Page 17 of 4 Corinthians

“That’s up to you,” he said with a shrug. “My pet has been practicing. Her skills have improved, and I need to see how far she has come.” He smiled at her, a smile that he never gave to anyone else, and only when he spoke of Corinthians. “Your brother-“

“Kenbral is fighting her?” I asked quickly. Now I was confused. If Kenbral were fighting, why would it determine how long I would be here?

“No,” he tsked. “He lost to her already, so I need a better fighter. Kenbral is too weak.” He turned back to look at me and shook his head. “You have had six months to prepare for this. I have to see what I’ve taught her, and you are the perfect person to fight.”

“Bets are closed!” Logan yelled. He pushed off the wall and stepped around Corinthians. Traced his hand down her arm, then walked to the center of the ring. “As you know, this is a TKO match against our two favorite fighters.” He pointed to me, then Corinthians. “So, it should be interesting.”

Robert pushed me to the ring, and I ducked between the ropes to step inside. The crowd was quiet, which was unlike the warehouse, where it was so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think.

Corinthians stood on her side; her face was blank, and her eyes were dark. She had grown since the last time I saw her, but she was still small. Her arms and hands were covered in bruises and cuts. I turned and glared at Robert, who was now sitting at the side of the ring. He nodded, then pointed at Corinthians.

The buzzer sounded, and I turned to see her get into a fighting stance. She looked over at her daddy, who was talking to Jonathan Franklin. When she realized who he was talking to, her shoulders dropped, and she bit her bottom lip.

“Fight!” Logan demanded and hit the wall.

Corinthians pulled out of her thoughts and turned to look at me. That’s when I noticed how sad her eyes were. She blinked, and just like that, the pain was gone, and now she looked angry. She took a deep breath, then started moving towards me. She threw a few test punches that I blocked, then stepped back. Her feet never stopped moving, and neither did her eyes. She was trying to find a weak spot. Somewhere that would make me fold, but I didn’t have any. After a few more tester hits, she went for it. Her first few punches landed, and I just stared down at her. I couldn’t make myself hit her, no matter what Robert threatened; I couldn’t make myself move. She was just a little girl, someone thrown into a life that was never meant for her.

“Fight back, Uri,” Robert said.

Corinthians swung and hit me in the face. The only reason I knew my nose was bleeding was that I tasted blood when I licked my lips. Corinthians tilted her head to the side like she was confused, then stepped back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Robert stood up. He dug into his pocket, then threw a knife into the ring. Corinthians looked at it, then at me. She crossed the ring, picked it up, and flipped it through her fingers.

“Pet,” Robert called out to her. Corinthians continued to flip the knife through her fingers as she watched me. “Cut him open like I taught you.” She gave a subtle nod, then moved towards me again. My heart slammed against my chest as I watched her move. I reached for the knife, and she moved it to her other hand and stabbed me in the side.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she pulled it from my body. Blood splattered the floor, and she quickly moved to the other side of me and kicked my legs from under me. I wasn’t surprised that she knew what to do, especially if Robert trained her. I hit the mat, and she climbed on top of me. Her knife went from her right hand back to her left, and she put it to my throat. “Tap out.”

“He will kill me if I do,” I told her, staring her in the eyes. “I can’t.”

“Then fight back,” she demanded. She hit me in the face, making my head bounce off the mat. “Fight back!” She grabbed a handful of my hair, lifted my head from the mat, only to slam it down. She did that four or five times, and I started to see spots. Corinthians got up and rolled to my side, then she kicked me in my ribs. Blood poured from my side where she stabbed me. I coughed and noticed blood on the mat, too.

“Finish this, Pet,” Robert said. I looked over to see him standing. “I’ve seen enough.”

Corinthians climbed on my back, wrapped her arms around my neck, and started to squeeze. I hated being choked and felt myself starting to see red and get angry. “Let go!” I yelled as I pulled at her arms. “Let me go!” The harder I pulled at her arms, the tighter she held on, which only made me angrier. Finally, my control snapped, and I stood up with her still on my back, bent my legs, and then fell. I made sure to move backward so that when I landed, I would hit my knees. When we hit the mat, I heard her whimper in pain. She let me go, and I got up, stared down at her, and laughed even though there was nothing funny. I grabbed the front of her shirt, picked her up, and slammed her back onto the mat. I couldn’t stop myself, no matter how hard I told myself what I was doing was wrong; I couldn’t stop. I kicked, punched, and threw her around the ring until Logan pulled me off her, and then I fought him.

“Uri!” Robert yelled as I kept swinging at his brother. I hit Logan for every time Robert hit me, and he did nothing. For every time he stood in the room and laughed as I suffered. I hit him for each nasty thought he had spoken to Kenbral or me. I hit him for Kenbral. I hit him for the times I heard his wife scream out in pain behind closed doors. For every kid who went into their office and never came back out the same. I hit until I couldn’t breathe, until my head started to spin and my sight blurred, and even then, I didn’t stop. I didn’t stop until I hit the mat, and when I did, I looked over to see Corinthians, black, blue, and bloody. My heart broke because I’d done that to her, too. I put my hand out to reach for her, but couldn’t touch her before someone grabbed my leg and dragged me away.

**

“Wake up,” I heard my brother say. “Wake up!”

I opened my eyes to see that I was still in my cage. It had been days since my fight with Corinthians. After the doctor saw me, I was brought here and left alone in the dark. The only thing I wanted to do was sleep, so that’s what I did. When I opened my eyes, there would be a tray of food on the floor with a cup of water. I had enough strength to eat and go back to sleep.

I looked around; the sun was coming through the small holes in the boards covering the windows, but there were no lights on.

“You have to wake up.”

“I’m awake,” I groaned as I rolled over.

“You have to help me,” Kenbral said. I looked over to see him holding Corinthian's shoulder. “Uri, you have to help!”

“What happened to her?” I finally asked, getting up. The room started spinning, and I held on to the gate until it stopped. “Kenbral, what happened?”

“We had to fight,” he answered. I stepped closer to him, and that’s when I saw his cuts and bruises. “I threw her against the ropes, and that’s when I heard it pop. She kept fighting, though.”

“Is she awake?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“They threw her in here and left,” he answered. “I’ve been trying to get you to wake up so you could do it.” He nodded at the small opening in the gates. “Push that up and climb under.” I did what he said and quickly got to them. “She’s been out of it for a while, but I know when you pop it back into place, she’s going to wake up.”