A few hours later, Dom was comfortably lounging in a chair on the beach, with his feet kicked up on a Corona-filled cooler, the one in his hand already half-empty. It had grown increasingly hot throughout the day, so the breeze being licked up from the ocean was a godsend for the gang. The family was more than happy to hang out at the beach for a lazy day, with the exception of the twins, who had plans to work on their rides, and Billie, who had other plans with her mother.

Dom was almost positive that was a lie to avoid him, but he didn't push it.

"Dom, this place is amazing, ese, but I gotta admit; you're putting me in a bad spot with the Old Lady," Hector joked as he came over with a plate of sandwich sliders. He passed the plate around and took a seat between Dom and Brian, "She's in there now with Mia scheming on how to get one of these out of me."

Dom looked over his shoulder at the house, where Mia and Hector's wife, Yvette were milling about on the deck, wine glasses in hand. Dom followed the ladies' line of vision to the water, where Jack was splashing around in his arm floaters with Hector's kids, Junior and Jose. They were playing in water that barely covered their feet, only about six feet away from where the men were relaxing, but that didn't stop Brian from hovering over them anytime Jack made a peep.

"Brian, come take a seat, man. Junior and Jose are champion swimmers, vato," Hector assured him with a chuckle.

"Well Jack isn't," Brian mumbled as he came over with furrowed brows.

"Mia and Yvette are keeping watch. He's fine. Hector mentioned something about some business back at the shop," Dom prompted.

"Well after I got out of San Quen, I met up with some old homies and we started doing these big parties – like promos for race events and meets. And they were a huge hit. So companies started hiring us to promote their events, and before I knew it, we were hosting gigs all over country for shit like magazines, racing companies, some really huge brands. We even opened our own little spot in Pasadena – a restoration place – The Lab."

"Yeah, I heard some good stuff about that place," Oz added, "I didn't know you ran it."

The name of Hector's garage sparked an interest in Dom's head, but he couldn't put his finger on how it was familiar to him.

"Anyways, we're bringing back Race Wars... in two months."

Dom and Brian locked eyes instantly, and the two couldn't stop identical grins from becoming plastered across their faces.

"Keep talkin'," Dom said with a smirk.

"I knew you would be interested," Hector smiled, "We've been trying to get it up and running for the past two years, but couldn't get the right sponsors interested. Now we have them, and it's kicking up some buzz, but I have few sponsors looking for the right crew to rep their logos at the event in exchange for cash and exposure, possibly a long-term deal if everything works out."

"You know we don't race anymore, right? We don't even have a full crew anymore. I mean, Billie is decent, but the twins can't race for shit. Everyone else is scattered across the country – Tej in Miami, Rome's somewhere in South America," said Brian.

"Come on, dawg. If you can't come up with the people, I can loan you a few of my guys," Hector offered.

Dom became suspicious at Hector's persistence, "Why can't your shop rep the sponsors? Why us? I mean, we've been back in the country for almost two years now, and this is the first time you've seen us, and you come around offering us exposure. What's up, Hector?"

Hector looked between Dom, Oz and Brian with disbelief in his eyes, "Oh come on, ese. It's me baby, Hector. You guys know me. Dom, we've been friends since we were twelve years old, you know I wouldn't do you like that. I don't spend much time in LA anymore now that my shop is finally up and running. I didn't even know you guys were back in town 'til a few weeks ago when cousin Primo stopped in after his motor burnt up. And since my team is promoting the event, we don't want to seem biased working with any sponsors closely."

Dom and Brian locked eyes again – this time speaking telepathically. They debated quietly on whether Hector could be trusted, but Dom couldn't remember a time when Hector had worked against him or his family.

A smile broke across Dom's face, "We'll have to have a team meeting in a few days to discuss it, but I think we're on board."

Hector sighed with relief before shaking hands happily with the boys. He was glad to have them on board with Race Wars, and even happier to being one step closer to getting the old crew back.

