This is an AI-assisted story as I wanted to see how close it could come to the storyline I wanted to write. Surprisingly, it came close but I had to convert the POV from third to first. In addition, as you could probably tell, it is not written in "my voice",
Rest assured, "The Duel" is the only book I have worked with AI to write.
Created using NovelAI with a little bit of my own voice thrown in...more so for this chapter

"Juliette?" I gasped, disbelief flooding my senses. "Why are you—"

Juliette’s eyes burned with a fierce intensity, the remnants of the Viper persona fading away. "I had to get your attention, somehow."

"Attention?" I asked as I saw police and firetruck lights heading in our direction. "You've always had my attention, Jules."
Juliette winced as she shook her head.

"Look, let's...." I wanted to make everything go back to how it was earlier. Maybe I wouldn't have to see my friend dying in a car wreck I caused.
The sirens in the distance grew louder, a reminder our time was running out. “We got to go, Juliette! Let me help you!”

"No, run, Allie, don't get caught."

"Jules, I--"

"Run, Ghost!"

I looked at her in defiance but finally admitted I had to leave so I bolted from the scene as a fleet of emergency flooded the scene of the crash.

I ran into an alley and leaned against the wall, slowing sliding to the ground in a mess. I had broken so many rules that night that I knew I would be removed from the Red Falcons. I would have to face up with the rest of the crew.

A car came to a screeching halt on the street on the opposite side of the alley.

“Ghost!” Marco yelled.

I didn’t want to acknowledge that name, it was like a curse on me.

“C’mon!”

I stood up and ran to the waiting car. I saw Marco was standing tall on the driver’s side, which I thought was peculiar since his legs were shot less than twenty-four before.

We jumped into the car and took off.

“How was Juliette?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to stay with her, but she told me to run. I should have stayed with her.

Marco nodded as he turned onto a side street.

“What’s going on, Marco?”

“I…I have a few confessions to make.”

“Yeah, you do,” I replied as I punch on the arm.

“I deserved that,” Marco replied as he tried to smile his way through everything. Something that I would have melted under, but at that moment I wanted to smash his teeth in.

“Just let me out. I don’t want to deal with this right now.”

“Allie, please just stay in the car.”

“Are you ready to tell me just what the hell is going on?”

Marco pulled the handbrake, and the car stopped with a screech. “I promised not to say anything until I told to.”

“And since when did you listen to what anyone told you to do? I was infuriated and wanted to get out.

“Just come back to the starting line, we need to handle Syndicate rules.”

“Don’t. Don’t. You handle the laws and rules. I’m going to see Jules.”

“You don’t know where they took her, and no matter was to happen tonight she wanted you back at the finish line and to give you this.”

Marco fished a letter out of his pocket and handed it to me.

Nothing made sense to me at that moment. I was aggravated and angry at the situation and just wanted to scream. I just nodded as Marco accelerated.

We drove near the Demon driver wreck, with flames still burning from both cars, and finally back to the start of the race, which was now empty except for Jessie.

“What happened?” Marco asked as Jessie jumped into the back seat.

“Don’t know, everyone else just scattered, man.”

Marco nodded and we accelerated into the night.

I read the letter in between the light posts as we drove.

“Dear Allie, I loved the life you talked about, Allie!. I wanted to be a part of it, but I was too scared to talk to you, in fear you’d try to keep me safe. I joined the Vipers, and I knew that one day I would get to race you, but I had to work it in so you would never know.”

My heart shattered at the revelation.

“It’s madness, I know, but I wanted to be brave like you. I wanted to feel alive, and nothing was going to stop me from doing that. My plan had several holes…so many parts like an engine that could fly into pieces at any moment. I was so afraid you’d leave me behind and I wanted to share the nights with you. It will happen again. Look for me, I’ll be the one gaining up you in your rearview mirror. We’ll race again, my love, signed, Juliette, Flame.”

Author’s note: Using AI (in this case, Novel.ai) to write a story is not something I would recommend to any author, starting or a veteran. Granted, the ease of typing of characters and summaries of a chapter to let the program write a story does work. I was a bit amazed on how the system came very close to how I wanted the story to go…except for chapter six.
If you use AI, be warned your voice is lost in the output. Yes, it could probably be published as is but a lot of the heart is lost.

The Duel Remix