Chapter 40: Threats

Home.

That’s what this felt like. Walking through the door, putting away all of my clothes, putting all the extra things I had in storage. It felt like returning – returning to a happy place where I knew I was safe. A place where I knew I could smile and laugh. It didn’t even bother me that I was going to be living with people instead of being alone. As long as I was with him, everything was going to be fine.

The look of shock on Aiden‘s face was worth it. Kallie, of course, knew.

The biggest shock for Aiden was seeing me move all of my clothes into my old room. Because even though Finn and I had told each other that we loved each other, even though I had moved back in, and even though we were spending a lot of time together, we still hadn’t started dating though I was giving him a tremendous amount of shit about it.

And no, before any of you think it, Finn and I have not had sex.

Yet….

It doesn’t mean that we weren’t going to, it doesn’t mean that we will any time soon, but I’m very happy with the way we are. I know how he feels about me and he knows how I feel about him. We have long conversations, talking about our past and where we have been. As well where we want to go. He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, and for the first time in a long time I feel at ease with myself. And it’s all because of him.

I moved around the apartment, looking around and noticing that any of the changes that I had made before I left it stayed. He obviously cared about what I thought. Everyone was out, I didn’t know where Finn was, I didn’t know where Aiden or Kallie were.

It was silent. Serene. I took a deep breath and sat down, my coffee in my hands. I was finally able to breathe. As much as I loved the apartment that I bought, and as much as I wanted to make it home, it never had that feeling. That feeling of being able to just be free.

My serenity was shattered as there was a knock at the door. I got to my feet and moved thinking that maybe one of them had forgotten their key, but a chill ran down my spine as I looked over to the small monitor that connected to the camera above the door.

It was Jace.

I swallowed hard and shook my head, unlocking the deadbolt and opening the heavy security door. Jace smiled when he saw me, eyeing me up and down like he was a hunting predator and I was just a snack he could take. The truth is a few years ago that look would make me blush, but right now all it did was make me sick. ”Mmm, hello little one.”

My nostrils flared as he went to walk inside. I didn’t move, crossing my arms as I stood in the doorway.

”What do you want?” My voice was emotionless and dry, I was trying to prove a point. But I wasn’t afraid of him, that he didn’t intimidate me, in fact his existence was nothing but a mild annoyance to me.

He scoffed and growled before stepping forward and into the apartment looking around ”Nice place your boyfriend has…”

I took a deep breath, my eyes burning a hole right through Jace as he moved around my home. ”Yes…our home is beautiful.” Jace turned and looked at me, over his shoulder like I was an afterthought. My nostrils flared again as I tried to hold in the anger that I had building up inside. He came to stop at a pair of doors, my bedroom and Finn’s bedroom. ”What do you want Jace?”

He chuckled. The arrogant prick. ”Come on now. You should know by now that I’ve always been watching. But not just you. Your little boyfriend and his brother too. And I know what he did, I know what he’s been doing, and you should know that we won’t take it lightly.”

”Finn had nothing to do wi-“

crack

The back of Jace’s hand flew up and hit me right across the cheek. The familiar sting rattled through my body, and for a moment I was transported back to years ago. When I was a part of his world. And this was a regular occurrence. I forgot myself for a moment, shaking as fear racked through my body. After a few seconds, I collected myself and slowly looked up at him, my green eyes burning right into his.

He smiled.

”There’s my girl. You’ve gotten stronger but you still haven’t changed that much. And I don’t care if your little boyfriend had anything to do with it.” He stepped forward, every single fibre of my being told me to step back and away from him. Instead, I stayed strong and folded my arms over my chest. ”The fact is, your boyfriend’s little shithead brother has sent shockwaves through MY business…..and since he has hidden away and refused to talk to anyone….I have to come to you…”

”What the fuck do you expect me to do about it?“

He laughed to himself and shook his head, stepping forward again, his six foot eight frame hovering over me. He was even bigger than he used to be when we were together. Obviously, he’d put on more muscle mass to become more intimidating. ”Oh Kayla. You just have to do what you do best.” He reached out, running a thumb over my cheek as the rest of his hand moved around to the back of my neck, holding me tightly. ”Be persuasive.”

