Chapter 156

The wind whipped past her ears, mixing with the roar of the engine. The speedometer kept ticking higher and higher, every number a hammer blow against her chest. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might break free.

The brakes were gone. Someone had tampered with them. She knew it in her bones.

Steven had delivered this car to her himself.

He wanted her dead.

"Steven... how could you?" she whispered, voice shaking.

The mountain road twisted ahead, sharp turns piling up, and a tight curve loomed just up the way. Lucie's jaw clenched as she tried to downshift and slow the car, but the engine just screamed louder, speed holding steady. Sweat ran cold down her spine.

She glanced at the clock. 7:30 PM. Rush hour was about to start.

She didn't even want to imagine the disaster she could cause if she crashed now.

The thought hollowed her out, and tears spilled down her cheeks.

Even after everything, she'd never once wished Steven harm.

But he'd rather see her dead.

They weren't even divorced yet. If she died, Steven and Cody would inherit everything. Of course he'd thought it through.

She checked the gas-full tank. He'd planned for that too. At this rate, she'd have

to drive eight hours before the car would run out of fuel.

A sharp ache stabbed her chest.

She wanted to call her grandpa, say goodbye, leave some last words. But picturing his hopeful face waiting for her at home, she just couldn't do it. She couldn't break his heart like that.

"I can't drag anyone else into this..."

She looked out at the highway. She was on the ring road, Millstone Bridge up ahead.

Better to take herself out than hurt innocent people. She blinked away tears, ready to jerk the wheel into the barrier and end it herself.

Then her phone rang.

A number flashed up-familiar, but distant.

Elio.

She almost let it ring out. Instead, on autopilot, she hit the Bluetooth.

"Hello?" Elio's voice was bright, almost teasing.

"Hey," she croaked.

"Whoa, you actually picked up! What are you up to, Lucie?"

She couldn't answer. The tears kept coming. Her husband had sent her to die.

Elio picked up on her silence. "Lucie? Are you okay? Why aren't you saying anything?"

She sniffed, voice barely there. "I just... wanted to hear your voice."

He laughed softly, but she could hear the worry. "Where are you right now?"

"...I'm on the highway," she said, her voice trembling.

"Alright, drive safe-"

"My brakes failed."

The line went dead silent. For a second, she could almost hear his heart stop.

"Elio, could you... do me a favor?" she whispered, wiping at her blurred eyes. "Tell Grandpa I had to leave for

an emergency trip, that I'll be gone a long time. Please... don't let him worry."

Her biggest fear was her grandfather. If he found out she'd died, it would destroy him.

Elio took a moment, then forced his voice steady. "Lucie, don't panic. Hold the wheel steady, okay? Don't be scared. I'm going to handle this. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

She blinked, hands gripping the wheel tighter.

While he kept talking, Elio was already calling emergency services, rattling off her situation and location. The police treated it like a full-blown crisis, tracking her car and clearing out traffic ahead.

"Lucie, listen to me," Elio said, calm but urgent. "Head toward Millstone Bridge. That stretch is new, barely

any traffic The police

are clearing

the way. You just have to keep driving, exactly how you know. You

can

do this."

"Give me one hour. Just hold on for one hour."

"...Okay." Lucie took a shaky breath, switched on her hazard lights, and tried to push down the terror. She leaned on the horn, and cars ahead scattered out of her way. One by one, she shot past them, the road finally starting to open up.

Elio was probably more scared than she was, but he kept his voice even, talking

her through every second. At the same time, he was barking orders at his team.

"Get a medical helicopter in the air. And ambulances-follow her car," he snapped.

"Yes, sir."

"And get every construction crew in Elmridge to load up their trucks with sand. I want them on the Millstone Bridge approach, laying down a five-hundred-meter

sand trap, right now."

"Yes, Elio."