All human. Rose Hathaway is a bad-ass, 19 year old, underground fighter in the big city of New York. She has never lost a fight and is a force to be reckoned with. When Russian mob boss Dimitri Belikov goes to a match one night with his business partner Christian Ozera to see Christian's sister Tasha fight, he is instantly captivated by the power and strength Rose holds in the rink.

He soon learns that Rose is available for 'sale' and quickly wants to buy her contract. At first all he wants is the money that she is able to bring, and she absolutely loathes him, but soon their feelings change and something grows between them.

Chapter 1-

Loud music blared through the sound system in the gym, it flowed through my ears and I timed my punches to it. My tape wrapped hands made short smacking sounds as they connected with the old beat up punching bag and I let out frustrated grunts.

I brought my loosely balled-up fists to my chin and lightly bounced on the pads of my feet as I stared at the duct taped square on the worn out leather. I let out a slow breath and tightened my right fist as I let it strike out and hit the center. The bag jolted back with the force of my punch and I pulled my fist back. My knuckles were throbbing and the tape around them was now bunched up and falling off slightly due to sweat building up underneath it. The music slowly faded out as a new song started up.

I licked my dried lips and walked over to the duffle bag that I had thrown on the floor next to me and crouched down, unzipping it, and pulling out a water bottle. It was slightly wet on the outside due to condensation and it felt nice on my warm hands as I took a long drink from it.

"What the hell are you still doing here Hathaway?" I looked up and grinned as I saw my good friend and one of my many trainers, Eddie, walk up to me. He was in nothing but a pair of black UFC shorts and was glistening with sweat. Grabbing a hand towel from a near-by chair he wiped it down his tan toned chest and across his glossy forehead where his dark black hair stuck to his skin. He then threw it on the ground once he was done with it.

"I could ask you the same thing Castile. I have a fight tomorrow; your lazy ass doesn't have anything." I stood up as I ripped the tape off of my hands and balled it up, throwing it at him. He just laughed and walked up to where I was, leaning against the bag.

He crossed his arms over his chest and let his head roll to the side as he looked at me under heavy lids. "Who're you fighting?" I shrugged and tried to remember the name. I had been in many fights in my lifetime. That was the reason that I had been kicked out of my school at 16. I had met Eddie when I had gotten into a fight outside of a popular nightclub a year or so after. I quickly knocked her out with one punch to the face, and also managed to break his nose when he tried to restrain me.

Afterwards he pulled me aside and gave me a card with his number on it and told me to give him a call. The next morning I met with him at this gym and had been fighting ever since. Our fighting wasn't considered legal. We were not professionals by any means and fought solely to earn money off of bets. Some people who fought underground however, were working for gangsters and mobsters, earning them money and also getting a very dangerous reputation in the process.

"I think her name is Ozera. Something Ozera. Not like it matters anyway," I laughed and looked up at him as I ran my fingers through my dark brown, wet hair and piled it onto a bun on the top of my head, pushing the fly-away hairs back with a thick red headband, "she won't remember her own name by the time I'm done with her anyway."

He laughed with me and shook his head. "You're too cocky for your own good Rosie. I'm going home, lock up when you leave." I nodded my okay and he walked off into the men's shower room. I leaned down and picked up the towel he had thrown on the ground and quickly wiped the sweat off of my body with it before throwing it back, and grabbed my duffle. I swung it up on my shoulder and made my way to the front of the gym.

As I walked out, I shut off the stereo and locked the front door since I knew Eddie would lock the back door once he left. I shut off the main light and looked around to make sure everything was put away and mostly neat before I stepped out into the cold sidewalk, shutting the metal door behind me. It was completely dark out, the only light coming from the street lights placed randomly around. I made my way to my car and threw my bag in the passenger seat and then slid into the driver's' side- making my way home.