Leo’s bed was unmade, the sheets tossed aside. The heart monitor was powered down. The IV bags were gone.
"No, no, no," I gasped, backing out into the hallway. My chest tightened with a blinding panic. Silas had gotten here first.
My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. I yanked it out. It was a text from an unknown number.
Turn around slowly. Don't make a sound.
I froze. I could hear the heavy, measured breathing of someone standing directly behind me in the quiet hospital corridor. A massive shadow stretched across the linoleum floor, engulfing my own.
I dropped my phone, pivoted on my heel, and raised my fists, ready to fight for my life.
Standing over me, entirely filling the hospital hallway, was Marcus.
He wasn't wearing his gym clothes. He was in a dark hoodie, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He looked down at my raised fists, and instead of attacking, he slowly raised his hands in surrender.
"I didn't come here to hurt you, Maya," Marcus whispered, speaking my real name for the first time. "I moved your brother to the ICU on the seventh floor under a fake name. I came to warn you. You have no idea what you just unlocked."
CHAPTER 3
I kept my fists raised, my knuckles white with tension. Every instinct I had screamed at me to strike, to use the tight confines of the hospital corridor to my advantage. Marcus stood completely still, his massive hands raised near his shoulders, his dark eyes pleading.
"You put him in a coma," I whispered fiercely, my voice trembling with a rage I had buried for six months. "I watched the tape, Marcus. I saw you land the hit after the bell. You ruined him."
"I hit him," Marcus agreed, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. He took a slow half-step backward, giving me space. "But I didn't paralyze him. I didn't want to fight Leo at all. He was my friend."
"You have a funny way of showing it," I spat, refusing to lower my guard.
"Look at his medical file," Marcus urged, keeping his eyes darting toward the stairwell doors to make sure we were alone. "The toxicology report the cops buried. Silas spiked Leo's water bottle in the corner between the second and third rounds with a muscle paralytic. When I hit him, his neck muscles were already seizing. He couldn't brace for the impact. His brain bounced off his skull because Silas paralyzed him."
The words hit me like a physical blow. My arms felt suddenly heavy. I remembered the footage—Leo stumbling out of his corner for the final round, looking uncharacteristically sluggish, his head lolling slightly before Marcus even crossed the cage.
"Why?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Why would Silas do that?"
"Because Leo found the ledger," Marcus said. He pulled his hands out of his hoodie pockets. In his massive palm rested a black burner phone. "Silas has been running an illegal high-stakes betting ring, rigging fights across three states. He uses me as his enforcer because he has debts over my head. My daughter’s head. Leo found the digital ledger in Silas's office and stole it. Silas thought Leo gave it to the cops. But when the cops came up empty, Silas panicked. He’s been tearing the gym apart for six months looking for it."