this was the end for me as my fist moved swiftly until it punched my opponent in the nose. The crack gave me a sense of satisfaction as I lifted my leg to deliver another blow to his stomach.
The man went flying, a grunt escaping him as he crashed into the ground and skidded further back. As I lowered my leg and widened my stance, I was left a flinching mess as I immediately clenched the wound in my stomach, fighting for breath. It was as though my lungs were suddenly filling with liquid.
My body shook with adrenaline and the response of approaching death, but I ignored it as my fixed gaze settled on the man who fought to rise to his feet.
He looked at me in shock, as if he never expected that a woman as frail-looking as I could survive this long against him. He was a mass of muscle, and he reached a height of 6’0”. He was much larger than me, with my height of 5’5” and my slim frame. But that was always the first mistake of every opponent I’d faced.
The only difference here and now was that we weren't in the fighting ring.
The man readied himself to strike again, but his nostrils flared as he suddenly took an extra second to sniff the air. His eyes widened like he'd seen a ghost, and he let out a mix of curse words as he looked around, trying to find a way out.
I watched his frantic change of behavior while fighting the urge to fall back in defeat. However, I would never allow myself to do that in front of a man who played dirty. Whoever this person was, he thought killing me would somehow leave a hollow wound in the heart of that fucker I called Father.
The mere thought threatened to make me laugh at the idea of that man even shedding a tear for me. If it wasn't for my hidden talents and connections, I'd become just like my mom.
A useless waste of space that deserved to be chained and left in the dungeon for one thing only: to make babies.
She wasn't even good at that, and I was the one miracle baby he got.
If only he could see me now: his frail human daughter fighting against the big, bad wolf who thought he was doing all of NYC a favor.
No matter my insignificance, I knew one thing was for sure. If I perished tonight, all bets would be off and all of NYC would feel the wrath of the De Lucas.
I expected the man to run, but what he did was completely unexpected and left me attempting to run while I mentally cursed myself for not paying attention thanks to my damn imagination.
The loud sound of a gunshot roared through the forest, and my scream left my throat before I could stop it. That high, shrilling sound preceded the shot of pain that forced my body to crumble as I began to fall backward.
I hit the ground with a thump, but my eyes were wide open as they stared up at the starry sky. How could such a sight be so calm and peaceful when it could see me begin to struggle against the fight towards living?
My gasps were quick and breathy, while my eyes fought to stay open as they looked from side to side, as if more enemies were ready to pounce on me at any minute. I heard the rushing footsteps coming towards me, and I braced myself before I gathered my strength to combat the next attack.
I may have been wounded by a blade and a bullet, but put me in a close-combat moment and I'd prevail without question.
As if the very ground had heard my silent declaration, my opponent arrived on the scene, ready to stab me one more time with the blade that still dripped with my blood. My lips somehow managed to curl up in a smile as I lifted my hands up to stop him from his swift attack.
That shocked him as he sucked in a heap of air, but this was my golden moment to show him what a true sport I was being in letting him damage me to this extent. My fists moved quickly - almost blindingly - as I disabled the hand that held the blade and managed to get it into my possession.
The next thing either of us knew, I was stabbing him in the eye. His scream of agony