Page 71 of If You Fight

“I haven’t found too many who can do it so far,” I joked, hoping our conversation would end so I didn’t have to sit there and dissect every word he said in an attempt to figure out if he knew what I was up to or not.

He let out a hearty laugh and threw his head back. “You’re still one cocky son of a bitch, aren’t you, son? Still that same kid I met that day who’d never been beaten, even though you’ve had your fair share of losses since then. I can appreciate someone who believes in himself. You remind me a lot of me at your age.”

Sure I had no idea what he meant by that, I smiled and nodded while I wished he’d get bored talking to me and turn to that laptop of his. He didn’t, though, and changed the subject abruptly.

“How is Serena? I haven’t seen her around the house in weeks. Where has she been hiding?”

His sly expression told me he knew exactly where she was, so why ask?

“She’s been worried about me, mostly. You saw her that night. My fighting makes her miserable because she’s convinced I’m going to get hurt.”

“I guess she doesn’t share your cockiness?” he asked, raising one eyebrow to punctuate his question.

“Not really. She’s not a fan of the fighting or anything that she thinks puts me in danger.”

I didn’t have to say it, but that included virtually everything I’d ever had to do for him. Working for Robert had put my life in danger from the day I met him in one way or another. The only difference now was I controlled what happened to me in fights.

“So all she’s been doing is staying in that apartment of yours and worrying? That doesn’t sound like my daughter.”

Suddenly, I began to worry this meeting had nothing to do with what I was doing behind his back but what Serena was doing to find her mother. If he even suspected she’d hired someone to locate her, he’d go to whatever lengths necessary to stop her.

Even if that meant harming her mother.

I couldn’t let that happen. Finally seeing her mother again meant too much to Serena.

“Well, she did mention something about finishing her degree,” I lied, hoping to force his focus to a topic I knew he’d have something to say about.

True to form, he frowned and shook his head. “That again? I swear that girl doesn’t understand how life works. You need to convince her to forget that nonsense. I’m sure you can do that, can’t you?”

I struggled to keep the look of disgust from my face. I didn’t share Robert’s dislike for Serena educating herself. All I wanted was for her to be happy. If that meant getting her degree, then I wanted that too for her.

Not that any of this was true since in just a few months we’d have a baby and school would probably have to take a backseat, at least for a little while. We couldn’t let Robert know about the pregnancy, though.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I answered with all the enthusiasm I could muster for promising to discourage the woman I loved from doing what she’d always wanted to do.

Clearly happy with my answer or finally bored with our discussion, Robert opened up his laptop and began reading something as he said, “Good. I look forward to seeing that cockiness in your next fight. And tell Floyd I’ll be watching to see if all he’s been doing with you is too much.”

I stood up and got the hell out of there before he decided he wanted to talk about anything else. As usual, our meeting had been like walking on eggshells, but that’s how Robert liked dealing with people. He liked to think he was keeping us on our toes.

The truth was that’s how tyrants acted, and he was nothing if not a tyrant.

Serena met meat the door, practically jumping for joy as she wrapped her arms around my neck to hug me. “I can’t believe it! It’s finally going to happen!”

I held her to me and asked, “What? What’s happening?”

She let go of me and kissed me like she hadn’t seen me in weeks. “He found her! He found her, Ryder, and I’m finally going to get to see her again.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she told me about the private detective finally locating her mother, and for the first time, she called her by name. Alita.

“I just got off the phone with him. He said he finally found her just a few miles away in a house she’s been living in for years. After all this time, I’m going to get to meet my mother again. I tried calling Janelle to tell her, but she and Charles are off on another vacation. I’ll just tell her when she gets back.”

Serena kissed me again and twirled around, ecstatic about the news the detective had just given her. My distrust of her sister kept my happiness at bay, though.

As she whirled around, I stopped her. Holding her by the shoulders, I looked into her eyes and said, “Maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to tell Janelle. That’s pretty much a surefire way of letting your father know.”

The smile slid from her face, and she nodded, accepting the reality of what would happen if her sister found out where her mother lived. “I guess you’re right. She’s never been really eager to see her anyway.”

“It’s still great news,” I said, hating that I’d had to bring her back down to earth with that warning.

With a hopefulness in her eyes that never failed to make my heart swell with happiness, she said, “It is, isn’t it? I can’t wait to see her again. I just hope she’s as happy to see me as I am to see her.”

I cupped her cheek and kissed her softly. “Of course she will be. I’m sure she’s wanted to see you every day since she went away.”

Leaning into my palm, Serena smiled. “And in just a little while, she’s going to have a grandchild, so this is perfect timing. I knew if I believed it would happen someday.”

Nothing made me happier than seeing her excited about finally getting to know her mother. With the fight coming up that would give us enough money to leave and now this, it felt like everything was finally coming together for us. We’d had to wait longer than either of us had wanted, but at long last, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel that signaled a life after this place.

A life away from Robert Erickson and all the ugliness of his world.

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