I am standing in a warehouse. Emma is sitting there, tied up to a chair. A man comes and beats her with a belt. There is blood everywhere. He starts to undress her. "Emma! Leave her alone!" I shout. But nobody seems to hear me. I try to move but I can't. It is like I am paralysed or something. "Emma!" I shout. The man hits her again with a belt. She screams. "Nessa, help me!" She cries. "Emma! No!" I can't help her. I can't move. The man removes a knife and starts cutting her neck. She screams in pain. "Help!" I shout. "Somebody please help!" The man laughs. Just then Ethan stands in front of me. And suddenly we reach a unknown street.

"Ethan! Where are we!?! I have to help Emma!" I shout, but he doesn't seem to listen. "Ethan!" I call out for him. Suddenly, I hear three bullets being shot. And Ethan starts bleeding. "This is all your fault." He says. "Ethan! Someone help!" I shout for help. By now, Ethan's whole shirt is drenched in blood. And he slowly starts losing his balance. "This is all your fault." He says. I don't understand anything. Why is he saying that? I try to reach for my phone, but my hands are some how already occupied. I look down to see me holding a gun. I am the one who shot Ethan!?! No. It can't be. Ethan is laying down. Dead. And it's all my fault. "I am so sorry Ethan! Please forgive me!" I scream. I hear some footsteps coming towards me.

I see my father walking towards us. "Dad! Help!" I shout. But he comes towards me and slaps me. "This is all your fault." He says. "Help him, dad!" I shout. But he doesn't listen. Out of nowhere, my mom appears beside my father. "Mom! Help him! Help Ethan!" I scream. "You are no one to me. You are just a stupid girl. This is all your fault. You are a useless tool, who can't even protect her own brother." My mom glares at me.

Suddenly, the whole world turns red. Ethan and Emma are standing in front of me. There is a knife in Emma's heart. Ethan is vigorously bleeding. "This is all your fault." They both say. My parents appear beside them. "You are no one to us. You are useless." They both say. "Noo!" I scream. And then Stefan appears beside them. "Princess, wake up!" He says. Why is he saying that!?! "This is all my fault. She is dead because of me. He is dead because of me. I am useless. This is all my fault." I cry. "It's okay. You just have to wake up." He suggests. How can it be okay!?! "This is all my fault." I sob. "Princess, please wake up." Stefan pleads. Suddenly a man appears behind Stefan. He has a gun in his hand. He is aiming it at Stefan. "Princess wake up." Stefan says. Before I could do anything, the man shoots. "Noo!"

I wake up to someone shaking me. I am in a hospital room. I was covered in sweat. My face was stained with tears. Ethan laid on the hospital bed in front of me. No. He can't be gone! I look around. Stefan was standing beside me. Alive. Without thinking, I hug him. He stays still, startled by my action. After a second, he hugs me back and pats my back. After a moment, I realize what I was doing and I quickly take a step back and regain my composure. "I woke you up, didn't I?" I ask Stefan. "I wasn't sleeping actually. So you didn't really wake me up. You just scared the hell out of me." He shrugs and goes and sits on the couch near the window.

"And why weren't you sleeping?" I curiously ask him. "Well, I made a promise to someone that I will stay alert the whole night. And sleeping is the opposite of that." He shrugged. I couldn't believe him. He had actually kept his promise, keeping aside all the differences he has had with Ethan. "Well, you can go to sleep now. I'll stay awake." I suggested him. "No. You should go back to sleep. You are pretty exhausted." He said. "It's fine Stefan. Anyway I am not going to able to sleep after that." I said, referring to my nightmare. He stayed quite and didn't reply.

"You were calling Emma's name." He slightly whispered, but it was loud enough that I could hear it. "Want to talk about it?" He suggested. "To her brother? No thanks." I sarcastically chuckled. "Come on. Tell me about it. It will make you feel better." He said. "Trust me. It won't." I stated. "You know why you are so tired? Because you keep everything confined in yourself, loading your mind with it. After sometime, it overloads. And then your mind finds a way to take it out on you." He said. And even though I didn't want to, I had to agree that he was right. "Come here and talk." He said, pointing to the empty place on the couch. I went and sat there.

