“BLYAD', VYTASHCHI YEGO, BRAT!” I shout again and he throws a brutal kick to his opponents shin, knocking his leg out from under him.
Lev pounces on him on his way down, landing a vicious jab before a right hook that completely throws the poor fucker to the ground. He delivers a knock out hammer fist that bounces the guys head off the canvas as the ref throws himself between thetwo of them to stop the onslaught Lev would keep giving while calling the fight over.
The arena erupts in cheers and chants in celebration of Lev winning and Ivan and Anton jump over the cage to grab him, throwing him up on their shoulders and parade him around while he holds his fists in the air and shouting in celebration himself.
I pound my fist off the outside of the cage happy with the victory and proud of Lev for getting the job done quickly. He barely has a scratch on him. The only injuries he has are the ones on his hands from the beating he dished out.
I start to see all the money being exchanged and collected within the crowd, all the bets being paid up and paid out. These are the smaller bets, the ones I don’t necessarily care about. The main bets, the reason we run this MMA promotion, will be coming in through a secured custom-built app that’s manned by Nikolai so I don’t need to stay any longer to make sure things go well. I check the app on my way back to my office, receiving slaps on the back and handshakes from our big betters.
Our promotion brings in millions of dollars worth of bets. From other crime families, high ranking officials and anyone with enough money and status who enjoys the grit and brutality what we do and what our fighters are allowed to do.
With the only rule of no weapons and our refs can’t step in unless someone is completely knocked out no matter how badly they are being beaten, everything else gets a green light. Biting, eye-gouging, what would be classed as illegal knees, punches and elbows in non-illegal promotions. We bring in huge numbers because people love the violence.
I finally make it back to my office and check the tracker to see Willow is still in her hotel and I breathe a sigh of relief that she hasn’t went out tonight because the tracker is still blinking at their hotel.
Chapter Forty
Willow
Holy shit. This club is incredible! When we first got here I was a little apprehensive to let loose and let my guard down, but once Ella’s boyfriend Tommy bought us the first few drinks and the alcohol hit me, I haven’t stopped dancing.
The speakers around the club rattle the walls as ‘Don’t Stop - DJ HEARTSTRING, southstar’ plays out to the crowd and strobe lights illuminate everyone as a smoked filled haze surrounds us. Sweat drips from everyone as the humidity in the air reaches a high.
I close my eyes and breathe in as I completely let go and feel every single beat of the music, letting it move through me as the girls dance beside me.
I have missed this. Feeling this free. This is why I love music, specifically this kind of music. Alina and I always used to blast cheesy hardcore rave songs when we were younger and it quickly turned into finding DJs we loved, music that made us feel lifted, made us forget any troubles we had, that completely took over us, and we soon became obsessed with going to clubs and raves at any opportunity.
The music mixes into ‘Chihiro - Gravagerz’ and I smile, eyes still closed and continue dancing, forgetting absolutely everything back in New York.
I’m so lost to the music it takes me a minute to realise someone has moved in behind me, grinding against me and their hands land on my hips. I immediately know it isn’t one ofthe girls and I turn around quickly to find it’s one of Tommy’s friends.
I didn’t catch his name, none of us spoke to the guys who came to pick us up from the airport or the group that arrived after us tonight.
I push him back a little from me but he doesn’t get the hint, he moves towards me again smiling down at me with a hint of nastiness behind it.
“Dude, get the fuck away from her, she doesn’t want to dance with you.” Alina shouts at him over the music. He just laughs in her face as she steps in front of me while Gigi pulls me closer to her.
“You wanna dance then?” He says to Alina as he reaches down and pulls her towards him by her ass.
Oh no.
All I see is Alina smiling at him and not in a friendly way, but in the way she smiles for herself because she’s going to enjoy what she does next.
I don’t have time to grab her and pull her back before she leans back a little and punches the guy straight on the jaw. She did it so quick, he has no clue what’s happened for a few seconds before his senses come back and grabs her by her throat.
“Think you’re fuckin’ tough you stupid bitch?”
He’s right in her face now and she claws at his hands. Gigi and I quickly grab at his arm and she tries to kick him in his groin but he’s holding Alina too close to him. I try to unwrap his hand from Alina’s neck, and despite her face now turning slightly red, she brings a hand up to his face and scratches down one side of him before trying to stick her fingers in his eyes. Why the hell is nobody around us stepping in to stop him?
I see Ella and Mia running to Tommy and his group to get their attention meanwhile Alina’s eyes start rolling back in herhead and this guy doesn’t let up on her despite Gigi and I doing everything we can.
I start to panic and look all around us for someone to help, but everyone just steps away and looks the other direction. I see another guy who’s backed up from us standing there with a bottle in his hand and without thinking, I grab the bottle from him and use all the strength I have to smash it over this guys head. He finally lets go of Alina and Gigi catches her before she drops to the ground just as Ella, Mia and Tommy make it to us just as blood pours from his friend’s face.
“What the FUCK are you doing Finn?” Tommy snarls in his face as he grabs him by the back of the neck and walks him off through the crowd towards a set of doors at the back of the club.
Ella helps Gigi walk Alina through the crowd to the exit and Mia grabs my hand to pull me out behind them.
“Ella who the hell does your boyfriend concern himself with?” Gigi shouts as we pile outside onto the street and I check that Alina is okay.
