Neon lights cast mottled shadows on the iron gate of the underground garage, just like that rainy night twelve years ago—when my mother left me at the orphanage door, raindrops dripping from the edge of her umbrella.
"Tess, get in the car." Kyle's voice was low, as if seeping up from beneath the earth. He always appeared at this hour, his leather jacket smelling of smoke, knuckles bruised and unhealed, yet his gaze burning hot enough to melt through my final defenses.
I shouldn't have trusted him. But when my father’s fist came crashing toward my skull for the third time, it was Kyle who kicked the door open and fired a shot that shattered the chandelier above the living room. Glass rained down like an avalanche, and he yanked me into the car, slamming the accelerator to the floor.
"You can't run away," Mother Grace suddenly said from the corner of the rearview mirror, wearing that beige dress I remembered from childhood photos, cradling an old teddy bear—the only thing she'd ever left me.
The car screeched to a halt.
"She's back," I whispered.
Kyle didn’t speak. He only pressed the gun into my palm.
We returned to that house. A steaming bowl of soup sat on the dining table. Grace smiled, wiping her hands: "My darling, I've waited so long for this day."
Father sat at the head of the table, grinning cruelly. "You little bastard—let's see who saves you now."
By the time the shouting erupted, I’d backed myself onto the balcony. Wind filled my throat; below was the same concrete where, ten years earlier, I’d broken my leg.
"Jump!" Father roared. "Jump like your mother threw you away!"
I closed my eyes—
"Don't jump." Kyle’s voice cut through the wind. "You weren't the one left behind. You're the one who walked away."
I opened my eyes. He was kneeling by the railing, blood streaming from his forehead. And then the doorbell rang again.
Lana stood at the doorway, holding a birth certificate. On the cover were the words: "Tess, not biologically related."
She smiled. "Sister, welcome home."
A fateful encounter at a street racetrack brings together Tess, a high school girl scarred by bullying and abuse, and Kyle, her rebellious street-racer stepbrother—sparking a story of forbidden love, two souls healing each other, and coming of age at full speed.
