Chapter 9: Who Fixes Luxury Cars?

The next morning.

The production crew brought them to the backyard of the beachside villa.

In the middle of the yard sat a car covered with a dustsheet.

Marcus walked over and yanked the cover off.

Through the cloud of dust, a silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5 appeared before everyone's eyes.

The body lines were sleek, but the hood was open, revealing an engine covered in grease and rust.

"Today's task is simple." Marcus patted the car door. "This car is broken. The production team has provided a full set of repair tools and parts. Ten of you — whoever can get it running again wins ten thousand favor points."

Ten thousand points.

Enough to shoot anyone at the bottom straight to the top of the leaderboard.

Tiffany's eyes lit up, then quickly dimmed.

"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked. "This is a vintage car! Fix a car? Who here knows how to fix a car? This is clearly designed to set us up to fail!"

Liam stepped forward and looked at the engine bay.

"Spark plugs are worn out, carburetor's got issues." He frowned. "I picked up a little from a film shoot once, but an old girl like this needs a pro to get her running right."

Cole shook his head too.

"I could maybe change a tire, but the engine? No way."

Everyone was backing off.

Ten thousand favor points was tempting, but nobody wanted to embarrass themselves on camera.

Ivy stood next to Julian, biting her lower lip.

She desperately needed those ten thousand points to stay in the game.

"Julian, can you try?" She tugged at his sleeve, her voice soft and sweet. "Didn't you modify a sports car once?"

Julian looked uncomfortable.

"That was different, Ivy. I paid someone else to do it. I don't actually know how."

Ivy lowered her eyes to hide her disappointment.

She sighed and turned to the camera.

"This car is so old. I think the production team is asking a bit too much here. We're all entertainers — how would any of us know about this kind of thing?"

She was trying to shift the blame onto the production team while giving herself an easy way out.

Eva ignored her and walked straight to the toolbox.

She picked out a suitable wrench and grabbed a socket.

"What are you doing?" Tiffany stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "Eva, don't tell me you're actually going to fix it?"

"Move." Eva carried the tools to the front of the car.

Tiffany burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, who do you think you are? A mechanic? Even Liam and Julian won't touch it, and you think you can just—"

"Shut up."

Sebastian's voice came from behind.

He looked at Tiffany with barely concealed irritation.

"Besides making noise, what exactly do you contribute?"

Tiffany went red in the face and didn't dare say another word.

Ivy stepped forward with a show of concern.

"Eva, don't push yourself. This is a vintage car — if something breaks, it'll cost a fortune. If you can't put it back together, the production team might hold you responsible."

"Exactly." Cole chimed in. "Don't mess around with it. Fixing cars isn't something girls should be doing."

Eva didn't even turn around.

She put on her gloves and leaned straight into the engine bay.

Pulled the spark plugs. Cleaned the carburetor. Checked the distributor.

Her movements were as smooth and natural as breathing.

She could do all of this blindfolded in the underground garage at Vance Group.

She'd tuned F1 race cars with her own hands. A vintage car from the sixties was nothing.

Ten minutes later.

She tossed a rusted part into the discard bin and fitted in a new one.

Then she picked up a rag and wiped the grease from her hands.

"Get in the driver's seat." She pointed at Liam.

Liam blinked, then quietly climbed in.

"Start it."

Liam turned the key.

VROOM—

A deep, powerful engine roar instantly filled the entire backyard.

This vintage car, which had been sleeping for God knows how many years, had come back to life.

The whole place went dead silent.

Tiffany's mouth fell open. Her jaw nearly hit the floor.

Cole stared like he'd seen a ghost.

The color drained from Ivy's face instantly.

She had just said "there's no way a girl would know about this stuff," and now the car was roaring right in front of her.

"What the f—" Marcus let out a curse. "Eva, what did you do before this?"

Eva pulled off her gloves and tossed them back into the toolbox.

"Fixed cars."

The comment section exploded.

[Whoa! She's so badass!]

[The way she was taking apart those parts — completely fluid. That's a professional right there!]

[Ivy was just being all snarky about it, and now look at her face lmaooo!]

[Ten thousand points, secured! Eva, go straight to number one!]

Eva walked over to the sink to wash her hands.

Sebastian leaned against a nearby pillar, watching her.

"How much more are you hiding?"

He handed her a clean towel.

Eva took it and dried her hands.

"A lot. Which part do you want to see?"

He let out a quiet laugh.

"The old man from the Whitlock family — if he found out the daughter he got back is a one-woman mechanical powerhouse, I think his jaw would drop too."

At the mention of the Whitlock family, Eva stopped wiping her hands.

"They don't know," she said.

"Why not?"

"Because they lost me when I was eight."

Her voice was quiet, but just loud enough for the mic to pick up.

The surroundings suddenly went still.

Everyone looked at her.

Ivy's body went rigid.

"Lost you?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Eva tossed the towel into the basket. "When I was eight. At an amusement park. Someone wanted an extra doughnut and left me alone on a bench."

She turned and looked at Cole.

The color vanished from Cole's face instantly.

He was the one who had left her there for a doughnut.

"And then?" Sebastian pressed.

"And then?" She smiled slightly. "Then I spent eighteen years on my own. Picked up some skills — fixing cars, cooking, fighting. Had to, to survive."

"What about Ivy?" Tiffany suddenly cut in, clearly smelling gossip. "Isn't she your sister?"

"My sister?" Eva looked at Ivy.

Ivy's lips were trembling. She shook her head frantically at Eva, her eyes full of desperation.

This was exactly what she'd always been afraid of.

For eighteen years, she had lived as the little princess of the Whitlock family. Everyone believed she was their true-born daughter.

"She's just an adopted daughter."

Eva said it lightly, without missing a beat.

"After I went missing, the Whitlock family adopted her from an orphanage to fill the emotional void."

Boom.

Those words hit like a bomb dropped right in the middle of the yard.

The comment section went into a frenzy. The server lagged for a moment.