the song for this chapter is "Skyfall," by Adele :)
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Finley
As soon as the sinister name left my lips, all of my suspicions were confirmed by his arrogant chuckle piercing my ears through the headset.
"Wow! Talented, beautiful, and smart! Harry really knows how to pick them!" He responded in a patronizing tone.
I wrapped my fingers even tighter around the steering wheel at his words, pursing my lips together to the point I thought I might bite through them as I rounded the next turn, everyone else, driver and spectator alike, completely and entirely unaware of the chaos occurring within my vehicle.
"I assume you already know a lot about me, but you'll be surprised to know just how much I know about you as well," he spoke smugly, making my eyes go wide.
My heart was beating out of control, and I felt every muscle in my body locking up as I drove.
"I can see by your silence that you are stunned! Come on, you know you want me to enlighten you, don't you?" he hummed, and I did my best to block out his voice as I accelerated down the straightaway. I was in fourth place still, and quite honestly shocked that I hadn't lost a few places from all of the panic that I was currently feeling.
"Alright, alright. Fine, I'll tell you," he laughed darkly, finding this sick and twisted game he had developed to be thoroughly entertaining.
"I know that your full name is Finley Eloise James. I know that Eloise was your great grandmother's name, on your mom's side of course. I know that your mom and dad are extremely close to you, and vice versa. I know that you played volleyball, I know that you broke your arm falling from a tree in the third grade," he began, and my mouth suddenly lacked any and all form of moisture as he spoke.
Harry's car was coming up close behind me, and as we approached the next turn, I let out a deep breath of frustration and gunned it up to the apex of the turn, wishing more than anything that I could somehow let him know that something was wrong.
I couldn't pull into the pits right now. It was too dangerous with the high speeds we were going, and on top of that, the pits were flooded with people. So, for right now, I had no choice but to continue driving.
"Let's see...what else...oh! I know that your two best friends are here with you tonight, Lars and Willa. My, what great friends they are!" He continued in a fake and cheery tone.
"Don't you dare talk about them-" I began to interject, but he cut me off.
"Didn't your lovely parents ever tell you that it's rude to interrupt someone? My, my, Finley, I thought you'd know better than that," he scolded.
"As I was saying," he sighed, "I also know that you suffer from anxiety and that because of that, you endure panic attacks. I bet you're having one right now, aren't you?" he hummed evilly.
"Oh, this is a fun one! I know that prior to our dear Harry, you were only in one other serious relationship. Although, judging by the restraining order that you filed, I'm going to take a lucky guess and say that it didn't end too well, hmm?" He questioned, and with those words, I had to take a hand off of the steering wheel one at a time in order to wipe the perspiration that was forming off on my thighs.
"How do you...how did you know that?" I rasped out through my dry and scratchy throat.
"Finley, have you not been able to gather yet that I know everything?" He asked incredulously.
I huffed in annoyance as I flew down the straightaway, Harry's car getting closer and closer to me from behind with every antagonizing second that passed. But if I am being quite honest, I cared more about not wrecking than I did about winning.
A sudden burst of confidence ran through my veins as I spoke. "Alright, Harvey. So, you know a lot about me. Now, why don't you stop playing these stupid fucking games and tell me the purpose of this conversation?" I snapped, throwing the car into a higher gear and beginning the process of passing Grant and taking the third position in the race.
"Is it so wrong of me to want to just talk to a pretty girl like yourself?" He pouted through the phone.
I let out an aggravated breath of air, causing him to chuckle in reply.
"Okay, maybe I just wanted to make sure you didn't...slip up, or anything," he hummed, and just as I was about to ask what he meant, my headlights caused a reflection on the third and sharpest turn of the track.
Was that...was that water?
"It appears that the track has a drainage pipe issue! How strange! Well, I certainly hope this doesn't affect your driving, Ms. James," he mused, sounding quite proud of himself.
It was then that I realized what he was trying to do.
He was trying to recreate Willie's death...with me.
At this point, I wasn't scared...I was irate.
"Something about this whole situation just feels familiar...I'm not sure why...maybe Harry knows," he offered, and I wished nothing more than to smack this son of a bitch right across the face.
I was coming up on the turn fast, and before I could speak for myself, I silently prayed that all of the other drivers had seen the water as well.
