Chapter 43 SOMETHING ABOUT HER
Kanan’s POV
The den smelled like blood, sweat, cheap liquor, and desperation. The bass from the underground speakers vibrated through the floor beneath my boots, blending with the roar of the crowd gathered around the cage below.
I hated places like this. It was uncivilized chaos.
Exactly the kind of place I had spent years trying to drag my empire away from.
And yet here I was because a member of my team had fucked up.
“Relax, Ice,” Viper said as she came into the room. She dropped into the leather couch beside me. “You look like you’re about to execute somebody.”
“I might,” I growled, throwing her a dark, displeased look.
She laughed nervously, shrinking into the chair when she realized I wasn’t joking.
I turned back, looking through the glass wall of the VIP booth and down at the fighting pit below us.
From here, I could see every drunken gambler, every exchange of cash, every bloodstain on the concrete floor.
But my attention was solely on the woman standing in the opposite corner of the ring.
Sienna.
She looked smaller than she had in the videos Viper showed me. She didn’t carry herself with flashy arrogance like most underground fighters.
There was no theatrics. Just predatory stillness.
"She is something, isn't she?" Viper purred, leaning forward, her eyes bright with the reflected glow of the arena lights. "I told you, Ice. She is not just a fighter. She is an investment."
I didn't answer.
“Why is she so nervous tonight?” She whispered almost to herself, looking more nervous than the woman she was claiming was.
My gaze moved back to the ring just in time to see her straighten her left hand and wiggle each of her fingers one after the other before settling into her stance.
I went still. The memory came so suddenly that it irritated me.
Elena used to do that. Every time she was nervous before a gala, or she wanted to talk to me about something, she would do that to bleed off the anxiety.
I frowned. Why the fuck was I thinking about Elena right now?
The girl in the cage looked nothing like my wife.
Elena had been soft elegance wrapped in silk and diamonds. She smelled like vanilla and expensive perfume and sunlight.
This girl was violence.
I leaned back as the bell rang and Titan charged first.
Siren moved immediately, ducking beneath a vicious swing fluidly.
She was fast.
“She’s beautiful when she fights, isn’t she?” Viper murmured.
I ignored her, my focus locked on Siren as she moved around the cage.
A hiss escaped my teeth before I could stop it when Titan slammed a fist into Siren’s shoulder hard enough to send her stumbling backward into the chain fence.
Viper glanced at me. “You okay there, Ice?”
I watched as Siren pushed off the fence, blood glistening at the corner of her mouth. Then she smiled.
I frowned as heat curled unexpectedly low in my stomach.
What the hell?
It had been a long time since I looked at a woman and felt anything other than indifference.
Since Elena died, every woman who crossed my path blurred together into meaningless distractions. Faces. Bodies. Empty noise.
But there was something magnetic about her.
I had avoided softness and innocence because it reminded me too much of my ex-wife. So why was this woman and her raw fire pulling me in?
“She cleans up well too,” Viper suddenly said. “If you ever saw her outside the ring without all the blood and combat boots, you’d understand the hype.”
I slowly looked at her.
Viper immediately straightened under my stare. “What?”
“You’re talking too much.”
Her mouth snapped shut.
My jaw tightened as I turned back to watch the fight.
Why am I suddenly thinking about Elena as I saw her? I thought, my fingers digging into the armrests of my chair. Elena’s situation had been unfortunate. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She had been a casualty of a war she didn't understand. This girl... this girl is the war.
Siren ducked another strike before driving her knee into Titan’s stomach hard enough to force the larger woman backward.
“She’s exactly what we need right now,” Viper said carefully. “She’s smart and knows the streets.”
“She’s a street fighter,” I replied flatly. “And as someone who used to be one and had to deal with fellow street fighters, I really doubt the smart part of that comment.”
Viper frowned. “You saw what she did during the ambush. Her crew handled the shipment professionally.”
“Yes,” I said. “But can she function outside street level?”
Viper blinked.
I leaned back slowly, watching Siren circle Titan like a wolf.
