Life used to be simple. I worked hard, lived life a little recklessly, and ended the night with my two loves: my daughter, Bailee, and the woman I had planned to one day marry, Gina.

But I learned the hard way that the world can shake and crumble at any given moment. It can tumble the norm and leave you miles away, hanging on for dear life while your loved ones cried tears every passing year on the same day you went missing.

They thought I was dead... and I had no choice but to let them think it was true.

"Your accident was a murder attempt."

I refused to believe the man who intercepted my way home after I spent three long months in a hospital, recovering. My family wasn't contacted because according to the records, I was dead. Probably something the man put in place, which meant he wanted something. But what? He must have known things; rich people always had access to information.

"Why? I'm not rich enough to make enemies."

"No, but winning races and having what other people want can create some." He folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Luckily it seems as though they were only after you. Your family will be safe... so long as you stay away."

"You're joking, right?" I asked, and he only shook his head. I shot out of my seat, letting it fall back with a thud. My hands balled into fists, fingernails digging into my palms.

"I'm not leaving my family," I managed to say through gritted teeth.

"You will have to unless you want them to be in danger."

He had a point and although I didn't want to leave them, I wanted them safe. Turning, I picked up the chair and sat down. "For how long?"

"Until we figure out who is behind this."

"And what do you get out of it?" I folded my hands on the table, "Since it's a deal and all."

The man took a deep breath, his shoulders slumping. "I get your help tracking down the person who has been trying to get rid of me."

"Don't you have people for that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I need someone on the outside, someone who can move in the shadows and find out information that my guards can't." He pursed his lips, looking away.

"You think it's someone on the inside."

He hummed in response.

Though, if that was the case, "Why not get my brother to do it? He works for you, doesn't he?"

"He does but he's not the right man for the job. Without the right motivation, a man like your brother can slip up."

"And I'm the right person for this, why?"

"You have people who are relying on you," he said simply. "I highly doubt you will leave any stone unturned knowing your girls will be in trouble if you do."

Fuck... he was right. Then again, what should I have expected from a damn businessman? Of course, Mr. Vasiliev, the well-known hotelier, would have the upper hand. "Fine. I'll do it."

"There's just one condition."

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue as if my life depended on it. "No one must know you're still alive. You'll be living here in New York, away from your family."

"Larry!"

The sudden voice pulled me from my thoughts. I shook the memories from my head. With a huff, I laid back down on the garage floor. Kicking my foot against the concrete, I pushed myself under the car.

Being a mechanic wasn't my first option, but it kept my mind and hands busy from calling or thinking about Gina. It was nothing like my old job at Club Gravity. I was no longer my own boss, and I had to follow Larry's rules at his auto repair shop, and one of those was to let him handle the customers.

A door swung open, and I slid further under the car, hiding from whatever customer felt the need to yell in the shop instead of just waiting for him to show up.

"Larry!" she called out again, and soon enough, Larry's big boots squeaked against the floor.

"Castillo, nice to see you again." He leaned beside the car I was under. The Green Day song that had previously filled the garage stopped. "What can I do for you?"

"My car broke down." She huffed, her voice laced with annoyance.

No one ever gave Larry an attitude. With his long gray hair and tattoos, not to mention his usual frown, Larry was someone no one ever wanted to cross. Except for her, apparently.

My eyes drifted over the flat red shoes the woman wore and what appeared to be a small cherry tattoo on her ankle.

"Didn't we just fix it?" Larry asked.

"That's what I was asking, but when I popped the hood outside your shop, low and behold, I found some snipped cables."

"They were cut?" he asked, and after a moment, he groaned.

"Yeah, your little mechanic here fucked up the car." She kicked her foot against mine. "Frank!"

Oh, she thought I was him.

I stifled the laugh threatening to escape my lips. Frank no longer worked at Larry's, not after the stunts he pulled, cable cutting included. Larry fired him two days ago because he loosened a hose that was connected to the radiator of a vehicle making it smoke up.

There was no doubt in my mind that the woman's car was probably fucked, but hopefully, it could still be fixed.

