Page 80 of If You Fight

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ryder

Slowly, the terrible events of that night filtered through my brain until the truth finally sunk in. For the first time in all the years I’d spent in underground fights, I’d become the beast all those people cheered for.

A fucking animal who beat someone mercilessly.

Not someone I’d been ordered to take care of. Not in defense of my life. Not to protect the woman I loved.

Not for any honorable reason at all. I’d done it for a few thousand dollars, and I didn’t even have to. He’d given the sign, but I’d ignored it.

I hung my head and tried to imagine how I could have done such a horrible thing. I’d just wanted to win that money to get Serena away so we could live our happily ever after with our baby in that little house she dreamed of.

How could things have gone so wrong when all my intentions were good?

The sound of voices filtered in from where it happened, and I braced for the police to come in and take me away. Away from Serena and away from our child. Away to jail where I’d spend the next few decades wishing things had been different.

And what would Serena do? I pictured her standing in front of her father as he introduced her to the next man he’d give her to. She’d beg him to reconsider, or maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe this mistake would finally break her spirit, and she’d give in to what he wanted for her life. She’d become the wife of whoever he chose and my child would become their child.

All the while I’d rot away in a six by eight cell and know I’d ruined the one chance for all of us to be happy and free.

I heard footsteps and squeezed my eyes closed in one last desperate attempt to push the reality of the night away. The hollow sound stopped just inside the room, but the person said nothing. I felt their stare on me. I imagined it to look as full of judgment and condemnation as it should.

“If I’m not mistaken, the first time we met we were both in basically the same positions as we are now. You sitting in some shithole and me able to give you a life you’d only dreamed of. Does that sound about right, Ryder?”

Robert’s anger resonated off every word so by the time he said my name, it came out from between gritted teeth. In my misery, I hadn’t imagined what I’d say to him when I finally saw him that night. Now that I knew just how furious he was, I still didn’t know what to say.

I looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

“And did I give you everything I promised I would?” he asked, his tone still laced with rage.

Hanging my head, I answered him. “Yeah, you did.”

“When you broke my rules, I showed you what the punishment for that had to be, didn’t I?”

The memory of that night he sent Serena away flashed through my mind, followed by the memory of getting beaten in my match two days later and ending up in the hospital. Robert never made a secret of his unhappiness.

And he wouldn’t this time. Of that, I was sure. Just what he’d do to me before they took me away, I had no idea, but knowing him, it would be cruel and stay with me forever.

“Didn’t I, Ryder?” he repeated, even more sternly than the first time.

I looked up into those dark eyes of his that showed nothing of the emotion I knew existed in him and nodded again. “You did.”

“And when you betrayed me and followed Serena’s wishes over mine, I once again showed you the consequences of your actions.”

“Yes.”

“Does it seem to you that our entire time together has been one long lesson you don’t seem to want to learn, son?” Robert asked as he moved to stand in front of me.

I tilted my head back to look up at him and blew the air out of my lungs slowly. I’d never thought about it like that, but he wasn’t wrong. Whatever he had tried to teach me after all this time, I still hadn’t learned it.

“I guess it does.”

“So now I find out from our mutual friend Floyd, who will suffer his own consequences to be sure, that you’ve been fighting behind my back and got yourself into a situation out here in wherever the hell this place is.”

I hated the thought of Floyd suffering because of my mistake. Practically pleading with Robert, I said, “This isn’t his fault. Don’t make him pay for what I did. I came to him and asked him to help me. I basically didn’t give him a choice.”

Robert’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead. “I’m intrigued. Have you taken to threatening poor Floyd to get what you want, Ryder?”

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