"It does seem familiar, Harvey! Except, there is a slight difference in this situation," I replied back cooly, gripping my fingers tight on the wheel and preparing myself for what was to come.
He scoffed into the speaker before replying to me. "And what might that be, Finley?"
A smirk spread across my lips as I approached the beginning of the turn.
"I actually know how to drive on a wet track."
Before he could even reply, I was already determining the best driving line on the wet asphalt, following the lead of the cars in front of me who seemed to have picked up on the sudden interference at the last second.
After that, I made sure to steer intentionally, not allowing the undesirable circumstance to make me jeer the wheel in the wrong direction. I gave the car a little bit of throttle as I hit the apex of the turn, and even though the tires on my car were notorious for being slick when driving on water, I managed to slowly drift through the tight hairpin turn, swinging my car outwards at the end of the pool of water, and then sharply bringing it back to the center of the track.
I glanced in the rearview to see if anyone had been hurt by the water and winced when I saw the Koenigsegg lose their traction, but luckily, instead of crashing into one of the cement barriers, they managed to slow their car to a stop on some of the gravel on the inside of the road course, some smoke rising from their tires from the struggle to gain traction.
"Not too shabby, Finley...but here's the thing...if you're gonna play the game, you should know that the other player will always have a backup plan," he laughed darkly, making my heart feel like it was going to stop beating and drop to my feet at any moment.
"Do you want to stop with the cryptic messages, Mother fucking Goose? Why don't you just spit it out like a normal person? Or did you actually ingest some of that cyanide and further screw up that fucked up brain of yours?" I snapped.
Before he had a chance to continue, I kept talking, allowing my tires to squeal against the track at the beginning of the next turn in order to ensure they were dry, even though I knew I'd have to encounter the wet part of the track again soon.
"What do you want from me? What do you want from us? What is the end game, Harvey?" I demanded to know, getting pretty damn sick and tired of being kept in the dark during all of this.
"Finley, you know what I want. I want to take the mafia that I always should have led back, and I want to make Leo, Harry, and anyone close to them suffer for their actions. Don't take it personally, sweetheart, you're just another piece of collateral damage," he replied smugly.
"Considering Leo and his entire mafia wanted you gone, and by doing so their business skyrocketed, it looks like we have the collateral damage in common," I shot back.
"I'm surprised Styles puts up with a backtalker like you," he countered.
"I'm surprised your wife married an absolute cunt like you," I retorted.
He laughed bitterly at my response, and as I came upon the wet and sharp turn again, I repeated my previous actions, executing the turn perfectly.
"Well, Finley, clearly you can handle water...the question now, is can you handle fire?" he challenged.
"What the fuck are you getting at?" I snapped, but regardless of my brash response, my heart began to beat a little quicker at his words.
But before he responded, I suddenly heard a faint beeping noise, incessant, repetitive, and from what I could decipher, it was coming from inside my helmet.
"You know, you should really be more careful where you leave your things. People are so untrustworthy these days. Someone could steal it, damage it...put an explosive device in it..." he trailed off.
At his words, I swerved my car violently, not even bothering to mask my heavy breathing.
"You didn't..." I trailed off, more so trying to reassure myself than get any actual confirmation from Harvey.
"Oh, but I did. It's amazing how small they can make them now! Nearly undetectable! The foam padding inside the helmet really helps to disguise it, and doesn't hurt your head while wearing it! Well, at least until it explodes," he laughed, finding the fact that he was toying with my life entirely entertaining.
Tears brimmed my eyes and the beeping seemed even louder now, and it was quite a difficult problem to get out of when driving at 135 mph.
"It was so nice talking to you, Finley! I'd say let's chat again soon, but I'd say you have about a minute or two before your brain gets blown to bits, so I'll allow you a bit of time to yourself if you want," he offered, and I blinked through the tears that were now sliding down my face.
I heard a click through the speakers of the headset, signaling that he had gotten off of the radio, leaving me alone with my panic, and most likely, with my last few seconds of life.
But I didn't want to die.
And in about two seconds that felt like two hours, I decided that I wasn't going to let that happen.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that.
