Fuck them. You don’t have to work for any of them.
Pissed, I pull my gloves off. I’m done. I turn to walk out of the ring, moving toward the ropes. My back caves in and I stumble forward.
Reaching for my back, I turn to find this blue-eyed bitch grinning at me. “Never turn your back on me. I’m the last person you give your back to.”
I grimace and look this crazy ass chick over. I toss the gloves in my hand down and step toward her. The gleam in her eyes tells me she’s a damn nut for sure.
“Val,” John bellows through the gym.
She ignores him. Calmly, as if she didn’t just kick me, she looks at Jasper. “Clear the gym. Leave us.”
“I’m done with this shit. Whatever you think you’re about to do, you can save it. I’m leaving.”
She laughs. I jerk my head back. When did I say something funny?
“You invite a snake into the ring and try to leave. I have much teach you, bella.”
A quick glance around the gym and everyone’s leaving. John, Nate, and Uri have moved to the side of the ring. Jasper has left with everyone else.
“Attention on me. Roni is it?”
“Fuck you. That’s who I am.”
She snorts. “You are pretty, but my husband suits me fine.” She circles me, walking backwards. Her gaze taking me in from head to toe. She shoves me by my shoulder. “You are angry.”
I ball my fists. I’m about to beat her ass. Let her touch me one more time.
“You’re the best here,” she says and taps my forehead with her fingers. I shove her arm away. “But you are locked in here. I can smell the vengeance on you. You want revenge, but you don’t know how to get it.”
“You know nothing about me.”
She laughs again. “I am you,” she says bitterly. “I’ve done what you want to. I’ve made them pay.”
“Get out of my face.” She’s too close and I’m beyond pissed.
“Not until you fight me.”
I grin and fold my arms over my chest. “Then we’ll be here all day, bitch.”
She smiles so wide her pretty teeth are on full display. “You want them to respect you, to set you free to be who you are? You fight me. Show you can gain control of that rage. Fight me.” She pushes me.
I stumble back and ball my fists. Tears build as my anger simmers. I have nothing to prove to her or anyone else.
“If I want to leave, I’ll leave. I don’t need anyone’s permission,” I snarl.
“Yet you are still here. And you and I know that’s not the freedom I’m talking about. I see you.
“You’re haunted. You reek of it. It’s in your eyes.” She starts to circle me again as she continues, poking me in the chest with her words. “The freedom you need is in here. You want to go after the ones that hurt you, don’t you? That means you need control of here.”
She taps my temple again. I ball my fists tighter and narrow my eyes. My chest tightens. It’s as if I’ll choke on the rage that’s clawing up.
There’s a reason I’m here. I know in my heart that I’m not like the others. There’s so much more to why I ended up in that sex trafficking operation, but I can’t put the pieces together to figure it out. For the last few months that feeling has been getting stronger. She’s speaking to the turmoil inside and I hate it.
“Fight me.”
“No,” I growl.
“Fight me,” she hollers at the top of her lungs.
“No,” I shout back.
She gets nose to nose with me. “You want revenge? Here is how you begin to get it. I will make you what they cannot. Your soul is already black. Accept it.” She pushes me. “Fight me.”
I don’t move.
“Argh,” she’s screams in my face and backs me up. “Argh.” She yells again, still backing me up, her neck straining. She’s shorter than me, but she’s a force, making me feel like she’s bigger than I am. “Argh.”
She shoves me and I snap. I’m back in that basement again, shivering from the cold water they threw on me. Being slapped around and punched. Having piss tossed on me.
Suddenly, my father’s words fill my ears. It’s so loud, it feels like he’s right next to me. Not like the dreams or visions. This time the words vibrate in my skull.
“I’ve made you a hard woman to handle hard situations. Know when to be a princess and when to be a savage. It will save your life.”
I’ll never be that weak again.
I back hand the shit out of Val. Her head whips to the side and blood splatters to the mat.
“Val,” her husband, bellows her name and starts for inside the ring, looking at me with a death glare. I glare back, my chest heaving.
Val holds her hand up, a huge smile on her face as she wipes the corner of her mouth. “There she is. Come on, baby. Fight me. I’m them. I’m who you want. Come get me.”
A growl comes from deep down inside, rattling my chest. “Argh,” I yell back.
Betrayal consumes me. I don’t know who from, but I feel it. Loss swells inside. It too has a source I don’t understand or remember. I black out.
Val
That’s what I want. I know she no longer sees me, but her pain. Her eyes are distant and haunted.
She comes at me with so much force, I’m stunned at first. I block her first strike anyway. I’m ready for her when she spins and kicks out.
She’s good. “Don’t let the anger control you. You control it. Use it.”
A grin comes to my lips as I watch her adjust. A gasp leaves my lips as she connects her feet with my midsection. Uri growls in the background, but I ignore him.
“That’s it. Let it out. Come for me.”
I see the moment it clicks, but I’m ready. Roni jumps in the air, intending a spinning kick. I jump and counter with the same kick in opposite rotation. We send each other spinning in the reverse directions, landing in crouching positions.
Her chest heaves as she looks at me. The tears spill over and she falls back onto her butt. She’s done.
I crawl to her and sit behind her. My front to her back, wrapping her in my arms. Holding tight, I whisper in her ear.
“Let it out. That’s it. You’re safe now,” I coo. “We’ll get them. I promise.”
She starts to scream as I hold her. The screams coming from deep within her soul. Uri and Nate turn their backs as if to give us privacy. However, John stares with a tightness to his jaw.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think I were staring at an avenging angel. I nod at him, letting him know that I’m here to help. I’ll get her ready for the day I know in my gut will come.
The day she settles the score with all her demons. She continues to scream out, just as I had done to get her to fight me. I tighten my hold as her body shakes.
I lock eyes with John as I whisper in Roni’s ear. “This thing you want, what you want to do, it will not fix the darkness. That still lives inside, but it will free you.” She nods at my words. “I will call you, La rabbia della morte. Death’s Rage.”
Time seems to pass slowly as she cries herself out. John enters the ring and stands over us for a brief moment before he squats down. He reaches to place his fingers beneath Roni’s chin to angle her face toward him.