With the tournament drawing closer the arena got more busy, many crews practiced in the arena for want of better rehearsals space, others challenged people randomly, beating and getting beat, learning new tricks and teaching old ones.

Maya arrived wearing her mask again, she couldn't let anyone know she was a woman, she wondered how they would react if they found out. Obviously, they would not be very pleased. She shuddered to think what a multitude of men who were not pleased with her might do, her father served as the only example she could come up with in her mind.

"Still feeling embarrassed?'' Maya turned to find who had spoken and saw Bryan.

"Embarrassed? I don't understand what you're talking about." Maya was momentarily confused.

He pointed. "Your mask. You're still wearing it."

She shrugged for want of something to say.

The weather was clouding like it was going to rain and a few bouts of thunder had already waltzed through the atmosphere. Many people crowded into the building and not for the first time, Maya noticed just how many people assembled on a daily basis at the arena simply because they loved to dance -- or fight, she didn't know the difference anymore.

"Want to go inside?" Bryan asked.

"Sure." Maya shrugged and followed in his wake then she realized what he was saying.

"You seem to be here because you want to prove a point to yourself and I don't know what that is but-- it's obvious you don't belong here, I mean, I'm not trying to be mean but look around you, what do you see?"

All Maya could think of as the tears clouded her vision was that boys didn't cry. She tried to do as she was told and looked around. All around her, she saw men of different ages, sizes and races but one thing was common among them, they were all doing what they loved most with utter abandon. She choked down her sobs and answered Bryan with the clearest voice she could muster. "This is my home now Bryan, I cannot go anywhere from here."

Bryan sighed and she saw him pull at his hair from the corner of her eye. "Look Buck -- though I have a feeling that's not even your real name. You cannot really call this home, firstly you're more of a dancer than a fighter and secondly if this were home to you, you wouldn't be wearing that mask. You're built small, what would you do when the bullying comes because trust me, you're going to attract nothing but bullying with the way you stick out like a sore finger."

"So what's your point!" Maya cried out in exasperation, she didn't care anymore about the tears that were freely flowing down her cheek, mingling in and out of her mask.

"Wooh!" Bryan was momentarily shocked, being faced with feminine tears was a horror many Men liked to avoid but being faced with tears from another man was something he was totally unprepared for. "I'm sorry Buck but I lost -- Gabriel said you could join if I could beat him, I didn't --"

"Would I be accepted here if I did this?" Before Bryan could understand what she meant, Maya tugged at her mask and pulled it off.

Bryan drew in a breath as he watched rich curls tumble down a face that was so exquisite, it belonged only in paintings, falling down to her waist then she dug her hand beneath her shirt and pulled out the binders she had used to bind her breasts.

Bryan watched the under formed youth standing before him transform into one of the most beautiful women he had ever come across. "I'm not sure if this helps you're case." He said huskily

"Well at least, we've started getting real around here." They both turned at the sound of Gabriel's deep voice and Maya found herself pinned down by piercing blue eyes that held her with their unfathomable gaze, she could give her right arm to be able to read his mind at that moment.

"Follow me Buck." He said the name with obvious mockery. "We have a lot to talk about."

Maya felt the menace in his words even as she felt heat rush up her neck, she had no idea why she was blushing as she followed Gabriel meekly to a room that looked like an office, praying silently to heaven that he wasn't as experienced as her father in punishment.

Gabriel had finished work that day and headed straight for the arena, with only one thought in mind -- to submerge himself totally into the world of rhythmic fighting as his emotions got lost in the wordless melody of the South American musicians.

Work that day had been typical, so typical he had started to wonder at the pointlessness of his world. The editor of the Daily times had called to ask for his permission to publish some article about how the Di Marco family had been immigrants. Gabriel hadn't given his permission but the fact that the editor had had to ask for his permission before he okayed an article in his own paper was ...... why couldn't people just stand up for what they believed in, didn't all the journalist have some code of honor or something. All it had taken to buy the editor had been a mere hundred thousand dollars. And then there had been Sam. He had remembered her name because he had been fond of her, he had imagined what it would be like to have sex with her, had in a way looked forward to it, then she had appeared in his office, horny, dressed like a hooker and not wearing any underwear. It had been the easiest sex he had ever had and something about it left him feeling hollow even though they had had a so called happy ending.

He had drove over to the arena in his silver mustang, exceeding the speed limit, feeling the need for a bit of danger something a bit on the edge of the unknown but breaking the speed limits in New York was already old territory to him.

