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“One fight. In the cage. Last man standing wins.”
Mary sucked in a breath. “What? No—”
“Take her out of here.” He didn’t have to repeat his words. Angel pulled a sputtering Mary out of the room.
He didn’t look back. He wouldn’t be able to focus if the last thing he saw before he went into that cage was her beautiful eyes.
He chin-jerked to Baldy. “I want him.” He’d been planning to get back to Baldy after he had Mary safely tucked away, but this would do. In fact, it was the perfect opportunity.
“Any time, Diaz,” Baldy spit out. “Maybe a few people still remember your name, but you’re nothing now. I’ll hand you over your balls.”
Brian shook his head. “I choose who you fight.” Clearly, he had less faith in his enforcer.
“I don’t give a fuck who I have to fight as long as I get a piece of him.”
“Fine with me. This just means there’ll be two fights. First Mick, then my champion.”
“Fine with me,” he repeated after the Irish.
“This isn’t going to end well,” Kristoff remarked.
Brian’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever happens in the cage stays in the cage. Even when the fighter is a brother you suddenly have.”
Meaning Kristoff couldn’t go to war should Hector die in the cage. Brian was giving Hector too much importance in Kristoff’s life.
“Damon, put a hundred on my brother.”
The opportunistic asshole.
“You’re going to make money off of me now?”
“Of course. I never let a good wager go to waste.”
All he had wanted for tonight was to fuck Mary while she was wearing her pumps. Instead, he was stuck in a fight he didn’t want to be in, surrounded by people he didn’t want to be with. And it was all Mary’s fault. She wasn’t allowed to get hurt or kidnapped.
He was beginning to understand what had driven Gio to lock up his wife that one time. It wasn’t him being an overprotective bastard. No, it was pure genius.
CHAPTER 26
MARY
“Ladies and gentlemen! Do we have a special treat for you tonight! He is feared for his flying knee, famous for his first-round knock-outs, and a legend for never having lost a fight. A decade after having left the ring, he returns for one night only. I present to you Hectoooooor ‘The Beast’ Diaz!”
Mary found herself in a front-row seat at an MMA fight. Kristoff sat next to her, the twins in the row behind them.
Fear for Hector coursed through her body, making her heart rate spike. She couldn’t believe that her ladies’ night had turned from margaritas into mayhem.
The crowd in the warehouse was loud and cheery. Hector’s opponent, Mick, the man who had slapped her, was already in the ring, waiting, bouncing on his feet, ghost boxing.
As a new song, Eminem’s “Lose yourself,” blasted through the speakers, the crowd went wild again. Her breath hitched when Hector entered the ring, introduced by what was apparently his walk-on song. His hands were taped, and he was wearing red shorts, his bare chest on full display.
The referee exchanged some words between the fighters and then got the hell out of their way. A bell sounded and then it was on.
Before Mary could blink, Hector landed an uppercut and the crowd started screaming.
“Beast! Beast! Beast!”
Judging by their chant, Hector’s reputation wasn’t exactly buried in the past.