Villain: The Play of Destiny

“Don’t hold back,” Keith spoke right before Rebecca shot off into the first lap.

To beat a time of 9 minutes and 4 seconds on this track was not going to be easy, and if they held back, they would lose their free chance.

Even though they did not lack money, the Challenge Bet was now at 15 Million Nr. It would simply be a waste even by their standards.

The screen showed how well Rebecca was performing. Her stats were similar to her earlier stats when she had hit a time of 2m 15s, and those numbers were what they needed right now.

“Come on!” Julian hopefully called out when her car entered the last straight stretch. “Yes!” He knew she had made it and did not even bother looking at the clock before he shot off.

Once again, the crowd was mesmerized by how well-coordinated their teamwork was.

His favourite black Koenigsegg CCX, which was one of the only three special units in the world, housing a power of exactly 820 HP, was put to its limits as Julian showcased his skills at the wheel.

He was almost as good as his sister when it came to driving, and managed to hit similar numbers as her.

She had clocked a lap time of 2m and 10s, and he managed to put 2m and 16 seconds on the board.

Keith too coordinated with Julian to perfection, and to the shock and awe of the crowd, he was not falling too much behind the numbers of his partners even with a car that was less powerful and did not have as fast acceleration.

However, the way he maneuvered through the corners was genius, and as much as it was a brave risk, somehow, it made up for his Wheel’s slight lack of power.

“Yes!!!” Julian excitedly laughed when Keith managed a time of 2m and 20s and did not even pay attention to Rebecca, who was taking on their last lap. “We did it!”

“Yes, we did!” Kiara was just as excited, and as soon as they exited their car, she latched onto Keith, laughing merrily.

“Congratulations!” Julian stepped forward and hugged Keith as well when Kiara let go of him.

“You too.” He chuckled and then looked at the screen.

“She is breaking it all!” James called out in shock when he looked at the numbers Rebecca was shelling out.

Even Julian was taken aback, having never realized that his sister was so much better than him at driving. However, the shock did not last long for him, and a proud smile crept on his lips.

“Not worried?” Keith playfully asked.

“Nope.” Julian shook his head. By now, he understood that there was no need for him to be fretting over Rebecca’s safety. She was capable enough behind the Wheel. “But I am still going to reprimand her for being reckless.”

“You must.” Keith agreed with his words.

The crowd loudly cheered when Rebecca reached the finish line, clocking a lap time of 2m and 2s, which was a record now.

[1st: Team 52. Time: 8m 48s. Bet: 15 Million Nr. Winner’s Pot: 58 Million Nr.]

[2nd: Team 75. Time: 9m 40s. Bet: 10 Million Nr. Second Pot: 25 Million Nr.]

…..

…..

“So, how was I?” Rebecca proudly smiled as she walked up to him.

“Amazing!”

“Pretty Good.”

“Reckless!”

Kiara, Keith, and Julian said one after another and her expressions stiffened.

“You are just jealous!” She scoffed at Julian and Keith before smiling at Kiara. “Thank you!”

The young girl laughed merrily and nodded her head.

“I don’t think anyone can better your time tonight.” She said.

“I think so too.” Rebecca nodded her head, and the rest of the group agreed as well.

“Team 75 have used their free chance to reclaim the Top Spot,” Eric informed them when the screen showed Team 75 in the Queue.

“Let’s see how they perform,” Keith suggested and all of them cleared the Road for the next race.

As they waited for Team 75, Keith, Julian, and Rebecca looked through the other events at the Circuit tonight.

“The best time for Double Lap Event is 9m and 20 seconds.” Julian frowned and looked at the track map of the Double Lap Event. “The track is a little complicated, but with that 1600 m straight stretch, these numbers are not good enough. Should we hit it?” He asked.

[1st: Team 27. Time: 9m 20s. Bet: 10 Million. Winner’s Pot: 46 Million Nr.]

“Let’s wait for a while. Look at the Queue.” Rebecca said, which made both of them take note of the Teams planning on challenging the Time. “Team 9 is Christian’s Team.” She informed them.

“Oh..” Julian surprisedly said and then looked at the details of Team 9. “He’s not driving by himself.” He displeasedly said when he saw Christian’s Guard listed as the driver of his car.

“The young one is,” Keith said as they all checked the stats of Team 9 in tonight’s event. “He’s decent.”

“Yeah, but with that car, he should be doing better.” Julian was not impressed and said.

“Agreed, but that guy driving Christian’s Car is very good. It won’t be too hard for him to cover for Anthony.”

