THE EVALUATION

THE EVALUATION

nwachukwuella67 · Ongoing · 30.4k Words

420
Hot
420
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

I was hired to evaluate him.
To watch him, to study him and decide if he was still fit to race at two hundred miles an hour or if one wrong sentence from me would end his entire career.
Kade Rivers was supposed to be a case file.
Not a man who looks at me like I’m the only thing keeping him grounded.
Not someone who starts trusting me when he has every reason not to.
And definitely not someone I start lying to while pretending I’m still in control.
The job was simple. Observe, report and walk away.
But the more he lets me in, the less I can tell what I’m actually writing.
Professional notes… or confessions I’ll never say out loud. Because if I tell the truth, I ruin him.
And if I don’t… I ruin myself.
Either way, someone is going to break first.And I’m starting to think it might be both of us.

Chapter 1

•AVERY•

I watched the footage four times.

And it wasn't because I actually needed to, but because I had his file memorized before I even packed my bag. The incident report, every single one of them, every single session note from the two psychologists he had walked out on, and also every single public statement his team released on his behalf.

I watched it because I kept thinking that maybe I would misread his face.

But I hadn’t.

Kade Rivers. He’s twenty-two years old and one of the fastest on the grid and currently a problem his principal Connor Hayes needs to be solved before the contract renewal lands.

I watched as the helmet left his hand. Two of his crew members grabbed him hard on his biceps and for about a second before someone stepped in front of the shot, you could see his face clearly. 

He looked.. scary maybe?

But definitely not angry.

That’s the thing.

I locked my phone and put it back inside my bag when the seatbelt sign came on, and then I looked out of the window into the clouds. I told myself that it didn’t matter what his face looked like.

He’s for sure very attractive, but that isn’t what I am here for.

Connor called me six weeks ago. He was so calm and direct and he wasted no sentences at all. 

What a strange man.

He explained it to me simply. He had said that Kade shuts down around formal oversight and he walked out of two mandated sessions already. So Connor needed someone who could get genuine access without it seeming like what it was. Said I’d go in as someone Kade has recently started seeing and observe him. Write a report, the report goes to Connor then Connor decides whether Kade is going to keep his seat or not. 

I pushed back. 

He let me tho.

And then he told me what was on the table and I just had to stop pushing back and give in.

I mean..that’s a life-changing deal for my best friend and me.

I need this contract, I really do need it. The reason is mine and it’s real asf. And it makes complete sense sitting in my Edinburgh flat with my phone pressed to my ear. Although it makes less sense since every time I think of it now, I already said yes so…

Here we are.

The car Connor sent to pick me up was already waiting at arrivals. I didn’t check my phone on the way to the circuit. I just watched the motorway and went through the arrangement all over again in my head. Not because I’d forgotten any of it, but just because it felt better than thinking about what I was actually doing.

Silverstone got me even before I was ready for it.

The sound first, it sounded and felt like this low constant thing you feel before you properly hear it. Then the smell… smelt like fuel and burnt rubber and something really metallic underneath that caught in the back of my throat and just… stayed there. 

I stood at the paddock entrance for half a second and just…

Jesus Christ!

I’ve been reading rooms since I was twelve.

It’s not like it’s a skill, just a necessity. The way you learn to track the temperature when you grow up in a house where the mood shifts without warning and nobody’s going to tell you it’s coming. I just do it automatically. Can’t turn it off even if I try to.

I never did tho.

I did it to every single person I walked past going in.

Connor was at the gate. He’s slim, composed, and not a word wasted. He shook my hand and started talking while we moved through, not checking whether I was keeping up. I was following, but I just want him to shut up. 

Such a weird ass man, I would kick him in the ass if I could, arghhh.

Just shut up already Avery 

“The cover holds as long as you’re consistent. You met him in Monaco four months ago at a sponsor function. Always keep your answers short and don’t ever volunteer.”

“I know.” I roll my eyes internally 

“Report comes directly to me. There are no copies.”

“Connor, I know.” 

I just got here and he's already getting on my nerves omgg

He glanced sideways at me. “You’re younger than I expected.”

I didn’t say anything to that because at this point I’m fed up..

I just want to climb on a bed and sleep, is that too much to ask Connor?

I got my credentials from someone near the garage entrance. Lanyard, my name on it. Underneath it is a smaller text that says: Guest – Personal.

And not a Consultant. 

I clipped it on and didn’t bother looking at it again.

Then I saw Kade.

Maybe I thought he was so attractive earlier, but in person? He looks so beautiful. Like an Angel, or no a devil…maybe a mix of both I don’t know. Well, that was unfortunate because he’s definitely a ten over ten.

He was across the garage, his back half-turned while talking to someone tall who was using his entire body to make whatever point he was making. And Kade was laughing, properly. Like he had nothing to worry about.

His head tipped back, the kind that takes over your face before you can manage it.

I stopped walking for a second.

Nothing like the footage. Nothing like the file, the incident reports, or the two paragraphs about impulse control. He looked—

Avery stop. Observation and not the feeling.

