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Staring out the floor-to-ceiling window in New York City overlooking the skyline, I focus on the blue sky, feeling motionless, speechless, heartbroken, and lost. The pain in my soul breaks me in half repeatedly.
“Mommy? We are high up, aren’t we? I can see the cars from up here.”
“Yes, baby,” I croak, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. I can hardly speak, but I can’t cry in front of LJ.
The door opens, and a man in a tailored gray suit walks in with armed security and a police officer. The armed security guard holds a large box with an electronic lock and places it in front of me on the lacquered wood desk.
“My sincere condolences, Mrs. Turner. Your husband was a great man.” I look up, and tears blur my vision when I give the man a slight nod.
Lane died a month ago on the track. A rear tire that was too hot was blown, causing him to lose control. He crashed into a wall at one hundred eighty miles an hour. He was pronounceddead at the scene. He told me he would be home later that day but never made it.
LJ makes engine noises as he races his cars on the floor. LJ reminds me so much of his father. I miss him so much it hurts.
The man motions for everyone to turn around when I enter Lane’s code. It was the day I met him for the first time. The beeping noise makes a sound with a loud click, and the top opens. Inside is Lane’s journal and a flash drive with all his builds. A large sealed yellow envelope, only to be opened upon his death.
I leave the journal and the flash drive inside because they are valuable. He secured it with armed security to make sure it didn’t get in the wrong hands. I leave it and close the box, letting it secure the lock in place. Lane always warned me to be careful that the information he had inside was worth a lot of money to certain people. They could harm LJ or me to get to it.
I take a deep breath and open the envelope. I pull out a handwritten letter from Lane.
To my wife,
I love addressing you as my wife. I feel honored calling you that. You have given me more than I could have ever asked for. You have given me love, a beautiful son, and my legacy. You have made me the happiest man on earth. To have a gorgeous wife to call my own. Every day I work and build the next car and the next. All for our future. I told you once that my greatest love was building the next car and making it the fastest. I lied. My greatest love is you. It was always you.I fell in love with you the first time I laid eyes on you. I couldn’t get you out of my head. When you walked past my shop that night, I knew it was fate. I knew something bigger than all of us brought me you, and I promised myself to never let you go. Now, for the hard part.
If you are reading this, it means I’m no longer with you or with Lane Jr., and for that, I’m sorry, Aura. The day I disappeared was the same day you told me you were pregnant with Lane, and it was the same day I had a scare and almost died on the track. It scared me. If I died that day, you would have struggled with our son, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t risk leaving you like that. So I left, and I planned. To leave you my legacy. My dream is to live on through you and our son. All my hard work couldn’t be for nothing. It couldn’t end like that. All the nights away from you and LJ were to build a future for us. If I didn’t make it, at least you and Lane would be taken care of. I’m sorry for leaving you so soon, but I knew it was a possibility.
I left you everything, Aura. All the money, my cars, my legacy is in your hands to pass down to our son. He will continue what I have built. People will offer you the world for it. Don’t. It is worthmore than you can imagine. I did it. I help build the fastest car in the world, and you own it. What does that mean? It means you have the blueprint inside the box. The foundation. The other cars I left you and built are one of a kind, and there is nothing like them.
I love you, my angel. I love you so much. I couldn’t have done it without you. You are the lightning to my tidal wave. The spark I needed to make it work. You are the key to everything I have ever dreamed of. It was you, and it will always be you. By the time you are almost finished reading this letter. There will be a knock on the door and there will be armed men coming inside the room to take you. Do not be afraid. I sent them. They will protect you, and there is only one person I trust to protect you and our son. This was all arranged the day I left, and you thought I didn’t love you. I couldn’t tell you this because I hoped to God it would never happen.
I know I wasn’t your first love, but I was glad to be your second. You gave me my dream, Aura, and now, it’s my turn to make sure you have your happiness. Goodbye, my love. I will always love you.
Till death do us part,
Lane Turner
Tears are running down my cheeks, sobs wreak havoc through my body. As promised, a knock sounds on the door, and six men walk into the room with guns and bulletproof vests. They are quiet when they move inside the room.
LJ is too busy playing with his cars on the carpet to notice.
Another man enters. I’m crying, and my makeup is running. He waves his hand to the men standing against the wall to step back.
“There is someone who will escort you along with these men to an undisclosed destination. There is a lot of paparazzi, and it’s for your safety as well as your son’s,” the police officer says.
I sniff, trying to stop crying, but I can’t. My lip quivers, and I’m scared. A tall shadow of a man towering over the lawyer and the police officer enters the room like a Goliath, and my heart drops.
Kalum.
His eyes scan my face. Tears fall like fat raindrops down my neck. When I glance at LJ on the carpet, he’s concentrating on getting a closer look at his cars, oblivious to the scene unfolding. Kalum’s eyes follow the path of my vision. His face is hard and unreadable. While his attention is focused on LJ, I wipe my face and notice how much he has changed. He no longer has the face of a teenager but of a man with a dangerous air of authority. He is tall, with his tailored suit perfected over his massive build. When he glances back at me, his dark hair is coiffed with a clean-shaven, sharp-angular jaw, the same straight nose, and lips so perfect they could have been used as concrete like a work of art.
His demeanor is also different from when I last saw him. A man I no longer recognize. My instinct is to protect my son.Kalum tries to make eye contact with me, but I refuse, and the only thing that feels right is to hold LJ.
“LJ,” I call out. Lane looks over his shoulder at the sound of my voice. His forehead pinches into a frown when he notices the men standing like soldiers in the room.
I open my arms. “Come to Mommy. Bring your cars, sweetheart.”
He looks down and scoops the cars in his arms as fast as he can and hurriedly runs into my arms, shielding his face in my embrace. My hands soothe him by making lazy circles on his back. He is incredibly shy and doesn’t like talking to strangers. His head lifts, his handsome face, the spitting image of his father. I smile, assuring him that everything is okay.
“We need to get going,” Kalum says sternly.