I kept one hand on the wheel and used the other to unclip the helmet strap under my chin, and then, very briefly, I took both of my hands off of the wheel, thankful that I was on a straightaway, and used my knees to keep the car steady.
I lifted the helmet off of my head, hearing the beeping getting louder and louder, holding it on my lap and placing one hand on the wheel again, my arm straining to keep the tight steering of the car in control.
But it was then that I remembered that the straightaway we were on was right next to the pits, and right next to a fuck ton of people...
Including my best friends.
"Fucking hell," I cursed frantically, stepping even further down onto the gas, my lack of motivation to win throughout tonight's race suddenly returning in full force, and I pulled off to the side and started to gun it to the front of the line, not caring who I pissed off in the process, only caring that I didn't kill anyone else, or myself.
Everything was moving at a snail's pace, despite the reality of how fast I was moving. My eyes desperately scanned the track, trying to determine the best place to do this, because even if I wasn't near the crowd, Harry, Grant, and the other drivers were still behind me, and if I killed any of them, then I doubt that myself getting out alive would serve any purpose at all because I don't know how I could live with myself.
"Oh, fuck. I shouldn't be trying to get in first, I need to get in last," I uttered out to myself in horror, and instantly, I moved my car off to the side as we began to get near a turn, and began to push my foot down on the breaks, my car swerving around slightly from the sudden change in speed, the beeping in the helmet growing louder and faster with each agonizing second.
The whizzing sound of cars flying by me echoed out in a muffled manner, and as everyone passed me, I continued to allow my car to slow, knowing that I needed to be going slow enough that the air wouldn't cause the helmet to be pushed back towards my car.
Once I was going around 70 mph, I rolled down the window and attempted to push the helmet out of the car.
Emphasis on attempted.
The window was too small for the helmet to fit through...meaning that there was only one option left, as I didn't have enough time to stop the car and get out...
I had to open the door while driving the car.
Due to my drastic decrease in speed, this also meant that I had a very small window of time to first, open the door and throw the helmet far enough that it wouldn't impact me, and second so that the other cars that were still going 135-140 mph didn't catch up with me and get themselves killed.
I unlocked the car doors and grabbed the handle pushing the door open, my car instantly jerking to the side as the air resistance tried to push the door closed, and I had to take my foot off of the throttle in order to reach my leg out and hold it open, my arm still on the wheel burning from how hard my muscles were straining to keep the car under control.
The beeping was practically screaming at me at this point as if I didn't already know that I was about to die if I didn't act fast.
I wound up my arm with the helmet, hearing the whirring of the other cars getting louder and louder, and I sucked in one final breath, flinging my arm harshly to the side, and right as I released the helmet from my fingertips...the beeping stopped.
In a matter of one or two seconds, I pulled my leg back into the car, slammed the door shut, placed my foot back on the throttle, and stepped down as far as possible on the gas, glancing back in my rearview mirror just in time to see the helmet be demolished in a large explosion, the flames streaking through the air as the ashes and flickers of light streamed down, the sound of it exploding making me wince, as I realized if I had waited for a second longer, I would have been dead.
I was now an entire lap behind the rest of the cars, but I could care fucking less, I just managed to save my own life, while sparing everyone else's too.
As I approached the straightaway next to the pits, everyone was in a state of horror and shock at the explosion that just occurred.
There was only one more lap left, even though I was technically behind a lap, I didn't fucking care. I was getting out of this car as soon as possible. As I passed the pits, I saw everyone craning their necks, looking for the wreckage of the explosion, assuming an engine had blown up or something, not that one of the drivers had been sabotaged.
One more lap to go. One more lap to survive. One more lap to hope and pray that I had endured Harvey's last trick for the night.
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Harry
Finley had been driving weird all night. Not necessarily driving poorly, but just very sporadic. She was unpredictable. One minute she'd be pushing the car to the extremes, and then the next, she would allow herself to fall back.
It had been making me panic the entire race, as I wondered if something was wrong with her car, or if something was wrong with her in general.
I just wanted this damn race to hurry up and be over with. I didn't care who fucking won, I just wanted to check on Finn. I wanted to see her face and confirm that she was alright.
And then there was the whole wet track incident. It was like someone had been watering their garden, and decided to come water the track instead. Finley handled the turn beautifully, but I would be lying if I said my heart didn't stop beating as memories of the night Willie died doing the same thing played through my head.