He had parked his car at his usual parking spot and jogged up into the arena when he spotted the scrawny masked kid talking with Bryan. Something about the kid irritated him but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, probably had to do with the cowardly way the kid continued to wear his mask each day to the arena. He had already told the boy that he couldn't join his crew and he knew the kid would not be accepted elsewhere yet the boy had continued to show up doggedly, he was even taking lessons from Bryan, and each time he came in his oversized shirts and his mask.

Gabriel had been walking over to them with one goal in mind, to put an end to the boys hopefulness and finally send him away then to face his crew and grill them in a way he had never done before when he noticed the boy crying. Disgusted he had wondered what would make a man who claimed to be over eighteen cry -- in public when the boy had tugged at his mask and pulled it off and in one breathtaking moment, he had watched as the rich curls of the woman he had once fantasized about tumbled out of their confines in the most beautiful and dramatic way he had ever witnessed. For the first time in his life, he had been speechless. The woman dug her hand underneath her shirt and pulled off a tape and Gabriel watched as the gentle swell of her breasts pushed out against her oversized shirt. He felt heat rush to his groin and a strange feeling of anger at the effect of the woman on him even though he knew she wasn't even trying to impress.

Ignoring feelings he couldn't understand and focusing on one emotion that characterized him -- anger, Gabriel walked over. "Well at least we've started getting real around here." Both Bryan and the woman turned at the sound of his voice. "Follow me Buck, we have a lot to talk about." He did not bother to mask the sarcasm in his voice but turned and matched over to the room he kept organized for the sake of minor paper work.

Letting her in, he turned and shut the door and then on an impulse, he locked the door and put the key in his pocket.

"You better start talking."

He watched arousal and something else briefly pass over her face then she squared her shoulders. "You can't make me."

"Really?" He asked quietly, so quietly it would have been easy to miss the steel in his voice but she didn't. He walked closer, slowly yet precisely. He was taking his time to get to her and for some reason, Maya imagined what the last thoughts of a deer was before it was taken by a wild cat.

Standing so close to her so he could feel the slight tremors that came from her and she could feel the heat of his body, he raised a strand of her hair, marveling at how soft it was. "Are you really going to wait till I make you, because --" his voice dropped a notch lower. "I'm ready to do just that." He nibbled at her ear and felt her tremble. "So what's it going to be, Buck?"

Maya drew in a breath and tried to steady her heartbeat, while her body was racked by different emotions she had never felt before. She felt threatened by the man standing in front of her and yet she wanted to bury herself in his arms, like that was the only place she could even feel safe. "You can't m-- make me." But even to her own ears, it came out weak, with a hint of questioning not as a bold statement.

Gabriel laughed mirthlessly. "Do you -- really want to fight me Buck? Have you not yet realized that I never loose?"

Confusion added to Maya's jumbled up emotions. "What do you mean by fighting you Gabriel?

I don't understand."

He traced the bottom of her lower lip and felt her tremble again, stirring something primal in him. "You don't want to do this -- pretend I can't make you do whatever I want. That I can't make you singing your entire history to me including why you want to fight and in the next moment have your beautiful thighs spread over this desk, naked and screaming my name."

Maya tried not to picture herself the way he had just said but failed. Somehow even though she still stood in front of him fully clothed, she felt like she was naked with her legs spread open for him just like he had said. He had that effect over her. "I would fight you Gabriel if you fight fair."

Gabriel drew in a ragged breath. "I never fight fair." But even though he felt aroused and angry at the same time, there was something so fragile about her and for the first time, he felt the need to protect, he wanted to protect. There was something so doe- caught -- in - the -- headlights about her that was endearing and strangely provocative. He stepped back a bit. "Okay Buck, what are the rules."

Maya drew in a breath, surprised at her victory. She relaxed a bit as her cheeks dimpled in a reluctant smile. "First of all Gabriel, my name is Maya and -- it's simple, give me a month and if I can beat you, I'm in the team, just like I said earlier but there's a clause."

"What's the clause Maya?" Gabriel asked, surprised at how he could go from suppressed frustration to easy going banter with just a flash of her smile.

"You're going to have to teach me."

Maya was listening to a recording of one the South American musicians at the arena when her door bell rang. Excited, she rushed over to open the door, Rachel had become a very close friend over the past few weeks and she looked forward to seeing her. The smile died on her lips as she opened the door and stood face to face with her father.