I slapped his hand away, moving to the side and putting extra bass in my voice ”I have very little to do with Finn’s brother. Dimitri Watson is not someone I’ve ever given a shit about. In fact, the majority of the time, he annoys me to the point where I want to slap him halfway across the fucking room. So, how exactly am I going to influence him to do anything?”

”Because you’ll have no choice!” His voice raised. Not quite to yell, but enough that it startled me. He stepped forward again closing the distance that I created, his nostrils flaring as he bent down so he could get right into my face. Reminding me once again just how small I was compared to him. ”Let me put it this way, if your boyfriend doesn’t get his brother to talk to us, or if you don’t get his brother to talk to us, then your little boy toy is going to be the one who pays. Not you, not Dimitri, Finn. He will be the one who pays. Do you understand me?”

My arms moved from their position of crossing over my chest to being down my sides, my hands bawling to fists as my teeth ground together. I wasn’t scared or intimidated any more, now I was angry. Furious. It built up inside as I stepped forward now, Voluntarily closing the distance to try and make him see that I wasn’t afraid of him. ”You will not lay a fucking hand on him…”

Oh? And w-“

crack

My right hand, balled into a fist, swung and hit him right across the side of the head. He blinked a few times, shocked and stunned that it hurt. ”You want to come after me? Then do it. After all, you told me all about how apparently I was a loose end that you needed to tie up. You want to go after Dimitri then go ahead and do it. He’s the one who is disrespecting all of you, he’s the one who is leading and in charge of this group of Yakuza. Finn has nothing to do with it. So you will not touch him do you understand?”

He took a few breaths, the bogs on his brain turning over as he wondered what he was going to say or do. But then the serious expression on his face turned, he smiled and shook his head with a sigh. ”You get that one for free. But I’m serious. Something needs to be done. Or someone is going to get hurt……do what you can.”

I swallowed hard, looking down before giving him a nod. Jace turned and walked away, opening the door and moving into the hallway as the door slammed shut behind him. I blew out a deep breath, relieved he was gone, my cheek red and sore from the hit. And now I was left alone to wonder.

Just what the fuck do I do now?

Two out of three ain’t bad

”Now I’m done with the “Kayla Richards Slums It tour 2024”. I can get back to doing what I do best. Defending championships and making them worth something.”

Kayla Richards, clearly annoyed, folds her arms over her chest with a sneer on her face. Her long black hair was tied back in a bun with a few strands of hair down her cheeks.

”Since I beat Juliana to take the championship, I have been facing people who shouldn’t be in the ring with me at all. Ariana Angelos, a woman who failed to take the Internet Championship from me so many times I lost count who also failed to take the Mixed Tag Team Championships off myself and Finn. I had to get in the ring with her and I had to face her and defend the world title against her, and the only question I had was why? Why did I have to get in the ring with her? There are so many others in this company who are more deserving of a championship match, but I had to face a woman who I’ve beaten so many times that it legitimately hurts my brain to think about her.”

“And while I have been sitting back and watching these things happen, I’ve been enjoying the Blast From the Past Tournament. Having a look at women who could be my next challenger if I beat Julianna while also looking at some of the makeshift teams that have been around. Remind any of you that Finn and I are still the Mixed Tag Team champions and we need real challengers?”

“Or have you all forgotten? I mean I get it, Finn and I are both the top champions in this company as well as the Mixed Tag Team Champions so maybe those championships are taking a backseat and everyone’s minds. But he and I made a promise to make sure those championships mean something. And I really wanted some of these teams in the Blast From the Past to stick together and maybe make a run at us. But instead half of them didn’t turn up, half of them just took their paycheck and fucked off, and the ones that stayed aren’t worth anything.”

