It was a bright sunny day, with birds chirping and a soft comforting breeze blew around as Alexander's household stood in the graveyard watching Martha's coffin being slowly suspended down into the earth. A loud sob left Rose as she watched the last parts of the coffin and the flowers on it before it went down completely, forever, marking an end to another life. She rested her head on Alexander's stiff shoulders and clutched onto his suit clad arm. On the other hand, Alexander who was as stiff and cold as a rock observed the crowd with slightly wet eyes. The beast was evaluating each and every person who stood there. Someone had managed to take away his motherly figure right under his nose. The postmortem reports had confirmed that Martha's death was due to consumption of poison and she would not do that to herself. She bloody wanted to see his children before her death. She wanted to hold her grandchildren and play and do what a mother would do to her son's children before she went. She couldn't leave him this way. His heart and breathing constricted as the tear in his eyes swelled and dropped down leaving a wet path down his cheek and jaw. Without wiping it, he stood watching everyone with those calculating eyes. He knew that this was a planned murder that was executed right under his nose. Rose and the other maids in the house were informed that this was a natural death and Alexander wanted to keep it that way until he found out the filthy culprit. It was clear that this death was aimed at him, but as usual, she protected him, taking the blow of it for one last time.

"Where is Jade?" He asked, his voice strong, filled with command and a kind of power that Rose had never hear before. She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him with confusion, and then she immediately scanned the crowd in an attempt to find her.

"Where is she?" she whispered to herself, with a slight tinge of anger rising in her. How could she miss this? Or was she here before and went away in the middle of the ceremony.

"Alex, she is not here..." Before she completed her sentence, he spoke.

"You will stay away from her. That girl is fired!" He gritted his teeth and immediately called onto one of his men.

"Yes, Boss"

"Ask Graham to the check the cameras, between yesterday night and today morning. I want it all by the time we reach."

"Yes, Boss"

"Alex, what is happening?' Rose asked, completely confused and nervous about the orders he just gave away.

He looked at her with a cold expression but the pain, the agony in his eyes did not go unnoticed by her. He looked back at the pit and pulled Rose closer to his side by her hips.

"They would have to go over my dead body to hurt you."

"Alex...please...What's happening?" she pleaded him to tell something, anything.

"Not now Rose, but I promise to tell you when the time is right. For now, for your safety, I want you to listen and cooperate with me." He said, still looking at the pit that was now being filled with mud.

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"So you killed the wrong person, didn't you?" He laughed with his voice filled with sinister humor.

"I...I had it all planned. I..." she couldn't believe she just said that she had it all planned. She was the reason why a wonderful lady was buried deep inside the earth at the moment instead of working and assisting people in the kitchen at Alexander's house. She was meant to kill Alexander, or rather forced to kill him. She was a murderer now, a cold blooded murderer.

"I can't believe she's gone...Oh god, I am the reason, Oh god..." she started crying loudly and the man who sat on the chair in front of her while she stood covering her face, was watching her and thinking about how pathetic she was.

"That's alright I guess. The old hag meant a lot to him, didn't she? He will learn a lesson now. But due to your fault he is going to get even more observant! You know how long it is going to take for me to reach my desire now?!" he snarled at her, still seated on the chair.

"You can't do anything now, Jade." He shook his head negative and kept staring at her worn out shoes.

"But you will keep my mother safe, won't you? You will take care of her medical expenses, won't you, sir? I did all this for her safety..."

"Did you complete the task?" he cut in between, patiently.

When he got no answer from her, he got up from the chair and yelled

"Did you finish your job, you bitch?!"

She shook with fear and whispered a no.

"And do you think you could go back to their house and pretend nothing happened?" he asked again, bending in front of her to look straight into her eyes, and all he could see in there was fear.

"That wicked bastard would have already found out that it was you who killed that old bitch and he would have sent a couple of his men to hunt you and take you back to him so that he can kill you slowly by torturing you every day." he said the last part and smiled at her with that bone chilling smile. She knew something bad was going to happen. The worst had already taken place and the after effects were going to be destructive.

"And he will torture you until you leak out all this information to him. Our little secret will be out and he will be behind my life after he finishes you. Now, why would I want that?" he crossed his hands on his chest, straightened himself and tilted his head to look at her.

As if sensing what was going to come out next, she spoke. "I will move away from this town and never come back. I will take my mother away. But please, help her. Please, oh God..." She fell on the floor and cried. It was like the end of the world for her. She had been so desperate for money and look where it got her.

"I don't understand why you keep talking about your mother Jade..." He said, and slowly opened the drawer on his desk.

She immediately stopped as soon as those words left his mouth and looked at him.

"My mother is sick. That is the only reason why I agreed to do this task and...and.."

"Your mother is dead."

She looked at him, as she felt every organ pause their function in her body. She couldn't breathe anymore. She felt herself thinking of her mother. That morning after informing this monster about what happened she immediately came to meet him. She hadn't gone home...

"You think I don't get even with people who cause me more trouble? You have done nothing but increase my problems, beautiful."

"Did...Did you..?" she gasped for breath as she struggled to pull out the words from her throat.

"Kill her? yes, I did."

"You, monster!" She screamed and got up from the floor with rage consuming every blood vessel in her body. She wanted to plunge her fingers into his skin and rip him apart, shred him to pieces and burn him, but even before she could reach him, he raised the gun and shot her right on her forehead.

"Fucking trash." He whispered, and kept the gun back in his drawer.

He went up to her lifeless body and watched her with hands shoved deep inside the pockets of his slacks. He smiled at her wide open eyes and parted lips.

"I promise you and your mother a good burial, beautiful. You will lay right next to my mother." He sighed and walked away from the empty cold room.

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My lovely people,

I am sorry for this delay. I hope you liked the chapter. Please let me know what you guys felt.

Until next time,

RLJ.