Chapter 3 - The Man Who Had Saved Her
Clara had spent four years believing Samuel Price was the best man she had ever known.
By morning, she was wondering whether he had sold her life for money.
Samuel had been the cutman at the Keystone fights. He had stitched Clara’s eyebrows, wrapped her hands and quietly slipped food into her locker when the organization kept her earnings.
More importantly, Samuel had treated her like a human being.
The night she refused to throw the fight, he had unlocked a service exit and given her eight hundred dollars.
“Run,” he had told her.
She had.
Now surveillance footage placed him inside the Cobalt Lounge.
Dominic wanted him found.
Clara wanted answers.
They got both before noon.
Samuel walked voluntarily through the front gate of Dominic’s secure property.
Guards surrounded him.
He raised both hands.
“I need to speak to Clara Hayes.”
Dominic watched through a security monitor.
“Either he’s incredibly brave,” Marco said, “or incredibly stupid.”
Clara stood beside them.
“He came alone?”
“As far as we can tell.”
“Let him in.”
Dominic looked at her.
“No.”
“He saved my life.”
“Maybe.”
“I need to hear him.”
“And you will.”
Dominic turned to Marco.
“Search him.”
Ten minutes later Samuel sat in a secure library with Dominic, Clara and Marco.
He looked exhausted.
When he saw Clara, his eyes filled.
“Kid.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Samuel lowered his gaze.
“Fair.”
“Did you tell Rourke where I was?”
“No.”
“Then why were you inside the lounge?”
“To plant the transmitter.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Interesting defense.”
Samuel ignored him.
“I needed Rourke to believe I was still working for him.”
Clara’s anger sharpened.
“You are working for him.”
“Yes.”
The admission hurt more than she expected.
Samuel continued.
“Because it was the only way to keep track of you.”
Clara stared.
“What?”
Samuel explained.
After her escape, Rourke had ordered him to locate her.
Samuel pretended to cooperate.
He fed false locations to Rourke for years.
Denver.
Phoenix.
Atlanta.
Meanwhile, he quietly followed Clara’s real movements from a distance.
“Why?”
“Because Rourke never stopped looking.”
“You could’ve warned me.”
“If I contacted you, he would have known I’d betrayed him.”
“Then why now?”
Samuel looked at Dominic.
“Because she stepped into his ring.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Samuel continued.
“Someone recorded part of the fight. Twenty minutes later Rourke had the footage.”
“Who recorded it?” Dominic demanded.
Samuel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
That meant Dominic had a leak.
Someone inside his own organization.
Samuel reached slowly into his jacket.
Marco immediately drew a weapon.
Samuel froze.
“Easy. Envelope.”
Dominic nodded.
Samuel removed it and placed it on the table.
Inside were documents.
Betting ledgers.
Names.
Payments.
Photographs.
Clara looked through them.
“What is this?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Rourke?”
“Against everyone.”
Samuel pointed toward one ledger.
“Rourke isn’t coming to Chicago because of you. You’re a bonus.”
“Then why?”
“Castellano.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Samuel turned toward him.
“Rourke wants your organization.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“He can want whatever he likes.”
“He’s already inside it.”
Silence.
Samuel slid forward a photograph.
It showed Vincent Rourke shaking hands with one of Dominic’s senior lieutenants.
Anthony Vale.
A man who had worked beside Dominic’s father.
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
Marco swore.
Clara watched Dominic carefully.
His anger didn’t explode.
It condensed.
That frightened her more.
Samuel said, “Vale has been selling information for eight months.”
“Proof?”
“The ledger.”
Dominic read.
Dates.
Payments.
Locations.
Clara noticed one entry.
CASTELLANO PRIVATE GYM.
The date was yesterday.
Someone had known about her challenge before it happened.
“How?” Clara asked.
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Only six people knew.”
Leo.
Marco.
Two guards.
Dominic.
And Anthony Vale.
Samuel leaned back.
“Rourke recognized Scarlet immediately.”
Clara closed her eyes.
There it was.
Her past had not found her by accident.
Dominic’s pride had opened the door.
But betrayal had invited it inside.
“What does Rourke want with me now?”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“The same thing he always wanted.”
“Money?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Control.”
Samuel explained that Scarlet had become a legend inside illegal fight circles after disappearing. Rourke believed bringing her back would restore his reputation.
One public underground fight.
One defeat.
One humiliation.
“He wants to prove you were never free,” Samuel said.
Clara’s hands curled.
Dominic noticed.
“And if she refuses?”
Samuel looked toward him.
“He kills Ethan.”
Dominic stood.
“No.”
Samuel raised his eyebrows.
“No?”