I tried to shake the thoughts that someone had planned it from my head, that someone wanted that exact same situation to play out...but as I continued to watch Finley's unpredictable driving patterns...I felt more and more strongly that someone was behind the water on the track.
Namely, Harvey Cain.
But that still didn't explain Finley's behavior. She had been driving weird the entire time, not just when the water appeared on the track. That's the part that was frustrating me the most as I drove.
Hey, for the first time ever, you guys are really quiet. Do you know something that I don't? I fucking swear, if there were ever a time for you to open your damn mouths, it's now.
The second turn on the wet track went smoothly too, but then Finley began driving the most out of character she had all night as we went onto the straightaway, and after that, the wet track was the last thing on my mind.
Out of nowhere, she suddenly slammed down on the gas, breaking away from the line of cars and taking the outside stretch of track to propel herself at damn near lightspeed past the other cars. It didn't feel like she was trying to win the race though, it felt like she was trying to outrun something or someone.
I stepped on the gas harder too, trying to catch up with her, trying to get some sort of indication of what the actual fuck was going on right now, but as we began to go through the next turn, she moved to the side again and began to slow down dramatically.
My heart felt like it was gonna claw its way out of my chest in order to get out of the car and make its way to Finley. For probably one of the first times ever, I didn't have the slightest motivation to win the race. If something was wrong with Finley, then it wouldn't matter if I won, because I still would have lost everything.
I needed to get back to her. And I needed to do it quickly.
I pulled to the outside of the track and began to full throttle it like I usually did when driving the final stretch of the race, but this time, it wasn't to win, it was to get to my girl as quickly as fucking possible, not caring about being in the lead, not caring if I blew a fucking tire from how hard I was driving the car. Every worry and care that my soul could possibly muster belonged solely to Finley at this moment.
I glanced down at the speedometer to see I was pushing the car at 147 mph, and even though I was about to make my way out of the straightaway and into another turn, I didn't care. I pulled into the turn far faster than any sane person would ever dare to, hearing the screeching of my tires as I drifted in and out of it in the most reckless fashion imaginable.
Finley was still driving considerably slower than the rest of the cars, almost an entire lap behind everyone else, which, considering how competitive I knew she was, I had no doubt that there was something extremely and terribly wrong.
"Please be okay, please be okay," I found myself muttering over and over again, my heavy breathing causing my helmet to fog up to the point where I had to tear my hand away from the wheel in order to flip it up, but even with the new breathability, I still felt beads of sweat rolling down my face out of pure fear and desperation.
The broken chain tattoo on my wrist seemed to be enflamed, engulfing my skin in searing pain as I even entertained the thought of something happening to Finley.
And then, out of nowhere...she opened the fucking door while driving.
I pressed even harder on the gas, going over 150 as I nearly pushed the car to its breaking point as I tried to get to her.
Suddenly, she threw something out of the car and as far into the air and as far from the track as possible.
Was that...was that her helmet?
Before I even had a chance to answer my own question, however, I nearly wrecked my car as an explosion erupted in the air, sending Finley's helmet shattering into a million pieces, the haunting flames slowly trickling down in the air as I approached them.
In an instant, Finley had closed her door and was pushing the car hard once again as she picked up her speed.
I felt my blood boiling as I drove, knowing full well that if Finley had waited for even a second longer, she would have been killed. Killed right before my very eyes, and I wouldn't have been able to help her no matter how badly I wanted to.
I was going to kill that son of a bitch. And not with a stupid fucking cyanide pill, I would rip him limb from limb with my bare fucking hands, and once he had experienced every kind of pain imaginable, I would shove the cyanide down his throat and watch every last second of his death.
I sighed with the most relief I think I've ever felt in my entire life as I watched Finley cross the finish line and begin making her way into the pits.
I rounded the final turn and began to drive down the last straightaway and across the finish line, when I turned my head towards the crowds, nearly losing it when someone came into my view.
He was holding a cigarette loosely between his fingertips, and time seemed to slow almost to a complete stop as I drove past him. He had the smuggest look on his face as he watched my car, his head following every single movement that the vehicle made.