"Give me a few and I'll text you with details of how long it'll take. But you know if there's more than just the cables, I'm going to have to charge you. If there is something else wrong, I'll give you the estimate too."

He meant when I got the estimate. Larry didn't work on cars. That's why he hired mechanics to do the job for him while he sat on his ass doing nothing for the entire day.

She huffed. "Fine, but I'm leaving my car outside. No sense in driving it off when it's busted."

Her shoes disappeared along with her footsteps and once Larry's boots hit my dusty ass sneakers, I pushed myself out from under the car.

"Rainer," he said as he looked down at me.

Larry had a habit of calling everyone by their last name. I looked up at the old man with his thick beard covering the frown on his face.

"The last time I fixed Frank's mess, it came up to a lot of money," I reminded him as I sat up, dusting my hands off one another.

He shrugged regardless and took out his phone. "Yeah, well, I'm not too worried about the car right now. You finished with this one?"

I nodded, pushing myself up to my feet. "Everything's back in place. Fixed the spark plugs and changed the rotors."

"Good." Larry's fingers typed away at the phone and it made a ping. "Owner's coming to pick it up in a few."

My gaze followed his as it surveyed the garage. There wasn't much that needed to be done. If I wasn't working on that car for Castillo, my only other option was to clean up the spilled oil on the floor and pick up my tools by the car. For the most part, I tried to keep the garage clean. Well, I cleaned to distract myself when Gina came to mind, the good and the bad, which was a lot.

"You said you used to work at a club, right?" Larry pulled me back into the conversation.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"If you're looking for a second job, I also own a club a few blocks away."

A smile twitched at the corner of my lip. Of course, I was interested. Being in a crowded space with a bunch of people would distract me and keep me occupied from even thinking about Gina. Sure, Larry's auto repair shop was great, not too hard or busy, but that was the problem. I needed something else, especially when Larry liked to close up shop early on the weekends.

"What do you need?"

"Bartenders or bouncers. If you want to scope out the place and get a feel for it before deciding, you can come by tonight."

I nodded, crossing my arms as if I still needed to think. "It will give me extra money to put aside."

"Good." Larry wrapped his arm around me and patted my back with a smile. "How's your family?"

It was a loaded question. Aside from Larry, the only person who knew I was still alive was my brother, Nathan. After his boss, Mr. Vasiliev passed away a year ago, Nathan had a tough time getting back to what he promised, taking care of the man's family. And like the older brother I was, I had to kick his ass back into shape and remind him of his duties. In return, after rehashing the little details of why I'd been away, he kept me up to date on the family and according to him, "Everyone is fine."

"Well, here's to hoping you get to see them soon."

I raised an eyebrow at him. The man was never this affectionate. "What do you mean?"

"Look at you, Rainer. All you do is work. You need something else in your life."

A small scoff escaped my lips. I had something else in my life. My daughter and maybe her mother, Gina.

"What I have is all I need."

"Oh, don't bullshit me, Rainer. You've been working for me for six months and not once have I heard you talk about a woman other than your daughter or your ex."

I refused to correct him. Things between Gina and I weren't great before the accident, and it was safe to assume there was a possibility we were exes but that didn't mean we were over... not until I knew for sure she was done with me. Because even though she cheated, she still held my heart and I wanted to make things work.

He dropped his hands from my back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, whatever your issue is, only working ain't going to cut it."

Rolling my eyes, I looked back up at him. "I hang out with you?"

Larry's deep laughter filled the garage. "Stick with me, and I'll find you someone to occupy your time with."

I shook my head, deciding not to argue. Whatever his plan was wouldn't work.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I quickly pulled it out. My brother's name, Nathan, flashed across the screen.

"Talk to me," I answered as Larry walked off toward his office.

"Hi to you too, Cole." Knowing Nathan, he was already grinning on the other end of the call. "How's life? How are things going?"

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. "What do you want, asshole?"

"I'm just calling you to see how you are." He paused a moment. "It's been two months since Karina or I heard from you."

