“Emily?”

Her voice came through faintly.

“Can you come get me?”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. I just want to leave.”

Marcus knew his sister.

He knew the difference between embarrassment and fear.

“Where are you?”

“Ironclad.”

“Are you hurt?”

A pause.

“My knee.”

Marcus turned the truck around.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

When he arrived, he found the demonstration still continuing.

Emily was on the floor.

Ryan was standing above her.

Several spectators were filming.

Marcus did not remember walking through the cage door.

He remembered only the words that came out of his mouth.

“Move away from her.”

Now Ryan stood inches from him.

The crowd waited.

Victor finally entered.

“Okay, everybody. That’s enough.”

Ryan glanced toward him.

“Relax, Coach. We’re talking.”

Victor looked at Marcus.

“Sir, you can’t just enter the training area.”

Marcus pointed toward Emily.

“She asked him to stop.”

Victor looked uncomfortable.

“We were running a demonstration.”

“She said stop.”

Ryan laughed.

“You gonna cry about it?”

Marcus turned toward him.

“No.”

“Then what?”

Marcus took a breath.

“I want you to apologize to her.”

The gym went silent.

Ryan stared.

Then he laughed so loudly that several spectators joined him.

“Apologize?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“For hurting someone who trusted this place to teach her.”

Ryan shook his head.

“Man, you walked into the wrong gym.”

Marcus didn’t answer.

Ryan looked around.

“Anybody got a camera on this?”

Several phones moved closer.

Ryan smiled.

“Good.”

He turned back to Marcus.

“Here’s the deal. You want to teach me manners? Put on gloves.”

“No.”

“Scared?”

“No.”

“Then why not?”

Marcus looked toward Emily.

“Because I came to take my sister home.”

Ryan’s smile widened.

“Oh, she’s your sister.”

He turned toward the spectators.

“Now it makes sense.”

Then he said something that made Marcus’s expression change.

“Maybe if her brother wasn’t such a coward, she wouldn’t be one either.”

Emily closed her eyes.

She knew what was coming.

Marcus stood completely still.

Ryan mistook the silence for weakness.

He stepped closer.

“You hear me?”

Marcus answered.

“Yes.”

“Then do something.”

Marcus looked at Victor.

“Are you going to let him keep doing this?”

Victor hesitated.

“Ryan, back off.”

Ryan ignored him.

He placed one hand against Marcus’s chest.

It wasn’t a hard shove.

It was a deliberate insult.

Marcus looked down at the hand.

Then back at Ryan.

“Take your hand off me.”

Ryan leaned forward.