Chapter 1

The roar of the 428 Cobra Jet engine was the most beautiful sound in the world.

My 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, Candy Apple Red, was finally home.

Years of searching for parts, months of painstaking restoration, all of it led to this moment. It sat gleaming in the driveway of my Dallas mansion, a perfect piece of American muscle.

This was for the State Fair of Texas weekend. A tradition. But this year was special. This year, I had my dream car.

I walked around it, running a hand over the cool metal. My wife, Gabby, came out onto the porch. She was smiling, but it didn' t quite reach her eyes.

"It's beautiful, Jayden. Truly."

"Isn't she? Perfect."

She came closer, wrapping an arm around my waist. "You know who would absolutely die to see this? Wesley. He loves classic cars."

I stiffened. Wesley. Her "cousin" from back in her small hometown. He'd been living with us for three months, a guy who supposedly needed help getting on his feet. I didn't like him. He had shifty eyes and a lazy way of moving, like the world owed him something.

"He can see it from the porch," I said flatly.

Gabby pulled back, her smile vanishing. "What's that supposed to mean? Jayden, be nice. He's family. He's been so excited. He asked if he could be the first one to take it for a spin. Just around the block."

I turned to face her, my good mood evaporating. "Absolutely not."

"Why? It's just a car."

"It's not 'just a car,' Gabby, and you know it. It's my car. And Wesley doesn't have a valid driver's license. I checked."

Her face flushed with anger. "You checked? You ran a background check on my cousin?"

"The guy is living in my house, eating my food. Yeah, I checked. He's got two DUIs in Oklahoma. He's not getting within ten feet of those keys."

"You're being an arrogant prick, you know that? It's always about your money, your things. You can't just do one nice thing for my family, can you?"

"This isn't about money, it's about common sense. The answer is no, Gabby. End of discussion."

I turned my back on her and went to the driver's side, pulling the keys from my pocket. I was going to take it to the garage myself.

I didn't see the look she gave me then. A look of cold, calculated fury. I didn't know that my "no" wasn't the end of the discussion. It was the beginning of the end of my life as I knew it.

Later that night, the house was quiet. I was in my office, looking over some preliminary reports for my father's company, Scott Oil. The faint sound of the Mustang's engine starting up made me freeze.

No. He wouldn't dare.

I ran to the window, just in time to see the red taillights of the Mach 1 speeding down the long driveway and turning onto the main road. I couldn't see the driver clearly, but he was wearing my signature black leather jacket, the one I always left on the hook by the door. A baseball cap was pulled down low, obscuring his face from the security cameras I knew were recording.

My blood ran cold.

I sprinted to the garage. The spot where my car had been was empty. I went back inside, my heart pounding with a rage I hadn't felt in years. I found Gabby in the kitchen, calmly making tea.

"Where is he?" I demanded.

She didn't look at me. "Who?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Gabby. Where is Wesley? He took my car. You gave him the keys."

She finally looked up, her expression unreadable. "He just wanted to feel what it was like. He'll be right back."

"He's a reckless idiot with no license! What were you thinking?"

Before she could answer, my phone buzzed. It was a news alert. Serious multi-car pile-up on the Dallas North Tollway. A vintage red Ford Mustang reportedly fled the scene.

I stared at the phone, then at my wife. The blood drained from my face. "Oh my God, Gabby. What did you do?"

An hour later, the Mustang was back, parked haphazardly in the driveway. The front end was a mess of crumpled metal and shattered fiberglass. A dark, ugly splatter stained the passenger side door. Blood.

I stood there, staring at it, unable to process the violation. Then Wesley and Gabby were there, rushing out of the house. Wesley was pale and trembling, the leather jacket gone.

"Jayden, man, I'm so sorry," he stammered. "I don't know what happened. This car, it's just so powerful. I lost control, I panicked."

I turned on him, my hands clenched into fists. "You panicked? You left someone bleeding on the freeway and you panicked?"

"Please, Jayden," Gabby sobbed, grabbing my arm. "You have to help us. You have to help him."

I shook her off, my voice dangerously low. "Help him? He's going to prison, Gabby. And you're going with him."

"No!" she shrieked. "You can't let that happen! His life will be ruined! He's just a kid from a small town, he's got nothing! A conviction will destroy him forever!"

I laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "And what about the person he hit? What about their life?"

"But your father," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Nathaniel can make this go away. You know he can. A few calls, some money... it'll be like it never happened. For you, it's nothing. For Wesley, it's everything."

I stared at her, the absurdity of her words hitting me like a physical blow. She wanted me to take the fall. For him.

"Are you insane?" I finally managed to say. "You think I'm going to claim I did this? That I'm going to put my name, my family's name, on a hit-and-run? For him?" I pointed a shaking finger at Wesley, who flinched back.

"Please, Jayden," Gabby begged, tears streaming down her face. "I love you. We can get through this. Just this one time. For me."

"No," I said, the word like a stone in my mouth. "Never."

I turned to go inside, to call my father, to call a lawyer, to call the police.

But Gabby's next words stopped me dead.

"It's too late," she said, a strange, chilling calm in her voice. She was holding her phone. "I already called 911."

I turned back slowly. "You what?"

"I told them my husband's car was involved in an accident on the Tollway," she said, fresh tears welling in her eyes, a flawless performance. "I told them my husband, Jayden Scott, just came home in a panic and confessed everything to me. He was so scared."

The sound of distant sirens began to cut through the night.

Wesley, seeing his chance, chimed in, his voice shaking with false righteousness. "He tried to pay me to take the blame, officer! When you get here, I'll tell you! He offered me money to say I was driving!"

I looked from his sniveling face to Gabby's tear-streaked, triumphant one. The sirens grew louder, closer. They were a wail of betrayal, a screaming announcement that my life was over. The Dallas Police Department cars pulled into my driveway, their red and blue lights washing over the blood-spattered Mustang, over my wife's face, and over me.

They came for me. Based on her "eyewitness" account, they put me in handcuffs. I didn't resist. I was in shock, trapped in a nightmare orchestrated by the woman I loved.