Chapter 15 - ROUND SEVENDarius didn't throw the first punch.
That was unusual.
Cole circled.
Darius followed.
The crowd sensed the change but didn't understand it.
Cole jabbed.
Darius blocked.
They clinched.
Darius whispered, "I'm sorry."
Cole's heart dropped.
Then Darius continued.
"Finish it."
Cole pulled back.
Their eyes met.
Darius gave the slightest nod.
Cole understood.
Darius wasn't agreeing to be knocked out.
He was releasing himself.
Fight me.
For real.
Cole stepped forward.
Darius fired a right hand.
Cole slipped outside it and drove a hook into the ribs.
Darius exhaled sharply.
Roman stood.
Cole attacked again.
Left jab.
Right cross.
Darius answered with an uppercut.
Cole's head snapped back.
The crowd exploded.
For forty seconds they fought without Roman.
No deals.
No debts.
No predetermined ending.
Just two boxers.
Darius landed.
Cole landed harder.
Roman was shouting now.
Cole couldn't hear the words.
Darius could.
For one fraction of a second Darius glanced ringside.
That was all Cole needed.
Right hand.
Straight down the center.
Darius staggered.
Cole followed.
Left hook.
Right cross.
Darius hit the ropes.
The referee watched closely.
Cole didn't swing wildly.
He remembered twenty years of training.
Balance.
Distance.
Patience.
Darius tried a desperate counter.
Cole slipped.
Then saw it.
The opening.
The same opening he'd imagined in the training room when Roman pushed three million dollars toward him.
Cole planted his feet.
Right hand.
Clean.
Darius fell.
The sound vanished.
Not literally.
But inside Cole's mind everything became silent.
The referee waved him toward the neutral corner.
"ONE!"
Darius rolled.
"TWO!"
Roman stood frozen.
"THREE!"
Darius pushed to one knee.
"FOUR!"
Cole stared.
Part of him wanted Darius to rise.
"FIVE!"
Darius lifted his head.
"SIX!"
He tried standing.
His leg failed.
"SEVEN!"
He reached for the ropes.
"EIGHT!"
Darius pulled himself upright.
The referee looked into his eyes.
"Walk to me."
Darius took one step.
Stumbled.
The referee waved it off.
The arena erupted.
Cole Maddox had won.
Not in the seventh round by surrender.
In the seventh round by knockout.
Exactly as he had promised Roman.
Cole didn't celebrate immediately.
He walked to Darius.
Helped him sit.
"You okay?"
Darius nodded.
Then started laughing.
Cole stared.
Darius looked toward Roman.
"We did it."
May you like
Only then did Cole turn.
Roman Drake was no longer smiling.
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