Chapter 25

Saturday night was the night that everyone's adrenaline pumped intensely through their veins. Not only was this Letty and Dom's engagement premiere to the racers of L.A. but it was also the night when Johnny Tran would L.A. in a pair of handcuffs.

Thanks to Brian's owing a favor to the captain of the LAPD, the team would be killing two birds with one stone.

"Letty, uh, are you sure that you don't want to put on a pair of cargos or something? You know those shorts don't leave much to the imagination." Dom said.

Letty's short black shorts and slinky black top didn't seem inappropriate to her. She shrugged Dom off and scrunched up her hair with both hands to keep her dark tendrils wavy with a slight curl to it.

A catcall whistle made both Dom and Letty turn to their bedroom door.

"Looking hot there, Letty." Mia said. She gestured with her finger for Letty to follow her. Letty smiled and sashayed out of the room with Mia. Mia pulled Letty into her room and sat her down on the bed.

"Mia, no offense, but I really feel uncomfortable sitting on your bed." Letty joked.

"Oh shut up. So, listen, okay. Brian had a really good idea for tonight and I want you to run it past Dom. It won't need the entire team so we won't have to change anything around." Mia said.

"Okay, tell me what's up." Letty responded.

"If Dom doesn't want his name in this and really wants Tran out of our hair for good, then Dom will have to be away from the scene when the captain and the rest of us catch up with him." Mia said.

It all sounded good to Letty but she knew that Dom would want to be part of the action of getting Tran out of the racing business.

"All right, I'll run it past him but you know as well as I do that he's gonna want a piece of the adrenaline rush."

"I know. That's what Brian and I were talking about. But, just run it past him for me."

"Of course I will babe." Letty said. Letty walked out of the room and past Vince's room. She peeked her head in and Vince looked up and gestured for her to come in. Letty walked in and stood at the door.

"Do not call my phone again you trifling bitch!" Vince said as he hung up the phone. He threw it against the wall and sat down on his bed with his head in his hands.

Letty shut the door and stood with her back against to keep everyone out. "Let's talk." She said.

"I don't want to talk about it." Vince said.

"I don't care what you want. I said let's talk."

"Look, I got my ass handed to me. What more do you want me to say?"

"Tell me what happened, Vince."

"Okay, so, that morning we went back to her apartment and Tran was waiting there for her. They began talking as if I wasn't even there. They were talking as if her mission was to get one of us on her team anyway." Vince explained.

"So, she was sent to us by Tran?"

"It seemed that way. So, anyway, it was like after I was there, I couldn't get out. He has this power about him. Sort of like Dom. He walks in the room and you find yourself drawn to stand up and bow your head down as if he were the King of England."

"Skip the metaphors."

"Sorry. I felt like a slave there. And all he does is insult you as a person but praise you as a racer. Keeping your distance from him becomes your only mission in life. Well, that, and racing your ass off. He disowns you if you lose a race. But you find yourself wanting to impress this guy."

"Just like Dom. Minus the disowning and belittling." Letty interjected.

"Exactly."

"Then what?"

"He started asking me about Dom and the team."

"What about us?"

"He asked how we raced the way we do and asked how Dom got all of his parts. He asked about DT's."

"What about DT's?"

"How we make the payments? Do we pay taxes?"

"Did you answer him?"

"Of course not, Let! I was an idiot but I would never give Dom up like that."

"But those didn't seem like odd questions to you?"

"Yes, Letty! Of course they did no matter how subtle he was about asking me." Vince said.

"What about Egypt?"

"She pretty much pretended we never slept together after we got back to her place. When we got there and she saw Tran, it was all business."

"So she knows nothing about tonight right?" Letty said.

"No."

"What was she just talking to you about?"

"She said she had a bad feeling about tonight and she just wanted to make sure I was okay. I told her to fuck off."

"Hmm. I heard." Letty said. She opened the door and looked over her shoulder at Vince. "If this well-thought out plan goes wrong, I'm blaming you for tipping them off. You're family, Vince, but it's not too late for you to be considered a very, very distant relative."

She walked out of his room and down the stairs as Dom walked out of their room.