Chapter 12: Seat A1

Renata was on her feet before the champion finished speaking.

"Stop the feed," she said to nobody. "That man is lying."

The camera did not stop.

Two hundred phones were pointed at her, and the big screen over the cage showed her face from three angles.

"The fight is over," the announcer said, in a small voice. "Nobody wins like that. The winner is Nobody."

The Cellar broke into a roar again.

Renata's lips went thin.

A reporter in the front row stood up with a microphone.

"Mrs. Aldecoa, you gave your word on camera at noon," she shouted. "The demolition is canceled? The building belongs to Mr. Salcedo for ten years?"

Renata looked at the lens.

For a moment I watched her do the math.

She could not take it back with the whole city watching.

"The building stays," she said, very evenly. "My word is my word."

She turned and walked out through the crowd with her chin high.

Tomas hurried after her, and he did not look at me.

When their footsteps faded, I sat down hard on the cage step.

Beto climbed into the cage and lifted me off the floor in a hug that smelled like liniment and old sweat.

"You did it, mija," he said into my hair. "You saved the house."

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