“Alethia,” he murmured. “Will you marry me?”

She glanced up in surprise, for she was not expecting this. “Marry you?” she repeated incredulously, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement. “We have only been out once, Lucien, and already you are hearing wedding bells?”

He frowned, not at all pleased by her sentence. His men saw him tense and took a step towards Alethia, glaring menacingly.

“Alethia,” he said calmly, all pleasantness gone from his voice. “We have been through this before. You do not have a choice.”

She laughed and once again, he frowned unpleasantly. “What are you going to do if – when – I reject your proposal?” she questioned, giving him a half smile. “Kidnap me?”

He did not like her tone when she was speaking to him. She still thought he was joking. “We shall see,” he murmured simply, and stalked out of the fancy restaurant they were dining in, with his two bodyguards trailing after him.



Alethia reached home late that night, for she had gone to her friend’s, Stephanie’s, house to talk about Lucien’s proposal. She felt slightly troubled to hear Lucien speak to her like that and was worried what he might do.

The phone rang.

Alethia sighed and dropped her shopping bags onto the floor, moving slowly towards the phone.

“Alethia,” the voice said. In the background, someone was screaming.

She blinked. “Lu-Lucien?”

The voice did not answer her but instead, went on. “I’ve got a knife around Stephanie’s neck.”

The sentence was so precise, so easy to understand but it took Alethia several moments to get his meaning. “Are you joking?” she asked in a hushed tone.

The voice laughed cruelly and suddenly she could hear Stephanie’s voice.

“Alethia!” Stephanie screamed into the phone. “Help me! Lucien has – “

“Lucien?” Alethia panicked. “What about Lucien?”

There was silence on the other line. Then a last, final scream that tore into the night.

Alethia felt back onto her couch, traumatised. “That must be someone playing a sick joke,” she murmured to herself, refusing to believe Stephanie was in danger.

Someone knocked on the door. With a heavy heart, she went over and yanked it open, only to find…

… Lucien standing there with blood dripping from his knife.

He smiled nastily.

“Now will you marry me?”

Alethia screamed with all her might and tore up the stairs. She remembered her parents were out that night (fortunately) and had left her younger brother, Damien, with her (unfortunately). She ran into his room and woke him up.

“We must go!” she yelled hurriedly, facing Damien.

“Why must we – “ he broke off, the confusion on his face was quickly turned into fear. “B-behind you, Alethia, look behind you!”

She spun around and her heart stopped. Alethia backed away from Lucien, whose eyes flashed dangerously and whose lips were curling into an evil smile.

In an instant, he was beside her and her brother.

He grabbed hold of Damien’s neck, lifting him off the bed effortlessly. Alethia found herself frozen, staring unblinking at Damien’s pale face. It was only when he started choking that she reacted.

“Leave him alone!” she screamed, clawing at Lucien’s outstretched arm. “He’s innocent.”

Lucien pushed Alethia away from Damien and she lost her balance, collapsing onto the ground. He smiled in a crazed way.

“Innocent you say?” he murmured. “These are the people that are stopping you from accepting me. How can they be – “ Lucien clutched Damien’s neck tighter. “ – Innocent?”

A chill ran down Alethia’s spine. Damien was slowly turning purple. “Please,” she pleaded helplessly. “Let him go.”

Lucien finally released him and the boy dropped onto the floor.

He was not moving.

He was not breathing.

Alethia bent over Damien’s corpse, crying. “How could you do this to him?” she sobbed. “He was only six.”

Lucien did not reply, for he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Alethia’s parents were home.

He smiled crookedly, raising his bloody knife.

“Now will you marry me?”