Black Belt Tried to Embarrass a Single Mom During Sparring—Then She Changed Her Fighting Stance
Chapter 4
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For the next 2 minutes, Derek subjected her to a masterclass in humiliation. He didn't hit her hard, but he hit her constantly. He used his foot to slap her lead leg, completely off-balancing her. He threw feints that made her flinch and close her eyes in panic. He trapped her against the cage wall and unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire, light slaps to her guard, overwhelming her senses and making her look utterly helpless.The rest of the gym had stopped their own sparring to watch. Some looked uncomfortable, feeling bad for the mother being toyed with, but nobody intervened. Derek was the alpha of the mats, and challenging him meant becoming his next target.With 30 seconds left on the clock, Derek decided he was bored with the game. He wanted a highlight."All right, playtime's over," he muttered.As Diana stepped forward, completely off-balance, Derek threw a stiff, lightning-fast lead hook. It wasn't full power, but it was far harder than flow sparring. The punch bypassed her wide guard and cracked sharply against the side of her nose, just under the rim of her headgear.The impact snapped Diana's head back. She stumbled backward, her heel catching the edge of the mat, and she fell hard onto her rear.A collective gasp echoed in the gym. Coach Brendan took a step forward, his face flushing with anger. "Derek, what the hell was that?"Derek threw his hands up innocently. "She walked right into it! I barely touched her, Coach. She just has terrible balance."Diana sat on the mat, her ears ringing slightly. She brought a gloved hand to her face and pulled it away. There was a bright crimson smear of blood on the white leather. Her nose was bleeding.She looked up, her vision slightly blurred, and her eyes found the glass wall of the viewing room. Toby was standing up, his hands pressed flat against the glass. He was crying. The sight of his mother on the floor, bleeding and being laughed at by the tall, scary man, had broken the little boy's heart. It was a mirror image of the trauma they had spent the last 2 years trying to escape.Time seemed to slow down in the Grindhouse Combat Club. The heavy bass of the music faded into a dull thrum. The laughter from Kyle and Jason sounded miles away. Diana stared at the drop of blood on her glove.She had spent the last 5 years trying to forget who she was. After she changed her name to hide from her ex-husband, she swore she would never tap into that dark, violent part of her past again. Before the abusive marriage, before the corporate job, before motherhood, she was someone else entirely.Ten years ago, training under a legendary, ruthless Dutch kickboxing trainer in the gritty underground gyms of Amsterdam, she wasn't a fragile soccer mom. She was a ghost, a weapon. And she had buried that weapon because she thought it made her unlovable.But looking at her son's tears, a profound, chilling realization washed over her. Playing the victim wasn't protecting Toby. It was just teaching him how to bleed.Diana didn't wait for Coach Brendan to come help her up. She placed one hand on the canvas and rose to her feet in a single fluid motion. She didn't brush off her pants. She didn't apologize. She reached up and unfastened the chin strap of her bulky beginner-issue headgear, pulling it off and tossing it carelessly onto the floor.