Chapter 99 Fight for choice
Sage's POV
I stared at Elena, trying to process what she'd just said about marrying Diego being the only way to protect myself and the Steel Wolves from whatever my father had done. The words hung in the air between us like a threat, but I felt my jaw set with determination.
"Over my dead body will I marry Diego," I said, my voice steady and clear.
Elena looked at me for a few seconds without saying anything, and then something unexpected happened. She smiled, a genuine smile that reached her eyes.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
I blinked, confused. "What?"
"You've got fire, Sage. I respect that." Elena moved back to the center of the mat and dropped into a fighting stance. "So here's what we're going to do. You and me, hand to hand combat, no holds barred. If I win, you marry Diego and stop fighting this. If you win, you're free to make your own decisions and I'll personally tell Diego the contract is off."
My heart started pounding with a mix of excitement and adrenaline. "You're serious?"
"Completely serious." Elena's smile widened. "I believe in letting actions speak louder than words. You say you don't want to marry Diego? Prove it. Beat me in a fair fight and I'll make sure he backs off."
This was it. This was my way out of the marriage, out of the contract, out of everything that had been suffocating me since I came back home. All I had to do was beat Elena in a fight, and I'd be free.
I thought about all the training Ryder had put me through over the past weeks. The hours spent learning how to defend myself, how to fight back, how to take down opponents who were bigger and stronger than me. I had used those skills against the men who tried to kidnap me in the parking lot, and I won. I could do this.
"You're on," I said, dropping into my own fighting stance.
Elena nodded with approval. "Good. Let's see what you've got."
We circled each other on the mat, both of us watching for an opening. My mind raced through everything Ryder had taught me about reading an opponent's body language, looking for tells that would signal their next move. Elena was good at hiding hers, her expression calm and her movements controlled, but I was confident in my training.
She came at me first with a quick combination that I blocked, my arms moving on instinct to deflect her strikes. I countered with a jab to her midsection that she dodged, and we broke apart and circled again.
"Not bad," Elena said. "Someone's been teaching you."
"Ryder trained me." Pride crept into my voice. "He made sure I could handle myself."
"Let's see if he trained you well enough."
Elena came at me harder this time, a flurry of punches and kicks that forced me backward across the mat. I blocked most of them but a few got through, hitting my ribs and my shoulder with enough force to make me grunt. I pushed back, using my lower center of gravity to get inside her reach and land a solid hit to her side.
We traded blows for what felt like forever, both of us breathing hard and sweating. I could feel my muscles burning with exertion, but adrenaline kept me going. Every time Elena landed a hit, I came back harder. Every time she pushed me back, I found a way to regain ground.
Then I saw my opening. Elena overextended on a punch and left herself exposed for just a second. I moved in fast, grabbing her arm and using her own momentum against her the way Ryder had shown me dozens of times. I twisted and pulled, feeling her body shift off balance.
This was it. I was about to pin her and win this fight and my freedom.
Victory was so close I could taste it.
But then everything changed in an instant. Elena twisted in a way I didn't expect, using my grip on her arm to pull me forward instead of letting me throw her down. My feet tangled and suddenly I was the one off balance, and before I could recover, Elena had me on the ground with her knee pressed into my back and my arm wrenched behind me at an angle that made my shoulder scream with pain.
I tried to move, tried to buck her off or twist free, but her weight was positioned perfectly to keep me pinned. Every time I struggled, the pressure on my shoulder increased until I had to stop or risk having my arm broken.
"Good effort," Elena said from above me, not even breathing that hard. "Your boyfriend taught you well. But he taught you sport fighting, the kind you use in a ring with rules. I learned street fighting, the kind where the only rule is to win by any means necessary."
I turned my head as much as I could to look up at her, and the calm expression on her face told me everything I needed to know. She'd been holding back the entire fight, letting me think I had a chance when she could have ended this in the first thirty seconds.
"You never intended to let me win," I said, my voice muffled against the mat.
"I intended to give you a fair fight. What you did with that opportunity was up to you." Elena applied just a little more pressure to my shoulder as a reminder that she was in complete control. "Do you yield?"
Every fiber of my being wanted to say no, wanted to keep fighting even though I knew it was over. But the pain in my shoulder and the complete lack of leverage I had in this position made it clear that struggling would only hurt me more.
"I yield," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.
Elena released me immediately and stepped back, offering me her hand to help me up. I ignored it and pushed myself to my feet on my own, rolling my shoulder to make sure nothing was damaged.
"So that's it?" I asked, anger and frustration making my voice sharp. "I lost so now I have to marry Diego?"
"That was the deal." Elena picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from her face. "You agreed to the terms, Sage."
"And if I refuse to honor the deal?"
Elena's expression went cold. "Then you'll find out exactly what happens to people who break their word to the Blood Sisters. And trust me, you don't want that.”