Julian frowned when he looked at the stats of the guy named Fisher, who was Christian’s bodyguard. As Keith said, he was good, and his stats of official and private one-off races tonight was a testament to it. Not to mention, Rebecca had lost to him. It could be argued that the Pagani was better than her 812, but for Anthony to utilise on that advantage meant that he was very skilled.

“I can get him if I have the same car.” Rebecca seriously said, and they did not doubt her words.

However, Keith had a hunch that she could have still won with her 812, but held back for some reason. And it was most likely that she planned on pinning him against Christian, just for fun.

“Well, we need a better ride if we plan on challenging them in a one-off race. It’s fine if he sticks to his Zonda RS, but if Anthony lends his Huayra Tempesta to them or if they use the other two Huayra BC on their team, we will need a better ride.” Keith sighed and said.

“You should have brought your Pagani.” Julian sighed and chuckled.

“Now I regret not bringing it.” He chuckled too.

“You know, if you want a better car, it can be arranged.” Rebecca mysteriously said.

“How?” Both Keith and Julian raised their brows.

“There is a guy here with a Mclaren Senna Rouge Edition.” She smiled and said. “I know his sister, and if you want, I can make him lend it to us, and maybe he would even be willing to sell it.”

“No one in his right mind would sell that car.” Julian sighed.

“Well, we can still borrow it. He isn’t racing and is only here to watch the event with his girlfriend.” She shrugged and said.

“Who is it?” Her little brother curiously asked.

“You don’t know him. His sister used to be my classmate in High-School.” She shook her head.

“You are talking about Stephan McLean, right?” Keith smiled and asked.

“You know him?” The blonde girl surprisedly looked at him.

“Yes. I have heard about him. A rising Business star in our country.” He nodded his head but smiled in his heart.

He remembered from his Dream that Rebecca’s best friend was called Julia. And as Destiny would have it, the girl was also a Heroine designed for Ye Tian. However, she was not a Main or Secondary Heroine, but just a Vase by his side. She was one of those women who were left behind in this world and failed to ever meet him again.

“Yes.” She nodded her head, keeping her doubts in her heart at how he knew that Stephan was her best friend’s brother. “So, should I arrange for it?”

“Yes.” Julian nodded his head. “We haven’t used Gareth’s Sian that is on our reserve spot, so we can replace it with Stephan’s Senna Rogue.”

“It will give us more confidence.” Keith too nodded his head.

“Okay. I will be back in a few minutes!” She said and walked away with Marianne to get the car they needed.

A few minutes later, Team 75 started their Game Lap, and to the surprise of everyone, they did much better than their earlier run. However, they still failed to reclaim the first spot, falling short by 30 seconds.

Half an hour later, when the Team was busy deciding on what event they should target next, Rebecca returned with the Car she had promised.

“Wow…” James was stunned when he looked at the model. “Isn’t that a Rouge?!”

“It is.” Eric and Gareth nodded their heads, which made the plump boy excitedly jump on his feet and rush towards the car. “Please tell me that I will get to see you race with this!” He practically begged Rebecca.

“That’s the plan.” She lightly laughed and nodded before walking over to Keith and giving him the key. “You are up against Christian’s Guard, Fisher, in 20 minutes. I have put a bet of 50 Million in your favour.” She said, shocking everyone around them.

“What?!” Julian called out in disbelief. “You better be joking.”

“Wasn’t that why we wanted the car?” She feigned confusion and asked.

“Yes, but…” And her little brother failed to gather his words.

“Why don’t you do it yourself.” Keith narrowed his eyes and asked.

“You promised to help me out of the date, remember?” She grinned at him. “I told Christian that you did not want me to go out on a date with him, and he was more than willing to accept the bet just to watch you lose.” She giggled.

“And if I lose?” He curiously asked.

“Nothing. I will just go out on a date with him tomorrow evening.” She casually shrugged. “Oh, and if you win. Half the Winnings are mine.”

“Yeah, right.” He shook his head and sighed. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Keith, she is deliberately pinning you two against each other.” Julian sincerely reminded him.

Of course, he knew it as well, but Keith really did not care much about it.

“Oh, come on!” Rebecca nudged her elbow in his ribs. “It isn’t like they are on very good terms that it would matter if the things got worse.”

No one could really refute her words and just sighed in their hearts. However, they were excited in their hearts too since the race was going to be a spectacle that could not be missed.

The track they had chosen for this race was the same race track that Rebecca had used earlier in her race against Christian. It was 3.6 Kilometres long, with lots of turns, and just a kilometer of straight stretch to utilise the true speed of their cars.

Christian and his team were already at the starting point along with the Management of the Circuit. And as expected, when they saw that it was a Senna Rogue, Christian borrowed the Huayra Tempesta from his younger brother.

