Mag-log inRenata"Marcus, stop!" I lunged forward, trying to grab his arm before the needle could get anywhere near Drent, but he was too strong. In one swift motion, he caught my wrist and slammed me back against the wall, pinning me there with a force that knocked the breath out of me."Stay out of this, Renata," he warned, his voice low and cold, his eyes carrying none of the warmth I had once mistaken for kindness. "This doesn't concern you."I struggled against his grip, my heart hammering as I glanced past him toward Drent, still lying motionless on the bed, completely unaware of the danger standing over him. Fear clawed at my chest. I opened my mouth to scream, to do anything to stop him, but before I could, something happened that neither of us expected.Drent's eyes snapped open.In one sudden movement, he shot up from the bed and grabbed Marcus, yanking him away from me with a strength that shouldn't have been possible for someone who had been unconscious only seconds ago. His eyes bu
RenataI took one last glance at an almost lifeless Drent before leaving the ward, after the doctor had told me multiple times to go home and let him rest.It wasn't that I didn't want to go home. But after Marcus had made a scene about being blamed for Drent's current state, and told me he was coming for me, I was too scared to leave Drent alone.I was scared that Marcus would come back and do something bad, and I wouldn't be there to stop him. That Marcus had another plan, and I wouldn't be there to protect Drent, and the thought of that made fear run through my body.Coming from a family that loved each other, I never knew blood brothers could hate each other so much that they were willing to kill one another just to inherit a company. But with the look in Marcus's eyes, he was definitely going to come back to that hospital and do something bad to Drent, and the thought of it made my heart beat faster.I arrived at my room, banged the door shut, swung my bag onto the chair, and cra
RenataI sat in the hallway with a towel draped over my shoulders, still shaking, still reeling from what had just happened. I had won. I was supposed to feel something like triumph, but all I felt was hollow, like the victory had been ripped out of my hands the second it was placed there.I kept replaying it in my mind, over and over, unable to stop myself. Drent letting me win. The referee lifting my hand into the air, the crowd roaring, the flash of pride I'd let myself feel for exactly one second before everything changed. Then the blast. The sound of it still rang in my ears, a deep, ugly boom that swallowed every other noise in the arena whole. And Drent, throwing himself toward me, covering me with his own body so the force of it wouldn't reach me.He'd protected me. Even in that split second of chaos, with the world coming apart around us, his first instinct had been to shield me instead of himself.I didn't even remember getting outside. I didn't remember who wrapped the towe
MarcusSirens tore through the night before the dust had even settled. Ambulances screeched into the lot one after another, their lights washing red and blue over the wreckage of the arena as the building groaned and finally gave way behind them. The place had collapsed. The match was over. And my plan had worked perfectly.People were running everywhere, some bleeding, some screaming names into the smoke, some just standing frozen and staring at what used to be a roof. Injured bodies were being carried out on stretchers. Others limped out on their own, coughing, dazed, displaced from a night that was supposed to end in celebration and instead ended in chaos. By morning, the state of Drent would be nothing but speculation, whispers, and half-answers.I didn't wait around to watch the cleanup. I had somewhere to be.I found Dakota at the bar we always went to when there was something worth drinking over, and tonight there was plenty. The place was already loud with people talking about
RenataThe walk to the ring felt longer than it should have.The crowd noise hit me the moment we stepped through the tunnel, a wall of sound that pressed against my chest and made my pulse climb even higher than it already was. Lights everywhere. Cameras everywhere. And somewhere in the middle of it all, the ring announcer's voice booming through the speakers, calling our names one after the other."In the red corner, Renata!"The cheer that followed nearly knocked the breath out of me."And in the blue corner, Drent Ardent!"The roar that came for him was louder. I tried not to let that mean anything.We met at the centre for the customary stare down, and standing this close to him I was reminded all over again of exactly how much bigger he was than me. Taller by a full head at least, his shoulders broad enough to block out half the crowd behind him, every inch of him built from years of discipline I had only recently started to understand. I held his gaze anyway. I had trained too
RenataThe venue was already filled with people, and it felt like all my weeks of training were crumbling just from hearing the loud rumbling of fans outside.I sat in the prep room, the quietest place in the entire stadium, where I was supposed to get ready before two o'clock when we would actually step into the ring. I sat on the cold bench, soaking it all in.I had waited for this for as long as I could remember and it was finally happening. I had gone through hell for this opportunity. To one day share the ring with Drent Ardent, to one day show the world what I was capable of despite my gender.I remembered the discouragement from my old coach. You will never become a boxer, Renata. It's for the men. Go find a ladies sport.That was enough to crush most dreams, but I never gave up. I never had. And today I sat here, with hundreds of people waiting outside, just like I had imagined as a high school girl who used to paste boxing posters inside her locker. And I was facing Drent.My
PaytonI waited for drent To walk back in and leave me with reneta even if it was just three minutes. I had my drunken powder in my purse, and the plan was simple. Put this in her drink, make her drunk in a way that makes her expose everything while I record the truth that would ruin them.So I sa
RenataI hated seeing Edwina cry.The sight alone made something twist painfully inside my chest.She sat curled up on the edge of her bed, her eyes red and swollen while tears continued slipping down her cheeks no matter how many times she wiped them away. The room felt smaller because of it, heav
PaytonSometimes,I take pride in being the only woman who has ever walked into Drent's life, made him obsessed with me, then broken his heart so badly he vowed never to love anyone again.That was good news for me, because I knew Drent was a man of his word. If he vowed never to love again, nothin
RenataThe rope dug into my wrists, raw and burning no matter how I twisted them. Beside me, Drent strained against his own bindings, jaw tight, eyes scanning the dim room for anything we could use."Stop struggling," Dija said, stepping closer with her arms crossed. "You two really thought you cou







