Chained To The Devil novel Chapter 37

A few hours later – ILLEGAL FIGHT CLUB – 7:45 p.m.

I sigh in front of the place I know so well. I’ve spent countless hours here. Sometimes celebrating victories, other times nursing bitter defeats.

I remember the first time I set foot here.

I was only twelve when my father forced me to come and made me fight a sixteen-year-old girl who weighed at least twenty kilos more than me.

I held back my tears because I knew I was doomed.

Khalid made it clear that if I lost, he’d personally make me pay.

So I fought her, brutally, under the screams and cheers of the crowd betting on one of us.

It was my first fight and my first loss. She destroyed me, but the worst was yet to come.

My father whipped me with a riding crop. I wasn’t allowed to cry because “tears are for the weak,” yet I suffered so much that day.

And all that bullshit became my everyday life.

Khalid never had limits. I’m deeply involved in illegal fights for my father. Bruises, fractures, broken arms, stitches, and all the other crap…

I endured it all for him. Because of him. I got beaten by my father, and then I got beaten for him. Ironic, right?

“You’re not weak, Inara.” I’ve repeated that sentence to myself so many times to try to believe it.

I sit down, my gaze fixed on the ring in the middle of the room.

In a few hours, this room will be full of the worst kind of men and women, all paying big to watch a brutal fight between me and my opponent.

I’m fighting another woman named Ikram. I’ve fought her before and always managed to beat her, even though I admit she’s really good.

Time passes.

9:08 p.m.

After changing, Khalid enters my locker room and looks me up and down. I stare back warily while his predatory smile spells nothing good.

“I know I can’t lose, no need to remind me.”

He looks around to make sure we’re alone, then steps closer.

“Actually, that’s what I came to talk about.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want you to lose.”

I widen my eyes and stop wrapping my hands.

I try to find some trace of a joke in his eyes, but he’s dead serious.

“You’re joking?”

“I want you to lose.”

“Why? You’ll lose a lot of money!”

“All those idiots are betting on you because you’ve already beaten her several times. If I bet on her, I’ll win a lot more.”

Am I surprised he’s rigging fights? Of course not.

“I have every chance to win! Bet on me and you’ll get a good payout!”

“It wouldn’t even be half of what I’d get if she wins.”

“If I don’t defend myself, she’ll destroy me to get revenge for all the times I beat her!”

“You’ll find a way to survive, but you’d better lose.”

She’s going to kill me, obliterate me, wipe the floor with me.

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