My Family Wanted a Sacrificial Bride, They Got a Boxing Queen Chapter 01

My Family Wanted a Sacrificial Bride, They Got a Boxing Queen Chapter 01

The day I got reclaimed by my wealthy birth family, I’d just come home from a warm-up at my adoptive father’s boxing gym.

I stood in the living room with bronzed skin, every inch of my frame packed with dense muscle.

My biological parents, who had been fully prepared to humiliate me, took one look and fell completely silent.

They’d brought me back for one reason—a political marriage.

The groom was the notorious heir to the Thorne empire, the one with the violent reputation who’d already driven off ten fiancées.

The fake heiress, had been in the middle of a tearful performance. Her sobbing came to an abrupt halt the moment she noticed my biceps twitching. She shrank behind Corbin Hayes, my older brother, voice trembling.

“Corbin, are we sure Magnus is the one who’d be doing the abusing? Because it kind of looks like Vesper might just… massacre him.”

Corbin glanced down at his own slender wrists, then at my palm, which could crush a brick with a single squeeze. He took a silent step backward.

I bounced on my heels and threw two quick jabs at the air.

“So I heard he’s got a violent temper and likes to fight dirty?”

My real father, Reginald Hayes, coughed awkwardly.

“He’s… he’s quite violent, yes.”

I slapped my thigh, my face splitting into a grin.

“No shit. Why didn’t you say so sooner? I’ve been dying for a decent sparring partner.”

…

I’d lived twenty years without a clue I was some loaded family’s long-lost daughter.

But what surprised me even more was finding out exactly why they’d tracked me down—they needed me to marry into the Thorne family.

My sweat-soaked tank top clung to my back as I dropped a two-hundred-pound plate onto the Hayes family’s million-dollar marble floor. Fine cracks spiderwebbed outward, and the entire living room went dead quiet.

My biological parents had scripted a whole lecture about high-society etiquette and planned to put me in my place. Instead, they were staring at my arms, the veins still engorged from my workout.

My birth mother, Emmeline Hayes, recovered first. She covered her nose and mouth with theatrical disgust and stepped back.

“Vesper. Is this what your adoptive father taught you? You reek of sweat. You’re coarse. There is nothing feminine about you.”

Reginald didn’t waste time with pleasantries. His face darkened as he slapped a marriage contract onto the table.

“Let’s cut to the chase. The Hayes family is hemorrhaging money, and we need a cash injection from the Thornes.”

“Their heir, Magnus Thorne, is currently vetting potential brides. You’re back now, so you’ll take your sister’s place.”

I raised an eyebrow.

The butler had given me the full briefing on the drive over.

Magnus allegedly suffered from severe rage issues and violent tendencies. His moods were unpredictable. He’d sent ten previous fiancées packing, and two of them had reportedly ended up in the ICU.

In short, whoever married him was signing up to be a human punching bag.

The fake heiress, Cleo, had been dabbing at fake tears on the sofa, but she froze mid-sniffle.

She looked at my thighs, which were thicker than her waist, then at the veins bulging in my forearm as I held the weight plate with one hand. She scrambled behind Reginald.

“Dad… maybe we should rethink this. Magnus is violent, sure, but he’s still just a man.”

Cleo’s voice quavered. “If Vesper goes, Magnus might actually die. Shouldn’t we… leave him a way out?”

Corbin let out a sharp, incredulous laugh and jabbed a finger toward my face.

“Are you serious, Cleo? She’s just some backwoods thug with a pair of fists and zero brain cells. Magnus keeps a full security detail of elite bodyguards, so what’s she going to do against professionals?”

“Vesper, let me make this crystal clear. Don’t think those fighting tricks mean anything.”

“Once you’re in the Thorne household, you will smile and take whatever Magnus dishes out, even if he’s beating you senseless.”

“If you screw this up, our whole family goes down with you.”

I fixed Corbin with a cold stare and cracked my knuckles. The sound made him flinch so hard he stumbled backward, his face draining of color.

“Enough!”

Reginald slammed his palm on the table and tossed a pair of worn red boxing gloves onto the floor.

My pupils contracted.

“Vesper, don’t think I don’t know exactly what’s running through that head of yours.”

Reginald looked down at me, his eyes brimming with threat.

“That adoptive father of yours runs a dingy little boxing gym in Stillwater now, doesn’t he? The land that gym sits on happens to be mine.”

He ground his heel into the gloves.

“If you don’t want that washed-up old man thrown onto the street, you will put on a dress tonight and play nice at the engagement dinner.”

I stared at the flattened gloves, my molars grinding together. My adoptive father, Knox, had worn those when he took the underground title.

Cleo timidly held out a towel, her eyes red.

“Vesper… please don’t fight with Dad. I’m sorry. I’m the one who’s too scared to go through with the marriage. This is all my fault.”

I sucked in a deep breath and forced down the urge to snap Reginald’s neck, then snatched the towel.

“Fine.”

I lifted my head, my gaze icy. “I’ll do it.”

For the old man, I’d endure.

What I didn’t tell Reginald was the first lesson Knox ever taught me: once you step into the ring, there are no rules, only survival.