Prologue

1995

"Hi, you've called the Aldridge Residence. We aren't home right now but leave a message after the beep and we'll call you back!"

Jack hesitated, looking behind him at the men milling around the space. It had been a long time since he'd heard her voice, and it was strange to think of how much time had passed. Even when he had promised her that time and distance wouldn't affect them, it had. The thunderous hammering on the punch bag sounded to his right and he held the phone tightly in his hand as he waited for her voice to trail off and for the beep. Once it did, he took a deep breath.

"Hey, it's, uh… me," he began, his train of thought having left the station. He rubbed the back of his neck, an anxious habit that he'd formed over the years. "I'm probably not who you were expecting to call you. I wouldn't call if I didn't need help, you know that."

His heart was pounding in his chest; the same feeling just before he went through the smoke on his way to the ring.

"I'm about to go do something… Well… I'm about to be me," Jack chuckled nervously except there was no humour in his voice. "You know better than anybody that doesn't always go so well, Nancy. I don't know how this is gonna go, but if I were a betting man… Matty's gonna need someone to look after him. He needs someone like you, more than ever. I've called Maggie but… I know she won't even listen to my voicemail and…"

He was aware of the voicemail running out and so he needed to be quick. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. With a steady breath, he continued.

"Look after him, okay? Even after everything I did… I really hope you can help me, and if not me, then please help Matt. And I know what I'm asking here, but he's a good kid. He sure as hell didn't get that from me. So… it's better this way. Just once… I want Matty to hear people cheer for his old man. Just once."

He hung up quickly, his voice having wavered at the end. He wasn't sure that she would even listen to the voicemail, hearing his voice and pressing delete almost immediately. But he had to try and give Matt the future he deserved, and one that he knew he couldn't give his own son. The whole world, it seemed, was against him; just like the odds on the fight had been.

But he had integrity.

He'd agreed to throwing the fight at first believing it to be the best thing for Matty but… the disappointment in Matt's voice whenever he'd return after losing a match on purpose with an envelope full of cash and his face swollen and beat up was just too much for him to bear. It put food on the table and kept the roof over their heads but it was never what he wanted to happen. There were times when he would kneel in the ring, his blood staining the canvas beneath him, where the whole world that had tuned in to watch his match had turned off and gone to bed, where he felt lonely and vulnerable. The bullies that had made his life hell were taunting him in the shadows, telling him that he had signed a deal with the devil and wasn't proving himself or his son that he was worthy of such opportunities.

He had fought so hard to be seen, and now he had let himself down.

He thought of Matty at home and his heart broke at the thought of his son being left in this world without a father. He knew Sweeney wouldn't let him get away with this; hell, he'd bet all the money he had stashed away for their future on him winning this fight, and he knew Matt would be looked after. If not by his mom, then he would have the money. Was it worth his life? Probably not, Jack thought, but how many more times did Matt have to clean up his wounds after yet another fight he'd accepted to lose on purpose just for a couple hundred bucks. The kid had lost so much in the last few months, and now he was adding to that.

He had made mistakes, sure… but he wasn't going to make another one.

Matt was too important to keep making mistakes.

..

Jack Murdock was found dead in the alleyway beside his apartment he shared with his son just after midnight.

As the police officers cordoned the area off from the public, a young boy had slipped under the cordon and had run to his father, the white cane in his hand tapping the ground around him. The officer watched the boy drop to his knees beside the deceased man. The boy tenderly touched his father's face, feeling the swelling to his face from the beating he had taken a few hours before; with new wounds to his face from just an hour before. He felt the gunshot wound to his father's head, feeling the brain matter stuck in his dark hair.

He emptied his stomach beside the body of his father.

There had been a moment when he first lost his sight that he felt truly alone. He was sat in the hospital bed with his other senses heightening; sounds were much louder and overwhelming to him. He flinched at sounds that he wouldn't have heard before his accident. He had never felt so alone in the world, until today.

With the body of his deceased father to his left, he laid beside him on the ground, sobs erupting within his small body and he waited for the world around him to stop.

