Page 110 of Falcon's Prey

“Two opponents go in; only one comes out.”

“What happens to the other one?” I asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

He looked at me, unwavering. No pity. No sympathy, either.

“He leaves in a body bag.”

And just like that, it felt like my heart had stopped.

For underground ring fighting,the Estacados kept it classy. Maybe it was just a ruse to prove to the three-piece suits who would be watching that it was okay to enjoy the show. All for entertainment, right?

Make it look pretty, but still, let it kill.

The fights before were clean, or as clean as the players made it. If there was a casualty, well, it was a stroke of bad luck on the player. As for my fight, that was a bloodbath. Two fighters went in, and only one came out.

Now I was feeling guilty that Ember would find out about it this way when it should have been me who told her. Not after I forced her to tell me she loved me. I saw it in her eyes—at least I hoped it was, and I needed to hear her tell me. To let me know that once and for all I owned her. I wanted to, I almost did, but if she asked me not to do it, I would have disappointed her when I refused. This was the only way. The winner not only got an insane amount of cash, they also got a marker. The Estacados granted you one wish per se, and I needed for that favor to come to me.

Now that we were all weighed and read the rules, they brought us to the gym so we could warm up. My ribs were nowhere near healed, but they didn’t hurt as much as they had. I didn’t chitchat with any of the other players. I wrapped my hands and warmed up while I thought of all the things I was going to do to Ember tonight in celebration. Maybe I’d finally take her ass.

At the thought, I punched a little harder. I needed inside her like a blind man wished to see the sun for the first time. Near desperate. The moment my opponent walked into the room, I knew it. Everyone was quiet for a second until murmurs started to go around. I didn’t turn around to look. I’d already done my homework; making him think I didn’t give two fucks about him was just part of the mental game.

They would send out fighters two by two for the beginner fights. The winner got some cash with the security of knowing they most likely wouldn’t be dying. The emptier the room got, the more I felt the “champion’s” eyes on me. They called him Claw because the fucker liked to claw eyes out once he got his opponent down. He was cruel and sloppy, and that worked to my advantage.

Just because he had won the last four fights, it didn’t mean he was a beast. He had never faced off with someone like me. He might be bulkier and have brute strength, thinking himself hot shit because he’d made a few kills, but in reality, he wasn’t a serial killer. He killed to prove a point. He played it safe and let his prey come to him. That was never me. I didn’t give a shit about what was socially acceptable. I killed because after the first time, after the scare went away, I realized that it made me feel powerful. Having someone’s life in my hands didn’t make me feel like the lowlife piece of shit I was. It became an addiction that I couldn’t stop.

So I let him stare me down and think he had me by the balls. For the first time in my life, I had something to lose. I made my hands punch the bag with a little more pressure than before, anticipating moves in my head. It was a mental game as much as it was physical. I knew that once the cage locked, only one of us would make it out alive.

A door opened, and in came Ignacio Estacado. He had his security detail with him and two teenagers trailing after him. I looked at the boys, who looked the same, yet different. One of them had a kindness to him that the other didn’t have. They passed by us fighters, going to join the crowd that was outside. Just as they walked to the door, Claw got brave and got up. I kept hitting the bag, taking note of the way the guy walked as if he favored one side than the other.

“What’s so special about you?” he said in a groggy voice that reminded me of a frog. “There’s a protocol, and you bypassed it.”

I kept punching. “I don’t make the rules.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m still going to kill you, but before I do, you’re going to know what it feels to lose sight and have your eyeballs ripped out.”

I stopped punching and turned to look at him, giving him my undivided attention. “I hope you at least got your dick sucked, because you’re not walking out of here alive.”

When I walked away, I prayed that I wouldn’t die because I swear I would come back to kill Gideon for his sex ban. I went to grab a drink of water when I noticed it was only two more fights before mine. Part of me wanted to go out and look at Ember again in case it was the last time, but I wouldn’t think about that.

Once they took Claw, announcing him to his adoring fans, I removed my clothes, staying only in my shorts. I removed the wrap on my ribs and threw it on the garbage. If I lost this fight, then I deserved to die.

“You’re up.” One of Estacado’s made men called for me.

I took a deep breath and walked out. The place was dark as shit. I made my way to the cage, and as soon as I was in, they closed the door. They made a show of locking us in to make it more dramatic that only one of us would survive.

I tuned out the crowd, the cheering, and the greedy way Claw looked at me. Just like I knew he would, he ran straight to me, trying to take me to the ground.

I stepped to the side, slamming my elbow with force straight into his rib. Like an enraged bull, he started to seethe.

“Should have gotten your dick sucked.”

Just like I knew, his eyes went a little wild. He was top dog here, and he wasn’t about to let me take his throne. We circled each other for a second when he moved to make a punch, and just as I moved the side to block it, he struck his leg out with an agility I didn’t think he possessed. The asshole got me in the back of my knee, causing me to fall to the floor. As soon as I dropped, I rolled, and I heard a thud where he tried to jump on top of me. I was trying to get up when I saw him trying to kick me. I moved my body a bit, and he hit my elbow, knocking me down again.

Fuck.

I needed to get up again because right now, he had the advantage. I closed my eyes tightly, gritting my teeth from pain, and then I saw her face, and I wondered what was going through her mind. I wasn’t going to die today. I would make a deal with the devil to keep me here so that I could be with her one more time. I stayed on the floor, knowing he was going to try to go straight for my eyes. As soon as I felt him at my back, I turned around and kicked his balls. It was a low blow, but the moment he tipped over in pain, it gave me enough time to get up.

“Pussy,” he gritted out.

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