تسجيل الدخول“Oh my fricking Gosh!!!!”“Viki lost?”“How the fuck is that possible?”“I fucking used my rent to bet on Viki!”The noise from the crowd rolled on and on and every voice in the building was doing something different. Some were screaming, arguing, laughing, gasping and above all of it the commentators were trying to hold it together with very limited success."I have been doing this job for eleven years,” one of them said and his voice was genuinely shaking. "Eleven years. I have never … not once … seen anything like what just happened in this ring tonight.""Raina Valente," the second one said slowly, like he was still testing the words and checking if they were real. "Don Michael Valente's daughter and the rumoured wife of Don Maxton Retroferd. She has been fighting in this underground tournament under a fake identity and she just ….she just beat Viki Saaid. The four time defending champion. ..I don't have the vocabulary for this.""Nobody does… Nobody in this building does."Raina
Silence… A deep nerve racking silence fell over the arena.Not the gradual kind that fades in slowly, but the kind that drops over an entire room in one second like someone cut the power to every voice simultaneously.The arena went completely still as everyone present was just too stunned.Every eye was on the ring and on the face that was just exposed. All gazes were on the young woman standing in the middle of the ring with blood on her lip and her chest heaving and her real face exposed under the brutal overhead lights for every single person in the arena to see.Three seconds of silence, then the arena erupted.In the commentator booth both men were talking over each other."Wait … wait, wait, wait … am I seeing what I think I'm seeing right now…""I need someone to tell me my eyes are working properly because that looks like….""That IS… ladies and gentlemen I don't … My eyes must be deceiving me right now because the woman standing in that ring, the fighter we have known all to
“Ladies and gentlemen… your reigning defending champion… Viki Saaid!"“Viki!”“Viki!”“My wonder woman!!!”Her fans screamed endlessly and the arena became even more chaotic.Viki walked out like she owned every single inch of the building and everything inside it. She didn't rush or bounce on her toes the way most fighters did when the crowd was screaming for them. She walked slowly, shoulders back, chin up, wearing dark sunglasses that caught the overhead lights as she moved through the corridor and into the arena floor.She was built like someone had designed her specifically to hurt people. Wide shoulders. Thick arms. Legs that were solid from years of planting her feet and throwing power that most men in the underground couldn't match. She was not tall but she was dense in the way that made experienced fighters nervous the moment they stood across from her.Her team walked behind her and the crowd on her side was absolutely deafening.She reached the ring steps and stopped.Reach
Three days was all the time Raina had to get ready for the final and she used every single second of it.She was at Bryan's gym before the sun came up and she stayed until her arms stopped working properly. She drilled footwork until her legs burned and worked combinations on the bag until her knuckles ached through the wraps. After finding out her opponent is Viki Sàaid, she became even more determined to train.She watched footage of Viki Saaid on her laptop until she could close her eyes and see the woman's fighting style playing out behind her eyelids like a film she had memorized.Viki Saaid was nothing like Shannon Keyson.Shannon had been dangerous, fast and technical, but Viki was something different entirely. She was the kind of fighter who didn't just want to win, but always wants to take something from you in the process. Every fight she had ever had ended with her opponent on the floor and the crowd completely silent because nobody quite knew how to process what they had
Bryan didn't move from the doorway. He kept his body square in the frame, one hand on the door and the other on the wall, casual enough to not look suspicious but solid enough to make it clear that nobody was walking past him without his permission."Can I help you?" he asked.Carlos looked at him with a calm, measured expression. Then his eyes moved briefly over Bryan's shoulder into the room then back to Bryan's face."I'm looking for Star Rivers," he said simply."She's not available right now.""I just need a word with her.""About what?" Bryan kept his voice calm just like a regular trainer asking reasonable questions.“Are you her coach?” Carlos asked and Bryan nodded with a serious expression.Carlos studied him for a few seconds. "I have a proposition for her…It won't take long.""What kind of proposition?""The kind I'd prefer to discuss with her directly." Carlos tilted his head slightly and it was obvious that he was beginning to lose his patience. "I'm not here to cause an
The announcer's voice was still echoing through the arena when Bryan ducked under the ropes.His legs just moved on their own and the next thing he knew he was crossing the ring in four steps and pulling Raina into his arms before she could even turn around fully.She stiffened for a split second the way she always did when someone touched her without warning. Then she felt who it was and her body relaxed and she let him hold her.Bryan held on tight and his eyes were squeezed shut. This girl had just gone three brutal rounds against one of the most dangerous fighters in the underground and she was still standing and he needed a moment to be grateful for that."You did it," he said into her hair. His voice came out rougher than he intended. "You actually did it."Raina pulled back and looked at him and for just one second her guard was completely down. No tough face or controlled expression. Just a tired, bruised girl who had just fought one of the hardest fights of her life and won.