"Is this were I ask if I can come in." He said with mockery written all over his face.

Maya stepped aside immediately. She wanted to say she was sorry but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.

Her father stepped into the house and looked around then without warning, he turned and struck her viciously on her cheek with his open palm. Maya felt her breath leave her in a few seconds as the ground rose up to meet her.

Her father was smiling down at her. "Good, you didn't even cry out, I've trained you well." He bent down and yanked her up by her hair. "I'll ask only once, who were you expecting."

Maya tried to answer but somehow each time she opened her mouth, her breath came out in gasps and she couldn't make a single coherent sound.

Her father smiled. It was one of the usual smiles he had on when he was thinking up a new punishment. Maya could feel hopeless tears burn her eyelids as she shut them against the reality of the pain she was about to face. Somehow her father's torture had been a little bit more endurable with her mother present, it was like her mother lent her silent strength but now, it was just she and her father in their depressing little apartment and she was left totally to his mercy.

"Maya, I know what you need, just a little motivation right? Then you'll tell me without my asking."

Again she opened her mouth to speak but she was unable to make a coherent sound, her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she shivered violently.

Her father's teeth flashed again, the crazy grin stretching into a full blown laugh. "You leave me no choice Maya." His voice was the sing -song voice of a crazy ecentric. He dragged her over and tied one of her hands to a rope that was dangling from the ceiling, leaving her other hand free, he gagged her mouth with a clothe that smelled of petrol then he left the sitting room and came back with a shredded cable that he plugged into a sucket. "Buddy of mine told me about how the police used to do this in his country, brilliant people you know -- the police. They visited me always, probably cause they wanted to ask some questions." His voice slurred. "But my buddies -- they said: hey Jeff, haven't you got any family no one has visited you since you came in. I said yeah I've got. I've got a useless daughter that don't care." He lifted the improvised whip and struck her and through the excruciating pain, Maya tried to scream through the gag on her mouth but even as the pain from the shredded cable threatened to break her, the stench of petrol suffocated her.

Maya woke the next day curled up on the floor with the stench of urine invading her nostrils. She tried to sit up but her bones felt like jelly. Reaching out her arms as she looked for something to support her weight, she felt the wetness of her trousers and understood where the smell of urine came from, she had passed out in a pool of her own urine.

She missed her mother at that moment, they had always had each other after each of her father's gruesome torturing and if her mother had still been alive, her mother would probably have helped her to a bath, a hot meal and would have assisted her to a bed where she would rest better, all the way crooning Bob Marley's 'three little birds.' Her father usually left them alone then, as if he knew they needed some kind of support system after each bout of torture in other not to fall apart.

Maya let her tears fall freely as the pain of her mother's death threatened to engulf her. Unable to muster the strength to stand up, she dropped back to the floor in a semi faint as she felt the darkness close in on her, even though it was around eight o clock in the morning.

At eight o clock in the morning, Gabriel was attending a business family meeting. It was actually called breakfast but Gabriel knew Marcus Di Marco would not call at six am in the morning to order his son to fly over to California all the way from New York and in the morning just because he wanted to have a family breakfast.

His mother was seated beside him looking ever elegant in a blue dress gown and his father was seated opposite him in their three seat dinner table wearing a traditional Italian suit.

"So Gabriel, how do you find work in New York?" His father asked as a maid cleared up their breakfast plates and served coffee.

" New York's fine, for some reason the editor of the daily times seems to be taking an interest in our family." Gabriel said casually.

"You mean besides the Omerta case?" His father asked referring to the case of the young woman who had been murdered in their hotel in New York.

"I mean that the Omerta case was part of it. I gave the editor a hundred thousand dollars and he now asks my permission before he publishes anything about us." Gabriel had his father's total attention. "Only recently, he called telling me he wanted to publish something about the immigration of the Di Marco family."

"And you obviously told him he couldn't do that." His father was not asking but Gabriel still knew he had to answer.

"I did but my point is.... I'm just wondering if the interest in our family is unique to the daily times alone or if it would be picked up by the others very soon."

" You think the interest was sparked by the Atmospheric hotels?"

"I don't know but I'll find out."

" Do that." His father said simply as he got up and placed a kiss on his wife's cheek. Gabriel took the clue and got up, allowing his father to lead him to his office.

