as I crush the paper in my fist. I’m so fucking pissed off that I can barely press the buttons on my phone to make a much-needed call.
“Travis,” Uncle Brutus answers on the second ring. “What’s going on?”
I run down what I just encountered to him.
“Send me a picture of them both,” he tells me, his voice immediately taking on a dark tone. Which is exactly what I need right now.
“I need to get back home now,” I say, pacing my hotel room, feeling useless.
“The next flight out of Montreal isn’t until morning,” Uncle Brutus reminds me as if I don’t know.
“I need to call her … but it’s the middle of the night in France. Fuck!” My mind spirals with what I could possibly do from this distance.
The person who took that picture was within feet of me and Alyssia. Within mere fucking feet of our baby and I missed it. I should’ve known better.
“How would you have known?” Uncle Brutus asks, making me realize I’ve been rambling out loud.
“I should’ve considered whoever was going after me on the track could be dangerous off of it.”
He makes a sound that I can’t decipher the meaning of. Neither do I try since my mind goes right back to figuring out how best to keep Alyssia safe.
“What if … what if someone’s gotten to her already?” The last I heard from Alyssia was right after the race.
“I need to call her,” I tell my uncle.
“It’s close to midnight in her time zone right now.”
“We had a call scheduled already.” Alyssia promised to stay up late in order to be there for my call tonight once I finished my post-race work.
I’d felt guilty about her waiting up so late for me, but she insisted she didn’t mind and wanted to talk before going to bed.
“Okay. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do about getting into the hotel’s security surveillance system.”
My uncle has access to some high-quality hackers who could do shit I couldn’t even think of.
“Wait,” I say, suddenly remembering something. “Something similar happened in Vegas last year.” I think about the two teen boys who knew where my hotel was and had known which floor I would be on.
I hadn’t put it together before but the mentioning of hotel security brought the memory back to mind.
I convey this information to my uncle.
“They somehow knew I which suite I was in,” I say out loud for the first time. The information of my hotel suite is never given out to the public for obvious reasons.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this when it happened?” He sounds pissed.
“Didn’t seem like a big issue. Two kids who almost shitted themselves when threatened with a call from the police.”
“Travis …”
“It wasn’t a big deal then,” I say tersely. “Now someone is threatening my family. That’s a different thing entirely.”
“I’m on it. Already contacted my guy to see if we can get more information on those kids.”
“You don’t think…” I cut myself off.
“They may have nothing to do with any of this but I want to know how they found out which hotel and room you were staying in.”
I nod in agreement.
“In the meantime, I need you to think of any more people who might have an issue with you. This is someone closer than you think.”
“What about Farina?” I ask, his name coming to mind quickly.
“He’s no longer competing,” he replies.
“And he’s gone completely off-grid,” I remind him. After last year’s win, it’s as if Farina fell off of the face of the earth. Not many people have heard or seen him in months.
Atypical for someone who’s been in the sport as long as he was and finally won the championship he sought for years.
“What would be his motivation to do this to you now? Last year it would’ve made sense since you were his main competitor. But now?”
I run my hand through my hair, not knowing the answer to that question. I never really liked Farina. He was too boisterous for my liking. And while I, too, enjoy my fair share of parties and the women that come along with this lifestyle, I had limits.
Nothing makes sense at this point, but I’m willing to look into every avenue at this point. I want whoever sent that threat eliminated.
“I’ll look into it,” my uncle says. “Give Alyssia a call. If there’s anything wrong, call me back immediately. But I’m sure, for now, this piece of shit is trying to scare you into doing his bidding.
“I suspect that before the next race they’ll try to make contact again with heavier demands.”
I nod although he can’t see me. As soon as I disconnect from the call with my uncle, I call Alyssia.
My heart races as the phone rings. A litany of unsavory images pass through my mind in between the time I press ‘send’ and she answers.
“Congratulations.”
I lean on the wooden back of the chair at the desk, squeezing it as the air I’d been holding expresses from my lungs. The sound of her voice is the best thing I’ve heard all day.
My back goes ramrod straight as I realize how true that thought it.
Hearing Alyssia’s voice is better than hearing the crowd cheer as the announcer says my name as the winner of the Montreal Grand Prix.
Holy shit.