"Now that that is out of the way – tell me where the hell you've been, and where the hell Letty is."

Dom and the boys talked well into the evening, sharing beers and laughs as the sun set on their beach party. He explained to Hector about all of their adventures from the past eight years; tanker heists in the Dominican Republic, a massive safe heist in Rio de Janeiro, chasing bad guys and Letty's "killers" in Mexico, and of course, grabbing London by the balls as they fought for Letty's freedom and their own against Owen Shaw and his goons.

"I guess living with a group of people she barely knew became too overwhelming. She took off a year later, haven't heard from her since," Dom said somberly. He grew annoyed with explaining Letty's absence when he ran into old friends, but it was inevitable. Letty and Dom were just that – Dom and Letty. They were always together, never wanting to spend a moment missing the other. It was something everyone knew, so getting across to people that Letty herself couldn't remember or understand it was frustrating.

"Damn, brother. That's tough, man. Have you looked for her?" Hector asked.

"We searched a few weeks after she left," Brian interjected, "We wanted to give her some time, hoping she'd come back when she was ready. When she didn't, we looked everywhere, but it was hard because we had no idea where she would go. She didn't know the same people or places she used to, so we were going in circles."

"When was the last time you looked for her? She could be back in the area, or close to it," Hector said.

"It's been some months. She wanted to put a chip in the Camaro I bought her, in case it was stolen. We were able to track her for a few months, but I kept my distance. I didn't want to push her further away, so I just watched as she bounced from hotel to hotel. Eventually she went to Texas," Dom's voice strained with emotion, "She didn't do much there. Spent a lot of time at parks just watching the people and animals. Letty always loved nature, even before her accident. Anyway, she yanked the tracker a month later when she made it to the Mexico border. When she didn't show up for Mia's wedding last November, that's when I figured she didn't want to be followed anymore, so I stopped."

"Well I don't believe she's completely gone. I refuse to believe that about our mija. That's why I'm gonna help you find her, and bring her back. Again. Then your team is gonna dominate Race Wars just like old times," Hector said enthusiastically, which pulled Dom back to his carefree place. "But tonight, I got a different surprise for you. I'm gonna get you out of the house tonight. All of you."

"What's going on over here?" Yvette said as she and Mia made their way over to the men from the house, taking seats on their respective husband's laps.

"Yeah, where you going?" Mia asked while wrapping her arms around Brian's neck from his lap.

"Warehouse District. My boys are gonna run tonight, show them fools we still got it. Do some promoting for Race Wars while I'm there. Plus, I have a few surprise guests."

Dom and Brian both put on eager smiles and turned to Mia for permission. She seemed to ponder over the idea of the boys going out to the racing scene, and knew they couldn't keep their adrenaline bottled up for too long. That's when crazy ideas of heists start roaming their heads.

"Hector, if anything happens to either of them, I'm holding you responsible and nobody will be able to pull me off of you. Not even Yvette," Mia warned but with a playful smile. "I'm not kidding, guys. No trouble – and no cops! Oz, go with them."

"Yes ma'am," Oz obliged with a grin.

Mia stood from Brian's lap and wrapped her arms around his waist, "Are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure Yvette wouldn't mind looking after Jack for a few hours. It's been a while since we went to a race together. I want you on my arm," he said.

"No. Jack and the boys are finally down, so Yvette and I are gonna settle in with some wine and these," Mia held up two copies of the gritty adult novel 50 Shades of Grey. "Go have fun. Love you."

"Love you too," Brian kissed her lips before turning to Dom, "I'll call Sonny and Neil."

Mia gave Dom a knowing look as he went to her, "Stay out of trouble, Dominic."

Dom smiled while pulling her into a tight hug, "We will. I promise. Hey, have you spoken to Rosa lately?"

"Yeah, a few weeks ago she emailed me some photos of Nico riding the bike Brian sent to him. I sent them to you, did you not get them?"