He looked younger than twenty-two. That’s all I’m going to think about this man.

Connor introduced us three minutes later. The tall one was Reef. He grinned at me before anyone even said a word. Kade looked up at him and before I knew it the laugh was already gone. Not as he wiped it away but more like put away somewhere, as it belonged to a different moment and that moment was over.

“Kade, this is Avery.” 

He looked at me.

Like looked at me for one second or maybe less. It’s not warm, nor is it dismissive. It’s something else, something I clocked immediately and wished I hadn’t because it wasn’t anything and I already knew I was going to write it down later.

Maybe I’m in trouble too.

He put his hand out and I took it in a brief handshake. His eyes moved off me before I even let go.

“They usually send someone older,” he said not looking at me, nor at Connor. Just out in the air, to nobody exactly, already looking somewhere across the garage.

Reef made a noise and stopped himself when Kade glanced at him.

I said something back. I have no idea what, something that sounded normal. I held my face where it needed to be. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I’m good at this part.

Connor touched my elbow and we moved on.

A hand landed on my shoulder almost immediately.

“Avery.” Already smiling when I turned. Broad shoulders, looks to be in his fifties, has this easy warmth of someone who’s been trusted so long they’ve stopped noticing they expect it. 

“Marsh. Head coach.” He said with his hand still on my shoulder. “Brilliant timing, the British GP’s a good one to start with. You’ll love it here.”

He said it so casually like we already knew each other.

We didn’t know each other.

No, don’t know this man.

He noticed the uneasiness on my face and removed his hand from my shoulder one beat after it should have.

I smiled back at him and after saying something back to him he left.

I stood there a moment after he left and thought about the hand on my shoulder. Noted it down and put it somewhere in the back of my mind and left it there because there was already enough going on right now and I don’t think I need any more things to overthink about.

My hotel room was very quiet.

I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute before I moved to open my laptop.

I created a new document and typed in today’s date.

Then I typed down his name.

Kade Rivers.

I looked at it for a second and got lost in my mind. 

I shook my head to try to get rid of the thoughts forming that way into my head and started typing.

Subject presents a notable discrepancy between documented behaviour and observed—

I stopped and read it back.

Doesn’t sit right with me.

I press the delete button and straight into the bin it goes.

I tried writing something else again, but deleted that too.

I was still staring at a blank page when someone knocked on the door.

I wasn’t expecting anyone. I crossed the room and opened the door and stood paralyzed as if someone had poured a bucket full of cold water over me.

Kade was in the hallway in the same clothes from the paddock, and there was no expression on his face. He looked at me for a second like he was confirming something he’d already decided before he knocked.

“I know what you’re really here for,” he said.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Soulbound Mark

Soulbound Mark

4k Views · Completed · ngocvynguyen985
Vampires are her worst fear, but what if one of them turns out to be her soulmate?
Elena is a witch who adores flowers and plants, possessing a gentle kind of magic that is tied to nature. She leads a quiet life with her family—until one day, the peace is shattered. After a ruthless vampire kills her parents to obtain their magic, she barely escapes and is forced to go into hiding.
From that moment on, she lives in constant fear and does all she can to avoid vampires, afraid that her past may catch up with her one day.
However, Elena can’t escape her fate, and it leads her straight into the arms of yet another vampire. Their encounter throws her life into disarray—not only is Ryder her enemy, but he is also her destined soulmate.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Timeless Us

Timeless Us

1.9k Views · Ongoing · Jennifer Cooper
A strange traffic jam hurls Chloe twenty-three years into the future.
The world she knew is gone.
Her husband, Nathan, is no longer the young man she left behind—he’s successful, respected, and living with a new family.
But when the woman who disappeared twenty-three years ago suddenly returns…
can love survive the years that were lost?
Underwater: The Silent Luna

Underwater: The Silent Luna

8k Views · Ongoing · Karima Saad Usman
Meadow never imagined her life could change so quickly, until Luna Amber appeared at her door with an offer no ordinary girl would refuse: marriage to her son, the Alpha of the pack.

It sounded like fate. Like rescue. Like the moment the universe finally chose her.

Even with the suspicion clinging to the proposal, Meadow let herself believe it. She stepped into the marriage blindly, hoping love would fill the quiet spaces of her mute, colourless life.

But the truth comes fast, and cruel.

