Chapter Thirty-Three

 

Faith

 

Dominic and Sean exchanged heated words, and I could only imagine what they were. It was clear there was some bad blood between them. Dominic attacked first and pummeled Sean, striking him hard on the side of the face. Sean laughed and spit blood onto the mat. Dominic didn’t stop there, he kept going.

Sean reciprocated by rearing back and kicking Dominic in the shin, before slicing his hand across his back, blood pouring out in rivers and catching at the waistband of Dominic’s shorts. The crowd cheered in delight and it made me sick.

Gasping, I tried to charge forward but Isaiah tightened his grip on me and leaned down to growl in my ear. “You can’t go up there. Don’t be stupid.”

Fighting against his hold, I gritted my teeth, watching Dominic’s blood pour freely. “Don’t you see that,” I shouted, waving my hands toward the ring. “This has to stop. It’s not fair. There’s something sharp sticking out of his gloves.” None of my screams could be heard through the deafening noise of the people surrounding me. My gaze landed on Cadoc’s and he grinned triumphantly. The people at the Kazakov table stared on in disgust, clearly not happy with what was going on. I thought for sure Viktor would stand up for Dominic, but he didn’t.

“I know it’s not fair,” Isaiah agreed. “None of this is. But Dominic agreed to fight. Now, let him do it.”

I didn’t want to let him do it. I wanted him safe and away from this place. It was too brutal, too malicious. The world moved in slow motion as I watched Dominic and Sean battle it out, blood blinding my vision. All I could see was red as Sean sliced Dominic’s skin over and over with whatever he had in his gloves. Dominic never flinched, just kept striking and kicking like nothing was amiss, like he wasn’t bleeding out all over the mat.

My breaths were all I could hear. I almost felt as if I was in a nightmare that I couldn’t awaken from. All I knew was that I had to get closer to the ring, to Reed and Micah. They would know what to do. The shouts from everyone around me echoed in my ears; it was so deafening I thought I’d go insane. Micah argued with William by the side of the ring and it looked as if they were going to fight.

Sean had taken Dominic down to the mat and I couldn’t see a damn thing. Isaiah was so close I could feel his arm against mine, but I was quick. I took off across the room, hearing his shouts behind me. There were so many people I didn’t get far before he caught up to me.

“Dammit, Faith. You can’t go up there. He’ll lose focus, you’ll make it worse.”

I glared down at his hand on my wrist. “Do you like your balls, Isaiah? Because if you do, I suggest you let me go.”

Focusing on the ring, he huffed and took my hand. “Fuck, I’m going to regret this. Let’s go.” He charged toward the ring and pushed us through the crowd a whole hell of a lot better than I could. The closer we got, the more scared I became. I could smell the blood.

Isaiah got us over to Reed and Micah, but Reed had to hold Micah back from William. It was a madhouse. Cadoc sat back in his chair, enjoying it all while everything fell apart. There was nothing but chaos. Even people in the crowd started to fight.

Marco rushed over to us and tried to keep me from looking in the ring. “Let’s get you out of here,” he shouted.

“No,” I screamed as I pushed past him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

My heart stopped in my chest when I looked inside the ring. Dominic was on the ground with Sean at his back, holding something up to his neck. It was small and silver … a razorblade. Dominic’s eyes met mine and it was as if something inside of him clicked. The muscles in his arms tightened and he pushed against Sean’s hold. Sean’s arm gave away inch by inch and his smile disappeared when he’d lost control. Dominic took Sean’s hand with the blade and jabbed it up into Sean’s cheek, slicing his skin completely open. Sean screamed and slammed a hand over his face, blood oozing out between his fingers.

Dominic was relentless. There was no mercy in those stormy gray eyes of his, only death. Instead of waiting on Sean to recover, he powerhouse kicked him in the side and Sean fell to his knees. Dominic slid down to the mat and wrapped his legs around Sean’s waist and his arms around his neck. Sean tried to speak, but couldn’t as his face turned bright red from lack of oxygen.

Sean’s fight started to fade and his skin began to turn blue, but Dominic didn’t look anywhere near done. “Dominic, no!” I screamed. “Let him go!”

He squeezed his eyes shut as if he heard me, but didn’t know if he should listen. I shouted his name again and again until his eyes focused on me. It was as if everything became clear to him. Sean’s body fell limp in his arms and he let him go. Even if Sean deserved to die for what he did, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his chest move; he was still alive. The fight was over and Dominic had won.

I looked over to where Cadoc had been seated and he was nowhere to be seen. Marco grabbed my shoulders. “Stay here, Faith. I have to help Dom.” As much as I wanted to go to Dominic, I knew I couldn’t. I could feel Cadoc’s eyes on me and knew he was close. Reed met my gaze from inside the ring and I could see the hesitance on his face. I smiled to give him reassurance, but I was far from feeling it.

The hair on the back of my neck tingled and the feel of a hand on my arm made me shudder. “It’s time to go, my dear.”

Cadoc’s voice was as smooth as silk, but it was poison. Slowly, I stepped away from the ring and he kept his hold on me as we walked to the door. I wanted to take one last look at Dominic, but William stepped in my way and held onto my other arm.

I was trapped.