Page 26 of Heartbreaker

“We just want to know what you were doing down in the arena before Demi found you,” I say, trying to be calm in Demi’s chaos. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out before nodding and speaking, his voice a bit shaky.

“I was going to cut the spare tires.” Glancing at Demi, I find her eyes are already on mine. I’m sure she has a camera recording somewhere in here in case we get a confession.

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” he says, a hint of panic in the words. I look at him, unimpressed.

“You don’t know?” I ask, my tone that of a mother asking a child whose face is covered in chocolate if he stole a piece of cake.

“I—” Demi snaps the taser again, and he whimpers. I wonder how many times she tased him earlier to get him tied up. With a sigh, he lays out his confession. “I was paid ten grand to pick four trucks and cut three of the extra tires that get rotated during a show. I don’t know why, and that was all for the information I was given.” I glance at Demi. He must take that as a sign that he hasn’t said enough, because he keeps going.

“I was to cut them just enough so it wouldn’t show when they were doing inspections, but might burst when they landed on a jump.” My eyes widen, since a projectile like that could hurt a lot of people, not just a driver. The drivers and technicians in the area, or even an audience member, if it went beyond the safety zone.

“But you didn’t do it?” I ask, and he shakes his head. Demi explains before he can, looking proud.

“I got to him before he could do anything. Then I convinced him to come back to my room with me.”

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you not to trust strangers?” I ask, and irritation crosses his face.

“I thought she had a gun to the back of my head! Ten grand isn’t worth my fucking life.” Demi just grins.

“I may or may not have been a little cloak and dagger with it. It was just a taser,” she says with a shrug.

“How was I supposed to know that? I have kids, man.”

“So does Ted,” I say, referring to one of the drivers, remembering his wife and surprising him at a meet and greet last week. “And Oliver.”

“I wasn’t going to fuck with their tires!” I open my mouth to tell him it doesn’t matter, that it could have hurt someone, but before I can, he continues. “I should have known that security would have gotten tighter,” he groans.

“Tighter?” I ask, my heart skipping a bit at the slip. He looks aside, biting his lip nervously.

“I, uh…” I know what he’s going to say before the truth spills from his lips. “I was the one who changed the gasoline.” His eyes widen when he sees something on Demi’s face. “You don’t understand! I couldn’t just say no to money like that. Plus, if we were down a driver, I would get more airtime.”

“You could have said no,” Demi says. “You just didn’t want to. You valued your ego and greed over others’ safety. Phil pays you guys well, and the benefits are great. He even gives you guys paid time off in the off-season. Say goodbye to that,” Demi says, and he lets out a groan of dismay.

“Whose tires were you going to fuck with?” I say, and he looks away. “Mine?” My body stills with the realization that mine were on the list.

“It was the closest to Tyler’s! I just wanted to get them all done quickly.” I lift an eyebrow, and he sighs, spilling his story like some Scooby Doo villain. “And it’s bullshit that you got a full-time spot over me. Is that what you want me to say? You have to see it from my point of view. I’ve been here for years and keep getting passed up, but some chick comes in and gets to ride every race just because she’s a girl? It’s fucked up.”

“Who else?” I ask, pushing that to the side. “Who else were you supposed to target?”

“I didn’t really have a list, so to speak,” he says, looking away.

“But?”

“But I was told to get Roman’s tires, plus three more to divert attention.”

FOURTEEN

When Demi is satisfied she’s gotten all the intel out of Liam, including what little he had on the person who contacted him about the sabotage, she calls Gabriel up to manage cleanup. He sends in a team to discreetly deal with Liam, where Gabriel will inevitably work his own magic to ensure he doesn’t talk about what just happened.

“Good catch, ladies,” he says over the line hours later, my phone set on the desk between Demi and me. “What do you want to do next?” My favorite thing about working with Gabriel is the way he always trusts us to follow our instincts and never tries to tell us what to do.

“He isn’t our guy. He’s just an idiot who loves money,” I say, and Demi nods.

“I want to pull the banking info from everyone else who works on the circuit. See if there have been any other large deposits.”

“We should also pull Phil and Courtney’s to check if they have made any large withdrawals.”