"I want you to get engaged tomorrow." His father waived his hand to stop him from speaking when he started to. "I'm not done yet Gabriel. I want you to get engaged tomorrow but it's okay, you can break up with the lady after a few months." Marcus paused, giving his son time to ask questions. They both knew he could have gone on explaining instead but Marcus Di Marco had always liked to pretend he was in a conversation with his adopted and only son even if in reality, he was just giving out orders.

Gabriel humored his father. "Why would I need to get engaged tomorrow sir?"

His father nodded as if he had been expecting the question. "Jean St. James -- he's the owner of the Atmospheric hotels and suites at New York. He's building one here at California too and threatening to build one at Iowa, Montana, Georgia, Ottawa, ever state we have a hotel and in the same city too."

"And if I get married to his daughter he'll stop?"

"Engaged. If you get engaged and pretend to want to marry his daughter, he promises to stop.

He said he just wants to be accepted into the aristocratic circle -- whatever that means."

"Aristocratic circle! Is this the fifteenth century or what."

His father laughed, one of the rare times he showed an unguarded emotion. "He seems to think we get our guests at the hotels because of our clout and level of influence in the society and he wants a piece of the fame, he thinks he'll get that by getting his daughter engaged to you even if it's for just a few months."

"And we just -- dance to the tune of his demands?"

"He's threatening to get the media to rehash certain things that are not good for our publicity, we don't need that."

"And instead of fighting, we give in?"

"We don't fight Gabriel, we fuck him up, appearing to give into his demands would give us the time we need and while he's still gloating over his supposed victory, we fuck him over."

Gabriel smiled slowly, danger creeping into his eyes. "You have yourself a deal Father."

Gabriel had flown back to New York feeling strangely excited, he was surprised to find out he was looking forward to the scheme. He picked up Ms St. James, a small curvy brunette at the Atmospheric hotels and flew with her to his for their first date.

As Gabriel sat opposite Laura St. James in a candle lit corner of his dinning lounge, he felt mildly amused, Laura sat with her hips slightly curved towards him, no doubt to accentuate their fullness, she was sucking from a straw, her eyes dim with obvious desire and she was looking at him. No doubt she was her father's daughter as he was his father's son and yet she seemed to believe that not only her father but she as well had him where she wanted him.

"You look quite lovely today Laura." Gabriel said not bothering to hide the huskiness in his voice.

"And what are you going to do about that?" She asked, slowly tracing the rim of her glass with the tip of her tongue.

Gabriel raised a brow sardonically. "I see the lady is no lady at all." He got up slowly and walked over to her, watching her eyes get heavier with emotion.

"This is what I'm going to do Ms. Laura." He brought his lips slowly to her's, skimming over them lightly so that she pressed her mouth to his, trying to capture his elusive lips but he remained just a bit out of reach he bent his head and whispered to her, further addling her brain. "When was the last time, a Man took out time to kiss you Laura, when was the last time you actually made love instead of just having sex?" All Ms St. James could do was to moan and attempt to draw him closer and he smiled sardonically. Instead of deepening the kiss, he reached his hands into her very short dress and started working the very sensitive folds of her flesh. In no time, she was panting and trashing about where she sat. Ignoring her feeble efforts to draw him closer to her, Gabriel continued working on her with skilled fingers, he could feel the tension pulsating through her flesh as he slowly built her to a climax then he felt as well as watched as she exploded in ecstasy.

In the heat of her climax, he lowered his mouth to her ears "This arrangement, it wouldn't end well for you my lovely Finance." He removed his hand from under her dress and wiped his fingers on her dress. Standing up, he left her like that, trashing about in the throes of her passion, with her dress hiked up and her underwear hitched to the side when the pressmen her father had paid to accidentally stumble upon their romantic dinner date showed up and started flashing their cameras.

A little part of Gabriel's mind told him Laura hadn't deserved such treatment but then -- he had seen the look in the little bitch's eye a few minutes ago, she had thought she had him pegged. Part of what had angered him, spurring on his heartless treatment had even nothing to do with her and everything to do with the fact that he had gone to the arena that evening, hoping to see Maya, had actually looked forward to seeing her again, teaching her to fight but when he arrived, she had stood him up. He had waited even after everyone had gone home and the musicians packed up their gear, yet she hadn't shown up. In his anger, he had driven over to pick up Laura St. James, planning to drawn his feelings for Maya in her welcoming embrace and then the St. James lady had looked at him with the expression she had on her face a while back and Gabriel Di Marco changed his plans.