The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 517

She took a deep breath, pulled her hand back from the glass, and turned to nod at Cassandra.

"Okay." Her voice was still raspy, but it carried a deep, settled calm that wasn't there before. "Let's go."

*

At five-thirty in the morning, a black SUV practically drifted across the highway.

The engine let out a low, menacing roar. The RPM needle vibrated frantically near the redline, yet the massive chassis hugged the road like a speeding bullet.

"Professor Jace," a timid voice spoke up from the passenger seat.

Piper gripped her seatbelt with white knuckles, her back pressed rigidly against the seat. Her face looked incredibly pale in the glow of the dashboard, her wide eyes staring nervously at the road ahead.

"You're speeding. We're doing over a hundred miles an hour now," Piper repeated quietly, her voice half-swallowed by the roaring engine. "Could we... follow the speed limit just a little?"

"If you want a ride, sit tight. If you're scared, get out."

Josh's voice was as cold as ice.

His eyes were locked fiercely on the road ahead. Both hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands bulged under his skin.

In the dim glow of the streetlights, his sharp jawline was clenched tight as a drawn bowstring.

Piper pouted, clutching her seatbelt even tighter. "I... I'm not scared! I don't even flinch on roller coasters! I just wanted to say, don't worry too much. Didn't the police call and say Sloane is out of danger? She's already at the hospital—"

"Shut up."

Piper wisely clamped her mouth shut.

Josh's tone grew sharper. "Wasn't she brought in around 1:30 AM? Check again."

"Yesterday at 1:30 AM?"

The nurse flipped through the emergency logs, suddenly realizing something. "Oh, you mean the group that came in the middle of the night—but the severely injured one wasn't a woman. It was a man. His injuries were critical. His heart had almost stopped by the time he got here."

"Thankfully, they managed to save him. He's in the ICU right now for observation."

Josh's pupils contracted violently. "A man? What was his name?"

The nurse typed a few more keys and said, "There's no first name listed here, it just says..."

"35 years old, male, last name... Foster."