I hadn't seen those cold eyes of his in almost a decade, but they still pierced me, even though the car, with the most chilling sensation as they did when I first met him.
I would say that he was a fucking idiot for being here so out in the open, but something about the look on his face told me that he wanted me to see him. Harvey Cain wanted me to know that he was here and that he had managed to be here without my knowledge.
But just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared, getting drowned out by the crowds of people pushing their way to be the first to welcome the cars back from the track.
My car flew across the finish line, and I instantly heard the crowd erupt in cheers of my nickname, ready and eager to greet me as I pulled my car into the pits, nearly running a few people over out of my impatience to see Finley.
I pulled the car into my pit section, cutting the engine and practically throwing myself out of the car, immediately being swarmed by the crowd of drunk and excited people trying to get in my face.
I tore my helmet from my head tossing it inside the car and slamming the door shut behind me, my heart still pounding as I craned my neck over the masses of people blocking my path, trying to make out any glimpse of her.
"Move," I demanded, not taking time for any polite formalities as I shoved my way past the swarm of warm bodies, blocking out their chants, ignoring their wandering hands that tried to grasp onto my shirt.
"Way to go FT!" a drunken woman cried out, slapping me on the back.
"Atta boy! You smoked em!" another man cheered, and I felt extremely claustrophobic and panicked from all of the unwanted attention.
"Please, step aside," I urged, slipping past them and getting closer and closer to Finley's section.
"Hey, handsome, wanna take me for a drive?" A girl cooed, grabbing my shirt and trying to pull me towards her.
The old me probably would have said yes, but now? I would never.
I grabbed her hands gently and pulled them off of my shirt, glaring down at her with an intensity that made a gulp travel down her throat.
"No, thank you. I have a girlfriend," I replied adamantly, letting go of her touchy hands and continuing my desperate journey towards the girl that I did want to see.
Prior to Finley, I would have loved this attention. I would have loved the boost to my narcissistic personality, but now, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the crowds of people fawning over me. Out of all of the faces in the crowd, there was only one that I wanted to see.
And as if on cue...there she was.
She had evidently been looking for me just as frantically as I had been looking for her, because when our eyes finally met, her face was instantly flooded with relief, and we both continued to push through the crowd until we finally met each other in the middle.
She threw her arms around my waist and I wrapped my arms around her neck, pulling her into my chest tightly and immediately pressing relieved kisses to the top of her head, my arms unwrapping from around her neck to cup her face and tilt her head up at me, her eyes glossed over with tears of relief.
"Thank fuck you're safe," I muttered out, kissing her forehead and holding my lips there, holding them there almost out of a fear that if I didn't, she might disappear.
"Harry, Harvey, he was...he is-" she began to say, but I cut her off.
"I saw him. I know. He may have left, I don't know. But just...let's just give ourselves a few minutes before we have to deal with this shit again, please?" I practically begged, not wanting to hear his revolting name for at least five fucking minutes while I held Finley close to me.
She laughed, blinking her eyes up at me and causing a few of the tears that had been lingering in them to pool to the corners of her eyes, and then to fall slowly down her flushed cheeks.
"Come here, baby," I sighed, bringing my lips to hers.
I had kissed Finley a lot of different times, and a lot of different ways, but right now, kissing her was one of the most therapeutic things I had ever experienced. The stress I had felt began to shed itself off of my soul and was replaced by the peace that always seemed to accompany her.
I really did just want to have these few minutes to ourselves, but that didn't mean I had forgotten about Harvey.
Harvey had messed with a lot of things, and with a lot of people in my life, but he had just taken it to a level that no other sane person would dare to cross with me. He had messed with one of the most important people in my life yet again, and I intended to ruin him for it.
If Harvey wanted to make our lives a living hell, then I was going to make his version of hell for us seem like heaven compared to the one I had planned for him.
AN: AHHHHHHH! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR OVER A MILLION READS ON FULL THROTTLE! MY MIND STILL HASN'T FULLY PROCESSED IT YET. I AM IN SO MUCH SHOCK AND AWE OF THE LOVE AND SUPPORT YOU ALL HAVE SHOWN TO ME AND MY WORK! I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO SO SO MUCH! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CHAPTER! I WILL TRY AND UPDATE AGAIN TOMORROW IF I CAN! xx g