Mike still thought he had the clear advantage. He climbed into the ring, “alright, let’s get this over with, but don’t be mad at me when I mess up her pretty face and she’s got nothing else going for her. I can’t believe you guys are du mb enough to let me wreck her face.”
We ail saw it. The switch flipped. We knew that look. Mike was in trouble and didn’t even know it. Even Chris and Keith saw it. Their eyes went wide as they watched her climb into the ring with Mike, I glanced at all the guys, who had stepped closer to the ring. They were all angry as well. Whatever happened, this was not going to end well for Mike today. It might be Mike’s last day. Viktor stepped in the ring, explained the rules to Mike, then moved to a corner to be out of the way. He stayed in to be able to pull her off Mike when needed, because we all knew that was coming.
Mike, still cocky as ever, walked toward Sephie. He thought his size was a clear advantage over her, which meant this was likely going to be over with quickly. She waited for him to throw the firs punch, which she dodged easily. She didn’t return a punchi either. He threw another, she dodged it, but waited. She’s playing with him. My heart might’ve swelled in my chest a little as I felt pride watching her.
The third time Mike threw a punch, she dodged it, then returned a quick hit to his ribs. She was controlling her anger better than we’d ever seen her. Mike coughed once, but tried to play it off. “Is that all you got, sweetheart? It’s going to take a lot more than a cheap shot to my ribs to take me down.”
“Careful what you wish for, mo therfucker,” Sephie said.
Her comeback only served to make him angrier. We watched as he lost control of it and his true side came out. He went on the offense once again, but she easily dodged most of his punches, never letting him land a square punch, making him even angrier that he couldn’t get to her. She was still playing defense, but I got the sense that she was learning his moves and what to expect from him. She allowed him to think he was getting to her, testing his strength, but on her terms instead of his. She would let his punches land, but would deflect them enough that she really wasn’t hurting from them.
“You seem to do a lot of running, little girl. This isn’t really that much of a challenge,” Mike said. While he said it wasn’t a challenge, he was breathing heavier than she was. She wasn’t even making a real effort yet. “You seem to think you can hang with the big boys, so why don’t you fight like one?” he said, moving closer to her to begin his next assault.
She didn’t give him time to comprehend what was happening. She switched to offense so quickly that it was hard to keep track of her movements, even for those us watching. She landed so many hits in such a short amount of time that he was stumbling. backward before he knew what was happening. He did manage to gain his footing and tried to stand his ground. He threw a punch that I thought for a split second was going to land squarely on her jaw. She moved at the last second, grabbing his arm, using it as leverage to lift herself higher. She landed a kick on his thigh, effectively taking his knee out from under him. She still had a hold of his arm as he went down. She bent his arm backward behind his back, making it almost impossible for him to get out of her hold. Any normal man would’ve realized he was beaten, but this was Mike and his ego couldn’t let go yet.
His adrenaline kicked in, giving him a surge of energy. He jumped to his feet. Sephie let go of him as he jumped up, a smile on her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing coming faster now. She walked to Viktor, pulling her shirt off and handing it to him. We saw Viktor say something quietly to her as he took her shirt. She simply nodded her head and walked back toward
Mike.
Misha said, loud enough for Mike to hear him, “you better be careful, Mike. She’ll fu ck you up if you don’t tap out next time.”
Mike just glared at Misha, but said nothing. I glanced at Chris and Keith. Their jaws dropped when they saw Sephie’s scars. I knew Mike had brought all her anger to the surface, if she was willing to show them her scars. I was glad to see it. She needed to know that her scars made her stronger, not weaker.
Mike looked at Sephie, now just in a sports bra. He was sweating, his breathing was heavy. He was clearly struggling more than she was. “You’re taking your shirt off now to try and distract me? You can’t spread your legs and use your sexual charms to get me to do your bidding like you do the rest of these guys. Unlike your harem of men, I don’t want to take a ride on the village bike, little wh ore.”
