Chapter 33
BELLA
The Pit – Northvale University
Cade’s hand is wrapped around mine. His thumb strokes lazily over my knuckles like he’s soothing something in me he can’t see but feels anyway.
Ellie, Haley, and Knox follow close behind us.
We’re walking into the belly of Redspire Mansion, down a set of stone stairs that leads to a door guarded by two men in suits with Hollow King rings glinting on their fingers.
No one says a word as we pass, they just nod at Cade.
Apparently, we’re expected.
“Why does this feel like we’re walking into hell?” Haley says, pausing a beat before she adds, “A beautiful hell, but still.”
The doors swing open. It hits me all at once, the heat, bass, and light.
The Pit isn’t what I expected. It’s better.
The walls are jet-black, matte and seamless as if they swallowed the light and liked it.
Red accents pulse behind sharp architectural cutouts, looking like veins under skin.
The lighting doesn’t glow, it burns. Overhead, spotlights slice through faint trails of smoke, casting everything in crimson and shadow.
The floor is polished concrete, stained the color of dried blood. Elevated ringside seating curves around the four-sided ring in the center. Thick bands of black and red wrap the perimeter like a warning.
It’s like a Roman coliseum redesigned by a billionaire sadist, all brutal elegance and high-stakes spectacle.
It’s dark.
Violent.
Sexy.
We wind down closer to the ring, where black velvet ropes part for us. Cade leads me to our reserved seats, one of the best seats in the house. Dead center with a perfect view of the ring. Knox slides in next to Haley, already checking the lighting rig above.
Ellie’s sits on the other side of me, taking it all in, “Okay… this is not what I expected. It’s giving billionaire fight club meets Satan’s VIP lounge.”
We’re barely settled when she shows up. Madison Rae Holloway. And, of course, her two backup dancers, Barbie 2.0 and Botox Lite, flanking her like a clearance aisle Mean Girls reboot.
“Well, well, well,” Madison mocks, stopping right in front of us with a sneer that makes my knuckles itch. “Who in the world let you bitches in here?”
Haley scoffs under her breath. Ellie just crosses one leg over the other, calm and unbothered like a rich cat at a peasant party.
I lean back slowly in my chair, arching a brow. “Wow. No warm-up? No hello? Straight to the hostility, Maddie Rae, that’s not very hospitable of you.”
She scowls. “This is Hollow Kings territory, sweetheart. Not some Wexley dance circle.”
“Oh,” I say, mockingly concerned. “Then what exactly are you doing here? You’re not a King, Mads.”
Her jaw ticks. Behind her, the blonde one glares at me like she wants to bite, but I’m pretty sure she couldn’t even chew a protein bar without cracking a veneer.
Maddie steps closer. “You don’t belong here.”
“And yet, here I am. Front row. VIP. Funny how that works.”
Her eyes drop to Cade’s hand on my thigh, fingers curled possessively as he squeezes. Her laugh is sharp and fake as hell.
“You cannot be serious, Cade. You… with her?”
Before I can answer, Cade beats me to it. “Us with her Maddie. Lex wants Bella just as much as I do.” Then he turns my chin and kisses me. Deep. Open. Tongue and heat and a little bit of showmanship just for her.
Maddie’s face twists. “Ugh. You’re lying,” she screeches.
“Oh honey, my brother never lies.” Ellie leans in, voice pure sugar with a bite of venom.
Maddie makes a disgusted noise and storms off in a cloud of hairspray and fury, her clones flouncing behind her like little mean-girl ducklings.
I settle back into my seat, lips tingling, and grin. “That was fun.”
The lights strobe overhead, blinding white and pulsing like a heartbeat. The crowd hushes as a distorted voice crackles over the speakers.
“Welcome to Fight Night here at The Pit.”
Cheers erupt from every corner, the energy is sharp and charged. But the lighting and the theatrics, it’s all so underwhelming.
Knox leans over, lips near Haley’s ear but loud enough for all of us to hear. “God, can you imagine what I could do with an arena like this? This place would be fucking fire.”
Ellie snorts and Haley lets out a low, “Preach,” as she slips an arm through his.
Cade pulls me into his side. He presses a soft kiss to my temple and something tight in my chest loosens.
I lean back just enough to meet his eyes. “You ready for this?”
He nods once, sure and steady. “Everything’s set, sweetheart. Trust me. Damien hates The Revenants just as much as you do.”
I smirk. “Good. Because this night, is about to be legendary.”
He leans in and brushes his lips over mine. It’s just a whisper of a kiss but enough to leave a spark behind. “They’re not ready for you, Bella.”
The first fight ends with a brutal, bloody punch and a roar from the crowd. One guy gets carried out, the other raises his fists like he just conquered Rome. But before the crowd can settle, the DJ’s voice roars over the speakers again.
