CHAPTER 160: THE BREAKING POINT

It should have been easy.

That’s what he’d told himself... in the car, during the walk, standing at her door.

What Lilith had whispered in promises of power and survival.

What every cold rationalization had been building toward.

Just once. Just necessary. Just survival.

She wants this. You’re giving her what she needs. Everyone gets something.

The words had made sense then. Perfect sense.

Clinical. Clean. Manageable.

But now standing here in front of her, he understood how catastrophically wrong he’d been.

He looked at her, smiling... radiant, unguarded. It was the kind of smile that thanked him and dared him in the same breath.

Her eyes shone as she stepped closer, tilting her chin up to look at him with fearless longing.

"Thank you," she whispered, voice trembling.

"Thank you for coming. You don’t know... how much I needed to see you. How much I’ve wanted this."

The words hit harder than he expected... not because of what she said, but because of what they revealed.

It had only taken one nudge. One quiet influence slipping through the cracks... subtle, unseen, but enough to tilt everything off balance.

And now, here she was... standing before him, her son’s best friend, the boy she’d once called her own. Trembling. Hopeful. Completely undone by a feeling she had no right to carry, yet couldn’t let go of.

The guilt struck fast and sharp.

No... no, it shouldn’t have been like this.

Wasn’t this exactly what he’d sworn to fight against? The kind of hollow control that stripped people of choice, of peace, of themselves?

He’d told himself he wanted strength to protect them. To keep them safe.

To make sure no one could ever use them, hurt them, or twist them the way the world once did him.

But looking at her now... trembling, hopeful, lost in something she didn’t choose... he felt the truth like a blade between his ribs.

He wasn’t protecting her.

He was standing on her.

Every lesson, every vow, every desperate promise he’d made to be better... all of it crumbled in that single heartbeat.

He’d wanted power to shield the people he called his own... not to use them as a stepping stone to reach it.

The thought hit so hard it hollowed him out.

His chest tightened, breath catching like it hurt to keep it in.

He felt disgust rise in his throat, heavy and bitter.

What am I doing?

The question echoed through him, louder than any command the system could give.

And for the first time since this began, the strength he’d been chasing felt like something poisonous... like every step forward had been taken on someone else’s back.

Before he could say anything... before sense or consequence could regain control... Linda’s arms came around him, locking him in a tight, urgent embrace.

Alex felt her warmth, her heartbeat thudding against his ribs. For a moment, he forgot everything but the sensation of being wanted, of being chosen.

Then, with deliberate confidence, Linda took his hand and guided it to her waist. Her skin was soft beneath the silk, her breath unsteady but determined.

She looked up into his eyes, the question clear: permission; invitation; a promise that what came next was entirely theirs.

Alex panicked, a jolt of fear flashing through him.

Move. Say something. Step back.

Do ANYTHING.

But his body wouldn’t obey.

Wouldn’t step back, wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t do anything but stand there frozen in the grip of his own paralysis... caught between the screaming in his mind and the weight of everything he’d lose if he stopped this.

The countdown pulsed at the edge of his vision.

[4 hours, 22 minutes remaining.]

Just let it happen. Just this once. Just survive.

Linda looked up at him, seeing his stillness, the rigid tension in his frame...

And mistook it for restrained desire.

Her eyes softened with understanding, with gratitude that he was holding himself back, giving her the power to close this final distance.

She smiled... tender, vulnerable, trusting.

She thinks I want this.

The thought was a knife.

And then she rose on her toes, her hands sliding up to frame his face...

And kissed him like she’d been drowning and he was air.

Her lips were soft against his, warm and searching, as if she’d been holding this longing inside for far too long.

Her hands came up to his face, cradling his jaw, fingers sliding into his hair with a tenderness that felt almost reverent.

She kissed him like he was everything she’d been starving for.

Like he was salvation and desire and the answer to every lonely night she’d endured.

Her body pressed against his, and he could feel the rapid beating of her heart, the trembling that ran through her frame, the way she poured everything into this single moment.

It should have felt good.

Should have felt like desire taking over, like heat and want and the physical response that would make the rest easier.

Just let it happen. Just respond. It’s just a kiss.

But his body had gone rigid.

Frozen.

Every muscle locked in place like his nervous system had received a signal to stop, to freeze, to reject.

Her tongue touched his lips....gentle, seeking entrance... and instead of heat, instead of desire, he felt...

Wrong.

The word crashed through him with devastating force.

This is wrong.

Not abstractly wrong. Not wrong in the distant moral sense he’d been wrestling with.

But viscerally, physically, impossibly wrong.

Linda’s hands in his hair felt like chains.

Her lips on his felt like suffocation.

The warmth of her body pressed against him felt like burning.

And suddenly, with horrifying clarity, Alex’s mind started screaming things his rationalizations had successfully buried for days.

Oh god.

Oh god oh god oh god.

What have you become?

The question crashed through him like thunder, and suddenly he was seeing himself from the outside... really seeing himself... for the first time since he’d made this decision.

And what he saw was monstrous.

You told yourself this was about survival.

About necessity.

About power to protect the people you love.

His mind supplied the rationalizations with mocking clarity, throwing his own words back at him like accusations.

"Just this once. Just one night. Then it’s done."

"It’s not an affair. It’s a transaction. A necessary compromise."

"Linda wants this. I’m not forcing anything. Everyone gets something."

Bullshit.

The word exploded in his consciousness with such force he almost flinched.

Bullshit bullshit BULLSHIT.

This isn’t about survival. This is about cowardice.

You’re not protecting anyone. You’re protecting YOURSELF.

Your power. Your strength. Your precious enhancements that make you feel like you matter.

The truth was a knife twisting in his gut.

You were so terrified of being powerless again that you convinced yourself this was acceptable.

That betraying the people who love you was a reasonable price to pay.

That destroying a family... YOUR family... was just "necessary."

Linda’s kiss deepened, her body pressing closer, and Alex’s mind was screaming...

Is this who you are now?

Is this what you’ve become?

The question echoed in the darkness behind his closed eyes.

Are you really willing to do ANYTHING for power?