“You escape them.”

“Different.”

Cassidy nodded.

She understood.

Later, after families left, Amaya helped tape boxes.

She looked at Cassidy.

“Do you want another belt?”

“Yes.”

The answer came immediately.

Lena glanced over.

Cassidy:
“What?”

“Nothing.”

Amaya:
“Then why did you put old one in closet?”

“Because wanting another doesn’t mean old one has to stare at me every morning.”

Amaya thought.

“That makes sense.”

Cassidy:
“Thank you.”

Lena:
“Careful. She’ll start charging.”

Amaya:
“I will.”

They laughed.

On the drive back to Apex Forge, Cassidy thought about that answer.

She still wanted titles.

She still wanted bigger fights.
Better purses.
Main events.
A national belt.

Humility had not erased ambition.

It had only changed what ambition was allowed to excuse.

That felt important.

At the gym, Theo was replacing a broken vacuum belt.

Lena changed into work shoes.

Cassidy headed toward locker room.

Before turning corner, she saw the mop leaning against supply cabinet.

For one strange second, she remembered exactly how she had looked at it that first night.

As proof.

Proof Lena knew less.
Proof Lena belonged lower.
Proof Cassidy had earned the right to dismiss.

Now it was only a tool.

A useful one.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

Cassidy stopped.

“Lena.”

“Yes?”

“I was thinking about something.”

“Danger.”

Cassidy smiled.

“If you had never won a fight, would you still have corrected my heel?”

Lena thought.

“Probably.”

“Would you still have been right?”

“Yes.”

Cassidy nodded.

There it was.

The belt had explained how Lena knew.

It had never been what made the observation true.

Lena:
“You finally figured that?”

“Apparently.”

“Took a while.”

“Very.”

Lena:
“Good.”

Cassidy groaned.

Then both laughed.

She went to train.

Gavin held pads.

Cassidy worked calmly.

Jab.
Cross.
Low kick.

Her heel stayed quiet until hip turned.

Again.

Again.

No rush.

When she got clipped by a return pad, she did not try to erase it.

She reset.

Across the room, Lena started her shift.

Neither woman watched the other for several minutes.

They did not need to.

The lesson had already moved from conversation into habit.

And that was where it belonged.

At closing, Cassidy finished first and packed her gloves.

Lena was wiping the front desk.

Owen counted cash.

Theo locked the side entrance.

Nothing important seemed to be happening.

Cassidy liked that.

She slung bag over shoulder.

“Night.”

Lena:
“Night.”

Cassidy reached door.

Then turned.

“One question.”

Lena sighed theatrically.

“One.”

“If you could go back to title night, would you do anything different?”

Lena leaned on cloth.

“Which part?”

“After you won.”

She thought.

“I would’ve slept before answering every phone call.”

Cassidy laughed.

“That’s it?”

“I gave interviews until three.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Then drove airport?”