CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER thirty-two
David kept his burner phone but left everything else in the apartment, including his helmet. He checked to make sure that the indicator light was off on the security camera before he slipped past the kitchen. Noah wouldn’t understand it at first, but he’d figure it out with time.
Klaus was always going to haunt them if David didn’t do this. He’d go after Noah, his family, Caroline, and her family. It was David’s responsibility as a partner and father to fix things. So far, he’d only succeeded in putting more of a burden on everyone in his life.
David paused at the door and considered writing a note. Noah deserved some kind of explanation. No. That would only make Noah feel like he could have prevented this. David squeezed the handle and headed out. Besides, he couldn’t risk getting caught, and every second was one second closer to someone figuring out his plan.
He punched the elevator button and fidgeted with the phone in his hoodie pocket, turning it over in his hands.
Now, Pierre would have a chance to get to know his aunt, his cousin, and his grandparents. Noah would be free to be with someone who didn’t have weight issues, and Caroline would get sympathy from the public—enough that no one would fault her when she found a new partner. In fact, Caroline would probably be relieved that she didn’t have co-parent with someone across the world.
David pulled up his hood and left the lobby from the side door into the alleyway that some of the higher-profile tenants used to exit. He picked up his pace, fighting the burn in his legs from so much walking.
The baseball field wasn’t far.
He held his breath as he passed Westie. His lungs screamed in protest, but he forced himself to keep going until he was past the sugary scent of pink frosted donuts. He supposed it didn’t actually matter if he threw up now, but he wanted Noah to know he’d tried, even toward the end.
A block later, he stepped into the slightly overgrown grass of the baseball field. All the local kids were at school, so there were only a few people walking dogs around the edges of the field… and a black Mercedes AMG parked in the lot across it.
David squeezed the phone in his hands. He had to do this. He wanted Pierre to grow up with stories about how his father’s fall from grace wasn’t his fault. Everyone knew a driver only truly reached greatness if he died early.
David strode across the field. His legs wobbled as he walked, but he made it to the car without stumbling—a feat his psychologist would commend him for. He hated that woman and her stupid virtual calls.
The car doors unlocked as he approached. The windows were too dark to see who was inside, but David didn’t care if his father had hired a bunch of goons to end him; he just wanted to get it over with.
David opened the passenger side door and slipped inside. His father sat in the driver’s seat, watching him intently. He looked older and grayer than David remembered. Like a stranger.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” David said in German as cold fear pumped through his bloodstream. His skin turned to gooseflesh in the silence, and he prayed Noah didn’t find him first. Anything but that.
“Do you want to go for a drive?” Klaus replied in German.
“Whatever you want,” David said. “Let’s just go before Noah calls someone.”
He expected Klaus to peel out of the parking lot. Somehow, it was more terrifying that he didn’t. He drove like they were merely going to the store.
“Your mother told me you looked terrible, but this is worse than I imagined,” Klaus said.
“I know. The doctors are ruining all my progress,” David replied. It was strangely freeing to speak openly about it.
“American doctors tend to do that,” Klaus said. “How do you feel?”
David relaxed a fraction. He hadn’t been anticipating any small talk. “Like shit.”
Klaus snorted in amusement as they took the ramp onto the Pacific Coast Highway. The Mercedes growled as they accelerated, and David’s fingers twitched on reflex.
“That girl is making a fool of you,” Klaus said. “She came in eighth last race.”
“What girl?” David asked.
Klaus laughed. “You don’t know? Oh, David. They replaced you with a little girl, and she’s on par with your performance.”
David struggled to think of a girl driver—of any girl drivers—who had the right license to drive in Formula America.
“Your career is ruined. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
David swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
He had no problem with a girl driving, but he had a problem with a rookie beating him in his own car. No wonder Noah wouldn’t tell him anything about the races.
“I’m impressed at how quickly you destroyed everything I built for you,” Klaus said. They weaved through cars and trucks at blinding speed. David shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat. “But I suppose that’s what happens when you throw away the person who made you a champion. You ruined a legacy.”
David’s blood turned cold on reflex. Throughout his childhood, he learned how to read his father’s tone. Klaus could have sponsors eating out of his hand in a matter of minutes. He could convince talented mechanics to take a chance on a middle-class German boy who loved karting more than life itself. Team principals shied away from Klaus Jochmann when he went after them about unfair treatment against his son.
But every antic that had earned Klaus his reputation as a protective father was paired with a different kind of nightmare for David. Boxed ears, beatings, withheld meals—he never knew what to expect, and that was the point. And over time, David learned his father’s tells.
An eyebrow twitch during a media interview meant he would have to dig in the trash for food if he wanted dinner that night. A pat on the back meant a possibility of broken ribs as soon as the doors closed.
