Page 53 of Brotan

My fist connects again. The chain holding the bag groans. Another hit. Another. Each impact is a punishment for hurting her. For pushing away the one good thing I never deserved. Until my lungs burn and my arms shake.

"Jesus Christ, the thing's already dead." Diesel's voice cuts through the red haze.

I turn, chest heaving, sweat dripping into my eyes. Diesel leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking at me like I've lost my goddamn mind.

"What the fuck do you want?" My voice sounds like it's been dragged through gravel.

"Answers." Diesel pushes off the wall with a controlled shove, his boots scraping across concrete as he approaches. "What the hell was that shit at the clinic? You handed her over like she was some stray dog that meant nothing."

"She means everything." The words tear from my throat before I can stop them. "That's why she needed to go."

Diesel snorts, not buying it. "Bullshit. You don't get to make that call, asshole."

"I do when her fucking life depends on it." I snatch a towel from the bench, wiping away blood that's already drying on my knuckles. "That son of a bitch at the clinic—the one who torched the place. Name's Ryker. Quinn's enforcer."

"So that’s what this is about?"

"Yeah." I throw the bloody towel aside, watching it land in a crumpled heap like my future with Maya. "Been blowing up my phone for days. Wants me back in the pit."

"So this shitstorm is about your past." Understanding dawns in his eyes. "He burned the clinic to get your attention."

I nod. "Been waiting for it to bite me in the ass." I drop onto a bench, suddenly exhausted. "They won't stop. Not until they get what they want."

"Which is?"

"Me. Back in the ring, filling their pockets with money."

Diesel rakes his fingers through his hair, tusks glinting under the harsh gym lights. "Shit, Crow. You have to fight this."

"This isn't a war I can win." I stare at my bloody hands. "Not without Maya catching strays."

"Hammer know about this Ryker guy yet?"

"No."

"Well he fucking should." Diesel crosses to the door, his massive frame blocking the exit. "War room. Now."

I want to argue, but there's no point. Diesel will drag me by the balls if he has to. I follow him down the hall to our secure room, where a laptop connects us to the rest of the Ironborn network.

The screen flickers to life minutes later, revealing Hammer's face, looking like we woke him from a three-day bender. His expression shifts from pissed to deadly serious as Diesel explains how my past has blown back on Shadow Ridge. On Maya.

"You should've told me," Hammer says when Diesel finishes. His gaze locks on mine through the screen. "The second you connected the two, you should have been twirping in my fucking ear, Crow."

"Quinn wants me back in the pit. He owns every underground fight from Manhattan to Albany. There is no stopping this without casualties."

Hammer goes quiet, his silence more unnerving than any threat. "Sending Maya back might've actually been smart. I'll have brothers on her and the family as soon as they hit New York."

I nod. "Quinn's crew runs deep. If he tries anything–"

"Your brothers will handle it," Hammer cuts me off, voice hard. "With her secure, I need a day to dig into this Quinn situation. See what kind of leverage Ash can find. You'll give me that, Crow."

I nod, telling him what he wants to hear.

Hammer's eyes narrow. The look cuts through the digital connection like he's right in the room. "I mean it, Crow. One day. Ironborn stand together. You're one of us. No one fights alone." He glances at Diesel, "You catch wind he’s up to something stupid, you knock him the fuck out and call me. Got it?"

Diesel agrees and shuts the laptop.

After the call ends, he looks at me.

---