MAFIA'S WRONG TARGET

35: HUNTED BY REGRETS

HUNTER'S POV

Kingland,
06:34 pm

The sun was going down when I wandered outside the mansion, my feet carrying me toward the seashore. I go out for running everyday but as always my thoughts refused to stay quiet.

This place used to calm my mind. I remember coming here every time I needed to escape from everything… but over the past year, no matter how far I push myself, I can’t outrun the truth, at the end of the day, it’s just me… and it. Relief doesn’t exist for me anymore.

The entire Kingland has been rebuilt, yet the soul of this place feels gone. The warmth, the life, the vibe — all faded.

That face flashed before my vision again. Air whispering her name brushing my face leaving a faint scent for me to take a deep breath.

Grace...

Her scent is slipping away with time, and though I tried replacing it with many others, nothing ever came close. No one carries that calmness, those innocent touches, that peaceful fragrance she left behind.

When my legs finally gave in, I let myself collapse onto the sand, stretching out beneath the bleeding sky.

The grains pressed softly against my back, warm yet fragile, molding to my shape. I was now far away from the mansion boundries, the waves could be heard in the distance.

Sunrays were hitting my eyes, i placed my knuckles over them tracing the painted sky from between my fingers, as if searching for someone hidden up there.

For a fleeting moment, I stared upward, as though the answers were hidden in the heavens. As if someone live in there.

God, maybe?

My mother used to believe in God.
I did too… once. Back when she was alive. But after her, I stopped.

I know He exists. I just don’t trust Him. How could I? The one who whispered His name with blind faith… died. And the ones who mocked Him… lived.

I’ve never been the kind of man who asks for anything. I’ve built everything with my own hands, with blood on them if I had to.

But then there was Grace.

She changed that.

She made me want things I didn’t even believe I deserved. She made me ask… without ever knowing.

Yes, I begged.

Yes, I prayed.

Me — on my knees, whispering her name into the silence, as if the heavens owed me something.

And still… He didn’t give her to me.

Sometimes, I wonder… Maybe my wish became her curse. Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I pulled her into a world she was never meant to touch.

Or maybe… maybe her silent prayers were stronger than mine, and she asked to be free of me.

I don’t know.
I’ll never know.

I didn’t want much.
Not power — I already had it.
Not loyalty — I had more than I could count.

I only wanted something painfully simple… That she’d be glad when I walked into the mansion. That her eyes would soften, just once.
That she’d smile — genuinely, just once — when she looked at me.

That’s all I asked for.
Nothing more. Nothing less.

Thousands of heads bow at my command. And yet, the one thing I craved most… I couldn’t have.