“So, while waiting to defend those championships, I walked into a match with Harper Mason. Someone with boundless potential, who I actually gave a small amount of respect to. Which, let’s face it, if you know me is actually worth about double from anyone else. But Harper failed to do anything but annoy me.”

Kayla takes a few deep breaths, clearly trying to keep herself calm as she thinks about certain things to say and bring up. She looks down, the SCW World Bombshell Championship sitting next to her. A small smile comes across her face as she looks at it. Clearly full of pride that she is the champion.

”I have spent the last few weeks wanting to get my hands on Julianna. See, when she and I faced each other, I was fully prepared for a war. I did and said a lot of things to get under her skin so I could get that championship match. She wanted to main event a SuperCard and joining in, I was able to make that dream happen for her. And I want you to remember that. Julianna DiMaria could not main event a SuperCard if it wasn’t for Kayla Fucking Richards.”

“This isn’t just me being arrogant. Because, I am. This is the truth. The truth is that everyone needs an opponent that brings out the best in them. Everyone needs some kind of spark to make sure that a match that they go into matters. And I provide that. I made those matches against Ariana and Harper mean so much more because of the reaction I had to facing them. I could’ve just sat back and dismissed them completely, instead I made the match against Ariana a point to prove in the match against Mason, one where I wanted to test out her potential.”

“But Julianna? Well the first match aside from being about me wanting a championship opportunity that I had clearly earned, it was about making sure everyone knew the one simple fact that without me her championship reign was going to mean nothing. If she beat me, it would legitimise her, and if she lost to me, it means everything I said was true.”

“And I wondered how that was going to make her feel. I made a big deal last time about pointing out how I dealt with loss. And trust me on this, I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but loss is a huge part of this business. If you act like a loss doesn’t matter then you shouldn’t be here. Every loss should cut you deep. Every loss should make you want to rise up better. if it doesn’t? If you just take those losses time and time again and completely ignore that they’ve happened? Then you will never grow. Look at Ariana, look at someone like Mercedes Vargas, look at people who used to be here like Jessie Salco…”

“They acted like their losses didn’t matter. And they never grow.”

Kayla steps around the table, leaning down and picking up the championship and staring at it before placing it over her shoulder. Clutching onto it and wrapping her fingers around the main plate, the tightness that she holds it clearly showing she is afraid of losing it. But she isn’t going to show that.

”I have grown every single time I’ve lost a match, every time I had something taken from me I got up and right right back to take it and I wanted to see if you would do the same. I even said it before our title match. I said I wondered how you would react. If you would come back at me with everything you had. And for the most part, you did.”

“But you didn’t do it in a way that earns you any real respect.”

“I talked shit about you to get your attention. I plucked your strings and your ego.”

“I played you like a damn fiddle and you danced like a goddamn puppet for me.”

“You had a rematch due to being a former champion and defending it. You had it there. All you had to do was say the words. That’s it. And I don’t, for one second, believe the bullshit you spouted off about you considering walking away and not taking the rematch. You want this title back. But what is more telling is how you attacked me. Coming after me how you answered the other question I had burning…”

“If I took your pride.”

Kayla chuckles and looks up with a huge and I mean HUGE shit eating grin

”See, you had this aura about you Julianna. One of your own making. You came into this company, you built an undefeated streak, you talked your way into a title shot against Courtney Pierce who mentally checked out faster than Oz and Eiley did when me and Finn took the Mixed Tag Titles. You won the title and developed this myth.”

“A myth that you played off. A myth that you spread like COVID at a public gathering. And as long as that myth held you up and made you a star you didn’t care if it was true.”

“Then I came along.”

“I came along and I reached out and took everything you had. I took your undefeated streak that you touted from rooftops, I took that main event you wanted so badly, cause as I said you wouldn’t have had it without me. I took your title, I took your relevancy and I took your pride. Just like I said I would. I had you beaten before you even looked at the ring that night Julianna….”