Two months since I helped him get back on track to protect his newly appointed boss who was now officially his girlfriend.

"Just making sure you're not dead," he added.

"I'm still in New York," I sighed. "How do you think I'm doing?"

"Good enough to have a stick up your ass." He chuckled. "Anyway, I'm calling because I found some information. But you're not gonna like it."

I rolled my eyes again. It didn't matter if I liked it or not, if Nathan found the guy it meant I was one step closer to home—to my family. "What's the good news?"

"I might have a lead on who hired the guy who cut your breaks that night."

One that would surely lead to a dead end.

"Look man I don't know whose car it was. I just do my job and get paid. You know rich folk," the man let out a nervous chuckle as he sat tied to a chair in the middle of an empty warehouse. "They don't want to get their hands dirty."

No. They didn't. It was why Mr. Vasiliev asked me to figure out who was after him and had me do all the dirty work when it came to figuring out my own problems.

"They hire people like us," he continued. But I wasn't like him. Not one bit. My hands might have been scuffed, but this man... he had scars from his victims; countless others that he may have harmed because of other men who paid him.

"Nameless. Faceless. Dead."

That may have been the case before. Now I knew his face and he knew mine. He might have been afraid of me but once I let him loose, who knew what he'd do.

My eyes caught sight of something sticking out of his breast pocket. My name was written on the corner that stuck out. Reaching over, I grabbed what was apparently a photo and flipped it over.

My body froze, staring at the image of a little girl sleeping with the covers kicked off of the bed. She wasn't just any girl... she was my daughter, Bailee. My hand clenched around the photo. Blood rushed through my veins.

My hand wrapped around his neck. The other curled into a fist and without warning, I punched him in the face.

"So you took pictures of a little twelve-year-old girl sleeping?"

My knuckles crushed his face, not giving him a chance to answer.

"Pictures of my little girl?" I didn't stop until my fist throbbed in pain. I pulled back, my aching hand joining the other around his neck.

He whimpered, attempting to plead for his life to be spared. But they didn't register in my head. I only saw one thing, and that was danger... A danger that would follow me home; a danger that would show its ugly face even when I wasn't around.

My gaze drifted down to my hands, the ones that once wrapped around the man's neck until the life disappeared from his eyes. How the guy cut my breaks was still a mystery to me. I remembered the argument with Gina, driving to the race, and the bright light rushing toward me. Everything else was a blur.

"I also found out where Gina lives," Nathan snapped me out of my thoughts. "but you're not going to like it."

My eyebrows furrowed at his response. "Where?"

"Are you sure you want to know, Cole?" he asked. "I don't think you're going to like what you find."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said, not caring. Whatever I found would be better than staying away and wondering what the hell I wouldn't have liked about it. "Just tell me."

"Oh no, I have a better idea. You meet up at my house Friday and we go let Nana know you're alive."

A huff left my lips. "You know I can't do that."

"Wasn't it you who once told me to stop moping and get back to what I promised?"

I rolled my eyes. "I never promised anything."

"I'll be back soon... that doesn't ring a bell? The words you always say to Nana when she catches you leaving the house."

Shit... I ran my hand through my hair. My chest tightened at the reminder. "Fine but if I do this, you're telling me everything."

"Alright," he chuckled. "I know it's only two days away but just make sure you're careful."

The accident that nearly killed me was a setup. A mystery I'd yet to uncover. One Nathan swore he'd help me with since the man who told me to go into hiding, who was protecting me and my family, died. And in turn, I promised to never leave my car unattended or drive recklessly.

"Haven't broken that promise yet. I'm always focused on the road ahead." I told him before my shaky finger ended the call.

I might have been focused, but I wasn't ready. Then again, who was ever ready? I just had to sit behind the wheel and accept whatever was to come.

Even if it'd draw the man who was after me out from the shadows.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING.

You can find the full version of Reckless Sin on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited

JUNE 14, 2023.

If you'd like to contact me, feel free to message me over on Instagram.

Have a great day!

❤ Dar