By his eighth Christmas at the mall, Arthur had become something of a local tradition.

Children returned every December.

Parents remembered him.

Mall employees called him the best Santa they had ever hired.

Nobody knew his past.

Almost nobody.

Emily Parker knew.

The twenty-nine-year-old operations manager had discovered it accidentally while helping the charity organize its historical records.

Inside a storage cabinet, she found an old newspaper clipping.

The photograph showed a younger Arthur Bell holding a championship trophy.

The headline read:

ARTHUR “THE ANCHOR” BELL WINS FIFTH NATIONAL JUDO TITLE.

Emily had nearly dropped the newspaper.

She confronted Arthur the next morning.

“Why didn’t you tell anybody?”

Arthur shrugged.

“Would it change how well I play Santa?”

“No, but that’s not the point!”

“Then what’s the point?”

Emily stared at him.

She never found a good answer.

Arthur asked her to keep the discovery private.

She agreed.

And for four years, she kept her promise.

Until Derek Sloan walked into Northbridge Mall.

Chapter 3: The Fighter Who Needed an Audience

Derek Sloan wasn’t a bad fighter.

That was the frustrating part.

He was genuinely talented.

He trained six days a week, understood striking combinations, and possessed the kind of explosive athleticism that couldn’t be manufactured through social media.

He had earned his regional championship.

But somewhere between winning his first title and gaining his first hundred thousand followers, Derek had begun treating the entire world like an opponent.

His professional record was impressive.

His personal behavior was not.

He insulted strangers.

He filmed arguments.

He interrupted other athletes’ training sessions.

He challenged people who had never expressed any interest in fighting.

And every time somebody backed away, Derek called it another victory.

His father encouraged it.

Graham Sloan was a wealthy businessman who owned several fitness facilities and had recently invested in a company developing commercial entertainment properties.

He had raised Derek on one philosophy.

“Nobody remembers the second-place guy.”

Whenever Derek lost a competition as a teenager, Graham barely spoke to him afterward.

Whenever he won, his father rewarded him.

New shoes.

Expensive watches.

Cars.

Trips.

Eventually, Derek learned a simple lesson.