Chapter 75 – Thiago
Seventy-Five
Thiago
One Year Later
“Relax. She’s going to win.”
Matteo nudges my shoulder when I don’t answer.
“I know she is.”
My attention stays on Remi’s GT-R as it rolls toward the starting grid.
“You don’t look like you know,” he mutters.
He isn’t wrong.
It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve watched her race; I still hold my breath when she’s on the track, wanting the win as badly as she does, if only to see that smile as she climbs out of her car.
Remi doesn’t race on the streets anymore. These days, she spends two Saturdays a month at Speedway Blue, doing what she loves. I’m usually down in the pit, waiting for my girl when it’s over, but today, the family is all here, cheering her on from the bleachers.
Kai sits to my right, focused on the starting lights.
“All she has to do is hook on the launch, and she’s got that Mustang beat. He’s been sleeping off the line all afternoon.”
“She knows what to do,” I say.
Kai looks at me, a grin tugging at his mouth. “Of course she does. Who do you think taught her everything she knows?”
I laugh.
Going back to work wasn’t immediate. I spent nearly two months on administrative leave while Internal Affairs and a federal investigation picked through what Elena had done.
As far as the department was concerned, I’d been pulled into an unauthorized operation without knowing its true purpose, then abducted when I tried to stop it.
Ryan backed me where he could. And Grey ended up under investigation for his part in Elena’s off-book orders at Remi’s range, then transferred out of the precinct before I returned.
By early spring, I had my place back on SWAT.
I was on the same unit, same badge, only now there isn’t another covert job hiding underneath it.
Getting back to normal with Remi took a little longer.
Surviving everything, loving her, didn’t erase what I’d done, and neither of us pretended it did.
There were times when my phone would ring and I’d see something shift in her face, or I’d tell her plans had changed and know exactly where her mind went.
But I never made her drag an explanation out of me, and she never had to wonder where I was going, who I was talking to, or whether there was another part of my life she didn’t know about.
Eventually, she stopped waiting for another secret and hesitating before asking me about work. Until one day, being with me no longer carried the weight of my betrayal. We started feeling like us again.
Her family needed their own time. I understood that.
Kai was civil but watched everything I did.
And Matteo made it clear that loving me again was Remi’s choice, not his.
Amalia never treated me badly, but trust from her wasn’t something I expected to be handed.
I went to the dinners, I spent afternoons at the garage, showed up at the track, and let them decide what to do with me. And here we are.
Amalia leans forward from Kai’s other side. “Remi tells me your aunt will be in town tomorrow. You should bring her by.”
“She’d like that.”
“Good. I’ll make dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t.” She smiles. “I want to.”
The ease with which she says it still gets to me. A year ago, I couldn’t have imagined my aunt sitting around a table with Remi’s family. Now Amalia is already planning what to feed her.
“I’ll ask her.”
“Don’t ask. Tell her she’s coming.”
I laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”
Amalia gives me a satisfied nod, then sits back beside Kai.
Remi didn’t just show me what it means to love someone enough to give up everything for them. She gave me something I never thought I’d have again.
She gave me a family.
“Uncle Thiago!” Zara leans over from her father’s lap, a few seats down, her ears covered by oversized orange noise-canceling headphones.
“Mommy says we can get ice cream when Remi wins. Will you come with us?”
“Of course, princesinha. As long as you’re buying,” I shout back with a wink.
She giggles and gives me an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“You might be her favorite uncle.” Matteo’s smile fades into something more thoughtful. “Makes me feel a little better about things.”
“About what?”
Before he can answer, Remi blips the throttle, and the engine growls through the grandstands.
Matteo turns toward the track. “She’s up.”
The announcer’s voice carries across the speedway as the two finalists roll toward the starting line. Remi eases into the left lane as the Mustang pulls alongside her.
“Come on, baby girl. You got this,” Kai says beside me.
I’ve watched her race enough to know exactly what she’s capable of. She’s patient behind the wheel and trusts herself as much as she trusts the car beneath her.
The engines climb through the RPMs until the bleachers vibrate beneath us.
Matteo elbows me. “Breathe.”
I laugh. “I’m trying.”
The amber lights count down before the green flashes, and both cars launch. The Mustang stays with her for only a heartbeat before the GT-R hooks exactly as Kai predicted.
“There it is,” Kai says, pride filling his voice.
Remi edges ahead before the sixty-foot mark and never looks back. The Mustang hangs on through first, but by the top of second, she’s already pulling away, widening the gap with every clean shift.
“He’s done,” Matteo says.
“He never had a chance,” Kai replies.
I’m smiling as she crosses the finish line, and a beat later, the scoreboard lights up.
LANE 1
WINNER
The grandstands erupt in cheers, but I’m already watching the return road because I know exactly where she’ll look.
I make my way down the bleachers, taking the steps two at a time until I reach the chain-link fence at the edge of the track. She accepts the trophy with a smile, but the moment she turns and spots me, it shifts into the one I’ll never get enough of because that smile is mine.
She breaks into a run, and I don’t wait for her to reach me. I meet her halfway. She laughs as she throws herself into my arms, and I catch her effortlessly, one hand cradling the back of her thigh and the other beneath her ass as I lift her off the ground.
Her legs wrap around my waist, and she buries her face against my neck before pulling back.
“My prize,” she murmurs, brushing a soft kiss across my lips.
I grin. “You were amazing out there.”
“I know.” Remi smiles against my mouth as I kiss her again, lingering until I finally pull back and rest my forehead against hers.
“I need you, baby.”