I guess he could see my anxiety on my face, he stepped forward and stuck out his hand to my dad, "Hi, I'm Sylas, This is my... this is Carter" He introduced me, my dad and I both raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Carter?" My dad muttered, staring at me for a moment before he shook his head slightly, "yes of course, come in". 

I took another drag from my smoke, none of us having said a word as we now sat in the living room. I took a deep breath and looked at my dad. "ten years ago you disappeared, after a race you vanished, leaving behind a seven year old kid". 

My father looked at me sadly, "I know... I-" he sighed, "It wasn't safe for me to take him with me at the time, I assumed as much, and I was right, I came close to death many times in the last ten years" 

"you left him with your piece of shit brother." 

"My brother? yes but he- I assumed- He loved Marie almost as much as I, I thought he would take care of our son." 

"You didn't think he would blame the kid? take his anger an frustration out on him? Use me in ways he wished he could use my mother-" I looked away after the last statement, Sylas and my dad looking at me concerned. Sylas put his hand on mine in an attempt to reassure me. I had gotten frustrated, to emotional, said something I hadn't told anyone about, even if I didn't say it plainly. 

"My brother... I went to him a few years ago, once I was safe... I asked him about my son...he said that ... he told me that Carter.... that you were dead...".

"Dead? I mean, yeah I kinda am now, but that's only been for a few weeks" I rolled my eyes. 

"I'm sorry. I believed him.. I mean he's my brother... I didn't think..." Dad sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "he put Marie's mother in a nursing home when he took you in, I don't blame him, it was the smartest thing to do. I visted her once a week, at least... but she passed away...I guess that's why you are in town?" He looked at me. 

"Yeah some old guy at the bar I work told me he knew where you were, and handed me her obituary." 

"I'm sorry I ever left you behind... one of the sponsers to my opponent, got angry that I won so much, so he sent people to have me killed, his name was Linus I believe".

Sylas made a noise and I looked at him, he had a face like he knew something. 

"Sylas?" I gave him a knowing look.

"Um... Carter, you know how I was hired to kill you?", Sylas looked at the ground. 

My dad looked confused, which I wasn't surprised, I mean I took the guy who was hired to kill me to find him. 

"well, you know you asked me to figure out who hired us..." Sylas went on. 

"get to the damn point asshole" I glared.

"The guy who hired the guy to hire us, his name was Linus- And yes it's the same Linus, I heard rumors that he tried to get rid of the racer Charles Lee James, and I thought that was a very similar name to yours, Carter Lee James, so I wanted to figure out if it was your dad, and figure out if he did actually try to kill him." Sylas said quickly, before taking a deep breath. 

"Shit" my dad and I said at the same time. 

"You race?" my dad looked at me. 

"ever heard of the Night Rider?" 

"The current top racer, undefeated, no one knows what he looks like." 

"yes, yes, and my opponents see my face before I agree to race them, I can't challenge anyone below me." 

"You've made a name for yourself...and followed in my footsteps... I noticed your car is painted like mine." My dad smiled fondly, "I'm proud of you, you're only seventeen yet you've beat even some that beat me years ago." 

"yeah, I started racing two years ago, no blood fucker liked losing to a human, but guess what, they can't hold that against me now." 

Sylas chuckled, "You two are quite similar," his smile fell, "but it seems the same person wanted, or wants, you both killed."