"You know I rarely check my email," he replied, "Well call her for me. See if she and Nico want to come visit. Tell her I'll pay for everything. Tej and Roman too. I want all my family together."

Mia nodded with a smile and placed a kiss on his cheek. The ladies watched and waited for the car's to pull off before clearing the mess outside and heading in.

Yvette let out a winded breath before shutting her book, fanning herself with the reading material, "I have to take a break from this, girl. Mr. Grey has me all hot and bothered."

Mia chuckled and closed her own book, pulling her glasses from her face and trading them for her wine glass on the table.

"Makes you wish you had your own Christian Grey, huh?" she asked.

"Honey, yes. Now, Hector is no dud, let me tell you. Tha'ts how we got those two little monsters upstairs. But he doesn't have the same stamina he had ten years ago," Yvette admitted bluntly. "What about Brian? Is he a take-control kind of man in this bedroom?"

Mia's cheeks reddened, but she didn't shy away from the question. She missed girl-talk, and gossip. "He can be sometimes. But he's more passionate in the bedroom. Gentle."

"No way," Yvette waved off, "I want to be dominated. Slap my ass, tie me up, blindfold me! Now that Dominic, I bet he's a master at all of those."

"Ew, stop!" Mia grabbed both glasses and headed to the kitchen for a refill. Yvette followed behind. "Do you know how tired I get of hearing my friends say sexual things about my brother?"

"Oh girl, get over it. Your brother is fine as hell," Yvette said, pulling some chocolate ice cream from the freezer and retrieving two big spoons. "But he is messed up, Mia. It's written all over his face."

"You have no idea, Yvette," Mia said while slumping down at the dining table with her glass. "He's been having this on-again off-again thing with one of his mechanics, Billie," Yvette's eyebrow's shot up in curiosity, and Mia quickly realized her misinterpretation, "She's been a friend of the family for a while. It wasn't anything serious, but he's been trying to take it there but last night he blew it. She told me this morning that he totally freaked, backed off mid-pleasuring." Mia purposely left out his crying.

"Letty really did a number on him, huh?"

"Dom doesn't know how to be with another woman. He tried with Elena, but they just didn't click, anyone with eyes could see it. All he's ever wanted was Letty," Mia sighed.

"Do you think she'll come back?"

"I could care less," Mia replied quickly, and harshly.

"Mia, come on. You don't mean that. You and Letty go way back. What's with the hostility?"

"She hurt him," Mia admitted sheepishly. "Dom's done some incredibly stupid things, and I haven't always agreed with them, but love her he did. You didn't see his face when he showed up after her death. He was broken, completely. I thought it was bad when our dad died, but this... Letty's death was worse on him. He barely spoke, he didn't ingest anything that wasn't alcoholic, and his temper. Any little thing would set him off. He carried so much guilt on his back after he thought she was dead that it nearly killed him. It took a lot to put Dom back together then. When we found her in London, he was better, normal again. He was a real person again," Mia smiled through watery eyes at Dom's happier times. "It all went to shit again when we woke up and she was gone."

"I understand why Dom's hurt, but why are you so angry with her?" Mia looked at Yvette with confusion in her eyes. "I'm gonna give you the honest truth, Mi. We've been homegirls for years, so you know I'm gonna give it to you straight," Yvette pulled her chair to sit across from Mia's, looking straight in her brown eyes. "If Letty lost her memory, then she isn't the same Letty you and Dom once knew. She's a completely different person now, Mia. You guys are strangers who saved her life in London, that's it. That's the brutal reality of it. You might have connected since then, but those are the memories she has of you. Not growing up poor in the hood, skipping school to watch the boys race at the Tracks. Not shopping at the mall every weekend. The memories you remember her by and love her for, are gone now for her. She doesn't know why she's so important to you, and she doesn't understand why you're supposed to be important to her."

