Chapter 3 - THE FIRST BELL
At midnight, Cassidy stepped through the doors of Iron and Blood wearing the same black boxing shorts she had used during her final amateur season.
The warehouse gym beneath the Brooklyn Navy Yard smelled of leather, rust, and cigar smoke. Men stood around the ring exchanging folded bills.
Vincent waited between the ropes, shirtless and broad-shouldered.
Dominic stood near his corner.
When Cassidy approached, Vincent tossed her a pair of sixteen-ounce gloves.
“You still have time to leave.”
“So do you.”
Dominic laughed, but no one joined him.
Cassidy climbed through the ropes.
She had not fought competitively in four years. She had spent most of that time carrying trays, paying bills, and pretending she did not miss the clarity of a ring.
The bell sounded.
Vincent advanced immediately, expecting her to retreat.
Cassidy stepped toward him.
His first punch traveled wide. She moved outside it, drove a compact left into his ribs, then sent a straight right through the opening beneath his raised shoulder.
Vincent stumbled into the ropes.
The betting stopped.
Cassidy returned to the center of the ring.
“That was your weak side,” she said.
Vincent touched the corner of his mouth. A thin red mark appeared on his glove.
Then he smiled.
This time, it was not mockery.
The next three minutes were harder.
Vincent lacked Cassidy’s technique, but he had reach, weight, and years of experience hurting people in places without referees. His punches forced her backward. One struck her shoulder. Another caught the side of her head.
She remained upright.
Between rounds, she refused Dominic’s offered water and drank from the sealed bottle she had brought herself.
Dominic watched her more closely than Vincent did.
During the second round, Vincent trapped her near the ropes. Cassidy blocked two punches but absorbed a third against her body. Pain tightened beneath her ribs.
“You can quit,” he said.
“You first.”
She pivoted away and answered with a jab that forced him to reset.
By the third round, both were breathing heavily.
Vincent could have overwhelmed her if pride had not made him impatient. He chased the knockout. Cassidy let him.
When he loaded his right hand, she slipped inside, struck his body, and turned before he could hold her.
The final bell rang with Cassidy still standing.
No one cheered.
Vincent leaned against the ropes, studying her with a respect he appeared reluctant to name.
“Pay her,” he said.
Dominic did not move.
Vincent turned. “Did you misunderstand me?”
Dominic opened a metal case and counted out fifty thousand dollars.
Cassidy did not touch it.
“The agreement first.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “The debt has accumulated interest.”
Vincent stepped through the ropes.
“What interest?”
“Standard collection costs.”
“On a loan I never approved?”
Dominic lowered his voice. “This isn’t the place.”
“It became the place when you used my name.”
Cassidy removed the photocopied agreement from her jacket and handed it to Vincent.
He examined the fake seal and typed serial number.
“This code belongs to a private ledger,” he said.
Dominic’s eyes shifted toward him.
Vincent saw it.
“Bring me the ledger.”
“It isn’t here.”
“Then where is it?”
Dominic looked at Cassidy. “Ask her brother.”
Cassidy pulled off her gloves.
“What does Declan have?”
Dominic’s face settled into something colder.
“Property that doesn’t belong to him.”
Vincent turned the agreement over. On the back, faint pressure marks remained from whatever document had been written above it.
Names.
Payment amounts.
Dock numbers.
Cassidy recognized several companies connected to Vincent’s shipping operations.
This had never been one loan.
It was part of a larger system.
Vincent handed Cassidy the fifty thousand dollars.
“The debt is suspended until I see the books.”
“Suspended isn’t cleared.”
“It is tonight.”
“That’s not what we agreed.”
He looked at her bruised face.
“No one will approach you or your mother.”
“Your word?”
“My word.”
Cassidy glanced toward Dominic.
He was no longer humiliated.
He was frightened.
She took the money and the agreement.
Before leaving, she leaned close enough that only Vincent could hear.
“My mother witnessed the forged signature.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
May you like
Cassidy looked toward Dominic.
“And my brother has whatever he’s trying to hide.”