“All right, who’s ready for something sexy?” The DJ draws it out like a sleazy game show host. “Please welcome Northvale’s very own… The Revenants!”
A few cheers, mostly from the NU side of the room. Then the opening beat of “Disco Inferno” by 50 Cent drops. Madison Rae and her two try-hard lackeys strut out like it’s their Super Bowl.
Oh no. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t. Fucking. Laugh.
Their outfits are tight, shiny, and completely mismatched. Madison’s top looks like it was yanked out of a clearance bin at a stripper convention.
They start dancing, if you can call it that, and I’m instantly in pain. It’s overdone. Off-beat. One of them nearly trips on her own heel. Maddie flicks her hair like she’s headlining a Vegas burlesque show and starts air-humping the floor like her life depends on it.
Haley leans in, voice deadpan. “Good lord, Maddie looks like she’s trying to have an orgasm out there.”
Cade chokes on his laugh, covering his mouth. Ellie looks personally offended.
That’s when I notice a guy cutting through the crowd like a blade. He’s huge, at least six-five, with broad shoulders and muscle for days. His hair is so blonde it’s nearly white, cropped short on the sides and tousled up top like he just rolled out of bed and still somehow looks like sin.
But it’s his eyes that freeze me, icy-greenish-blue, sharp and otherworldly.
Mesmerizing.
Dangerous.
His left arm is a masterpiece of black and gray ink.
Modern, architectural, and lethal in its precision.
The centerpiece on his bicep is the Hollow Kings crest: a crowned skull framed by a laurel wreath, two crossed swords behind it, and the Latin phrase In Tenebris Regnat—He reigns in darkness—etched beneath like a battle standard.
Faint, geometric outlines of Russian Orthodox domes rise just behind the crest, stylized and sharp, as if drafted straight from a blueprint.
He stops at our row. “Whitmore.”
Cade looks up. “Damien.”
The guy raises an unimpressed brow. “Good God, man. Call me Rez. We’ve been over this shit.”
His eyes turn to me. “And you must be Bella.”
He takes my hand and kisses it with obnoxious flair.
Cade grumbles, “Bella, this is Dam—I mean, Rez. Lex’s cousin. Co-leader of the Hollow Kings.”
Rez flashes a grin. “Guilty.”
Then he jerks his chin toward the disaster on stage. “Look, I’ll just get right to it because I’m up soon. First, per your request, he is in the dark. Completely and utterly clueless.”
I look at Cade and smile.
“And like I said on the phone,” Rez continues. “We’ve been trying to hype this place back up. Fight Nights used to be insane. Now? Fights are still good, but… let’s be honest.”
Knox leans in, grinning from ear to ear, all cocky and smug as hell, “You mean you want Row-level shit up in here.”
Rez sighs. “As much as I hate to admit it, yes. I’ve seen your Row parties on the live stream.
That’s the kind of energy we need. The lighting, the music, the fights, and the girls.
We’ve got a major donor event in the fall and if we can’t blow it out of the fucking water, it will not look good on me, or Lex.
Do you think you are up for the challenge? ”
I smile sweetly, “What all do you need from me?”
“We pull in the same fighters each week to fight The Hollow Kings. We need bigger names, bigger fighters. No offense to the schools around here but it’s not cutting it. That and entertainment between fights.”
“I think we can work something out. I have a few fighters in mind.” I say getting a side eye form Knox.
“Glad to hear it, Izzy,” Rez says.
My entire body goes still. “What did you just call me?”
Rez raises a brow, unfazed. “Izzy?”
Knox sits up straighter, muscles taut like he’s ready to launch across the floor. Haley immediately drops a hand to his thigh, calming him. Ellie suddenly cannot sit still, eyes narrowing with razor precision.
Even Cade’s looking around now completely confused. “Uh, am I miss—”
“Her fucking name is Bella,” Knox’s voice cuts him off.
Rez shrugs, all casual arrogance. “Eh. I like Izzy better. Has bite. Like you.”
Cade grabs my leg again, clearly unimpressed. “Careful, Rez.”
“Relax, Whitmore. I don’t poach. Just admire.” He winks at me. “You’re a lot more interesting than Maddie Rae made you sound.”
I cross my arms, “Let me guess. She said I’m crazy, slutty, and not Hollow Kings material?”
“Pretty much. But now that I’ve met you…”
He steps a little closer, just enough to test boundaries. “I’m thinking Maddie Rae might be even more full of shit than usual. Can’t wait to see what you girls bring. Who knows…”
His mouth curls into something that toes the line between a smirk and a dare. “Maybe I’ll let you girls replace The Revenants in The Pit. We could think of tonight as your official interview.”