DANIEL PRICE — NEXT OF KIN NOTIFIED.
Clayton closed the box. His hands had begun to shake again.
The fight at the Iron Lantern had lasted three minutes.
Before dawn, Clayton woke from a dream in which he was back in the courtyard, hearing Daniel call through a radio that kept breaking apart every time he tried to answer. He sat on the edge of the bed until the room stopped turning. The dream had not shown him anything new; that was what made it cruel. It had only returned the old facts with the sharpness of something happening now. He made coffee, opened Daniel’s letter, and read the final lines again. This time he tried to hear them as Daniel had intended them—not as permission to forget, but as a request to keep living. He placed the letter in the kitchen drawer rather than the steel box. Then he wrote Rachel’s number on the calendar beside the date for the combine repair. Clayton found that strangely reassuring.
Rylan Voss watched the recording until two in the morning.
The video had been filmed from the side of the ring, its frame tilted whenever the person holding the phone laughed. At first, Rylan had watched it to prove to himself that the old man had done nothing remarkable. The footage should have been comforting. Clayton was slower than him, visibly older, and breathing hard before the first minute was over.
But every time Rylan reached the same moment—the missed right hand, the turn, the sudden loss of balance—his stomach tightened.
He paused the video and zoomed in. The image broke into blurry squares. Clayton’s feet were angled, his hips already moving before Rylan’s punch had fully extended. It was not luck. It was not a trick. The old man had read him.
Rylan threw the phone onto the sofa.
His manager, Grant Bell, sat across the room with a laptop balanced on one knee. Grant was in his late thirties, impeccably dressed even at home, and skilled at turning other people’s embarrassment into a business opportunity. He had built Rylan’s public image around a simple promise: the young champion who never backed down.
“Stop watching it,” Grant said.
“I want to know what he did.”
“He survived three minutes. That’s all.”
“He made me miss.”
“Everybody misses.”
“He made me miss in front of two hundred people.”
“Then give them something else to watch.”
Grant opened a folder of event proposals. A regional promoter had already contacted him about a rematch. The idea was obvious: announce a special exhibition, sell tickets, and turn the awkward encounter into a triumphant comeback. Rylan would defeat Clayton decisively this time, shake his hand afterward, and let the crowd forget the first night.
“He won’t do it,” Rylan said.
“Everyone has a price.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
Grant looked up. “Then we tell the story without him. The mysterious old farmer, the suspicious techniques, the questionable event. People love a scandal almost as much as they love a fight.”
Rylan did not like the suggestion, but he liked the alternative even less. He had sponsors to satisfy and a televised bout scheduled in six weeks. The clip was already spreading through local social media. Some comments called him a bully. Others praised Clayton’s footwork. One person had written, “The old guy fought like he’d seen real danger.”
That line irritated Rylan most of all.
He had seen danger. He had spent years in gyms, learned to take punishment, and climbed through opponents who were younger, stronger, and more experienced than he had been. He had earned his record. He had earned his name. Why should three minutes with a farmer threaten all of it?
Because, a quiet part of him answered, you were not in control.
He shoved the thought away.
The next afternoon, Rylan drove to the farm with Grant in the passenger seat. The farmhouse appeared beyond the cottonwoods, weathered but well kept.
Clayton was repairing a gate when the SUV stopped. He did not look surprised. He set down his wrench and waited.
Rylan got out first. In daylight, without a crowd, he looked younger. The bruised pride that had made him seem dangerous the night before had faded into restless embarrassment.
“I want a rematch,” he said.
Clayton wiped his hands on a rag. “No.”
“You haven’t heard the offer.”
“I heard enough.”
“Double the money.”
“I’m not interested.”
Grant stepped forward with his polished smile. “Mr. Reed, we could make this worthwhile for you. We’d pay for the rematch, cover travel, and donate to a local veterans’ organization of your choice. The whole thing could be respectful.”
Clayton looked at him. “If it were respectful, you wouldn’t be selling it as a comeback.”
Grant’s smile tightened. “You misunderstand the business.”
“I understand enough.”
Rylan’s face reddened. “You made me look like a fool.”