“Hi,” I murmur through the lump in my throat. “It’s too late to keep you up,” I say, guilt mixing in with fear and much deeper feelings I’m still trying to process.
“I’m a night person. I told you already.”
She had, and the night I spent at her apartment we’d stayed up until almost two in the morning, talking, kissing, and holding one another. It was me who fell asleep first.
“Besides, with the baby coming, I should get used to staying up at all hours of the night.”
“I started the second book in the What to Expect series,” I tell her while trying to calm my racing heart. “We can try sleep training,” I suggest.
“We?” She laughs. “You’ll be up in the middle of the night, helping?” The disbelief in her voice sends me reeling.
“Of course,” I reply. “Do you think I’ll let you sit up all night while our baby wails?”
There’s a pause.
“I hadn’t thought about it much. I just assumed since you travel so much for work you wouldn’t, you know.”
My hand tightens on the phone. “I won’t be a part-time dad. I know my career is … a lot. We’ll get extra help if we need, but I won’t have you do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to parenting.”
A resentment I’ve never felt for my career wells up inside of me.
This isn’t the first time I thought about how busy my job is and how that’ll work out with the amount of time I can spend with Alyssia and our baby.
But hearing the hesitation in her voice, brings all of the doubts I’ve tried to suppress to the surface.
It also reminds me that there’s another threat hanging over our heads due to my career.
“Speaking of,” I segway. “Last week I suggested you move into the apartment while your uncles are in town. Have you given it some consideration?”
We haven’t talked about it since I brought it up again, but with what I just found under my door, it’s even more imperative to have Alyssia closer, where she’s safer. I can hire security for her apartment, but it would be easier if she were to move into my apartment.
“While my uncles are in town?” she asks warily.
“And for safety,” I admit. I’ll keep as much to myself as possible but if giving Alyssia a glimpse of truth helps turn her decision in my direction, all the better.
“There are some people in the industry who’ve heard about the baby.”
“What people?”
“A few journalists.” It’s not a complete lie. “Not important journalists but who knows what they’re likely to print. In Monte-Carlo, we have a better chance of controlling who sees what and keeping the level of privacy that we want.”
Again, none of that is a total lie.
I don’t tell her about the picture because I don’t want to her worked up. It’s my job to help her keep stress to a minimum, especially since the potential danger brought to her life is my damn fault anyway.
“And you think these reporters will, what, catch me on the way to work or wait outside of the train for me like paparazzi?” She snort-laughs. “I’m hardly that interesting. All I do is go to work and local markets hunting for new baby clothes.”
The mention of the market makes me flinch.
“There’s still a possibility of them encroaching on your life in undesirable ways,” I reply. I part my lips to tell her that this doesn’t have to be a permanent move but that’s bullshit.
I do want her closer long-term. And it’s not just because of the safety risk.
“Okay,” she finally says.
“Okay?”
“While my uncles are here, we can give it a try.”
“And then?” The eagerness in my voice isn’t lost on me.
“Then we’ll see.” She sighs. “I do love that view. All of the yachts coming and going from that vantage point might be fun.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mm,” she responds, her voice growing softer, tired. “I’ve never been on a yacht,” she says around a yawn.
My heart squeezes and my arms ache to hold her in them right fucking now.
“I’ll have to change that,” I murmur into the phone.
“Yeah right.” Her words slur.
“You should go to sleep.” Saying those words is worse than pushing a rock up a mountain with both hands tied behind my back. I want to keep talking to her, to continue assuring myself that she’s safe.
But she needs her rest.
And I should let her go.
“Put the phone down next to you,” I say.
“Huh?”
“When you lay down, put the phone on the opposite pillow.”
“As soon as I lay my head down, I’m going to fall asleep. I’m usually able to stay up later than this but I’m tired today.”
“Doesn’t matter. Put the phone next to you and fall asleep.”
“You’re a weird guy.” She yawns again as I laugh.
“Are you in bed?”
“Mhmm. You’re on speaker.”
I sit on the edge of my bed. Alyssia says something that’s barely discernable since it’s evident she’s falling into dreamland fast and furiously. Soon enough, I hear her tiny snores.
I lean back against the pillows of my bed, wishing I was next to her, watching over her as she slept.