Axel's victory echoed across the underground. Within hours, his name was trending on every illegal racing channel from Bangkok to Berlin. They called him The Inferno Prince. But fame had a price.
Three nights after the win, Jett's garage was silent.
Too silent.
Axel stepped inside, scanning for signs of life. Tools were scattered, the Viper's hood was open, but Jett was nowhere.
Then he saw it.
The symbol—spray-painted in blood-red across the wall.
A coiled viper wrapped in a gear.
The mark of the Black Viper Syndicate.
His stomach dropped.
He bolted upstairs.
"JETT?!"
Silence.
But on the workbench, a black envelope waited. Inside, a single photo: Jett, beaten. Tied to a chair. A timer on the bottom: 23:59:00.
Rhea arrived seconds later, breath ragged. She saw the photo. Her eyes burned.
"They took him," Axel said, voice hollow.
"They want you to come," she whispered. "Alone."
"They'll kill him."
"Not if we move first."
Axel looked down at his blood-stained knuckles. This wasn't just racing anymore. This was war.
Meanwhile...
Deep in the industrial underbelly of the city, in a hidden chamber beneath a nightclub called Abyss, the Syndicate prepared their next move.
The leader—a man known only as Lucien—watched Axel's race replay.
"He's talented," he said, sipping black tea. "Too talented to be left alone."
Beside him stood Nova, a female driver with silver hair, half of her face scarred from a crash Axel had unintentionally caused two years ago.
"Let me handle him," she said. "He took everything from me."
Lucien smiled. "No. We'll let him come to us."
He turned to the screen. It showed a map. A red blinking light marked the rendezvous: Sector 13, Old Harbor. Surrounded by water, with no escape.
"Let's see if the Prince burns… or drowns."
Back to Axel.
Nightfall. Rhea armed him with a pistol and an encrypted transceiver.
"I'm coming with you," she said.
"No. If I don't make it back, someone needs to expose them."
"But—"
Axel leaned in and kissed her. Short. Fierce.
"This isn't goodbye. It's just another lap."
He climbed into Inferno, flipped the ignition, and the engine roared like it knew.
Thunder cracked above the city.
The race for survival had begun.