Adrik
I felt my anger coming to the surface now. I made a move toward the ring. I don’t know how Sephie knew, because she couldn’t see me, but she looked to me immediately and put her hand up, signaling she was fine. I glanced to Ivan, who was just as angry as I was. This was going to be Mike’s last day, regardless of how this turned out.
Misha, always the instigator, said to Sephie in Russian, “I warned him, gazelle. If you don’t end him, we will.” She turned to look at Misha. One side of her mouth curled up into a half-smile and she winked at him. She was in total control.
Mike used her momentary lack of focus to launch his next attack. He rushed her, grabbing her, trying to take her to the ground. She used his momentum to flip him over and off her. He scrambled to his feet quickly, looking somewhat surprised. She didn’t give him time to get his bearings. She was a flurry of hits and kicks, pushing him back toward the ropes. She landed every single punch and every single kick on him. His nose was likely broken at this point. He was going to have at least one black eye, maybe two. She landed one kick on his ribs and we all heard the crack. She heard it too and she focused on that area, landing multiple kicks, inflicting the maximum amount of pain. At this point, he could barely see. He could only try to protect his head and his torso as best he could. He still wouldn’t give up, though.
She took out his knee again, causing him to go down once more. She paused, asking him, “wanna reconsider your opinion of me yet?”
He spit out blood toward her. “Fu ck you, wh ore.” He mumbled something after that I didn’t quite catch, but Sephie clearly did.
She delivered a kick straight to his head, causing him to crash to the mat as he lost consciousness. He might’ve been dead. I found myself not caring. Viktor walked to her with a towel to wipe Mike’s blood off her with and handed her shirt back to her. I walked into the ring, standing next to her, looking down at Mike. I looked to Viktor, “he’s done here. If he wakes up, make sure he understands he won’t next time if I ever see him in this city again,” I said.
Sephie looked at me. I could still see the anger in her eyes. It was almost like they had changed color. The brown in her eyes was more prominent and darker. The soft green and blue rings were almost non-existent. She looked intimidating. I found myself completely turned on by it. She looked to Viktor, then back at me. She said, in Russian, “he’s done on this earth. He’s not going to let this go, ever. He’ll either spend the rest of his life trying to get to me or he’ll run to Sal to tell him everything he knows about us. Or both. He can’t walk out of this building.”
Viktor looked at her, the look of a proud older brother on his face. “You both are assuming he’s going to wake up. Ten bucks says he’s already dead.”
Chris and Keith walked into the ring. Chris went to check Mike’s vitals as we were still standing over him. Keith looked at Sephie, saying, “I had no idea he had that much hatred for you, Sephie. He’s always been a d ick to women, but this was a new level, even for him. He deserved every bit of that. He never would’ve stopped.”
Chris looked at Sephie. “I hated that guy.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Hated? As in past tense?”
He nodded his head. “No pulse. I think that last kick to the head did him in.”She stood frozen for a moment. Her expression was blank. She then looked at Viktor, saying in English, “I guess I owe you ten bucks, Papa Bear.”
Ivan, Andrel, Stephen, and Misha stepped into the ring as well. While they were trying to be somber, as they weren’t sure how Sephle was going to handle knowing she just killed a guy, I could clearly see the pride on all their faces, She looked at them, still in shock.
Ivan, ever the wise one, said, “Sephie, he sealed his fate the second he called you a wh ore. If you hadn’t ended him, we would have. There was no walking out of here alive for him today. You just delivered his sentence, Princess.” His face softened when he said that last sentence. It was exactly what she needed to hear as we watched the switch flip back. She walked quickly to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his good shoulder. He held her against him tightly with his good arm, whispering something to her that only she could hear. She took a deep breath and nodded her head, but kept her face in his shoulder. He had a small smile on his face as he said one more thing to her quietly that made her laugh. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but smiling. She reached up and kissed his cheek.
“Oh God I’m using my sexual charms again!” she said, dramatically. “Somebody please stop me.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.