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What the fuck is going on?
Recruits weren’t allowed to move from their spots unless it was for a bathroom break, but after Rhett disappearing and what I’d just witnessed with Phantom, Isaac, and the familiar stranger, I couldn’t just fucking stand there and pretend like I was a fly on the wall. Something was obviously wrong.
And whatever it was, I was going to find out.
It took me a while to push through the crowd. By the time I made it out, my personal space was apprehended by the root of my deepest sorrows. My body angrily shook as he observed me with a heavy frown on his face.
“Change of plans,” he said with a rough sigh, refusing to stare into my raging blue eyes. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but it seems your opponent has committed suicide in the locker room.”
I was so transfixed on his face—the face of a complete and utter stranger—and how much I wanted to cut his investment ear to ear, that I almost didn’t hear him.
“You will still fight,” he continued, his cowardly ass still powerless to look at me.What a fucking pussy.“However, it will not be a recruit. One of our own has volunteered to take the fallen recruit’s place.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I asked incredulously.
“The boys are handling the problem as we speak. Given your condition, you will go last tonight.”
Xavier approached me then, and in a blink, was cradling my face.
My body stiffened at his touch, shaking harder. I wanted to hit him,kill him,but reluctantly, I was frozen, forbidden from executing the crimes my brain desperately screamed for me to enact.
“I owe you an explanation.We will talk tonight, after the trials.” My breath shuddered harder as he leaned in closer, his mouth pausing my ear. “Go for the knees. Guard your face and don’t let her get behind you—”
“I don’t need your advice,” I growled, jerking back and knocking his hands away from my face with my forearm. “I don’t want or need anything from you.”
Xavier nodded to that, hesitating a moment before finally, he backed away from me. “Good luck,principessa. Ti voglio bene.”
Fuck you too, Dad.
I spun on my and breathed in deep, trying to compose myself.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry,my inner voice whispered to me, making me pant harder and struggle not to wipe away the evidence trying to blur up my vision.
No.
I was not going to let him do this to me.
It took me a minute, but finally I managed to get it together and squeeze my way through the crowd until I was back standing ringside with my fellow female recruits, well, what was left of them. When I focused back on the ring, Kinsley had Janice on the ground, secured in a headlock. I forcibly cheered her on until Janice’s eyes fluttered shut and her dead weight sagged onto the floor.
Threedingsfrom a bell powerfully sailed through the air, summoning Sharkey back inside the ring and over to Kinsley, pulling her to her feet. The building erupted in deafening jubilation when he grabbed ahold of Kinsley’s wrist and slung her arm up high, signaling the match was over.
“May I have your attention, please,” his deep voice boomed out through the microphone, making silence engulf through the building in just mere seconds. Kinsley exited the ring and then ran directly over to me, smiling big as she wrapped her arms around me. I willingly hugged her back and whispered how proud I was in her ear. The same two Ravagers from earlier slid inside the ring yet again to help haul Janice out.
Sharkey cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to announce that there has been a bit of a…hiccup with tonight’s lineup. One of our recruits is no longer eligible to compete.”
“What?”Kinsley gushed out, glancing my way. “What happened?”
“One of the girls killed themselves in the locker room,” I whispered, leaning closer to her. “I’m not sure who it is or what—”
“With that being said,” Sharkey continued before I had time to finish, his mouth spreading wide in a wicked grin when his eyes unmistakably landed on me. Kinsley bristled beside me, having noticed it too. “It brings me great pleasure to introduce our replacement fighter for tonight’s epic finale.”
A discomforting shiver raced down my spine when Sharkey shot me a mischievous wink. Then my lips parted wide, a gasp fleeing me, as I watched the same woman who was talking to Phantom and Isaac enter the ring and stand alongside Sharkey, her eyes pinpointed and harshly narrowed on one person and one alone.
Me.
“Sa-Samara,” Kinsley shakily whispered. “Wh-what’s going on?”
I didn’t mean to ignore Kinsley, but now that I had a full view of this woman’s face and had taken a good, thorough look at her, the answer practically slapped me across the face.
