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I barely made it three steps before Sebastian caught my arm.
“Theo.”
I yanked free automatically. “Don’t.”
“Theo,” he repeated more firmly this time, stepping directly into my path near the hospitality exit. Around us, the paddock kept moving at full speed: engineers rushing past, PR assistants carrying schedules, camera operators weaving through crowds.
Meanwhile, it felt like my entire world had narrowed into one sharp point of panic.
“I’m going to find her.”
“And then what?” Sebastian asked carefully.
“I don’t know!”
The words tore out of me harsher than I intended.
Austin straightened from his chair behind us, all traces of amusement gone now.
Because this wasn’t funny anymore.
My breathing felt uneven, too fast. Every thought in my head crashed into the next one hard enough to make me dizzy.
Something was wrong.
I knew it.
“She hasn’t answered in hours,” I said, dragging a hand through my hair roughly. “That’s not normal. She’s always here hours before a race. She is always here.”
“Mate,” Austin started cautiously, “she might just—”
“No.” I shook my head immediately. “No, something’s off.”
Sebastian’s expression shifted slightly then, and he suddenly looked almost…concerned.
“Theo,” he said slowly, “what’s today’s date?”
I frowned. “What?”
“The date.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Just answer me.”
I pulled my phone back out instinctively, my irritation spiking hotter by the second.
June 14th. The second the numbers registered, my stomach dropped straight through the floor. Oh. Fuck.
The air disappeared from my lungs so violently it physically hurt. Sebastian watched understanding hit me in real time.
“It’s the anniversary,” he said quietly.
The anniversary. Ten years. Ten fucking years since the crash.
For a second, I genuinely couldn’t hear anything around me anymore.
Not the paddock noise.
