Author's Note: I don't own anything to do with any of The Fast and the Furious movies only Madison belongs to me. Don't forget to read and review, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Just a reminder, I know absolutely NOTHING about cars and sadly can't even drive a standard. :( So if there is anything wrong in this or any other chapter I apologize!

Chapter 18

Leon gave me a kiss for good luck and I pulled my car up to the line. My mind was filled with everything but the actual race. Did Carrie really remember? Was she testing me? I scanned the crowd one more time while I waited for Carrie and saw Dom talking on his cell phone before getting in his car and driving away. At least he didn't see me here that's one last thing I have to worry about.

I heard the sound of a performance engine and I willed myself to look over to my right.

"Ready to lose, Maddie?" Carrie questioned and all I was instantly pulled to the past.

Then

"I'm not sure about this," Carrie scrunched her face up in doubt.

"If you're going to be hanging out with us, you need to know how to handle a car," Letty replied getting out of the front seat so Carrie could get in.

"So then why isn't Mia here too?" Carrie questioned standing next to the open door.

"She already knows how to handle her car, trust me; she's been behind the wheel since she was five. Now, Letty will ride with you the first couple of times so she can give you pointers on what you should be doing and when," I told her as I sat in my car next to hers.

We raced up and down the empty parking lot for three weeks until Carrie was confident enough to ride by herself.

"Ready to lose, Maddie?" she smirked looking at me over the rims of her sunglasses.

"I'd like to see you try," I laughed as Letty gave us the go ahead. She did great but I still beat her by a foot.

Now

"I asked you a question," she tilted her head with attitude. "I said, are you ready to lose?"

Something was definitely off but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten to me. Carrie was the only person besides Dom who had ever called me Maddie. "I'd like to see you try."

"Someone's feisty," she commented as George walked up between our two cars pointing at each of us making sure we were ready.

I placed my right hand on the gear shift and grasped the steering wheel with my left hand so tight my knuckles were white. Straight down, ten seconds, that's all it is, I repeated in my head taking a deep breath as my hands started to shake.

"You'll pay for killing him," Carrie called over with one hand on the silver necklace that hung around her neck.

"And Go!" George shouted dropping his arms.

The second the word had left his mouth something had taken over, every thought I had went out the window and I was completely in tune with my car. I didn't chance a glance at where I was in the race whether I was in first or last I just pushed my car as hard and fast as it would go.

By the time I had shifted into fourth and used my Nos the smile that usually played on my lips anytime I raced was no where to be seen. I wanted, no needed, this race to be over and the ten seconds that would normally fly by seemed to be dragging on. I crossed the finish line seconds after she did but instead of stopping she kept going. Everyone looked as confused as I felt.

Something was definitely off and forgetting for a minute about Letty and the boys I put my car back in gear and headed off in the direction she had went. My cell phone ringing broke me out of my thoughts and I answered it without checking the caller ID.

"Hey, I just need to check something out," I answered thinking it was Leon calling me.

"Mads?" I heard a whisper on the other end, so quiet that I had to strain to hear.

"Mia?" I questioned trying to figure out who was on the other end.

I heard a couple of quick breaths before she replied, "help…there's someone in the house, Mads."

My heart started beating hard against my chest as Carrie's words re-played in my head 'you'll pay for killing him'. I quickly spun my car around and hit the interstate the only way I knew how to get home. "Mia, where's Brian?"

"They knocked him out when he answered the door, Mads, he won't wake up," she half whispered half cried into the phone.

"I'm coming," I assured her, my big sister mode kicking in. "Mia, there's a gun in my room in a safe in the closet. Combination is mom's birthday."

"I…I can't get down there…" she whimpered into the phone, "I don't think they saw me, I'm hiding in the…"

"Mi?" I questioned but the there was no answer and when I looked down at the screen on my phone I saw the call had been disconnected.

I swerved around a couple of slower cars and even went on the wrong side of the road to pass a truck with its flashers on. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears, if anything ever happened to her…no, I wasn't going to think like that, she's a Toretto, and she'll fight back. My cell phone ringing was like music to my ears.

"Mia? Mi, are you alright?" I questioned frantically as my car flew down the interstate at its top speed.

"Baby, it's me," I heard Leon's voice on the other end. "I was worried when you took off. What's going on? What's wrong with Mia?"

"I don't know, Le, someone's at the house. Get home now."

"Fuck," I heard him moving through the crowds of people probably to find the others. "Be careful, precious."

