Chapter 3

"Ha ha ha ha! Oh my god, I'm dying, this is hilarious!"

Tyson laughed so hard tears nearly spilled from his eyes. He clutched his stomach, pointing at Charlie's faded old jacket.

"You old relic, have you lost your mind trying to claim family you don't have?

"Cass already told me her father's some overseas tycoon, settled abroad ages ago!

"Take a good look in the mirror before you open your mouth. You couldn't scrape together twenty bucks between the two of you, and you're trying to pass yourself off as Cass's real father?"

Dennis chimed in with a sneer of his own.

"Exactly! What kind of standing does Ms. Moore have that she'd end up with some dirt farmer for a father?

"It really is true, every forest has its share of strange birds. Now they're running scams at the Titan gym."

I watched their faces and felt the last bit of warmth in my chest go completely cold.

'Cassidy, you played the heiress in front of this animal so hard that you actually disowned the father who raised you?'

Tyson's laughter finally ran out, and his expression darkened, a flash of something vicious crossing his eyes.

"There's nothing I hate more than people putting on an act in front of me. Dennis, tonight, I don't just want to watch a fight. I want a live show, using these two as the punching bags.

"Get those heavyweights from outside in here. Teach these two frauds a real lesson."

Dennis waved his hand, and four hulking boxers stormed into the box.

"What do you think you're doing?! Is there no law left in this world?!" Charlie cried out, blanching, instinctively stepping in front of me.

"Hit them! As long as you don't kill them, I'll cover the medical bills!" Tyson barked.

One boxer, who had to weigh a good two hundred twenty pounds, sneered and shoved Charlie square in the chest without a shred of mercy.

"Charlie!" I roared.

Charlie was sixty years old. There was no way he could withstand a blow like that from a professional boxer.

His whole body flew backward and slammed into the massive marble coffee table at the center of the box.

There was a sickening crack, the kind that set my teeth on edge.

The back of Charlie's skull cracked against the table's sharp marble edge. He didn't even manage a scream before he crumpled to the floor like a heap of mud.

Blood surged out immediately, soaking his graying hair, and the sight of it burned my eyes.

"Charlie! Charlie, wake up!"

I threw myself at him like a madman, my shaking hands pressing against the wound on his head, warm blood coating my palms in an instant.

"Call an ambulance! Somebody call an ambulance now!"

I screamed myself hoarse at them, tears running down my face without my permission.

But Tyson only pinched his nose in disgust. "Ugh, what rotten luck. He's ruining my carpet."

He stepped closer, looking down at me with contempt as I knelt there in despair, then abruptly lifted his hard leather shoe and stomped it down onto the back of my hand where it braced against the floor.

"Aaah!"

The stiff heel tore straight through my skin, and the pain sent my whole body into spasms.

"What are you screaming for? Trying to shake me down now too?"

Tyson ground his heel harder into the back of my hand, sneering viciously.

"Weren't you the one running your mouth about this being your property?

"Now that the old relic's about to stop breathing, why don't you get up and bite me?"

The two boxers beside him pinned my shoulders down, forcing me flat in the spreading blood, holding me still no matter how I fought.

All I could do was watch, helpless, as Charlie's breathing grew weaker and weaker, blood spreading across the carpet.

"Please... let go of me, let me call 911... he's really going to die..."

"Want to save him? Sure." Tyson crouched down and patted my blood-smeared face.

"Lick the blood off this floor clean, and I might just be generous enough to let you make that call."

Just as my despair reached the point where I nearly cracked my own teeth from clenching my jaw, a sudden rush of footsteps sounded from outside the box.

A voice I knew better than any other rang out at the door.

"Tyson! What's going on? Who upset you?"