An Iron-Body Fighter Told Single Mom "Your Punches Are Useless" — She Was Down, 6 Seconds Later He Regretted!
Chapter 24
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For a moment, the whole gym freezes: Gus half-rises out of his chair, alarmed; Dot's hand flies to her mouth; Ray Petroski takes a stumbling step forward, though his knees won't carry him fast enough to matter; the cameraman lowers his phone all the way, clearly unsure whether he's even supposed to be filming this part anymore.Callie sits on the floor for a moment, stunned more than hurt, staring up at Bronson standing over her. Somewhere above the front desk, unnoticed by everyone in that room, a small camera keeps quietly recording—the way it's recorded every ordinary, uneventful day for the past two years, waiting without knowing it for a moment exactly like this one.Bronson looks down at her, something flickering across his face that might, for half a second, be regret. It's gone before it can settle into anything real. "Should have watched where you were standing," he says, though his voice lacks its usual bite. He turns and walks out, cameraman trailing behind, already muttering something about editing later.Silas is at Callie's side in seconds, helping her up, his grip firm and steady despite the years in his hands. "You all right?" he asks."I'm fine," she says, though her voice shakes slightly, adrenaline finally catching up to her.Silas doesn't say much else; he just holds her steady until she finds her footing again, his eyes fixed on the door Bronson just walked through, something dark and controlled burning behind his usual patience. "Tomorrow," he says quietly, almost to himself, "that man is going to learn something he should have figured out a long time ago."Callie looks up at him, still a little shaken, still processing everything the last three days have thrown at her—the rumors, the threat to Gus, the fall. "What's that?" she asks.Silas helps her to a chair before answering, his voice low, steady, certain in a way she's never quite heard from him before: "That some of the quietest people in a room," he says, "have been carrying more than anybody bothered to notice."Around them, the gym slowly comes back to life: Gus reaches over and squeezes Callie's hand once, gruff and wordless, the closest thing to comfort a man his age knows how to offer without embarrassing either of them; Dot busies herself wiping down a counter that doesn't need wiping just to have something to do with her hands; Ray mutters something about Bronson under his breath that isn't fit for polite company.Marge, who witnessed the whole thing from the treadmill, walks over slowly, arms still crossed, though her face has softened considerably from the guarded look she wore that morning. "I should have said something sooner," Marge says about the rumor. "I let it sit in my head a whole day before I told you, and I'm sorry for that.""You don't owe me an apology, Marge.""I think I do. Watching that man put his hands on you just now, I understood something I should have understood already: whatever he's saying about you and that jar, it's not the truth. A man who'd do that in front of witnesses isn't above lying about anything else."