Now that it's getting interesting, I can't wait to write it!

Chapter Quote:
"My dad said he kicked your ass once."
~Samantha Hobbs to Dom Toretto
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Chapter 8

Jace

Ember and Brandon got to the house before me because they'd crossed the train tracks before I did. I'd been stuck for ten minutes before I could get to the Toretto household. The moment my foot stepped into the threshold, I was shoved into the wall by Dom.

"Did you get her into this?! Are you the reason she's racing?!" He shouted in my face.

"It's not his fault. He was trying to stop me," Ember defended. "Let him go."

With a snarl, Dom listened to his niece. I stayed with my back against the wall and next to the door in case I needed to make an escape.

"What did get you into racing? You know you're not allowed to!" Mia demanded at Ember who was back sitting on the couch.

"I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to blow off steam one night and entered a race. I loved racing and the adrenaline I got from it," she said.

"Where did you get the car? Did you steal it? Did you buy it with your mother's money?" Dom demanded.

Ember looked flabbergasted. "You seriously think I would steal from my own mother?"

"You had no problem racing behind her back!"

"I didn't steal a penny from her or you or anyone! That car out there is dad's car!" Ember paused before saying quietly, "That car out there was dad's car..."

Dom sighed as Mia closed her eyes. Dom said, "Is that why you're racing? Because of your dad?"

"It doesn't matter what my reason is. I'm going to be in trouble no matter what," Ember replied, although she refused to make eye contact with any of them.

"Brian told you about his car stash," Dom mumbled. "Where is it?"

"I'm not telling you that," Ember retorted.

"Jace, Brandon, either of you been there?"

"No, sir," Brandon answered. I didn't say anything, hoping Dom would think that Brandon meant both of us. I wouldn't lie to any of the Torettos.

"Ember, where are the cars?" Dom asked again.

"I'm not telling you. That was mine and dad's thing. No one else's."

"Your dad wouldn't want you risking your life racing," Mia told her gently.

"How would you know? Dad's been dead for four years!" Ember cried. "No one knows what he would've wanted!"

Ember was crying now as she ran upstairs to her room. She didn't slam her door but I still heard it shut. Mia chased after her. Dom and Letty went after her as well. That left me, Brandon, Roman, Gina, and Tej in the living room. Roman and Tej wore looks of sheer depression on their faces. Gina placed a hand on Roman's shoulder to comfort him. Brandon was staring at his hands which were laying in his lap. I wanted to say something but I didn't know what. Instead, I stood there awkwardly, waiting for Dom to come back downstairs.
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Ember

"Ember? Ember, open the door. Please?" My mom pleaded.

"Ember Gisele Toretto-O'Connor, open this door," Dom ordered gently. I didn't listen to them. I wanted to be far away from them and the house. I just wanted my dad at the moment. Throwing my black baseball cap back on, I opened my window as quietly as I could, slipped onto the roof, jumped down onto the ground, and broke into a run. The wind rushed past my face as I bolted down the hill towards the cemetery. I knew it'd probably be the first place my family would look for me but I didn't care, I needed to see my dad.

A few cars honked at me but I didn't stop even though my lungs were screaming at me too. I couldn't get enough air as I continued my breakneck speed to my father's grave. I leapt over the fence that surrounded the cemetery, knowing the entrance gates would be locked. This wasn't my first night visit to my father's grave.

I continued to run until I saw his headstone. I collapsed in front of it, burying my face into my hands as I finally let the knot in my throat come undone. I sobbed, unable to even get words out. I know my dad couldn't respond to me but I still needed to talk to him. I needed to act like he was still there, to take away the pain I was feeling.

When my voice finally allowed for me to speak without me breaking down into sobs again, I said, "I'm sorry dad. I'm so sorry. I disappointed mom and Dom and Letty and I know I would've disappointed you too. I was an idiot but racing in your car, it made me feel close to you again. It made me feel like we were still doing something together. It made the pain of missing you go away for a little bit. I thought I was doing better, and I was, but something triggered the pain again and it's overwhelming me, dad. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know what to do anymore."

Another sob escaped my throat and before I knew it I was crying again, unable to stop the tears gushing out of my eyes down my cheeks. The only thing that could make this pain go away was to see my dad again. And I knew that was impossible.
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Dom

"Dom, I'm telling you she's not in there!" Mia cried quietly. "She wouldn't ignore me for this long! I just don't want to lose my daughter like I did my husband."

Ember's door had barely been shut for five minutes but I knew my sister was right. I needed to go out after my niece, wherever she was, but I needed my sister to calm down first. "Mia, you're not going to lose Ember. Don't think like that. Stay here with Letty and Gina. I'll take Roman, Tej, Brandon, and Jace on a search for her."

"Bring her back Dom, please bring her back," Mia begged.

"I'm not coming home until I have her." I went back downstairs, informing everyone of the situation.

"How did Ember get out of her room without any of us knowing?" Roman queried.

"She probably stepped out onto the roof and jumped to the ground," Jace said. When we all looked at him, he hastily added, "Ember told me she's done it before."

"I want all you boys out looking for her. Jace, Brandon, check the races. Tej, Roman, check the streets," I ordered. The four men left the house. I grabbed my jacket and car keys to go to the destination I had in mind.

"Where are you going to look?" Mia asked, resting her hand on my shoulder.

I opened the door, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "The cemetery."

"You think she's there? She told me she never goes there."

"I've caught her there once or twice when I go. It was always late at night. I stayed far enough away so I couldn't hear anything she was saying to him but close enough that I could keep an eye on her, make sure nothing hurt her."

"Why would she keep that from me?"

