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“You have to go after them.” Mia whirled to me and gripped a handful of my shirt. “They’ll kill her. They’ll kill him.”
“I’m not leaving you.” But I stared after where they’d gone, torn in two. I couldn’t let Slater face them alone, not when he’d been at Mia’s side. At mine, throughout everything. He was my best friend, the closest thing I had to a brother.
She shook me, her face frantic. The blood dripping off her chin only made her look more determined. “You have to go. I have Kizzy.”
“You have more than that,” Giovanni said, lifting the rope to step into the ring.
She forgot all about me and rushed to his side. “Where’s Carly?”
“She’s protected,” he soothed. “I needed to be here.”
“Round three is about to begin,” the ref called, evidently realizing Mia wasn’t anywhere close to ready.
“Where is she?” Mia yelled, slammed her wrapped fist against Gio’s chest. “You promised you’d keep her safe. Where is she?”
“She’s here with a woman who won’t allow anything to happen to her. Trust me.” He glanced at me. “I saw them heading downstairs. There’s a tunnel that connects this building to the warehouse next door. That’s where they were headed. Go. Now.”
My gaze connected with Mia’s and the panic and fear I saw there nearly made me stay. She was my world, and I couldn’t put her in anyone else’s hands but Slater’s. But Slater needed me too.
Slater, my friend who hated violence with every fiber of his being, was unarmed and alone with two guys with guns. I didn’t have time to waste.
A hip bumped into mine. “I’ve got her,” Kizzy said, voice low, expression fierce.
Nodding, I brushed a kiss over Mia’s forehead and lifted the rope to climb through. I shot one last look at Giovanni. That single glance served as a reminder about what I was entrusting to him. And what the cost would be if he let me down. Let us down.
I would end him.
19
Mia
One more round. Finish it.
&n
bsp; Kizzy slapped my ass before the bell rang, and Gio loomed over my shoulder. “You can do this,” she yelled in my ear.
I nodded and faced Evie, who seemed more annoyed by the delay than exultant in her certain win. Not that I intended to let her win. I couldn’t. I’d told them I wouldn’t fold. That I couldn’t be bought. I didn’t know if Evie could be, or if she was a pawn in their game like Olivia clearly had been. But none of that had any bearing here.
My sister was waiting for me on the other side of this, and the sooner I put this away, the sooner I’d be able to make sure she was okay. I’d never let her out of my sight again.
That scar on Evie’s jaw seemed to shimmer in the harsh overhead lights. All I had to do was aim there, and kept punching. Ethics didn’t matter right now. She was probably bought and paid for. If I broke her head open again, it was no worse than she’d gladly do to me—and had tried to do with that armbar.
My fucking armbar.
I charged toward Evie, fist extended, and she grabbed me, whirling me around so fast that I didn’t have time to counter.
Too slow. Too damn slow.
Before I knew what was happening, she’d backed me into the ropes. Her fists pressed down against the sides of my neck, turning my head in an awkward position. My breaths shortened, the angle cutting off my air. Even with my depleted oxygen, I started trying to fight the choke hold the way I’d been taught. Opposite shoulder, out. I got my good arm up on her shoulder and slammed it against the side of her face. Somehow I started to gain the leverage needed to get myself out of the chokehold.
Only a few more seconds. You can do it.
Just as I was lifting my leg between hers, intending to open her guard enough to free myself, she twisted my numbed arm. And it wasn’t numb anymore. Far from it.
Dully, I heard something snap, and realized it belonged to me.
The pain was unspeakable. Horrifying. But even as I tried to breathe through it, to center my mind as years of training and teaching in the martial arts had taught me, spots were forming in front of my vision. I couldn’t see the crowd anymore. Inkblots were forming over their faces, spreading out to encompass everything. There was nothing but black, and falling, falling, falling.
