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But I’d long ago learned to never underestimate a woman and what she was capable of…And Lyla proved why.

The fight had been close. As I’d anticipated, Lyla was slippery, methodological in not only her movements, but also her maneuvers. Her fighting style. She was quick, slick, and packed one hell of a punch.

In the end, using nothing but brute force, Nikolai had managed to take Lyla by surprise and win.

Drea and Tatiana were next. If anything, their match had been even more brutal. It had been another close call, both competitors fighting hard. Drea ended up being a little quicker and subdued Tatiana with a rear naked choke.

And then there was Illayana and Autumn’s match.

I didn’t like to see my wife in pain, but fuck, she was amazing to watch. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The way she moved, the way she fought, the way she didn’t shy away or back down. She was spectacular against Autumn. Absolutely riveting.

Illayana had a foot or so on Autumn, and used her longer reach to her advantage, striking out against her opponent while also managing to stay well out of her grasp. A lot of the moves I’d seen Autumn implement were familiar to me. I expected as much considering we had trained under the same instructor, Elias Huber. I’d explained a few of those moves and which tells to look out for to Illayana before the match began. It had worked incredibly well in Illayana’s favor.

Autumn tried to do a maneuver, and my beautiful wife had anticipated it. A combination of strikes; two quick jabs to the face and liver, followed by a swift roundhouse kick. Illayana blocked the two jabs and then ducked the kick, hitting back with an impressive-as-fuck uppercut that hit Autumn square in the chin.

Illayana immediately capitalized on Autumn’s vulnerable position, pouncing on her to get her into an iron-clad ankle lock. Autumn held out for a remarkable amount of time, but in the end, had to tap or risk damage to her ankle.

And now, it was my turn, and I couldn’t fucking wait to beat Lukyan to a fucking pulp…

Mainly for calling me Arty all the time.

The little shit.

Illayana continued to massage my shoulders from behind. “Don’t forget. He’ll probably pull some sneaky shit. He loves to catch people off guard with sneaky shit.”

“I remember.” The memory of that fool tickling my foot in our last spar flashed through my mind. It had been such an unexpected move it actually bordered on genius.

Not that I would ever tell him that. He didn’t need the ego boost.

“And ignore his taunts. That fucker will taunt you six ways from Sunday if he thinks it will give him the upper hand. And don’t let him⁠—”

I chuckled, shaking my head as Illayana continued to list a dozen more things she thought might be useful for me to know in my fight against Lukyan.

“If you beat him, baby, we’ll be in third, and we’ll have a real shot at winning,” she said eagerly.

I cracked my neck. “Don’t worry, kotenok. He won’t win.”

Of that, I was sure.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lukyan Volkov

“You got this, baby!” Lyla cheered as I put my hands up, staring Arturo down as he stood opposite me.

The rest of the family were on the sidelines with Lyla, money already out, bets no doubt being made. I couldn’t help but wonder who they were betting on to win. Arty might have a few years on me, might have been a little bigger than me, but I was squirrellier. Sneakier.

I got him last time, and I would get him again.

“Okay, you two,” Mikhail began, “I want a nice, clean match. No bullshit and no cheating. I’m looking at you, Lukyan.”

“What?” I shrugged innocently. “How would you even cheat in a sparring match anyway?”

“I’m sure if anyone could do it, it would be you,” Arty drawled.

“Ha. Fair point.” I laughed.

I did what I needed to do to win. So what?