Page 20 of Shifting Gears

It doesn’t have to be in my bed, baby. The new whip has plenty of room. You can pick—front or back seats? *smirking emoji*

Raven

In your dreams, Hero.

With that last text, I knew I wouldn’t get anything else out of her. When she used the little nickname she’d picked for me, I understood it was pretty much the end of the discussion.

I walked up to my room, not even bothering to get undressed. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes. Letting sleep take over.

CHAPTER 8

RAVEN

I leftmy residence on Kaito’s estate; the driver took me to my weekly visit back home, but today, there was a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach. Today was the last day I could go over to watch our fighter train before his match, and hopefully, what I saw today would be better than the last time I’d come.

I had been confined to my house since the night Kaito and I had argued, except for these weekly visits.

That was just how Kaito was—cruel. His punishment with telling me my family’s fighter needed to win the next round or we’d lose the family estate, then not giving me the freedom to come to my family’s dojo often enough to ensure that could happen, was impossibly unfair.

Thankfully, Sydney could fill in when I was unable to get here. However, even though she was here day in and day out, training with Touma—our fighter— as of last week, he hadn’t improved to where I was confident he could win.

I needed things to be different this week. We were only a few days away from the match, and so much was riding on this. More than any of them knew.

My steps felt heavy as I walked up from the car into the grounds of our property. I went straight to my room in themain house and changed. I kept my workout gear here to ensure nothing would happen to it. I wouldn’t put it past him to have certain personal effects of mine removed from my wardrobe, preventing me from being able to participate here as well.

I walked into the dojo a few minutes later to see Sydney and Touma already beginning their warm-ups. We had a few more students besides him who had lingered after Father’s passing, but most of the fighters we’d had when he was alive moved on to more prestigious dojos after he died.

I had my worry that he wouldn’t be good enough to win this fight. I had neglected to inform Sydney about the new arrangement Kaito had imposed on me. I had tried to get him to see reason on numerous occasions these past two months, but he’d denied me at every turn.

As I watched Touma go through his drills in the dojo, I felt sick to my stomach. He was good. Against most fighters, he would have an easy time winning, but if I knew Kaito, he had some sort of trick up his sleeve. He was one to set the odds in his favor.

“Again!” I shouted across the dojo.

I could tell my tone was anxious from the looks my sister and everyone else here gave me. But they didn’t know what was at stake. They would never know, if I could help it. It was my job as the oldest sister to do everything in my power to protect my family. If that meant selling myself to the devil, I would do it. If that meant hurting someone else so they wouldn’t get hurt, I would do it. But knowing that they were in a much more dire situation because of my actions? It was eating me alive.

Yet I still didn’t regret that night I’d spent with AJ. Maybe it was selfish of me to feel that way, knowing the impact it had afterward, but I would make it right. Ihadto make it right. The alternative was having my sisters be forced to leave the safety of our home and live in his estate. No doubt they wouldn’tbe allowed to stay with me based on his multiple insinuations during the past few weeks. Sydney could handle herself; she had been raised in the dojo and would take care of anyone who tried to mess with her. But Regan … she was the soft one of us. Quiet, sweet, and always willing to help us out with anything if we let her.

I hated the way Kaito looked at her. It made my skin crawl.

“Raven, are you sure you’re not pushing him a bit too hard? The match isn’t too far away. Having him exhausted won’t help his odds,” Sydney said as she came over next to me to watch as Touma started his drills all over again with a different student.

“He has to be perfect,” I said as I studied him punching and kicking his training partner.

“If he were any more ready for this fight, he should go pro. It would be safer, and there would be just as much money, if not more, in it for him than what we’re offering,” Sydney muttered under her breath.

I ignored her comment, but my mind eased. She wasn’t wrong. He was in great shape. It was the minor movements that he lacked refinement in; otherwise, I found no flaws in his drills.

I watched him spar for over two hours. By the end, all of us were exhausted.

I found myself lingering for as long as possible in my old home. I took an extra-long hot shower before I got back into the clothes I had come here in. Pausing before I left, I looked around my old room. So many great memories here, even during the sad times.

And soon, we might lose it forever.

My thoughts became clouded as I walked down the hall and into the main living room. Regan was nowhere to be found. She must be out with her friends. Sydney was sitting on the couch, staring right at me.

“Come and sit awhile, sister. We need to have a chat,” she said as she patted the couch next to her.

I sighed and walked over, taking a seat sideways so we could face each other. “What do you want to talk about?”

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