Chapter 115 Outsmarting the shark

Chapter 115 Outsmarting the shark
Seraphina’s POV: 

The words hung in the air of our bedroom, heavy and suffocating. Is this war worth it? Malakai's voice, usually a low, reassuring rumble, was cracked with a fear I had never heard from him before. It was a sound that clawed at my heart, a raw, vulnerable plea that made me want to gather him in my arms and promise him the world. But I couldn't. Because his question, born from a place of pure, desperate love, was the one question I couldn't answer with a simple yes.

A part of me was upset, a sharp, defensive sting. How could he ask me that? This was about my past, my trauma, the monster who had tried to break me. It felt like he was asking me to discount my own suffering, to simply walk away from the fight that had defined my entire life.

But as I looked at his face, at the stark terror in his eyes, at the way his hands were clenched into fists as if to hold himself together, I couldn't be angry. I understood. I understood with a clarity that was painful. I would be lost if something happened to any of them. If Richard took Cassain, I'd lose my strategist, my rock, the man who saw the chaos in me and called it a strength. If he took Soren, I'd lose my fire, my warmth, the man who reminded me how to feel joy. If he took Malakai, I'd lose my shield, my anchor, the man who made me feel safe in a world that had only ever offered me danger. If any of them fell, a piece of my soul would be ripped away, and the world would burn in my grief. I would tear down heaven and earth to avenge them, just as they would for me.

But running? Hiding? It was a fool's hope.
I took a deep breath, the steady weight of Cassain's gaze and the silent concern from Soren giving me the strength to find my voice. I walked over to Malakai, taking his large, trembling hands in mine.

"I understand," I said, my voice soft but firm. "I promise you, I understand. The thought of losing any of you… it's not a thought I can survive. You're right. We'd all go crazy."

I looked from him to Cassain, then to Soren, letting them see the truth in my eyes. "But running away isn't the answer. Hiding won't save us. Do you really think a man like Richard will just let us go? That he'll pack up his toys and go home? No. He'll hunt us. He might find us in a month. Maybe it takes him a few years. But he will find us. And when he does, he won't just be sending a box with a finger in it. He'll burn down whatever life we've built, piece by piece, until there's nothing left."

I squeezed Malakai's hands, my expression hardening with resolve. "So to answer your question, Malakai… no. This isn't about revenge anymore. Not really. I want him to pay for what he did to Roxie, for what he did to me, but that's not the driving force. This is a war. He declared it the moment he sent that box. He's not just coming for me; he's coming for us. He looked at my three strongest protectors and saw them not as a wall, but as leverage. He wants to use you to get to me. And if we don't win this war, he will kill us all. It's as simple as that. It's him or us. There is no other choice."

A heavy silence fell over the room, the weight of my words settling over them like a shroud.

"So what do we do?" Soren asked, his voice low, the fire back in his eyes. "We can't keep walking into his traps."

"We don't," I said, my mind already racing, shifting from the emotional to the tactical. "We stop being reactive. We stop playing his game. He thinks he's smarter than us, that he's always one step ahead. So we have to be smarter. We have to take our time and plan ahead."

I looked at Cassain, who was already nodding, his strategist's mind clearly following my train of thought. "Nico gave us more than just that one address. He gave us a list of locations. Safe houses, shell companies, fronts. Richard can't be at all of them at once. It's impossible."

"So we hit them all," Cassain finished, his voice a low, dangerous promise. "At the same time."

"Exactly," I said, a spark of the old fire returning to my veins. "We divide our forces. We hit every location he has, all at once. We overwhelm him, we scatter his resources, we force him to show his hand. He won't expect it. He thinks we're reeling from the ambush. He'll expect us to lay low, to regroup. We won't. We'll strike when he least expects it, and we'll hit him with everything we have."

I looked at the three men who were my heart, my soul, my strength. "We don't strike too fast," I said, my voice a low, steady promise. "We strike smart. We plan, we prepare, and when the time is right, we end this. Together."