“This sabotage isn’t random,” I said quietly. “The construction fire. The destroyed permits. The vault breach. This isn’t just street-level interference.”
Realization slowly crossed Viper’s face. “You think it’s corporate?”
“I think it’s by somebody who understands both worlds.” My voice hardened. “Street criminals don’t sabotage zoning permits and development timelines unless someone intelligent is directing them.”
Titan suddenly caught Siren with a brutal punch to the jaw.
The entire crowd roared as she hit the ground.
Something violent flashed hot through my chest, and I stood instinctively before I even realized I was moving.
Viper stared at me in surprise.
Down below, Siren stayed motionless for one terrible second, blood dripping down her face.
Then she lifted her head and looked directly at my booth.
Cold rushed through me as I stared into her dark eyes.
Jesus.
They were burning so passionately, I felt shivers down my spine.
And for one irrational moment, I felt like she knew me.
The thought vanished as quickly as it came. Of course, she knew me. I was Kanan Maddox.
I watched as she slowly rose to her feet. Then she became something else entirely.
As Titan swung again, she caught her arm mid-strike, twisted sharply, and drove three devastating hits into her throat, ribs, and jaw with terrifying speed.
The crowd went insane as Titan collapsed like a building, and Siren stood over her, chest heaving violently.
Beautiful. The thought hit me so hard it actually annoyed me.
Because it wasn’t just physical attraction. That I could handle.
It was worse. I was truly interested, and I hated it.
“She won,” Viper breathed excitedly. “I told you she was worth your attention.”
I didn’t answer immediately. My eyes remained fixed on Siren as she climbed out of the cage.
Even exhausted and bleeding, she moved like she expected the world to move around her without any ounce of submissiveness.
“I already called her up," Viper said, checking her phone. "My men are bringing her to the private suite now."
I stood up abruptly. The movement was so sudden that Viper flinched.
The shot of adrenaline and arousal that was still buzzing in my veins, made me feel exposed. I didn't like being drawn to something I couldn't control.
"No," I said, I grabbed my coat from the armchair nearby. “I don’t want to meet her here.”
“But—” Viper blinked rapidly. “She’s already on her way upstairs. Your men already went to escort her.”
I turned on her, my gray eyes boring into hers. "And? Do I have to bend my time to fit her time?” I asked, my voice cold. “I am the one paying for her services, Viper. Not the other way around."
"No, sir. Of course not," Viper stammered, her face going pale. "I just thought—"
“Have her meet me at La Caverna by 7pm in two days' time,” I said, calmly adjusting the cuff of my sleeve. “I need to see how she fits in a different light. If she can’t handle a cocktail dress and a room full of sharks, she is useless to me."
Viper nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I wanted to see how Siren behaved outside violence. Anybody could become a monster inside a ring.
I needed to know whether the fire in her eyes existed everywhere else too.
I took the private exit at the back of the booth, and as the door began to hiss shut behind me, a voice drifted through the gap.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” A woman’s irritated voice echoed.
I stopped in the hallway, my hand hovering near the wall.
Siren. Her voice was lower than I expected, husky and laced with an incredible amount of sass.
“Mind your tone,” Viper snapped. “You’re talking about Kanan Maddox.”
“And?” Siren snapped. "Why did he waste my time bringing me up here if he knew he couldn't even wait five minutes?"
Interesting.
"You are too full of yourself," Viper scolded. "You should be honored he even bothered to stay for the fight."
“I don’t care if he owns the whole damn city,” Siren replied coldly. “Nobody likes having their evening wasted.”
My lips unexpectedly curved into a slow smile as Viper sputtered in the background, trying to rein in the girl’s fire.
Most people confused stupidity with courage, but hers sounded genuine.
Like she truly did not give a fuck who I was.
And somehow, that made her even more interesting.
As I walked away, the sound of her voice still echoing in my mind, I found myself looking forward to when I would meet her on my turf.
I wanted to see if the Siren would still be so brave when she was standing in my territory, under my lights, with nowhere to run.