"How young?"
"Fourteen."
"Why did you stop?"
Elena placed the knife down.
"Because life changed."
Lily waited.
Elena didn't continue.
The doorbell rang.
Elena's expression changed.
She walked toward the door.
"Stay here."
She looked through the window.
Nobody.
She opened the door.
A small envelope lay on the porch.
No name.
No address.
Just one sentence written across the front.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER.
Elena froze.
For the first time that night, Lily saw genuine fear in her mother's eyes.
"What is it?"
Elena picked up the envelope.
"Nothing."
But Lily knew immediately that it wasn't nothing.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Elena twenty years earlier.
She was standing inside a fighting arena.
Her hair was shorter.
Her face was younger.
But unmistakably hers.
Beside her stood a man Lily had never seen.
Victor Kane.
Elena closed her eyes.
She remembered.
She remembered everything.
The underground tournaments.
The money.
The men who believed strength gave them the right to control others.
And Victor.
He had been the best fighter she had ever faced.
He had also been the reason Elena walked away.
Not because he defeated her.
Because he didn't.
The night Elena beat Victor, he had sworn revenge.
She had assumed time would erase his anger.
Apparently, she had been wrong.
The next morning, Elena returned to Blackwood Dojo.
Master Blackwood was waiting.
"I knew you'd come."
"You knew?"
"I've seen that photograph."
Elena stared at him.
"How?"
"Victor sent one years ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you asked me not to."
Elena looked away.
"I thought it was over."
"So did I."
Marcus, Cole, and Adrian entered the room.
Their attitudes had changed completely.
Marcus approached first.
"I owe you an apology."
Elena nodded.
"You do."
"I treated Lily like she had something to prove."
"You did."
"I was wrong."
Cole nodded.
"Me too."
Adrian said nothing.
Then he stepped forward.
"I think I know why Victor is here."
Everyone looked at him.
Adrian explained that Victor had been recruiting fighters from several underground gyms.
He wasn't interested in competition.
He wanted revenge.
And he had been asking about Elena.
Master Blackwood frowned.
"Why?"
Elena answered.
"Because I beat him."
Marcus looked surprised.
"You fought Victor Kane?"
Elena nodded.
"Once."
"Did you win?"
She looked at him.
"Yes."
Marcus slowly smiled.
"Then I think we have a problem."
Elena looked toward the door.
"No."
She shook her head.
"We have a choice."
"What's that?"
"Whether we let him decide where this ends."
That afternoon, Victor's message arrived.
A location.
A time.
And a challenge.
Elena read it.
Then she handed the phone to Blackwood.
"Don't go alone," he said.
"I won't."
Marcus stepped forward.
"We'll come."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"But—"
"You've already learned the lesson."
Marcus looked confused.
"Which lesson?"
Elena smiled.
"Three fighters can defeat one person."
She looked at the three men.
"But three disciplined fighters can protect one."