"Ember has her own secrets. All the Torettos do at some point. I'll go find her. I'll be back soon."

I shut the door, hurriedly getting into my Charger. I tore out of the driveway, heading to the cemetery. When I arrived, there was no other car there. Not surprising since it was the middle of the night. I hopped over the gates since they were locked. No one was supposed to be here at night but locked gates weren't going to stop me.

I made my way through the cemetery, passing familiar headstones that led up to the one I was searching for. I hadn't been to Brian's grave in a while. It'd gotten harder and harder for me to come and see him. He'd been my brother and my friend. I still found myself waiting for him to make a snarky joke about me cheating in the race all those years ago when we brought down Braga. He never had let me live that down... I'd always told him he needed to let that go but now I wanted nothing more than to hear him say it, if only one more time.

I heard Ember crying before I saw her. She was leaning up against his headstone. I made sure I made no sound as I walked up to her. If my niece heard anything, she'd bolt and there was no way I'd be able to catch up with her.

Finally, I reached the tree next to Brian's grave. It was behind Ember so she had no idea I was there, although if I'd made any sound, she probably couldn't have heard it over her crying.

"I remember the last thing he said to me," I said. Ember jumped up, getting into a fighting stance. When she realized it was me, she dropped the position, but remained tense. I walked up to face Brian's headstone. "Brian said he had a bad feeling about that mission, that he was worried he might not come back. I told him he was being paranoid and that not coming back was not an option for him. I told him you and Mia needed him. He smiled and said he promised he'd come back. I never saw him again."

"Why did he go?" Ember demanded, her voice shaking. "Why did he go if he had such a bad feeling?"

"Your dad made me promise not to tell anyone, especially you and your mother. He didn't want you to have your hopes up only for them to be crushed."

"Why did he go? Why did he leave me and mom?" Ember wiped a tear off her face but it was quickly replaced by another one.

"Because Hobbs never stopped searching for Jack. He kept Brian in on the loop. One day he got a possible hit on your brother. Your dad wanted to go because he thought if it really was Jack, he'd recognize him and vice versa. Brian told me because he knew I wouldn't back him up unless he told me. He told me not to tell anyone, not even you or Mia, because he didn't want either of you to get your hopes up in case the lead on Jack turned out to be untrue."

"But why was he in a high speed chase?"

"Hobbs' lead led them to a group of low-key criminals who might've had Jackson. One of them was chasing your father and, well, you know what happened."

"I wish he would've stayed home," Ember sobbed. I pulled my niece into a hug as she cried into my shoulder. I remembered the depression she'd entered when Brian died. I didn't want to see her go through that again and it seemed like she was slipping into it again. I had to prevent it. Brian wouldn't want his daughter upset, especially over his death.

"I miss him Uncle Dom," Ember whispered, pulling away from me and sitting back down in front of Brian's headstone. I sat next to her.

"I miss him too. I had a lot of adventures with him. We destroyed half of Rio one time by dragging a huge safe behind us."

She let out a small, almost imperceptible, laugh. "He told me about that. He never read me fairytales for bedtime stories. He would tell me about his adventures with you and Roman and Tej and mom and Han and Gisele and Hobbs. I loved those stories so much."

"We had a lot of adventures. Despite the danger, I wouldn't change a thing. Every time I get in my car, I remember the time I raced him on this quarter-mile stretch. We barely made it across the train tracks before the train rushed past us. Then I crash into a truck backing up. Your dad worked for the LAPD then. We heard cop cars and I thought I was going to jail again. But you know what he did?"

"He gave you his ten-second car," Ember said. "He told me about that."

I smiled. "Yeah. Your dad saved my ass a lot of times. Being a cop, he wasn't supposed to race. It was forbidden for him to do so, but he did anyway. I'm glad he was a rule breaker. I never would have met him otherwise."

"Looks like I inherited that trait."

"Yeah, you did. Why did you start racing all of a sudden? I knew you were watching races for a while, but why did you start racing yourself?"

"Because when I was fifteen, dad started teaching me how to drive. He had a few cars stashed away and once I turned sixteen, he taught me how to race. There was an old, abandoned track we'd use. That's how I learned. Jace and I had had an argument and I went and drove one of dad's cars. I was on the freeway when two racers passed me. I decided to just try one race. I won it. I got a thrill out of it. It made me want to do more. And it made me feel close to my dad again. It reminded me of the races I had against him."

"Were you any good?" I asked.

"I like to think so."

"How much money did you win."

"Three hundred, give or take a few."

"Dollars? That ain't... bad," I lied, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

"Grand," Ember corrected me. "Three hundred grand."

"You made three hundred grand racing in how many months?"

"Two or three months. I only raced on Friday nights and placed big bets. It paid off. I never lost a race. Not even against Lynch's crew, which is why he was so desperate for me to join his crew. I'm sorry Uncle Dom. I never meant... I never meant for any of this to happen," she apologized, burying her head in her hands.

"I know you didn't. And I know we can't keep you from racing anymore. With your bloodline, it was only a matter of time before you raced, I just didn't know when. At least you began later than I thought you would. Listen, we should get home. I may be Dom Toretto but these streets are still dangerous at night. Besides, your mom is worried sick about you."

"Do you think she'll forgive me?" My niece asked as we stood up.

"If you tell her you made three hundred grand racing, I think that might help. Come on." Ember and I walked back through the cemetery to my car. We'd just sat down when my cell rang. I picked it up. It was Gina. I could barely get a word out before she explained why she'd called. I hung up when she was done.

"Everything okay?" Ember queried, looking at me with concern.

I shook my head. "We need to go to the hospital. Jace has been shot."
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Dun dun dun! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)