“You better win.” Rebecca seriously said when she entered the passenger seat.

Keith raised his brow and checked the rearview mirror, and found Kiara standing along with their Shadows.

“I will, but only if you offer me something lucrative in return.” He playfully said.

“I know you will win even if I don’t offer you anything, Mister!” She giggled and did not fall into his trap. “By the way, what did you plan on asking me?”

“A kiss.” He grinned and said as he performed the burnout to heat up the wheels of the car, getting it ready.

“Ahan.” She scoffed. “As if I would ever kiss you. Keep dreaming, Pretty Boy!”

“We shall see.” He smiled at her and then chuckled. “He seems pretty upset.”

Rebecca knew that he was talking about Christian, who was looking at their interaction from the other car.

“Well, let’s give him something more to be upset about.” She suddenly said and leaned over, wrapping her arms around his neck and plastering her lips on his cheek.

From Christian’s angle, it looked as if the two of them were passionately kissing each other, but in truth, she was just kissing his cheek.

“That’s insidious.” He playfully whispered.

“I know.” She giggled and separated from him. “Well, you have received your kiss. Aren’t you happy?”

“Very.” He chuckled and then lightly smiled, completely focusing on the race.

[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Go!]

The flag dropped, and both the cars roared out in rage before bursting into ludicrous acceleration.

The Tempesta still had its advantage, but the Rouge was not far behind it.

Keith carefully maneuvered the car on the first turn, cutting the distance between them, but frowned when he found the other driver trying to cage him against the railing of the road.

The Tempesta started gaining in speed once more, increasing the distance between them, and Keith did not try again to overtake it and stayed on its tail.

Rebecca frowned at what was happening but did not say anything. She trusted him enough to know that he would not lose this race. And a smile crept on her lips when the next turn approached and he spoke up.

“Brace!” He said and then instead of slowing down, he accelerated.

His action took Fisher by surprise, and Rebecca giggled when she caught glimpse of Christian’s horrified eyes as it seemed like Keith planned on crashing into them.

To save themselves, Fisher gave him the inner lane to take over if he could, and Keith grinned before changing his lane and taking a suicidal turn.

He suddenly slowed down, making the tires scream out in pain, and his car slowly started going into the Tempesta that was about to take over from the outer lane.

Fisher hesitated for a moment and stopped pressing the accelerator, which proved to be an unwise decision because suddenly, the Rouge stopped skidding and straightened up gaining distance over them.

“Yes!” Rebecca laughed merrily when they took the lead, and she knew that Keith would never let the opponent take over now.

He deliberately gave no way to the Tempesta to take over, and every time it changed the lane, Keith would put his car in front of it.

At each turn, the distance between them rose, and before the tailing car could close on them, another turn would approach.

When they entered the last straight stretch, they were in front by a good 100 meters. And now the road was too wide for him to play his game.

Both the drivers pushed their cars to the limits, and the Tempesta, being the faster of the two, started closing in.

Rebecca laughed heartily when she checked the speed of the car, which was at its limit of 396 Km/h, and then saw the remaining distance between them at the finish line.

Had the track been 200 meters longer, the Tempesta would have managed to overtake them, but in the end, it fell short by 5 meters.

Cheers broke out at the finish line, and when Keith exited the car, he was tightly hugged by Kiara.

“You were awesome!” She laughed and congratulated him.

“Thank you.” He smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Demiliore!” Someone angrily called out, which took everyone by surprise. And when they turned to the source of it, they found Anthony angrily walking towards him. “Do you have no shame?!”

His words suddenly turned everyone silent, and it seemed as if he would proceed to punch Keith in the face, however, he stopped and just glared at him.

“I am not sure what you are whining about, little Falken.” He smirked.

“We all saw on the feed how you won that race!” He raged, and his face was red with his emotions. .

“Does it matter how I won?” He lightly smiled and asked, which caught the boy off-guard.

However, before Anthony could argue with him, Christian arrived at the scene.

“Anthony!” He called out to his brother. “Come back here.”

“Go on, don’t keep the big boy waiting for you.” Keith playfully said, trying to get under his skin, however, another shout for Christian made Anthony walk back to his brother.

“You will regret this day, Demiliore!” He threateningly whispered, loud enough for Keith to hear it, which made him lightly smile at those words.

“Happy now?” He turned to Rebecca and asked.

“What do you think?” She smirked at him, folding her arms on her chest.

“Well, don’t forget that you owe me a kiss.” He smirked back at her.

“Dream on!” And she scoffed before walking towards her brother.