The Alpha never asked for her. Never wanted her. Luna Amber arranged everything without his consent, driven by selfish motives Meadow couldn’t see until it was too late. What should have been tender and sacred becomes a cage, and Meadow is trapped in a nightmare she can’t wake from.
Taming Her Playboy Bully

Taming Her Playboy Bully

4.9k Views · Ongoing · Jane Lexington
Benjamin Halesten has a huge problem. His father has threatened to cut him off from his lavish lifestyle unless he agrees to see the mysterious Mrs. Black at an elite life coach agency. At the consultation, Mrs. Black lays out the plan. It’s simple: abide by the rules, or Benjamin loses everything. The plan, one of Mrs. Black’s ‘Gem girls’, is to pose as his girlfriend while straightening up his life and public appearance. Benjamin reluctantly agrees, but he is floored when he meets his life coach. Meet the brilliant Dr. Lainey Forest, who has killer curves, a kind soul, and a mesmerizing personality. Benjamin falls for her instantly, not recognizing her as someone from his past. With every minute, every public display of affection, Benjamin is losing himself in Lainey. Lainey, on the other hand, battles with the pure hatred she has towards Benjamin and the slow-growing love that is building in her heart for him. Can Lainey put the past aside to find true love, or are they bound to both end up with broken hearts?
Vengeance of the Forsaken Luna

Vengeance of the Forsaken Luna

9.6k Views · Ongoing · Sherry
"How thoughtful."
"Bella." Ethan's tone shifted, taking on that warning edge I knew too well. "Faye is vulnerable right now. She's terrified you'll resent her, that this will divide the pack. The last thing she wants is for this baby to come between us."
"Then you shouldn't have done it." I met his eyes squarely, letting him see the ice in mine. "Go back to your son."
"For fuck's sake." He dragged a hand through his hair. "How many times—it was artificial insemination. They used my sperm, yes, but Faye and I never—"
Bella let out a cold snort. Such brazen lies. Her mate had an affair with his brother's partner, and his entire family helped force her out with nothing, all to make way for the mistress to take her rightful position. Poor fool—he thought she was just an unwanted adopted daughter, easy to dismiss and control. He never knew the computer genius he'd been searching for was his own Luna.
Since he'd tainted himself, Bella was done. She rejected him and reclaimed what was hers, rising to the top with help from Victor, who'd been secretly in love with her for years.
When Ethan tried winning her back: "You don't want our child growing up fatherless."
Bella smiled mockingly. "The child's father isn't you."
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.7m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
From Substitute To Queen

From Substitute To Queen

1.4m Views · Completed · Hannah Moore
For three years, Sable loved Alpha Darrell with everything she had, spending her salary to support their household while being called an orphan and gold-digger. But just as Darrell was about to mark her as his Luna, his ex-girlfriend returned, texting: "I'm not wearing underwear. My plane lands soon—pick me up and fuck me immediately."

Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.

Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.

In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?

From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The Alpha's Stripper Mate

The Alpha's Stripper Mate

51.6k Views · Completed · Havilworth
"Come here."
"What?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I did not wait for him to answer me, I walked toward him.
"Dance on my lap."
My head screamed at me to turn around and run. But my whole body responded to his command.
"Yes, Alpha," I pulled my dress over my body, it dropped over my head and fell to the ground behind me. I was left in nothing but my matching bra and thong. My hands covered my chest on reflex.
"Let me see."
My hands dropped to my sides.
I lowered myself into his lap, facing him. His eyes peered into mine, and I could feel his hot breath fan my face. His dick responded to all my moves, hardening against my now-moist vagina. I swallowed hard, allowing my lips to part in a ragged breath. His hands trailed up to my waist.
"No touching."


At the tender age of eleven, JoJo Wyatt was forced to grow up far sooner than she should have. Born to a cruel father and a weak mother, she quickly realized she had to become the breadwinner for herself and her sister. Nothing else mattered to her, not even the hottest men. In fact, she despised them. After one horrific night, she swore never to have any contact with the male species again. That was, until she started working for him as his stripper.
Meanwhile, Alpha Lake Rush, thirty, was the most feared Alpha in the country. Burdened by his own share of life's struggles, he had learned only to be cruel and reckless, rejecting not one but two mates. But what happens when he discovers yet another mate, and she turns out to be his stripper?
The Missing Mafia Princess and her CEO Mafia Don

The Missing Mafia Princess and her CEO Mafia Don

6k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Isabella believes that her boyfriend can change is way again and be the man she fell in love with. But when she get kidnapped because of him, and he is to busy with another lady instead of saving her. She understands she is better off without him. She gets saved by her boyfriend cousin who has loved Isabella for years. Just stayed in the shadows. Will Alexander help her heal from the broken heart his ignorant cousin leaves her with, and then win her heart?
Bound by the Dragon Mafia

Bound by the Dragon Mafia

7k Views · Ongoing · McKenzie Shinabery
“No, no, no,” she said, pointing at a platter. “If it’s called ‘Goth Girl French Toast,’ then it has to be black. I don’t care how you do it. Activated charcoal. Blackberries. Food coloring. Demon blood. Whatever.”

The head chef looked like he was silently praying for death.

I rushed forward. “Amara. Stop traumatizing these poor people.”

She spun around, delighted. “Sera! Good, you’re here. Taste this. It’s missing despair.”

The chef’s face morphed into existential crisis.

I grabbed her arm. “Put the spatula down.”

“But—”

“Down.”

With exaggerated offense, she dropped the spatula and muttered, “Fine. But if no one here has artistic vision, that’s not my fault.”

She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.

When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.

Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.

Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.