I went to cut my eyes in his direction, and was almost knocked the hell over by a blow to my ribs. If I hadn’t of pivoted at the last moment I would’ve easily had a bruised rib.

“Motherfuck!” I cursed, narrowing my eyes at my opponent, Thiers.

“Watch your back!” He chuckled as he hopped from one foot to the other, still on guard, his gloved hands raised in the air.

“You’re unfocused,” he stated, lowering his hands.

I pushed out a breath and grunted.

“Let’s call it for this round, Buddy,” Thiers, one of my closest friends, called to the owner of the boxing gym.

“You sure?” Buddy questioned.

I nodded.

“It’s your money.” He shrugged. Buddy was the youngest gym owner in the city of Williamsport. He’d become well known after his father, a famous trainer, opened the gym and he began working here as well. Eventually, he took over ownership after his father died, and he’d become even more successful than his father in a short period of time.

“What’s going on?” Thiers questioned, tapping me on the arm as we stepped out of the ring and over to the metal folding chairs against the wall.

I sat, picking up the plastic water bottle I’d brought with me, and squirted water into my mouth, swallowing before I answered.

“These fucking leaks,” I finally answered, gritting my teeth at just thinking about the problems occurring at work.

“That’s still going on?” Thiers questioned.

“I just got a fucking call this morning from a reporter at the Williamsport Gazette. He asked about my trip to Japan last year that nobody outside of the company was supposed to know about. And then he asked about the health of my father.”

Thiers sat back, whistling. “That’s some shit. You all kept a tight lid on your father’s condition for years now.”

“It’s somebody inside of the company. I can feel it. I just don’t know who.” I punched my fist into my hand. It was driving me a little stir crazy to go into an office day after day and not know who could be trusted.

“You know, I have more than one contact who could handle this whole thing for you. Get rid of your little problem and do so quietly.”

I turned, looking into Thiers’ dark eyes. Sweat glistened off of his dark, wrinkled forehead. He was completely serious. I’d known Thiers for years. His father had been my father’s long time driver, along with a few other things. While Thiers never went on to become a driver like his father, he did take up the less legal side of his father’s business. He had his hand in a little bit of everything. If he said he knew people, I was sure they were legit.

Briefly, I considered it. That’s how pissed I was becoming over the constant leaks within the company. But I shook my head.

“I won’t go down the same road as my father. I want to be as legit as possible.”