"Always."

I hung up and hit the number two on my speed dial. It didn't even ring before going straight to voicemail.

You have reached phone number 555-0913. Please leave a message after the beep. If you would like to leave a callback number please hit 5 now.

"Dom, it's Maddie, if you get this get to the house. Mia's in danger."

I barely kept it together when I heard his voicemail recording. As mad and hurt I was that he had lied for the past year of my life he would always be my big brother, my protector and it was our job to take care of Mia. I tried not to think of the worst possible scenario but it kept sneaking its way into my mind. What if they were both taken from me?

By the time I pulled up in front of the house I noticed not only Dom's car parked in the driveway but Carrie's parked right behind it. I quietly got out of my car and crept up the front steps listening to what was being said.

"I won't let you hurt her," Dom stated in an eerily low voice.

"It's all about karma, Dominic," Carrie replied. "She took someone away from me that I loved and now she needs to feel the same pain I do."

I chanced a peek in the front window and saw Dom with his back to me. Brian was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs tied up and unconscious but what worried me the most was that I didn't see Mia. I didn't want the gun going off that she had in her hand if I barged through the front door so instead I snuck around the side of the house and opened the back door very slowly so the hinges wouldn't squeak and alert her that someone else was in the house.

I tiptoed through the kitchen and saw some guy I didn't recognize with his arms around Mia holding her in place. I prayed the guy wouldn't turn his head as I snuck past the dining room and down the hall closer to where Carrie and Dom were.

"I didn't kill James," I spoke up as I walked up behind her.

"You might not have put the final bullet in him but you drove him to his death," she spun around to face me. "It's sick actually, how much you thought he cared. You were just a good fuck and someone to run his drugs. You know the back roads get you here in half the time."

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked softly. This was not the Carrie I had been friends with, shared memories with, this was someone different.

"This is me, sweetheart," she smirked tilting her head to one side. "All those years of pretending to care about 'the team' and dealing with you and your sidekick Letty. It was exhausting. I needed a way out, to be with James again without you coming around and when this one walked into my hospital room that day it was just too perfect," she motioned to Dom who was standing with his arms crossed.

"But Sam?" I questioned not wanting to believe what I was hearing. Our whole friendship was a lie.

Carrie shrugged and turned the gun she was holding so it was pointed at Dom's chest. "Big brothers get on your nerves. There's really no need for them, right Maddie? I mean you used to tell me all the time how much you wished you weren't stuck in the middle, how pissed at him you were for going to jail and leaving you to take care of Mia by yourself."

"You're twisting my words," I declared as I saw a look of hurt wash over Dom's face.

"Either way," she continued as she took the safety off the gun, "Say goodbye Dominic."

"No," I shouted as I charged her sending both of us to the ground.

The second we landed on the floor Dom went after the guy who has his arms around Mia. I could hear punch after punch being thrown, I heard Mia crying hysterically but I was more worried about the gun that was now placed against my own chest.

"You wouldn't," I almost dared her to pull the trigger.

I wrapped my hands around the gun as we both fought for control. "You don't know me, princess, you don't know the things I'm willing to do."

We were still rolling around on the floor when I heard the team's cars racing down our street. A feeling of relief washed over me as I thought about them being able to help even if it would be just getting Mia and Dom out of here. Carrie knocked me onto my back at the same time the gun went off.

"Madison!" Leon shouted as the front door flew open.

I laid there for a minute trying to process what happened as I felt my shirt getting soaked with blood. I pushed with all my might to get Carrie off of me and she landed with a 'thud'. Leon was instantly at my side looking me over for injuries.

"It's not mine," I said softly as he frantically moved my shirt around trying to find where the blood was coming from.

Dom had managed to knock out the guy that had been holding Mia and as she tried to wake Brian up he walked over to where I was sitting on the floor trying to process everything that had just happened.

"You alright?" He asked with his hand out everyone grew quiet as I stared at his hand before allowing him to pull me to my feet. "Maddie, I'm…"

He started to apologize but I cut him off as I launched myself into his arms and held on for dear life.

The cops came and arrested the man that was knocked out as the coroner's office took away Carrie's body. We all rehearsed the story that we came home to find the two robbing our house, when we tried to stop them they fought back and we had no choice.

It was close to five in the morning when the last cop finally left our house and we were all sitting around the kitchen table with coffee as Brian held a bag of ice to his face.

"So," Letty spoke up from her spot on Dom's lap, "Would now be a bad time to say I told you?"