170 Chapter 170

Seraphina’s POV

The roar of the crowd hit me like a physical wave before I even stepped through the curtain.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I clenched them into fists, tried to steady my breathing, tried to remember everything Rico had drilled into me over the past three weeks.

*Keep your guard up. Move your feet. Don’t let him corner you.*

“You ready?” Rico appeared beside me, his face all hard angles in the harsh backstage lighting.

“No.” My voice came out smaller than I wanted.

“Good. Nerves keep you sharp.” He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Listen to me. Kade–that’s your opponent tonight- he’s big. He’s strong. He’s going to try to intimidate you.”

“He already is intimidating me,” I admitted.

“But he’s slow. And he underestimates women.” Rico’s grip tightened. “Use that. Be faster. Be smarter. And for God’s sake, don’t let him

pin you against the ropes.”

The announcer’s voice boomed through the warehouse: “Ladies and gentlemen! Our next fight features a newcomer to the circuit!”

This was it. This was really happening.

“You got this,” Rico said, but his eyes said something different. Something that looked uncomfortably like doubt. 1

I stepped through the curtain.

The noise tripled instantly. But it wasn’t cheering. It was laughing. Jeering. The kind of cruel mockery that made my skin crawl.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” someone shouted from the crowd.

“She looks like she weighs ninety pounds!”

“This is gonna be a massacre!”

“I’ll take bets on which bone he breaks first!”

My legs felt like jelly as I climbed the steps. The canvas was stained with old blood. Some of it might be mine soon.

The overhead lights were blinding, making the crowd beyond them look like shadows. Faceless. Hungry. Waiting for me to fail.

blue corner,” the announcer bellowed, “making her debut

erupted in boos and catcalls so loud

“Go home, little girl!”

call child

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says she doesn’t last

it twenty! She won’t last

My hands trembled as I gripped the ropes. The rough material bit into my palms. This was a mistake. This

huge, terrible mistake.

opened,

Oh God.

He was a monster.

like a mountain. Dark skin stretched over muscles that looked carved from stone. His shaved head

his shoulders were so broad they

absolutely insane. Cheering. Whistling. Chanting his name like he

“KADE! KADE! KADE!”

my chest, through my bones. Dozens of voices merged into one deafening roar of

into the ring with the easy confidence of a predator entering familiar hunting grounds. Someone who

would end..

as he moved past me to his corner. His voice was

made it worse.

laughed. Someone threw a beer can that clattered across the

center of the ring. Up close, Kade was even more terrifying. His fists looked like

gloves,” the referee

fist met mine with enough force to make my entire arm go numb. His

softly. Just for me to

corners. Rico was climbing

taught you,” he said, fitting my mouthguard. His hands were steady, but I could

back up. No matter

nodded, not trusting my

The bell rang.

cut through the air like

came at me like a freight

hands up in time. His first punch caught my forearms with enough force to

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170 Chapter 170

his second punch–slammed into my ribs

next swing and circled away, my feet remembering the footwork Flint

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