Colette nodded grimly. “Yes, I thought he was just buying cars for his side business, but now we know the real reason. And he’s been so emotionally erratic these past few days—the disappearing act, the drinking, the fighting—it’s all because of this goddamn race! I feel so stupid, I should have seen this coming from a mile away.”

“Come on, none of us suspected either,” Rachel said.

Colette looked around the room uneasily, trying to decide how much of the story she wanted to tell. “You know, this isn’t the first time Richie and Carlton have tried this. This happened before in London.”

“That’s how Carlton got into that car wreck, wasn’t it?” Nick asked.

Colette nodded sadly. “He was racing Richie down Sloane Street, and his car”—her voice was suddenly cracking—“his car spun out of control and crashed into a building.”

“Wait a minute, I think I read about this…wasn’t it a Ferrari that smashed into the Jimmy Choo boutique?” Astrid piped in.

“That was it! But that’s not the whole story. There were other passengers with Carlton. Two girls were inside the car—a British girl who will never walk again and a Chinese girl who…who died. It was a horrible tragedy, all covered up by the Baos.”

Rachel’s face went pale. “Carlton told you all this?”

“I was there, Rachel. I was in the other car—the Lamborghini that Richie was driving. The girl who died was a friend of mine who went to LSE,” Colette tearfully revealed.

Everyone stared in shock at Colette.

“It’s all beginning to make sense now,” Nick said in a hushed tone, thinking back to what his mother had told him about the accident.

Colette continued. “Carlton hasn’t been the same since the crash. He’s never been able to get over it—he blames himself and he blames Richie. I think he feels like he can somehow redeem himself by winning this race. But we can’t let him get into any car tonight. He’s in no condition—not physically and especially not mentally. Rachel, can you please talk some sense into him? I’ve been calling him nonstop, and of course he isn’t picking up my calls. But I think he’ll listen to you.”

With the full gravity of the situation finally sinking in, Rachel picked up her phone and dialed Carlton’s number. “It’s gone straight to voice mail.”

“I was hoping he’d pick up if he saw your number.” Colette sighed.

“We’ll just have to go to him. Where’s this race taking place?” Nick asked.

“That’s the thing—I have no idea. Everyone’s just disappeared. Roxanne’s off with my security team trying to track them down, but she hasn’t had any luck so far.”

Astrid suddenly spoke up. “What’s Carlton’s phone number?”

“It’s 86 135 8580 9999.”

Taking out her phone, Astrid began dialing Charlie Wu’s private line. “Hey you! No, no, everything’s fine, thank you. Um, hope you don’t mind, but I have a big favor to ask. Does that security whiz still work for you?” She paused, lowering her voice. “The one who tracked youknowwho down with just a mobile-phone number a couple of years ago? Great. Could you help me track down the location of this phone? No, really, I’m absolutely fine. I’m just trying to help some friends out—I’ll tell you the whole story later.”