THE ULTIMATE STANDER (COMPLETED)

Chapter Seventeen

"Congratulations, Phoebe." I pivoted to see Cameron standing and applauding. "You've won. Please, come with me."

It was a completely different set of building Cameron escorted me into. In one of the large rooms, I found a young woman sitting comfortably in an armchair, her leg crossed over the other, and with a stealth of ninjas standing horizontally behind her. She possessed a long brown hair and an oval-shaped face.

"I knew you'd win, Phoebe Knowles," she uttered to me, a satisfying smile on her face.

"Who are you?" I asked.

Her smile grew into a grin. "You know me, just not what I look like. I'm Sam."

My eyebrows furrowed. Was this a joke? No way she was Sam.

"There's no freaking way that you're Sam. Sam is a man. Is this a fucking joke?" I faced Cameron standing feets away.

"Nope. Not a joke at all," she responded. "I never mentioned that I was a man."

"Oh? Then what the hell happened to your damn voice?"

She chuckled. "Oh, Phoebe. That was just a voice enhancer. Only the last stander gets to hear my real voice, and see what I look like. I've been waiting patiently for this very day. I want to congratulate you, Phoebe. For being such an excellent fighter. As promised. The winner gets the sum of two million dollars. We have your reward right here."

My eyes followed her hand gesture toward the side of the armchair. I could see a huge black bag leaning against it.

"I've come for something else," I stated.

"Other than the reward? Hm. And what would that be?"

"Your life, Sammy."

She smiled. "It's Samantha. And I think you're making a very, very, big mistake. Besides, why would you want to take my life?"

I gritted. "You took someone precious away from me." I grimaced.

She frowned, trying to think. "Ah! You mean Mia?" She chuckled once again. "Come on, now Phoebe. You should be thanking me. I did you a favor here."

"How's having Mia killed doing me a favor?!" I snapped at her, and I saw as the ninjas shot their hands to the hilt of their swords. Sam raised a hand to stop them from going further.

Sam uncrossed her legs and sat up straight, gazing right at me. "Mia, was a complete distraction to you Phoebe. I helped you, by having her out of the way. We . . ." She hesitated. "I needed you to win."

I scoffed. "Really?" She nodded. "And why's that? Why the fuck do you need me to win?!"

"Well," She leaned back into her seat, "aside the fact that billionaires across the country were voting for you-"

"Billionaires?" I cut her off.

"You see Phoebe, this is not just a battle game. It's more like betting. You know, gambling. But it's more like an investment if I'm to use the right term."

"So . . . People out there bets on us while watching us fight-no. Watching us kill each other?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "How do you think we make our money? It's called business sweetheart."

"Do you even realize how many lives that were lost?"

"Oh I am aware. Come on, don't make me look like the villain here. You all knew what you were getting yourselves into."

"Not until the last fucking minute!"

Sam pouted her bottom lip and nodded. "True, true. But hey, we have to give the audience what they want. I'm sure you understand that, Phoebe."

I shook my head. "I don't. And I chose not to. I'm only here for one thing, and that is to kill you."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Phoebe. You're making me regret that I helped you."

"Stop saying that! You never helped me! I would have killed anyone on my own without your help!"

"Anyone? And that include Mia? Would you have killed her if you two were the last ones standing?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"That is not my point. You had her killed, and I'm here so you can pay the price."

Sam sighed. "So stubborn. Just like your father."

I frowned, tilting my head to the side. "You knew my father?"

"I very much did. He was quite the good fighter. He would have been known across the whole country if he hadn't . . . Well, the past is in the past."

"How did you know him?"

"He was once an ultimate stander. Right before I killed him."

What? I was confused.

"There's no possible way you could have killed him. My father died in a plane crash a very long time ago."

Sam laughed. "You see, that was what we wanted people to believe. That Robert Knowles died in a plane crash. However, I killed him with my bare hands when he came wanting to kill me. Just what you're wanting to do."

"I-I don't understand. If you guys only recruit female fighter, how then was my father an ultimate stander?" Seriously. It all seemed perplexing.

Sam sat up again. "Let me explain it to you. That wasn't the case back then. We recruited both genders. Your father joined The Ultimate Stander to save your mother from death. She was diagnosed with this illness I'm sure you know of. Your father came crawling to me and begging that I give him the two million dollars for your mother's surgery. I didn't give him. He wasn't yet the winner. At that time fighters were free to come to me whenever. It doesn't apply now. Before Robert got to be the last stander, your mother died. He thought it was all because of me. That it was all my fault for his wife's death. There was no way I could have given him the money back then even though he seemed to be the best fighter among others."

Silence enveloped, as I took in all these piece of information. Dad was an ultimate stander? Like me? So his death was fabricated. There was no plane crash.

I glared right at Sam's smiling face. "Not only did you have Mia killed, you also killed my father."

"Hey. I couldn't let him kill me. The poor bastard was determined to take my life."

"Samantha Hart, I've fucking determined to send you to hell," I stated firmly.

"Alright." She rose up. "Since you badly want to kill me, here's the thing. I kill you, I get the two million dollars and your aunt pays back every dime paid for her surgery."

"And if I killed you?" I asked.

"You walk out of here freely, with none of the ninjas harming a single strand of your hair."

"With the money?"

"Yes. With the money."

"Great."