He walked away once and called it discipline.This time, he has to tell the truth.Ethan Mercer knows exactly why he quit fighting.At least, that's the story he's been telling himself.Years later, coaching at a small gym, he prides himself on control-on teaching restraint, safety, and patience. But when one of his fighters walks away, Ethan is forced to confront a harder reality: the line between discipline and fear isn't as clean as he believed.With his body no longer reliable and time no longer generous, Ethan makes a quiet decision to step back into the ring-not to prove he can win, but to find out who he is when control finally runs out.Last Round is a grounded, unsentimental sports novella about pressure, honesty, and the cost of staying present when retreat would be easier.This is not a comeback story.It's a reckoning.