F1 Champion's Perfect Crash: When Love Takes The Final Turn novel Chapter 19

The night Riley left, Adrian destroyed everything in his penthouse.

He didn't understand his own rage - only that the space she'd filled had suddenly become a void.

He consoled himself that she was just acting out.

She'd be back.

Then he'd make her beg, make her swear never to leave again.

But he broke first, having his driver stake out Kate's apartment the very next day.

He saw Riley taking out the trash, and the sight stopped his breath.

She wasn't miserable or lost. She looked... lighter. Happier.

The realization terrified him.

Some deep truth whispered that between them, he was the one who couldn't let go.

He reached out to his racing circle, asking how to win back an angry girlfriend.

His fellow drivers and team owners laughed it off.

"She's obviously pushing for marriage. Don't fall for it. Let her sulk - she'll come crawling back when she realizes her game isn't working."

Marriage.

The word had always made him flinch. Riley had mentioned it before, her desire for a real home.

He'd always dismissed it, claiming he wasn't ready.

But remembering her smile after leaving him, marriage suddenly didn't seem so impossible.

If that's what she wanted, maybe he could give her that.

He commissioned the ring, planned the perfect proposal for after his Monaco victory. He imagined her face lighting up in front of the cameras, imagined her finally being his forever.

Instead, she vanished.

No warning.

No goodbye.

Just gone.

He abandoned the podium, raced to the airport like a madman, questioned everyone who'd ever known her.

He'd have gotten on his knees if that's what it took, sworn to never fail her again.

Instead, he found her in another man's arms.

The butterfly earring in the man's ear - her mother's - gleamed like a final verdict.

"The Monaco Grand Prix is in seven days. Wait until after the race to leave." His mother's words echoed mockingly. He broke down, unable to take another step forward, watching them disappear together.

They didn't invite him to the wedding, but he went anyway, hidden in the back.

He had to see her one last time in white, even if she was walking toward someone else.

She was radiant. The ceremony was everything she'd deserved - elegant, joyful, filled with love.

She glowed in her new husband's arms, her smile pure happiness.

Adrian left satisfied, despite his shattered heart.

Everyone else had moved forward while he remained trapped in those three years with Riley.

But he had no one to blame but himself.