Page 63 of All the Dangerous Things

“You know we’ll keep you safe, even if we failed you the last time.”

They meant every word, but they didn’t understand. I wasn’t that fragile little girl anymore who they wanted to protect. I couldn’t be.

I pulled myself back into the present. I needed this. God, I needed this like a healing balm on an open wound.

“If at any time you want to go, you just say the word. Got it?”

I nodded. “Got it.”

Before long, we were traveling through a shady-looking area, the houses appearing as if they hadn’t been lived in or tended to in decades.

The neighborhood opened up to a more industrial area with the river our city was built around running parallel to the road we were on. And before I knew it, Nikolai was turning off onto a side road and then pulling into a massive, graveled lot I recognized.

With the dirty-looking river beside Butcher and Son containing the cement piles of a bridge that had long ago burned down and had never been rebuilt, the entire area resembled a cemetery at this point, tombstones and all.

We stayed in the car for several minutes, none of us speaking. Finally, Dmitry’s car pulled up besideus. We all climbed out, and I stared up at the building, me in the center of the group with Claudia to my right and Dmitry caging her in and Amara to my left with Nikolai taking up the end.

I was also very aware of the men who were stationed around the dilapidated building. Extra men my brothers ordered to come here to make sure there was additional security, since the three most important females in their lives would be present for the fights tonight.

“Anyone see or hear from Gio?” Amara was the one to ask, and Nikolai answered right away.

“He’ll join us later.”

I’d seen him already this morning—something no one in my party knew. He’d woken me the way he always did, with his mouth between my legs.

I tipped my head back and saw faded writing above the large bay doors I hadn’t noticed last time, but I couldn’t read it clearly, as it was too aged and sun-washed.

We were led toward a steel door at the back of the warehouse. It opened before we even got to it, and a huge man stepped to the side. He averted his eyes when Dmitry approached, murmured something in Russian, which my brother grunted inresponse to. He stepped farther aside, and all of us went inside.

Instantly, the scent of old and wet filled my nostrils, and I crinkled my nose before placing my hand over it. Even though I’d come to an underground fight before, I knew I’d never get used to this scent.

There was the very clear and distinct stench of aged blood from too many bodies finding their last resting place before they were buried or disposed of.

Amara shivered next to me, and Nikolai murmured something only she could hear.

A few moments later, we stopped in front of another door, which opened, the loud squeak of metal grating against metal filling my ears.

We were greeted with a staircase that descended, which was similar to the one I experienced when I arrived at my first and only fight. A chill went up my spine.

And although being here was a huge trigger for my trauma, knowing my brothers and Gio were here and that I felt stronger than I ever had before made the entire situation tolerable.

The feeling of guards watching us was tangible. We couldn't see them, but we knew they’d be there if shit went down.

The deeper we went, the louder the noise became. When we reached the bottom and turned the corner, we followed a long underground corridor, and I sensed we were moving away from the basement where the last fight I saw was. And after a few tense minutes of our steps echoing off the empty hall’s walls, it was so silent. One more door was opened for us, and the sudden loud noise of shouting and cheering let me know it had been that eerily quiet because the room was soundproof.

Stepping through, I saw the massive underground fighting circuit. This was a different location, which also had a different setup from the last place I was at, so that seemed to help settle my nerves. But seeing all the people crowded into the bowels of this place had my blood pressure rising and my heart rate increasing.

Metal beams lined the entire ceiling overhead, and rusty-caged lights hung from them. Looking back down, I stared at the ring erected in the center of the immense space.

After we went down one last flight of stairs, which took us from the now obvious VIP entrance to the main floor—that had a couple of other entrances everyone else used—there were several men who came up to my brothers to speak with them. Andalthough they had to speak louder than normal to be heard over the boisterous crowd surrounding us, I still couldn’t make out a word of their conversation.

We started moving through the horde again, and people parted for us like they knew danger was knocking. The men glanced to the ground, knowing this family was led by two predators, but the women… the women openly showed their desire for my brothers. They clearly didn’t give a shit that the two men sandwiching me had their wives pressed tightly to their sides and showed their possessive affection only to them.

I spotted chairs placed right in front of the ring. Nikolai took one chair at the end, and Amara sat right beside him. He had his arm slung over her shoulders and pulled her closer to say something in her ear. Something that had her cheeks turning red.

I sat down in the chair beside Amara. The more I searched the area, taking in this new arena, the more I found myself anticipating seeing Gio. Was he coming as a spectator? Or would he be fighting?

Dmitry took the chair at the other end of our row with Claudia sitting between him and me. I glanced at my new sister-in-law and gave her a warm smile, although I wondered if it looked as nervous as I felt right now.

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