170 Chapter 170 <fn9b19> Discover more novels at find·novel</fn9b19>
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 neer to the circuit!”
This was it. This was really happening.
“You got this,” Rico said, but his eyes said something different. Something that looked ufortably like doubt. 1
I stepped through the curtain.
The noise tripled instantly. But it wasn’t cheering. It wasughing. 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 ny 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.
“In the blue corner,” the announcer bellowed, “making her debut tonight–SERA!”
The crowd erupted in boos and catcalls so loud it felt like the walls might copse.
“Go home, little girl!”
“Someone call child protective services!”
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“I got fifty bucks says she doesn’tst thirty seconds!”
“Make it twenty! She won’tst fifteen!”
Heat flooded my face. My hands trembled as I gripped the ropes. The rough material bit into my palms. This was a mistake. This was all a
huge, terrible mistake.
Then the opposite door opened, and Kade stepped out.
Oh God.
He was a monster.
Not just tall, but built like a mountain. Dark skin stretched over muscles that looked carved from stone. His shaved head reflected the
overhead lights like polished obsidian, and his shoulders were so broad they barely fit through the doorway.
The crowd went absolutely insane. Cheering. Whistling. Chanting his name like he was some kind of god.
“KADE! KADE! KADE!”
The sound vibrated through my chest, through my bones. Dozens of voices merged into one deafening roar of bloodlust.
He climbed into the ring with the easy confidence of a predator entering familiar hunting grounds. Someone who knew exactly how this
would end..
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he said as he moved past me to his corner. His voice was deep, amused, with a Southern drawl that somehow
made it worse.
The crowdughed. Someone threw a beer can that ttered across the floor outside the ring.
The referee called us to the center of the ring. Up close, Kade was even more terrifying. His fists looked like sledgehammers.
“Touch gloves,” the referee ordered.
Kade’s fist met mine with enough force to make my entire arm go numb. His grin widened, showing perfect white teeth.
“Gonna enjoy this,” he said softly. Just for me to hear.
We returned to our corners. Rico was climbing through the ropes, his face grim.
“Remember what I taught you,” he said, fitting my mouthguard. His hands were steady, but I could see the tension in his jaw. “If you get
knocked down–get back up. No matter what. You hear me?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
The bell rang.
The sound cut through the air like a gunshot.
Kade came at me like a freight train.
I barely got my hands up in time. His first punch caught my forearms with enough force to send shockwaves up to my shoulders. The
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impact rattled my teeth. His second punch–Jesus Christ, his second punch–mmed into my ribs like a baseball bat.
I ducked under his next swing and circled away, my feet remembering the footwork Flint had drilled into me until I could do it in my
sleep. Light. Quick. Don’t be where he expects you to be.
But Kade was faster than I’d anticipated. Way faster. He cut off my escape route like he’d read my mind, driving me backward toward the
ropes with a series of jabs that whistled past my face.
“Nowhere to run, little girl,” he said.
His fist caught me in the jaw.
The world exploded into stars and pain. The taste of copper flooded my mouth–hot, metallic, wrong. Blood. My blood.
The crowd roared with savage approval.
“FINISH HER!”
“TEAR HER APART!”
“THIS IS WHAT SHE GETS FOR THINKING SHE COULD FIGHT A MAN!”
I raised my guard, trying to protect my face. Trying to think through the ringing in my ears. His next punch drove into my stomach so
hard I thought my spine might snap. Then another to my ribs–the same ribs he’d already hit. Another to my shoulder that sent
electricity shooting down my arm.
Each hit felt like being struck by a car.
I threw a desperate punch at his face. He blocked it with contemptuous ease and countered with an uppercut that lifted mepletely
off my feet.
My vision went pure white.
When it cleared, I was on the canvas. The rough material scraped against my cheek. The referee was counting, his voice distorted like he
was underwater.
“…three…four…five…”
“…six…seven…”
I staggered to my feet at eight.
The referee grabbed my face, checking my eyes. “You good to continue?”
I nodded, even though I could barely see straight. Even though my legs felt like they might copse any second.
“Fight!”
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