Page 48 of Override

The first thing Ronan changed after the fundraiser was my breakfast.

The second was my schedule.

By the following Monday, a personal trainer started arriving at the estate three mornings a week at eight sharp.

“Just until you’re feeling more like yourself again,” Ronan had said while knotting his tie in the mirror behind me.

Like myself.

The irony almost made me laugh.

Now I stand barefoot on the black gym mats in the estate’s private fitness room with sweat cooling slowly down my spine while Sandra watches me reset my stance across from her.

“You’ve done this before,” she says carefully.

Not accusatory. Confused.

I flex my fingers once before lifting my gloves again. “A little.”

That’s technically true.

If “a little” means: Cormac O’Donnell deciding at twelve years old that his daughter should know how to break a man’s nose before she ever learned how to flirt.

My father believed women in our world should know how to protect themselves.

Not because he expected violence.

Because power respected preparedness.

“Again,” Sandra says.

I move automatically this time.

Step. Pivot. Strike.

The heavy bag swings hard enough the chains above it rattle sharply through the room.

Sandra blinks.

Interesting reaction considering this is the fourth session we’ve had together.

“You’re holding back,” she says.

I lower my gloves slowly. “I’m trying not to break the equipment.”

That finally earns a laugh from her. Real one too. Not the polite professional versions she usually gives me.

Sandra’s probably mid-thirties. Blonde ponytail. Former athlete shoulders. The kind of woman who looks like she genuinely enjoys intimidating men at gyms for fun.

And for the past two weeks, she’s been increasingly unable to figure me out.

I can tell. Because nothing about this arrangement makes sense. Not to her. Not really.

She was clearly expecting: spoiled mafia wife wants to get skinny.

Instead she got: a woman who can deadlift almost as much as the trainer and throw a punch correctly on instinct.

Which unfortunately raises questions.