"But we've showed her hundreds of pictures, told her countless stories-"

"You could sit her in front of a theater playing her entire life back from birth and it still wouldn't help, Mia. That's the way amnesia works, Mi. You, of all people, should know that. Letty will likely never remember most of her childhood, or teenage years. She won't get those lost years back, and that's the real tragedy here. She lost the person she was, the only family she had, and the man who loved her. She might've been physically alive, but the Letty you expected to come back from London died in that accident in Mexico, Mia."

Mia felt embarrassed to admit that she just realized how selfish she had been with her emotions towards Letty. Yvette was right – the spunky, hothead Letty she knew and loved wasn't the same Letty who flew back home to LA with them. No matter how bad she wanted Letty to remember how close they were, she couldn't.

"She was supposed to be my Maid of Honor," Mia's eyes fell to the floor as the tears fell slowly, "That was the plan, since we were teens. We would be there to stand behind the other at our weddings. Brian proposed about a week after we got home, and we started planning right away. She helped with everything, which should've been a sign because the old Letty would've never been involved in planning my wedding. She wouldn't have been involved in planning her own wedding if she could get away with it," Mia smiled through the pain of missing her best friend. "She left a few days before the dress fitting. I called her the day of my wedding, right after opening my eyes that morning. I prayed for her to answer, just so I could hear her give me some of her infamous Letty-advice. 'Stay chill girl!' or 'Just try not to trip over your dress'. I never heard back from her."

Yvette placed a comforting hand on Mia's knee, "Mia, imagine having a horrible accident, and coming out of it completely different. Not knowing you had a husband, or a son, or a brother, or best friends who love you. Then being thrust back into a difficult life that you don't know, and being expected to go on like nothing changed. I don't know about you, but that would scare the hell out of me."

"I thought things were going well with Letty and Dom. Even though they stayed in different rooms, they spent a lot of time together. She seemed happy. Distant, but happy. In the letter she left, it said some of her memory was returning. She said the things coming back didn't make Dom look like a good guy. Why couldn't she tell from the tell spent with him that he only wanted to be with her?"

"Because Letty unfortunately remembers Dom dumping her in the Dominican Republic. You said earlier that he left her, and the only reason she was in Mexico to begin with was to help bring him home, right? Well, she's likely harboring some anger and you can't blame her. He didn't want her that bad when he left her by herself in a foreign country," Yvette held up her hand to stop Mia's rebuttals, "Regardless of his reasoning for doing it, Letty was emotionally and eventually, physically hurt because of his actions. She left because she was afraid he would bail first. Letty has always been super cautious of everything and everyone around her. I don't think that's something she could forget."

"I just wish I knew she was okay out there. I don't even know if she's alive," Guilt rushed over Mia as she regretted spending the past months hating Letty, instead of looking for her.

"You said yourself that she survived that fiery wreck and escaped with only amnesia. Not to mention being tossed from an army tank. That girl can make it through anything. Trust me, I'm sure Hector is already spinning the wheels on finding her."

Mia pulled her iPhone from her pocket and began scrolling her contact list. She stopped on the listing named 'L.O.' and stared at the picture associated with it. It was of Mia and Letty embraced in a tight hug at Jack's second birthday party. Mia tried to delete the contact several times, considering it was useless; Letty hadn't answered any of the calls in months. After a while, Mia stopped calling.

"I still have her old number saved in my phone. I doubt she even still has this phone."

"Only one way to find out," Yvette said, downing her red wine.

Mia froze staring at the numbers on the screen, her finger hovering over the 'call' icon. Her body temperature spiked and the phone began to tremble in her hand.

Mia quickly shook off her nerves, "Why am I freaking out? She won't answer," she said while pressing the call button. She put the phone on speaker and expected to get the recording that informed her that the number was no longer in service, but instead, it rang.

And rang.

Then the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" Mia said through strained vocal cords.

There was a long pause on the other end, then a deep sigh.

"How ya livin', Mi?"