Chapter 114 Is it worth it?

Chapter 114 Is it worth it?
Malakai’s POV:

The ride back to the villa was a silent, suffocating affair. The adrenaline of the fight had bled away, leaving behind a cold, hard residue of failure. We had been played. The Shark had known we were coming, had laid out his trap, and we had walked right into it like amateurs. I could still feel the phantom weight of that goon's arms around Seraphina's waist, the sheer, sickening terror of watching her being dragged away into the darkness. If I had been a second later…

The thought was a shard of ice in my gut. I had spent my entire life in this world, a world of violence and death, of calculated risks and brutal consequences. I had faced down killers, torturers, and monsters without a flicker of fear. But tonight, for the first time, I was afraid. Not for myself, but for her. I couldn't picture it. I couldn't picture losing her. The image of her broken, gone, taken from me… it was a black hole in my soul, a void that would consume everything.

Once we were back inside the reinforced walls of the villa, the silence remained. We tended to our minor wounds, the sharp sting of antiseptic a welcome distraction from the deeper pain of our failure. Seraphina was quiet, her shoulders slumped, the fire in her eyes dimmed by the weight of our near-miss. She kept glancing at me, a silent question in her gaze, but I couldn't bring myself to meet her eyes. What would she see there? The fear that was eating me alive?

Later that night, we were in the master bedroom. The four of us. It had become our sanctuary, the one place where the outside world couldn't touch us. Soren was already in bed, propped up against the headboard, scrolling through something on his tablet. Cassain was in the adjoining bathroom, brushing his teeth. Seraphina was standing in front of the closet, pulling on a soft silk robe, her movements slow, weary.

I watched her, my heart aching with a love so fierce it was almost painful. She was my world. Before her, my life was a series of empty victories, a string of meaningless fights. I had nothing to lose. Now, I had everything. And the thought of losing it all was driving me crazy.

I took a deep breath, the words I had been holding in all night clawing their way up my throat. I had to say something. I couldn't keep this inside.

Cassain walked out of the bathroom, his eyes immediately finding mine. He must have seen the storm brewing in my expression, because he stopped, his gaze questioning.

"What is it, Malakai?" he asked, his voice low.

Seraphina turned, her brow furrowed with concern. Soren looked up from his tablet, his full attention on me.

I looked at them, at the three people who had become my entire universe, and the fear I had been holding back all night finally broke free.

"I need to ask you something, Seraphina," I said, my voice rough, raw with emotion. "All of you, really. But mostly you."

She took a step toward me, her eyes soft. "What is it, Malakai?"

I looked at her, at the woman who had tamed the beast inside me, who had given me a reason to live beyond the next fight. "This war," I said, my voice cracking. "This vendetta… is it worth it?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What? Of course it is. He's a monster. He has to be stopped."

"But at what cost?" I demanded, my voice rising with a desperation I couldn't hide. "Tonight… that was too close. I almost lost you. I can't… I can't lose you. I won't survive it."

I was rambling, the words pouring out of me in a torrent of raw, unchecked emotion. "I've been in this world my whole life. I've seen death, I've caused it, I've welcomed it. It was all I knew. But I never had anything worth losing. Not until you. You are my world, Seraphina. Every part of it. And the thought of you being taken from me, of you being killed because of some ghost from your past… I'll go crazy. I'll burn the whole world down, and it still won't be enough to fill the hole you'd leave behind."

I looked at Cassain and Soren, my gaze pleading. "I know you feel it too. I know you want a future with her. A real future. Not one spent hiding in the shadows, waiting for the next attack. Is this what we want? A life of constant fear, always looking over our shoulders?"

Soren put his tablet down, his expression serious. "He's right, Seraphina. We can't live like this."

Cassain nodded, his jaw tight. "The risk is unacceptable."

I turned back to Seraphina, my heart in my throat. "I love you," I said, my voice a hoarse, desperate whisper. "I love you more than my own life. And I want a future with you. A long, happy, safe future. I want to see you grow old, to see you laugh, to see you happy. And I'm terrified that if we keep going down this path, we'll never get that chance. So I'm asking you, one last time. Is this war worth it? Is he worth losing everything for?"