Kayla offered a simple shrug with an arrogant smirk, her upper lip curling as she went.

”And then, well then you attacked me and Christian came to me. He told me that I wasn’t going to be able to get my hands on you until the SuperCard. And at the time I was angry. I was annoyed. You see, I’ve always had this thing where I believe that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I know they sit there and they add the whole thing of an eye for an eye makes the whole world but here’s the thing. I don’t come for one eye. If I’m gonna be coming for you, I’m gonna take both of them. and Christian knew that.”

“He knew that if I was left unchecked I was going to go after you and I was going to ruin what could’ve been one of the biggest main events that this company has ever done.”

“So, I don’t blame him.”

“However, you should be thanking him. You should be going into Christian‘s office getting down on your hands and knees and kissing the ground that he walks on. Because he saved you. At least for a little while. He protected you from me because he knew what I was going to do when I got my hands on you and he wanted to make money off of that. So he made sure that you were going to make it Into the Void.”

“And yeah, that meant that I had to stay back and watch you run your mouth. And aside from a few times where I verbally went after you in promos or on the shows themselves I was going to buy my time and wait until this show. Is this was my chance to remind you just who the fuck you are dealing with. And in the end, Julianna I think you need to look at yourself in the mirror and realise just how bad you fucked up.”

She laughed to herself and shook her head, moving the Bombshell Championship from one shoulder to the other.

”Two out of three falls. Really is perfect isn’t it? I beat you once and I can beat you again. But this gives you a little glimmer of hope. You might be able to flick a win over me. But in the end this match is going to work against you. Because you might be able to fluke one win against Me. One. Two? Do you know how hard that is? Do you realise if you go back over my career, not just here, but everywhere else in the professional wrestling landscape that beating me more than once in a row is damn near impossible.”

“Hell, you of all people should know that. I brought up a past. I brought up the fact that while you were down in the developmental company I was ruling the parent company like a fucking queen.”

“You of all people should know how good I am. And instead of looking at that, instead of coming at me with a game plan that worked, instead of coming at me like everyone thought you were going to end simply saying that you wanted to rematch, you came after me physically. You pissed me off. And what did you think that was going to accomplish? Did you think that that was going to get my attention to the point where I would applaud you and think that this was some kind of chess game where you knocked me over? Was just going to help you?”

“That did not help you.”

“Instead, it made me wanna cave your head in. And it’s funny how the history of anybody tends to repeat itself. When we faced each other last time, as we had into Blaze of Glory, I told you that all you did was go on the shows week after week and repeat the same narrative time and time again. you had decided to make the same mistake again. The only difference is this time you’ve changed the narrative.”

“This time you have tried sympathy.”

“Empathy.”

“Your tune changed slightly, but it still goes to the same beat. And it’s horrible because with you? You keep repeating yourself as well as others. It’s like a cover song. But one where they’ve gone beat the beat, chorus for chorus, verse for verse. The pitch may have changed, the voice may have changed, but in the end, it is the same thing, the same song, the same dance. and that is what you’ve done and that is all you are. You’re not original, you’re a carbon copy of people who have come before and you like to think that you have some kind of hold over this company. But there’s a reason why everyone else in the Blast From the Past is talking about how if they win that tournament, they are going to face me…”

“Cause no one thinks you can beat me.”

“You know who does think that you can beat me? You do. And something that I’ve been trying to get into your head for the last two months is that you are the only one that matters in this. You are the only one who needs to think that you can beat me. There may have been a laundry list of people in this company who thought I could beat you or wanted me to beat you, but in the end the only person that mattered in that conversation was Me. And at Into the Void, you and I are going to get in that ring, we are going to main event again and I am going to give you a second gift. I’m going to keep you in the limelight again.”

“You’re welcome.”