The Devil's Deal

chapter eleven

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Kade

"Tonight, this whole arena will be filled with hundreds of people who will all be betting on you." Chris Neelan turns to me with a smug expression plastered onto his face, "This is your chance to show us what you can really do, that you can actually beat the best of the best," Chris says turning back to my father who is standing near the edge of the newly built boxing ring that's raised on a platform.

"Thank you, Chris, I can take it from here, I need to speak with my son," My father says, with a brush of his hand, signaling to Chris that he needs to leave, now, before he gets on my father's nerves.

Chris bows his head momentarily before sauntering off probably to ruin someone else's day.

"You'd better not let me down Kade," He says from beside me, I look over at him, his posture is rigid and he has this expression on his face as if he's disgusted to be standing so close to me.

I shake my head before straightening my posture and rolling my shoulders back, "I won't, I've learned my lesson."

A dark laugh rumbles out of his chest as his dark eyes glide over me, the quick flash of humor disappears so quickly like it was never there and is replaced with his constant sneer.

"You never learn Kade, you haven't in the past and I doubt it will be any different now. I'm putting a lot of my faith and money into this, that means no losing and no hesitating. The amount of money that is on the line is some of the most we've seen in one night." He pauses to look back around at the large arena space we're currently standing in, his dark eyes glaze over momentarily as if he's lost in thought.

"I won't disappoint you, I need this money as much as anyone, I can do it," I affirm, more to myself than to him.

I'm confident in myself, I always have been ever since I first stepped onto the ring all those years ago, but there's more at stake, it isn't just an easy match against an intermediate fighter who has a lot less experience than me. No, this time it'll be men who've trained most of their lives to prove themselves. Men who have been trained to fight and to win.

My words snap him out of his daydream and he turns back to me, he nods once his calculating eyes roaming down to my hands, they pause and I know that he's looking at the burn scars that cover them. Emotions pass through his eyes too quickly for me to make them out before he's walking away from me towards the exit.

"I'll see you tonight for the first match then."

"Wait!" I shout, jogging after him, he pauses by the door.

I take a deep breath. Well if I'm going to do it then I might as well get it over with since this is the most he's spoken to me in the past week and he's not acting like he wants to bash my head in. I don't know if it's the upcoming fight tonight or if it's just him in a better mood, but I need to take advantage of his more subdued state.

"I am... I was just wondering about last Saturday..."

His eyes narrow, "What about last Saturday?"

It's been his number one rule for as long as I can remember that no one is allowed to talk about what happens in those interrogation rooms. But ever since I saw her again in the elevator, going up to his floor, I've needed to know. Needed to know why she was still around, I thought that almost killing her friend had been enough for him, but obviously, it wasn't because if that had been enough she would be staying as far away from him as possible.