Page 233 of Knot So Lucky

The click when I press the button is soft, barely audible over the garage noise and Jenny's increasingly frantic justifications. But I hear it. And from the way Richard's eyes cut to me, sharp and sudden, I know he heard it too.

Everyone heard it…

All eyes turn to me as I pull out my phone and the recording device, holding them both up where everyone can see. My Omega scent has gone perfectly neutral—no fear, no anger, just cold, calculated control.

I lift the phone to my mouth, my voice clear and steady.

"So as you heard for yourself, your Honor, my Alpha is completely innocent of all charges in attempting to sabotage the Grand Prix with stun driving. He wasn't the one who made those modifications, wasn't the one whose tech failed and caused the crash that ended his career. That was our own team member, Jenny."

Jenny's eyes go wide, her face cycling through shock, horror, and rage in rapid succession.

"You—you recorded?—"

"Every word," I confirm, my smile thin and sharp as a blade. "From the moment I walked in here, actually. Funny how people forget Omegas have brains to go with their biology."

The garage doors burst open again, but this time it's not team members.

It's police officers, their uniforms crisp and official, their faces professionally neutral. They move with the kind of practiced efficiency that says this isn't their first arrest, won't be their last.

"Jennifer Martinez," the lead officer says, pulling out handcuffs with a metallic clink that seems obscenely loud in the sudden silence. "You're under arrest for evidence tampering, fraudulent technical modifications, and conspiracy to commit sabotage resulting in career destruction and financial damages."

"What?!" Jenny's voice is a shriek now, all composure utterly shattered. "This is INSANE! You can't—I'm innocent! I didn't do anything wrong! It was just a prototype, just a mistake?—"

"You have the right to remain silent," the officer continues, unmoved by her protests. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."

I watch as they restrain Jenny, see the wild panic in her eyes, the way her Beta scent goes acrid with fear. Part of me—the soft, Omega part that wants to soothe and protect—feels a twinge of something that might be pity.

But the larger part, the part that's survived by being smarter and harder than anyone expected, feels nothing but cold satisfaction.

"Your Honor," I say into the phone, my voice carrying across the garage, "as you can hear, the evidence is conclusive. I'm submitting this recording to clear my Alpha's name and reputation. Justice delayed isn't justice denied if we finally get it right."

I pause, then add with a slight smirk, "But if you'll excuse me, I have a race to win."

"Wait, what?" Marco's head snaps toward me so fast it must hurt.

I reach up and unzip my hoodie in one smooth motion, followed with unbuckling my jeans and stripping out of them swiftly. Underneath, I'm wearing my full race suit—midnight blue with silver accents, the Throne Racing logo splashed across my chest, every sponsor patch perfectly positioned. I've been wearing it this entire time, the Nomex material pressing against my skin like a second layer of armor.

The hoodie drops to the floor, and I catch the expressions of shock rippling through the garage.

Even Richard's eyebrows have climbed toward his hairline.

"You've been suited up this whole time?" Marco breathes.

"Did you really think," I say, pulling the fire-resistant balaclava from my pocket, "that I'd let Adrian's legacy go to waste? That I'd let some bitter Beta who couldn't move on from rejection destroy everything he built?"

Richard is moving toward me, and the expression on his face is something between pride and disbelief. He picks up my helmet from where it sits on the workbench—custom-fitted, the visor tinted silver-blue, my name emblazoned on the back in chrome lettering.

He holds it out to me like an offering.

"You set her up."

"I suspected her from the beginning," I admit, taking the helmet. The weight of it in my hands is familiar, grounding. "The moment the news broke that I was female—an Omega—and everyone realized Adrian and his pack had finally found their Omega... I watched Jenny. Saw how she looked at him. How she couldn't quite hide the bitterness when he barely noticed she existed."

I turn to look at Jenny, who's being led toward the garage exit in handcuffs, her face a mask of impotent rage.

"Envy looks horrible on you, Jenny," I say, my voice carrying across the space. "But I knew you wouldn't be able to help yourself. Knew you'd slip up eventually. You wanted to be special to him, wanted to be the brilliant engineer who saved his reputation, who proved the tech could work. But you couldn't handle that he chose an Omega who was 'beneath' you in this industry. A female driver who had no right to his attention, his pack, his legacy."

"Fuck you!" Jenny spits, struggling against the officers. "You don't deserve him! You don't deserve ANY of this! You're just some?—"