The Boxing Champion Called Me His Caregiver Chapter 05

The Boxing Champion Called Me His Caregiver Chapter 05

When the plane landed, the wind in England carried an unfamiliar chill.

Meredith Shaw was already waiting outside Northmere International Airport.

She didn’t ask about my injuries.

She didn’t mention the rumors raging online.

She simply took the heavy suitcase from me and offered me a gentle smile.

“Coach Monroe, the kids have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.”

Northstar Institute for Adaptive Sports had covered my bail.

Their attorney had stayed with me until I boarded the plane.

Meredith took me straight to a classroom.

More than a dozen children waited inside, some in wheelchairs, others wearing orthopedic braces.

Lily Carter sat in the front row.

She had a congenital spinal disorder and couldn’t bear weight on her legs.

She couldn’t engage her core and missed the focus mitt several times in a row.

With an angry cry, she yanked off her boxing gloves and threw them aside.

“If I can’t stand, I’ll never be able to fight in a real boxing ring.”

“So what’s the point of learning any of this?”

Nina Flores sat beside her, tears filling her eyes.

Her voice cracked.

Frustration.

Despair.

Self-loathing.

“We’re not even normal.”

“We’re just cripples.”

I walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat beside her.

I took her cold hand and helped her slide it back into the boxing glove.

“Nina, boxing has never been just about your legs.”

“You can still train your shoulders, back, core, reflexes, and courage.”

“No one else gets to define what a real boxing ring looks like for you.”

She tried to pull her hand away.

I didn’t let go.

I secured her wheelchair, then taught her, step by step, how to shift her center of gravity, brace her

core, and control her breathing.

We trained all afternoon.

At last, Nina landed a clean punch on the focus mitt and completed her first clean combination.

Her face lit up.

She threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Coach Monroe, I did it!”

“I really did it!”

I looked down at her open, joyful smile.

My eyes suddenly burned.

Eight years.

I had sacrificed my own health just to help one man stand again.

Now I could finally teach everything I’d learned to people who truly needed it.

That night, I returned to the institute dormitory.

The moment my phone lit up, message after message flooded the screen.

Every message was from Logan.

[Tess, answer your phone! Where the hell are you?]

[Do you have any idea how worried I am? What was returning the key supposed to mean?]

[I had nothing to do with you being arrested. Tess, please call me back.]

Two weeks later, my phone rang.

Logan’s voice trembled with panic.

He stumbled through his explanation.

He said he hadn’t known I’d left until he went to the Havenport Police Department to get me.

For the first time in eight years, he’d been truly afraid.

Then he explained why he’d legally married Alyssa at a courthouse five years earlier.

His longtime coach and mentor had been dying.

He had been afraid Alyssa would have no one to rely on.

He’d wanted to see them married before he passed, so he’d pressured Logan into marrying her at

the courthouse.

“Tess, I only married her at the courthouse to give my mentor peace of mind.”

“I always planned to end that marriage in name only once I reclaimed the title.”

“I was going to leave the childhood home to Allie as part of the divorce settlement.”

“She’s been with me for years. I couldn’t let her walk away with nothing.”

“Once everything was settled, I was going to retire from professional boxing and give you a real wedding.”

“We’d buy another house.”

“Have two kids.”

“Live the quiet life you’ve always wanted.”

“I thought you’d already waited eight years for me.”

“I thought you could wait a few more months.”

I laughed before I could stop myself.

So he had understood all along.

He knew the childhood home was the one thing I wanted back.

He knew I wanted the right to call myself his wife.

He just believed I would never leave, no matter how long he kept both from me.

To Logan, I was nothing but an expendable pawn.

One he could sacrifice whenever it suited him.

I said nothing.

I hung up.