The Boxing Champion Called Me His Caregiver Chapter 01

The Boxing Champion Called Me His Caregiver Chapter 01

A car crash left Logan Barrett paralyzed and ended his reign at the top of the boxing world.

I sold my childhood home, worked eight years as a hotel housekeeper, and scraped together enough to cover his staggering surgical bills.

I stayed by his side until he reclaimed the world title.

At the championship gala, he clutched the trophy and declared through tears, “I owe everything to the woman who never left my side. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

My eyes burned.

I thought the worst was finally behind us.

Then, as I rose from my seat, the spotlight swept past me.

It landed on the team physician, Alyssa Vaughn.

I froze.

All I could hear was my heart battering against my ribs.

A slideshow titled played across the main screen.

Every page had been built from my original notes: the muscle-response logs I recorded after massaging his legs through the night, the gait-training program I designed, and the boxing-combination breakdowns I spent years refining.

Then came the final slide.

A marriage certificate.

Logan and Alyssa had been legally married for the past five years.

Logan clamped a hand over my trembling shoulder. His eyes held a plea, but there was a warning in them too.

“Tess, the public needs a respectable love story. A brilliant doctor who worked a medical miracle and the boxing legend she saved. A hotel housekeeper doesn’t fit the image I need to maintain.”

“If you speak up now, no one will believe you, so don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“I’ll buy back your childhood home.”

Ice flooded my veins.

I stared at the man in front of me, unable to believe what I was hearing.

Eight years.

Everything I had sacrificed for him had become leverage he could use against me.

The moment I left the ballroom, I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and opened the overseas job offer.

I tapped Accept.

No hesitation.

[Ms. Monroe, your flight and visa will be arranged within three days. Please remain available. We look forward to welcoming you to the team!]

…

I found the housekeeping supervisor and told her there was an emergency at home. I asked if she could pay me the wages I’d already earned that month.

She counted several bills into my hand, sympathy written all over her face.

At two in the morning, Logan walked in reeking of alcohol. When he saw me sitting on the edge of the bed, his brows drew together.

“Why are you still awake?”

He crossed the room quickly, then noticed the backs of my heels were rubbed raw and bleeding.

Guilt and concern flickered across his face.

Just as he had when he was paralyzed, he grabbed a cotton swab, lifted my foot, and began cleaning the wound with practiced hands.

“How did you let it get this bad? Why didn’t you treat it?”

His voice was soft.

Familiar.

The cotton swab brushed the torn skin, and I flinched.

He immediately lightened his touch, bent his head, and gently blew on the raw skin.

“Allie only stood beside me onstage because of the sponsors and the cameras.”

He pressed a bandage over my heel as he spoke.

“The public won’t accept a boxing champion whose partner cleans hotel rooms for a living. It would hurt my endorsement deals.”

He said it as if it were obvious.

As if any reasonable person should understand.

I watched his lowered face as something cold settled deep in my chest.

Eight years of caring for him day and night.

The surgical bills I paid by selling my childhood home.

Countless nights spent hunched over his rehabilitation plans until my eyes burned.

Everything I had given him apparently belonged only in the life he kept hidden from the world.

He removed the commemorative championship medal from around his neck and shoved it into my palm.

“You deserve at least half the credit for this, Tess. I know that.”

I lowered my eyes to the gleaming gold surface.

“Logan, you’re married.”

My fingers closed around the medal.

“That means we’re over.”

His hand went still over the ointment.

He avoided my eyes, stood, and snapped the first-aid kit shut.

“Tess, where are you supposed to go without me? You don’t have any family left. You sold your childhood home to pay for my surgery.”

“Don’t overthink this. Alyssa and I aren’t what you think.”

“Tess, in my heart, you’re the only woman I’ve ever considered my wife.”

He turned away and pulled tomorrow’s suit from the closet.

“I’m flying out the day after tomorrow for an exhibition bout overseas. Pack my boxing gloves and backup medication.”

“Allie’s coming as the traveling team physician. Pack the medical files she’ll need in my suitcase too.”

Order after order.

As if I existed only to serve him.

When I didn’t move, his hand stopped halfway through loosening his tie.

After a moment of silence, he walked back and wrapped his arms around me.

“Tess, I haven’t forgotten what I promised you.”

His chin rested against the top of my head.

“You wanted a home. You wanted your childhood house back. I remember all of it.”

An unfamiliar perfume clung to his clothes.

My entire body went rigid.

“I already bought it back.”

He released me and reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

An old brass key lay in his palm.

“The paperwork hasn’t been finalized yet. I was going to surprise you with it tomorrow for your birthday.”

“Take tomorrow off. I’ll take you home.”

Home.

Such a beautiful word.

My fingers tightened around the key.

“Okay,” I answered, my voice hoarse.

Logan smiled, satisfied, then turned and walked into the bathroom.

Early the next morning, I stood in front of the familiar weathered door, my eyes burning.

I had just pulled out the key when the door opened from the inside.