“No one touches the kid.”
Clara looked at him.
Dominic’s voice was cold enough to freeze the room.
“Rourke wants Chicago? Fine. He can come ask me.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You don’t understand him.”
Dominic leaned across the table.
“And he doesn’t understand me.”
Clara stood too.
“This isn’t your fight.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“No. It stopped being true when Rourke bought one of my people.”
Clara stepped closer.
“If you turn this into a war, people die.”
“And if we do nothing?”
She had no answer.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“You spent four years running because you thought distance would protect your brother.”
“Yes.”
“Did it?”
Clara flinched.
He regretted the cruelty immediately.
But the question remained.
“No,” she whispered.
Dominic nodded.
“Then maybe we try something different.”
That evening, Dominic confronted Anthony Vale.
Not privately.
He called a meeting of his senior people inside a warehouse on the Chicago River.
Clara was not supposed to be there.
She went anyway.
She watched from an upper office while Dominic entered below.
Anthony greeted him warmly.
“Dominic.”
Dominic placed the photograph on the table.
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
“You want to explain this?”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Anthony sighed.
“I told Rourke you were too smart.”
Dominic’s men shifted.
Anthony raised his hands.
“Before everyone gets emotional, perhaps we should discuss business.”
“You sold me.”
“I expanded our options.”
“You sold locations. Schedules. Names.”
“You’re thinking like your father.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“My father trusted you.”
“And that was his weakness.”
Clara saw the pain beneath Dominic’s anger.
Anthony continued.
“The world is changing. Rourke understands that. Sports betting. Digital money. International markets. You’re protecting nightclubs and restaurants like it’s 1995.”
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“And Clara?”
Anthony smiled.
“That was luck.”
Dominic’s fist tightened.
“Careful.”
“She’s valuable. Rourke has wanted his little champion back for years.”
Dominic grabbed Anthony’s jacket.
Men reached for weapons.
Clara moved toward the stairs.
Then Anthony laughed.
“You hit me, and the hospital gets a phone call.”
Dominic stopped.
Clara froze.
Anthony looked toward the upper office.
Straight at her.
He knew she was there.
“Hello, Scarlet.”
Clara’s blood chilled.
Anthony lifted his phone.
“One call. That’s all it takes.”
Dominic released him.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet.”
Anthony smiled.
“But Rourke planned ahead.”
Clara came downstairs.
“Where’s Ethan?”
“Safe.”
“If you touched him—”
“I didn’t.”
Anthony’s smile widened.
“But one of the nurses caring for him works for us.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Marco immediately began calling security.
Anthony continued.
“Midnight tomorrow. Old Lakeside Arena.”
Clara knew the place.
Abandoned boxing venue south of downtown.
“Rourke wants one fight,” Anthony said.
“With who?”
“He’ll tell you there.”
Dominic shook his head.
“She’s not going.”
Anthony looked amused.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Clara stared at him.
“What happens if I win?”
“Ethan lives.”
“And if I lose?”
“He lives.”
“What’s the difference?”
“If you lose, you belong to Rourke again.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“No.”
Clara held up one hand.
He stopped.
She looked at Anthony.
“And if I refuse?”
Anthony’s eyes became empty.
“Your brother dies before sunrise.”
Clara felt the old cage closing around her.
Four years vanished.
She was nineteen again.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Owned.
Dominic watched her face.
He recognized something he had never seen in the gym.
Fear.
Not fear for herself.
Fear for Ethan.
Anthony turned to leave.
Dominic’s men blocked him.
Anthony smiled.
“You really want to gamble with the boy’s life?”
Dominic stared at him for several seconds.
Then nodded.
The men moved aside.
Anthony walked away.
Clara turned toward Dominic.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“You heard him.”
“I heard a traitor making threats.”
“My brother—”
“Is surrounded by my security.”
“And one person already got inside.”
Dominic had no response.
Clara stepped closer.
“I spent my entire life protecting Ethan.”
“You don’t have to do it alone anymore.”
Her expression cracked.
Only slightly.
But Dominic saw it.
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve never had someone whose life mattered more than yours.”
Dominic became silent.
Clara immediately regretted saying it.
She turned away.
His voice stopped her.
“You’re wrong.”
She looked back.
Dominic stared directly at her.
“I do now.”
Neither of them spoke.
The meaning hung between them.
Dangerous.
Unexpected.
Impossible to ignore.
Clara finally looked away.
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because tomorrow I may have to walk into that arena.”
“Then I’m walking in with you.”
“This isn’t one of your business meetings.”
“No.”
May you like
Dominic picked up the photograph of Rourke.
“This time I know exactly who I’m fighting.”