..

Nancy Aldridge was always true to her word.

The next morning, as the sun began to settle upon Hell's Kitchen in a golden hue with pink and blue tones swirling across the sky, Nancy, along with her daughter, Alice, arrived at the police station where a now fatherless young Matthew Murdock sat in an empty interrogation room away from the drunks and petty criminals that the police plucked from the streets for delinquent behaviour the evening before.

As she sat in the waiting room, her mind wandered back to the voicemail she had received the evening before. She had called him back almost immediately, but her calls were only answered by the people at Fogwell's Gym who had told her that they didn't know where Jack was. She had waited until the end of his match to call again, hoping to catch him before he headed home, but she had been too late.

The news reports documenting Jack Murdock's murder was being shown on every news channel. And she had faltered; her entire world shuddering to a stop as she collapsed to her knees and bile rose to her throat.

JACK MURDOCK FOUND MURDERED IN ALLEY WAY!

BOXING STAR BATTLIN' JACK FOUND DEAD!

The headlines screamed at her through blurred vision as news reporters spoke about him. She had switched the television off shortly after and replayed his voicemail to her. He sounded desperate but even when he knew whatever he was going to do was dangerous, he needed to be the hero just once. And it had ultimately cost him his life.

'Look after him, okay? Even after everything I did… I really hope you can help me, and if not me, then please help Matt.'

And so, she pulled herself off the floor and brushed herself off. She woke her daughter, and they dressed in silence, all the while her young daughter asking her questions to which she couldn't answer. They wrapped themselves up against the colder weather and made their way towards the police station, navigating their way through the busy streets.

As soon as Matthew Murdock was brought out of the interrogation room and walked towards them, Nancy found herself struggling to breathe. He was the spitting image of his own father at the same age, and she wondered if Jack was aware of the similarities he shared with his only son.

"Who are you?" his voice was hoarse, emotionally exhausted.

Nancy swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled her daughter up to stand beside her. "I'm Nancy. I knew your father. And I'm here to take you home, Matthew."

..

In the aftermath of his death, Jack Murdock had already assigned Nancy Aldridge the guardian of his only son.

Nancy had sat astounded in his lawyers office as he read out Jack Murdock's last will and testament to her. Jack had almost predicted his untimely death and had taken precautions to ensure that Matthew was protected when he was unable to do that. The will and testament stated that in the event of his death, the money he had saved since Matthew was a baby would be split in half; with one half going towards a trust fund for Matt for when he turned eighteen, and the other half going to Nancy to look after his child. And over the years, he had put a considerable amount of money away whilst only living on a small amount himself.

But one thing she knew for sure, Jack needed to know Matty was going to be looked after. He had called Maggie with the hope that she would come forward and look after their son, but he knew, deep down, that she wouldn't.

Nancy was someone he trusted with his whole life. And he had told her that even after everything he did to her that he hoped she would be able to forgive him. It was no longer about him and her.

As she left the lawyer's office, she walked down the streets of Hell's Kitchen in stunned silence. A handbag full of money clutched tightly to her side, her mind whirring with lawyer terms, and a safe future for Matt. She stopped off at the bagel shop, the scent of freshly baked bagels filling her senses and clutching to the fibres of her coat. She ordered a few, pulling out a few notes from her purse and handing them to the server, her eyes falling on a photograph of Jack hanging on the wall. As the server handed her the brown paper bag, she allowed the city to envelope her that evening.

The death of Jack Murdock had sent shockwaves throughout the city. His name and face were everywhere. As she walked home, she looked up at the moody sky above her, thunderous clouds claiming the sky from the bright and marvellous tones of yellow and blue and whispered a prayer up to Jack. She made a promise to keep his son safe from the dangers of the world and to teach him to be a good man. And as she finished her promise to him, the dark clouds moved on leaving behind a wonderful golden sky in its wake.

Nancy had smiled then, knowing that even beyond the grave, Jack was looking after his son. And his legacy would live on forever.