Chapter 2

I had lived for twenty years, and I honestly never expected to be some long-lost billionaire's daughter.

But what I expected even less was that my biological parents only brought me back to use me as a sacrificial lamb for a business merger.

Wearing my sweat-soaked tank top, I slammed a one-hundred-pound barbell plate onto the Summers' million-dollar marble floor.

Tiny cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the polished stone. The entire living room fell dead silent.

My biological parents, who had prepared a lecture on "high-society rules" to put me in my place, were now staring blankly at my engorged biceps.

Eleanor, my biological mother, was the first to react. Pinching her nose in disgust, she took a step back.

"Roxy! Is this how that street coach raised you? You reek of sweat and look completely savage! You don't have a single ounce of femininity!"

Richard, my biological father, kept his face dark. He didn't bother beating around the bush and threw a marriage contract onto the table.

"Enough. Let's make this quick. Our family's real estate empire is facing a massive liquidity crisis. We need the Vance family's bailout. Damian Vance is looking for a wife. Since you're back, you're taking Chloe's place."

I raised an eyebrow.

On the way here, the chauffeur had given me the rundown on this Damian Vance.

Supposedly, the guy had severe intermittent explosive disorder and a serious penchant for violence. He was completely unpredictable. He had driven away ten fiancées, and rumor had it two of them were still recovering in the ICU.

Simply put, whoever married him was going to be a human punching bag.

Chloe, who had been sobbing in the corner of the sofa, suddenly stopped crying.

She looked at my thighs, which were wider than her waist, and then at the bulging veins on my arms as I casually spun the barbell plate with one hand. She scrambled behind Richard, trembling.

"Dad... wait. No matter how violent Damian is, he's still just a human."

Chloe's voice shook. "If Roxy goes... Damian might actually get killed. Shouldn't we... leave the man a survival option?"

Julian sneered, pointing a finger directly at my face.

"Chloe, you're overthinking this! She's just a white-trash girl from the slums. What does she have besides brute force? Damian is surrounded by elite bodyguards. What could she possibly do?"

He glared at me. "Roxy, let me warn you. Don't think you're hot shit just because you can fight. Once you're at the Vance estate, you better lock up your savage attitude. Even if he tortures you, you will smile and take it! Otherwise, you'll drag our entire family down with you!"

I stared at Julian coldly, cracking my knuckles one by one. Crack. Crack. Crack.

Julian flinched, his face turning pale as he stumbled two steps backward.

"That's enough!"

Richard slammed his hand on the table, pulling something out from behind him and tossing it onto the floor.

It was an old, battered pair of red boxing gloves.

My pupils dilated.

"Roxy, don't think I don't know what you're planning," Richard said, looking down at me with pure malice.

"Your underground-fighter adoptive dad, Marcus, runs a pathetic little gym in South Brooklyn, right? It just so happens that I bought the land deed to that entire block."

He stepped on the red boxing gloves, grinding his expensive leather shoe into them.

"If you don't want your useless adoptive father thrown onto the streets, you will put on a dress tonight, go to the gala, and get married!"

I stared at the crushed gloves, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached.

Those gloves were Marcus's pride—the ones he wore when he won his bare-knuckle championship years ago.

"Roxy..."

Chloe timidly offered me a towel, her eyes red.

"Please don't fight with Dad. I'm sorry... I was too scared to go. I'm so useless..."

I took a deep breath, forcing down the urge to snap Richard's neck, and snatched the towel.

"Fine," I said, my voice ice-cold. "I'll go."

For Marcus's sake, I would endure this.

But I didn't tell Richard the very first rule Marcus had taught me:

Once you step into the ring, survival is the only rule.