Kris Lenner didn't see it, but the spectators at the starting line did. Right as he drifted into the last straight line, Alex followed him, like always, but not before turning off his headlights, turning invisible, a true dark ghost despite the bright lights dotting the track.
The four powerful tyres below bit the asphalt as, for once, the damning, oppressive, mocking steadiness gave way to the raging fire Kris had been trying to provoke all along. The heavy vehicle swung itself right into the last section of the race, and uncharacteristically, right into the dead angle of the sheer white Ferrari.
It was a display of skills not just proficient, but crushingly overwhelming. But for those watching, it was a mockery, a blatant display of mockery, one that left them hooked, breathless, and most of all… so damn fired up.
It was like a confirmation of what Kris had been suspecting since he managed to clinch a lead. He was desperate for the win, but Alex had been playing all along, crushing him not just in software, but also in hardware, where he thought he had the advantage.
Alex did not need to adjust the SUV for what was to come. It was solid enough, it had been built solid enough.
With a shift here, a push there, and finally, a sharp downward push of his leg, he let loose the engine that had been built with no worry for space management, a beast only conceived with power in mind, built just for power. With a magnetic grin decorating his lips with bright self-confidence, Alex's dark beast of a ride growled and rumbled with a deeper, even more muffled sound, then… Then it showed the world what it could really do.
There was no 'if only'...
By the time Kris noticed the vehicle with its lights turned off, he was barely dozens of meters from the finish line, flying over the track at a speed that turned him into a blur. But while he gave his all, it fell short.
A subtle tremor travelled from the track to his butt through the tyres and the chassis of his Ferrari, and only then did he notice the beast barrelling down the last section of the track and passing right beside him.
For him, time slowed down, and for a split-second, in that silence, he forgot the track, he even forgot the wheel he only kept under tight control by sheer instinct. A second later, he seemed to hear the loud shout shaking the air from the starting line far in the distance:
"AND~ ALEX~ WINS~~!!!"
Silence, then it was not just the air that shook, it was the world itself:
"WOAHHHH!!!!!"
Kris passed the finish line like a white blur, but he was unable to feel any joy.
*Screech!!*
His drift as he forced the Stradale to a stop was full of anger. His eyes were spitting dark fire as he glared at the empty track in front, then all the anger, the resentment, the frustration, and most of all, the hatred… everything came together into an explosive blaze.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
"Huff… huff… huff… huff…"
Breathing like a bull, he lowered his hand from his wheel after he stopped venting everything on it, then looked up with a messy appearance and a shadowed expression, only to be suddenly startled.
*Beep~ Beep~*
Just like when something intense was interrupted in the most unexpected, surprising way, Kris's adrenaline spiked, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat as he snapped his head to the side. He was met with the sight of the dark beast that just crushed him, and through the lowered window, he saw Alex looking down at him with a smile, that infuriatingly calm smile.
He was not even gloating, and that felt more insulting than if he had been.
"You lost."
Kris felt choked. He took a deep breath to push the stuffiness down, then forced out calmly:
"You will get your prize before the end of the night. I am a Lenner, I will honor the bet."
Unsurprised, Alex's smile grew as he nodded:
"That's good. Then, help me with something."
As Kris's brows twitched into a frown, Alex continued:
"Help me sell my winnings and donate the money to the pediatric department of the family's hospital. Of course, you can buy back your collection, so long as you are not strapped for cash. I don't mind the process, I just need the result."
With that, he grinned, and drove around the Ferrari to continue down the track and return to the finish line.
For a second, Kris had no reaction as he watched the heavy SUV go away. But that second was just a lull before the stifled tempest came back stronger than ever, and it raged in the compact cab of the luxurious sports car.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
"ARGHHH~~!!! DAMN YOU, ALEX! YOU F*CKING BASTARD, DAMN YOU!! Huff… huff… huff… huff…"
At that moment, Kris's face looked ferocious. With flaring nostrils, bulging eyes and gnashed teeth, he looked ready to devour something, to devour someone.
After a while alone on that section of the track, he forced a semblance of calm back onto his face, and took out his phone to call the same number that told him about the party before. When the line connected, he didn't wait for a sound on the other side. He spat out an order, his voice intense and chilling:
"Meet me at the club. Now!"
"Yes–"
"And…"
"Yes, sir?"
Taking a deep breath, Kris spat out, eyes cold:
"I want Candice there waiting for me."
"Unders–"
"Also, go on with phase two."
*Beep*
With that last instruction that barely carried any detail, Kris cut the call. He remained alone on the section of the track kilometers away from the starting line, breathing hard and trying to get his mood under control. A good while later, he took one last deep breath, restarted the engine of the Ferrari, and drove off.
_ _ _
_ _ _
Even before arriving at the starting line, Alex could hear Lance excitedly shouting himself hoarse. Shaking his head with a smile, he leaned back and continued down the path to the last corner, calmly, as if the menace just now on the other side of the track had not been him.
*Ring~ Ring~ Ring~*
Alex tilted his head slightly, then smiled, for what he had been expecting, the one he had been waiting for, had arrived. Slowing down further, he picked up the call:
"Arrived?"
"I'm outside."
It was Kim's voice, calm, forcibly kept indifferent to mask the suppressed emotions inside, completely different from how she had been at Ga-yeong's place.
Alex turned his wheel to turn around the corner and face the bright lights of the stage and the giant screen. His smile deepening, he cut the call after a simple answer:
"I will be right there."
With a satisfied smile, Alex pushed down the accelerator and zoomed past the starting line like a black blur to drift to a calm stop right beside the bright stage.