Page 79 of The Enforcer

“Beast! Beast! Beast!”

“And that’s what I call a perfect knock-out!”

Mary’s jaw dropped.

Mick lay sprawled on the mat, beaten to a bloody pulp, his legs at a weird angle. Her perfectly civilized husband had snapped a man’s leg in two, like a twig.

Hector loomed over the guy, like an avenging angel. Of course, angels also protected people. She was going to hold onto that thought.

The referee made the universal motion of declaring Mick knocked out. Hector spun around, his eyes scanning the crowd until he found her.

She offered him a weak smile when he stared at her. Never before had he looked so… distant and cold.

This doesnotbode well for you.

Ya think?

The crowd chanted his name, crowning him king of the cage, but she knew that Hector had found no glory in the fight. Took no satisfaction from it.

Then a new song started, and his second opponent appeared. What walked into the cage could only be described as a human mountain. The guy was huge. Sure, Hector was big—by far the biggest man she knew—but the reigning champion had an inch and at least thirty pounds on Hector. One side of his face was painted as a skull and he slapped his own chest, shouting at Hector.

Damon put his head closer to his boss. “There’s a lot of cash going around here. Perhaps more than we knew. I just put down a hundred k on Hector, and nobody batted an eyelash. Which means Friar Tuck must have loads of cash somewhere in this joint.”

“He does seem to draw in a nice crowd,” Kristoff conceded.

“I take it if that pile of meat manages to kill your brother, we’re going to war?”

“Nobody’s killing Hector,” Mary said, alarmed. “It’s just a fight.

“An MMA fight without any rules,” Angel explained as if he was speaking to a toddler. “A regular one doesn’t have many rules, let alone an underground fight with amateurs who fight out of desperation. Basically, everything is allowed, except for hitting below the belt.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “There’s a referee. Look. He even has a whistle.”

“Don’t worry, doll,” Angel said. “If Hector gets crushed by that mountain, we’ll let you have a piece of Brian.” He sounded as if he were making a grand gesture.

She grinded her teeth to keep in a hateful retort and concentrated on the fight.

The mic guy announced the ruling champion as “Satan,” which wasn’t reassuring at all. Trembling from the inside, she braced herself for another round, all the while praying.

And then it happened.

It was a move she would never, ever forget in her life. Hector jumped up, one knee in the air, as if aiming for Satan’s stomach. When Satan put his hands up in a defensive move, Hector struck.

His knee changed direction and only grazed Satan’s side. But his elbow landed to Satan’s temple and knocked him out cold. The pile of meat, as Damon had dubbed him, crumbled like a building under demolition, falling face flat on the floor.

For a millisecond, there was a shocked silence, then the mic guy announced Hector the winner. The crowd cheered, yelled, and screamed obscenities.

“Bratan. How very evil of you.”

That’s when she noticed the angry, disappointed shouts of the visitors. Of course. Nothing was more disappointing than having placed a fight, and it ending in less than five seconds. The crowd felt cheated. Which left Brian with an angry mob.

She looked up at the mobster in question. “He doesn’t seem too upset at his champion losing.”

“Why should he be? I’m sure he bet on Hector. It’s what I would’ve done in his place. A man fighting for his woman against asukaon steroids. Not a difficult choice.”

Speaking of choices. Up until now, she had always backed Gina up, finding excuses for her behavior. As she watched Hector leave the cage, covered in sweat, bleeding from an eyebrow, she sworenever again. Never again would she be the reason for him getting hurt.

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