Quater-Mile// Dominic Toretto

14

I pick up the phone with a shaky hand. "Dom."

"Toni, I told you not to call me here unless it was an emergency," Dom tells me.

"Dom, it's Letty. She's been murdered," I tell him.

It feels surreal. Like it's all some nightmare that I can't seem to wake up from. Mia has been crying non-stop and I've been trying my hardest to be strong for both of us. But it doesn't make a difference. We lost a part of our family.

I head out to the garage with a box of Letty's things. Mia and I can't bring ourselves to throw them out.

I turn around when I hear someone behind me. Dom steps out of the darkness. I hold back tears as I rush to hug him.

"I told you not to come," I remind him. "They're staking the place out. If they find you..."

"They won't," Dom assures. "Come on. Look at you."

Dom looks around the garage. Dom notices the Dodge Charger is sitting there.

"I wouldn't let them junk it," I tell him. "Even though it is a goddamn curse. When Letty came back we were always in here working on it. I think we had convinced ourselves that you were coming back."

"I want to see the crash site," Dom tells me.

"If that's what you want." I nod my head. "I'll get Mia. She should see you."

Dom nods his head. "Okay." I turn to walk away but Dom grabs my hand. "I love you, Antonia."

I nod my head. "I love you too, Dom, no matter what."

Mia and I agree to take Dom to the crash site. It's pitch black outside as we pull up to the spot. We get out of the car. I've never been here before. I could never bring myself to come here.

"It's straight ahead," Mia tells us.

Dom grabs my hand as we start to walk. Dom stares at the tire marks in the middle of the road. He crouches down and touches something green on the ground.

We drive in silence back to the house. Mia gets out leaving Dom and I alone. The two of us sit in silence for a moment longer.

"You found something back there," I state.

"There were burn marks on the ground. The kind that could only be caused by nitrometh. There's only one guy in all of LA that sells that," Dom tells me.

"Nothing you or I can do is gonna bring her back, Dom," I tell him. "Please let it go. Before it's too late."

"It's already too late." Dom reaches over and puts his hand on my check. "I love you." He leans in and kisses me.

"I love you too," I tell him.

Mia and I are both hauled in by the FBI. They must know that Dom was here. We sit a glass office with some Agent Stasiak. He keeps asking about Dom but neither Mia nor I will say anything. I can tell he's starting to get annoyed with us.

Stasiak leaves without giving a reason. I turn to Mia.

"Any chance we'll get breakfast?" I remark.

The door buzzes and I look up. It's Brian O'Connor of all people. I didn't even know he was back in LA. I really didn't know he was working for the feds now.

"Hey, Tyler, we got two transfers." Brian walks towards Mia and I. "You want to come with me?"

I convenience Brian to let me go. I know he really just wants to talk to Mia. They haven't seen each other in five years. It's been four years since I saw him in Miami but we ended things on much better terms.

I don't go far though. I need to talk to him. I lean on his car waiting for him to come out of the diner. He doesn't look to thrilled.

"I can see things didn't go well with Mia," I tease.

"Toni," Brian starts.

"Brian you gotta let me help," I tell him.

Brian shakes his head. "No."

"Come on. Did you forget Miami?" I ask.

"You drive a car into a yacht. I don't think I could ever forget that," Brian remarks.

"Please, Brian. The sooner you figure out whatever got Letty killed the sooner Dom will leave and the sooner I can breathe easy," I reason.

Brian looks at me for a moment. "I'll see what I can do."

I don't know how he did it but Brian got his bosses to agree to let me in on the case. Brian has been out of the racing world for too long here. I know the main players and who could be running for this Braga guy.

I sit in a briefing with Agent Penning, the man in charge of the case. A few other agents including Stasiak, with a busted face, sit around the table.

"Good news. We have intel that Braga's number two, Ramon Campos, will hold a street race in Koreatown tomorrow night to fill two slots on his team. They've already chosen three drivers from previous races," Penning explains. My photo as well as two other guys pop up on a screen. "One of them being Ms Santos." I was able to get my way into the race without their help. I still have a reputation in the racing world here. "Our newest informant, Mr. David Park, has been kind enough to get us into the race. O'Conner, you're up."

"Let me guess, winner gets the slot," Agent Sophie Trinh says.

Trinh shows Brian and I cars on a monitor. "All right, so these are all the imports the city has in impound."

I laugh lightly. "Nice."

"Pick your poison," Trinh tells me.

"All right, 2206," Brian says. "I crashed one of those."

"3418 and 2765," I say.

"Okay, so which one do you want?" Trinh asks.

"I want them all," Brian tells her.

Brian and I get to work on the cars. I'm not surprised that Brian would pick another Skyline. I fell in love in Miami with my Viper so I picked another. This one is purple but it doesn't have any of Suki's sweet decals.

Brian laughs. "Really? Same car you crashed?"

"On purpose," I clarify. "And you chose another Skyline. How original?"

Brian laughs lightly before getting serious. "I saw him. Dom. He's not here to play nice, Toni. He's out for blood. He dropped a guy out of a window. If the guy hadn't caught the ledge he would have been dead."

"I know what kind of a guy he is, Brian. He's fiercely loyal and he will do anything for family. And you know that's what Letty was to us," I tell him. Brian nods his head. "Mia will come around. Dom will to."

"How can you be so sure?" Brian asks.

"I did," I remind him.

An agent hands Brian a small envelope. "Standard issue tracking device. Boss wants to know where you are at all times."