Fear

EZRA

I sat there, my body still trembling from the fear that had gripped me moments ago. Malachai's rage, the way he had struck his own brother without hesitation, left me frozen. My mind couldn't reconcile the man who had held me tenderly, whispered reassurances into my ear, and shielded me from the world, with the one I had just seen losing control. My heart pounded violently as I tried to catch my breath.

Elvis groaned, barely moving as he lay in his own blood, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I had wanted answers, not this. I had asked one question, and everything had spiraled into chaos. I couldn't even bring myself to regret asking. I needed to know the truth.

My fingers curled into the sheets as I whispered, "Who is she, Elvis? Who is this woman Malachai cares so much about?" My voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper, but Elvis heard me. He turned his head slightly, his swollen eye trying to focus on me, and he let out a shuddering breath.

"She… she's barely alive," he rasped, his voice thick with pain. "Malachai cares about her because she's my wife. My pregnant wife. And Lucius has her."

A sharp pain twisted in my chest. His wife? Pregnant? My lips parted in shock as I tried to process what he had just said.

"Lucius took her as a hostage," Elvis continued. "He used her to force Malachai to work for him. But instead of obeying… Malachai left her behind and ran away with you."

I felt as though the air had been knocked out of me. Malachai ran away with me? He left behind a pregnant woman to be tortured by Lucius? The man I had just witnessed unleash fury upon his own brother was the same man who had abandoned an innocent woman to a monster?

"That's why I've been trying to make him see sense!" Elvis's voice cracked with desperation. "I need my wife back, Ezra! She's carrying my child, and she's almost due. Malachai's only plan was to use you as bait to get to Lucius, and that's why he's scared to tell you the truth. He's torn, Ezra! He loves you so much, but he's stuck between you and doing what needs to be done."

I squeezed my eyes shut as a wave of emotions crashed over me. My entire body felt hollow, as if something inside me had been ripped away. The betrayal stung deeper than anything I had ever felt. Malachai had told me so many things, made so many promises, but he had never told me this.

Elvis swallowed hard. "I'm sorry for being harsh with you earlier. I just… I just need her back. I can't lose her."

My throat tightened, and I shook my head slowly, feeling tears burn my eyes. Malachai had chosen me over an innocent woman, over his brother's family, and I couldn't understand why. But even through the pain, one thought repeated in my mind: He hadn't used me as bait. He could have, but he didn't. He let his brother believe the worst of him rather than put me in danger.

"He… he doesn't want to use me as bait?" My voice wavered, barely audible.

Elvis let out a bitter laugh, wincing at the pain. "No, Ezra. He loves you too much. That's why he's acting like he doesn't care. Because he's stuck between you and saving my wife. And I hate him for it, but I also know he's suffering."

A sob escaped my lips before I could stop it. The guilt crashed into me so hard that I could barely breathe. All this time, I had thought Malachai was toying with me, deceiving me, hiding things because he didn't care. But the truth was the opposite. He cared too much. He was trying to protect me, even if it meant looking like the villain in his own brother's eyes.

Tears spilled onto my cheeks as I curled up on the bed, clutching my chest. My breath came out in broken gasps, and Elvis reached out weakly, his bloodied fingers barely grazing mine.

"Ezra…" he whispered. "Don't hate him. He's a fool, but he loves you."

I covered my mouth, trying to silence my sobs. I had misunderstood everything. I had pushed Malachai away when all he had been doing was protecting me in his own twisted, painful way. My body shook with the weight of it all, and I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

I had been so wrong.

But…..who was the man he killed?.