Jade Macleary Pt. 22

Jade paces the open floor of her office. As she mindlessly paces, she fixes her eyes on an official form she got in the mail this morning. She read it over and over again, deepening her frown.

Dear Ms. Macleary,

The land plot that your business is located has been purchased by a development company. You have 4 weeks to relocate your operations before land development begins.

If you wish to keep your land, you can purchase it for $5,000,000. Payment is due by the end of the month.

She grips the paper, crumpling it, and tears it.

Jade: Tight bastards. How the hell am I supposed to get that much money in less than a month?

She slams the paper down on her desk, furious with the senders. Her father bought this land and paid it off with every cent he had when they moved here. Now, people want to take it and turn it into something like an apartment complex.

Jade: Come on, Macleary, there has to be something you can do? Think! Think!

She brainstorms ideas on how she can make up the money to save her home and her father's business. She crashes down on her couch and cradles her head in her hands, feeling her emotions well up inside her.

Jade: You can't let him down... not again.

She looks up to see a pair of boxing gloves hanging from the wall, covering a mug shot of her in her teens. She walks over to the miniature shrine and looks at the old gloves and memorabilia from her delinquent days. The fights she would get into, the trouble she would cause, the people she would hurt.

She put that life behind her for good after her father worked so hard to get her out of it. She gazed at a newspaper clipping taken from several years ago with her face on it.

"Scarlet Bandit brought to justice after 90th boxing victory"

Jade: No, no, not that, anything but that. I'll get the money legit.

She looked at it again, seeing a picture of her bloody and bruised, holding up a championship cup filled with bundles of cash. Her will began to ware as she remembered the money, money that could help her.

Jade: (She sighed, exasperated by the choice she is seemingly left with) Fuuuuuck. Sorry Da, but I need the money to save our name. I ain't leeching off Aussie anymore now that he's got his life ahead of him.

She takes a piece of paper and dials the number of it, waiting for the call to connect.

???: Hello?

Jade: Where's the next match? I want in.

???: Who are you?

Jade: The Scarlet Bandit