And any time his father used the word legacy, David usually didn’t remember the days that followed. This time, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t survive to see them.
“Dad, I didn’t—”
“Shut up,” Klaus cut, silencing him. “You called me. Do you know why?”
David stared straight ahead. No reaction was the best reaction. Klaus lifted his hand almost exactly the way David’s mother had.
“I don’t know why,” David said quickly.
“Because you want this to be fixed,” Klaus said. “You’ve finally realized what you’ve done, and you called me to fix it.”
Klaus was half right. David had called him to fix things, but not with his driving. He wanted a chance at his dream world, where he had a good relationship with his family and his son had grandparents who loved him. He realized now how stupid that was, but David had accepted his fate the second he stepped into this car. Since his dream world wasn’t possible, he had to take out the problem: himself.
“I will fix it,” Klaus muttered as they sped along the PCH. David nodded once and kept his gaze fixed out the window to the scrubland hills. He didn’t dare to look at the ocean—it would make him think too much of Noah, who always lamented how little time they had at the beach, even though he never made an effort to go there.
They drove in silence for a long time. David gradually relaxed, though he could read Klaus’s rage in how tightly he gripped the steering wheel. The hills turned into dusty cliffside, and the ocean slowly disappeared behind square houses. Malibu.
Last time David visited Malibu, he went to Nobu to introduce Caroline to his parents. He remembered feeling over the moon when Klaus smiled upon seeing Caroline. The dinner went perfectly, and David had actually convinced himself he was falling in love with a girl by the end of it. Caroline charmed his parents like no one ever had. Like Noah never could.
“This is the most expensive real estate in the world,” Klaus said as they slowed. “Not because of the price. Because of how exclusive it is. Just because you have the money does not mean you can buy a house here.”
David stayed silent. None of the houses looked that spectacular from the road, but he knew they were built out over the cliffs behind them with perfect views of the ocean and private beaches.
Klaus turned left into a rocky driveway. David glanced at him. Surely he didn’t have friends here in Malibu—and they had money, but not the kind of money to afford a place like this. They stopped at a gate, and Klaus pulled a remote from the glovebox. He tapped one of the buttons, and a pixelated dolphin appeared on the screen that reminded David of his sister’s old Tamagotchi.
“People who live here are careless, like you,” Klaus said. He opened the driver’s side door enough to get his arm out and tapped the remote to the key fob sensor on the gate. The dolphin moved on screen, emitting pixelated sound waves with a dance.
The key fob sensor light turned green and let out a beep.
“What is that thing?” David asked as Klaus shut the car door.
“It saves frequencies for key fobs and things like that,” Klaus said, driving them down a steep driveway. “I bought it when you took my access away from the apartment I helped you secure.”
David paled. “What do you mean?”
Klaus snorted. “What, you think me going to the lobby was an accident? I had access to your apartment, David. I also had access to your parking garage. Of course, I didn’t use that access often, but it is much more convenient to park in that garage when I had to fly places. The guest spots are never taken.”
“I have a security system,” David blurted.
Klaus shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. “Yes, I know. I wasn’t stupid enough to go inside your apartment, but I did check the lock many times. What if there was an emergency? I had to be able to get you if something went wrong, David.”
David couldn’t stop himself from shaking. All this time, his father had been able to come in. All this time, he could have been a few floors away in the parking garage. He could have gone after Noah; he could have gone after Caroline when she visited Jacob.
Klaus parked the car at the edge of the driveway. The ocean glittered beyond, and the waves lapped at the shore at low tide.
“Get out,” Klaus growled.
The house was clearly empty. David saw through the floor-to-ceiling windows that there was no furniture inside, only marble floors and ridiculous crown molding.
Klaus got out of the car and shut the door. He jerked his chin toward the beach. “Go down the stairs and wait for me. If you see any people, come back up. Understand?”
David nodded quickly. His heart jumped to his throat, and fear pumped through his entire body as he spotted the steps carved out of the cliffside, leading down to the sand.
So this was it. All he could think about as he started down the steps was how he should have written a note. Noah deserved to know this wasn’t his fault and that David still loved him; he just couldn’t be what Noah needed.
And he should have written a note to his unborn son. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He supposed that fit, though. He was too selfish to be a father or a boyfriend.
Tears welled in David’s eyes as he stepped into the sand. Sunshine turned it so white that it looked like snow as he looked both ways down the beach. Totally empty. A distant sign warned the public that they were trespassing.
He heard the slam of the trunk from the driveway above. David curled his hands to fists, trying to force down the terror.
Then he heard the drag of thin steel across pavement, and all the hair on his neck stood straight up in unparalleled horror.
His father had brought the baseball bat.