Chapter 61

Lumi

The soft orange hue of the fading sunset cast long, stretching shadows across the narrow trail as we made our way back toward the edge of the quiet lake.

The heavy, thrum of the racing valley began to fade behind us, replaced once more by the gentle rustle of leaves and the rhythmic lapping of the water against the shore.

Ren walked slightly ahead of me, his large hand still loosely but securely housing my fingers.

His thumb made slow, subconscious brushes against the back of my knuckles, a gesture so grounded and natural it made my heart do that dangerous, familiar flip.

But as my mind replayed the conversation on the track, the warmth in my chest began to tangle with a sharp, lingering confusion. My steps slowed slightly, pulling against his grip until he paused, tilting his head back to look at me.

"So," I began, my voice quiet but careful as we approached the massive, matte-black bike resting on its stand.

"Three years ago? You raced here?" Ren stopped completely, turning his body toward me.

"Yeah. I came to London with my dad, then came a few times when I needed to. When the pack business got too heavy, or when the corporate meetings with the UK alliances dragged on, I’d rent a bike and disappear into these hills."

"Three years ago, I was here, Ren," I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them, laced with a faint, involuntary ache.

"I was living in London. If you were coming here all the time... why didn’t you ever inform me? Why didn’t you ask to see me?" Ren looked down at me, his sharp eyes catching the last glints of the setting sun.

The easy, boyish grin he had worn on the track completely vanished, replaced by a dark, impenetrable shadow that hardened his features.

His jaw locked, his grip on my hand tightening just a fraction before his fingers slowly loosened.

"You wouldn’t want to know, Lumi," he murmured, his voice dropping into a low, rough register that carried a strange, heavy bitterness.

"What do you mean I wouldn’t want to know?" I stepped closer, looking up into his rugged face, searching the harsh lines of his profile for an answer.

"We’re friends, Ren. If you were in the same country while I was..."

"Lumi." He cut me off, his voice flat and unyielding.

He turned fully, stepping into my space until his towering frame completely blocked out the fading light of the lake.

He looked straight into my eyes, a fierce, suffocating intensity burning in his gaze that made my breath hitch.

"You actually don’t want to know." The absolute finality in his tone struck a chord deep inside me.

He wasn’t just being stubborn; there was a warning hidden in his words, a boundary carved out of something old and dark that he refused to let me cross.

A sudden, chilling thought brushed against my mind, but before I could unravel what he meant, the weight of his stare told me to drop it.

I swallowed hard, forcing a small, tight nod. I didn’t ask further. Instead, I cleared my throat, forcing my eyes away from his face to look at the massive machine beside us.

"We... we should probably get going. The bike is incredible, by the way. I still can’t believe you managed to get it out of that facility."

Ren watched me for a beat longer, ensuring I wasn’t going to push the matter, before the rigid tension in his shoulders subtly melted.

"It’s a prototype," he said smoothly, completely accepting the change of topic as he swung his long leg over the high seat. "Built for endurance. Let’s see how it handles the ride back."

The heavy tension didn’t disappear, but it shifted, burying itself beneath the sudden, guttural roar of the engine as the machine thrummed to life beneath us.

I climbed up behind him, my knees sliding against his sturdy thighs as the height of the bike forced me forward. I didn’t hesitate this time.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, pressing my chest firmly against his back, letting the aggressive speed of our return drown out the questions screaming in my head.

We didn’t take the vertical cliff path back up. Ren navigated a wider, sweeping asphalt road that wound gradually down the back of the hills, leading us straight back toward the hidden subterranean tunnel entrance.

The transition from the open country air to the sharp, yellow floodlights of the private underground road felt like a slap, reminding me exactly of the dangerous, untouchable world Ren was involved in.

When the massive vehicle elevator groaned and lifted us back up through the floor of the corporate showroom, the executive from earlier was still waiting, bowing deeply as Ren cut the ignition.

We didn’t linger. Within minutes, we were back in our regular car, navigating the thick, heavy evening traffic of central London.

The bubble of peace we had carved out in the hills was officially gone, replaced by an agonizing countdown as the clinic drew closer.

By the time Ren pulled the car into the secure lower lot of the private hospital, the sky had gone completely dark. The air felt heavy, charged with an unnatural stillness that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

We walked up the quiet, carpeted corridors toward Theo’s room. My heart was beating a steady, anxious rhythm, my mind already preparing to put on a brave face for my boy, to check if his fever had stayed down, to see if Neve had managed to get some rest.

But the moment Ren pushed the heavy wooden door open, the air in the room completely froze.

Theo was still fast asleep in his bed, his tiny chest rising and falling in a deep, peaceful rhythm against the stiff white sheets. But Neve wasn’t sitting in her usual chair by the window.

She was standing right in the center of the room, her silhouette rigid and unforgiving under the harsh, fluorescent lights.

Her arms were tightly crossed over her chest, her breathing shallow and jagged. The moment the door clicked shut behind us, she whipped her head around.

Her face was stark white, her eyes wide, wild, and blazing with a mixture of absolute fury and deep, agonizing betrayal.

My footsteps halted instantly. A sudden, icy dread washed over me, pinning my feet to the floor.

Beside me, I felt Ren’s entire body instantly lock into a lethal, defensive alpha stance, his green eyes narrowing as he took in his sister’s erratic energy.

Neve didn’t say a word to her brother. She didn’t even look at him. Her eyes were locked entirely on me, drilling holes through my skin.

With a slow, trembling hand, she reached into her jacket pocket. She pulled out a stack of glossy, high-definition photographs and held them straight out toward me, her knuckles turning a dangerous shade of white.

"What trash is this?" she demanded, her voice a low, vibrating hiss that shook with raw rage.

I blinked, completely paralyzed. I looked down at her hand, my vision blurring, then I removed my face immediately. I couldn’t dare stare at whatever she was holding.

There was no need, when I already knew what the photos entailed. I didn’t know where they were taken but I didn’t care, all I could think of was how Neve must have been feeling.

Whatever was in that photo must be something that’s bad. Who’d have taken us the photos? When and why?

Was it Callum?

My heart didn’t just skip a beat; it completely stopped.

The blood rushed out of my face so fast my head spun, a sickening, violent wave of nausea crashing directly into my gut.

The walls of the hospital room suddenly felt like they were cave-ing in on me, squeezing the oxygen out of my lungs.

I couldn’t breathe. I literally couldn’t breathe.

Did she find out? The question screamed through my brain, deafening and horrific. God, please, no. She knows. She knows everything.

"Neve..." I choked out, but my voice was nothing more than a pathetic, breathless squeak.

I reached a trembling hand out toward the wall to steady myself, my knees turning into complete water.

"Lumi, look at the pics!" Neve snarled, stepping forward.

"I trusted you! You are my best friend! I brought you into my family, I defended you against everyone, I was ready to pour my own blood and resources into saving you from that bastard Callum!"

Tears spilled over her eyelashes, tracing hot paths down her pale cheeks, but her expression didn’t soften for a single second.

"And this is how you pay me back?" she whispered, her voice cracking with a pain so deep it ripped straight through my chest. "Behind my back?! While I looked after your son?"

I stared at her, completely flabbergasted, the guilt and terror suffocating me so entirely that no words could form in my throat.

I looked at Neve’s broken face, and realized with absolute, crushing certainty that the war outside was nothing compared to the wreckage inside this room.

"Neve, please can you let me explain? I swear... "

"I said look at the pics, Lumi. Look at the fucking pics." She yelled.