"Well, they started after Emma..." I started but couldn't bring myself to say that word out loud. He nodded, wanting me to continue. "I didn't sleep for days, scared that the nightmares will haunt me if I slept. But Ethan helped me with them. And they grew less frequent. How ironic that he is reason I had my nightmare today." I chuckled. "You also called out your parents' name." He asked. And I continued, "Well, my parents are divorcing and today," I see the time to be 2 am, realising that a new day has already started. "Yesterday, I learned in a very harsh way that I was adopted. So yeah." I shrugged. And somehow, I felt that a burden was removed from my shoulder. This did actually feel better. My eyes started feeling tired. "Thank you." That was the last thing I muttered before I fell asleep.

Stefan's POV

I woke up to the sunlight shining in my eyes. I was going to sit up, but I felt someone's head on my chest. I looked down to see Princess, peacefully sleeping. I was glad that she fell asleep. She scared the hell out of me last night. I smiled, remembering all the events of last night. This girl is one strong person, who somehow manages to intrigue me. I felt Princess move and I quickly stayed still, not wanting to wake her up. I heard someone clear their throat. I turned my head to see Ryan standing at the door.

"What did I miss?" He smirked. I just glared at him. "Shut up. She'll wake up." I whisper shout at him. He raised his hands up in surrender. "Well, I already woke up. Thanks Ryan." I heard Princess say, who was already sitting up amd I didn't even realize it. "Good morning, Princess." I smirked. She ignored me, got up and went straight to Ryan. What the f*ck!?! I also went and stood beside her. "No I didn't." Ryan said to her. "Why not?" She asked him. What the f*ck are they talking about!?!

"Well, you know her. She won't agree to it. She loves you. And she won't leave you alone here. I don't even know how she even left you yesterday night." Ryan shrugged. "That was me. I forced her to go home yesterday. But you are not cancelling it. You are asking her. And if she denies it, then you come and tell me. I'll handle her. But you are no way cancelling it." The bossy Princess commands Ryan. "What the f*ck are you guys talking about?" I finally ask them. "Oh hey Stefan! Didn't see you there." Princess smirked. After that she went and took her bag and went outside.

"What the f*ck were you guys talking about!?!" I ask Ryan. "She is helping me with my date with Selena." He replied. "You could have asked me to help." I said. "You don't even agree that you like a girl. And you are going to help me with my date? Leave it bro!" Ryan rolled his eyes. "I don't like anyone." I glare at him. And, as if on cue, Princess enters the room. "The look on your face says it all." Ryan whispered to me and then turned to Princess. "I am going to go and make some arrangements." Ryan told her. "Yeah. You better do it." She playfully shouts at him.

"I have to agree. You can make anyone do any work. You can be a great leader, Princess." I unknowingly said. But rather than having some sassy back answer, she stiffened and the playful look on her face changed into something unrecognizable. Then she realized something and her face was back to normal. What the f*ck was that!?! "Hey, are you ok?" He asked her. "Yeah. I am fine." She shrugged. "Well, I'll go get some coffee for both of us." I said and started to walk out of the door. "Thank you." I heard her say. I stopped and turned around, giving her a questioning look. "For last night. You were right. It really helped me sleep. So thank you." She said and turned towards Ethan. I nodded and went to bring some coffee.

**********
I was coming back, carrying two cups of coffee in my hand, when my phone started ringing. I kept the cups on the nearest chair and saw the caller ID. It was Jordan. "Hey Jordan!" I said. "Please tell me you are with Vanessa." He asked. And then I remembered the events at the party. Anger started boiling inside me. "What do you want with her? Don't you think the party was enough." I hissed. "Please. Listen to me-" but before he could complete, another call interrupted him. It was Nathan. I ended Jordan's call and picked up Nathan's, as I thought his was more important.

"I told you not to call me till you get some information." I shouted. "I have some information sir. Thats why I called. I know better than to disobey your orders." He replied. "Well then, tell me." I impatiently said. "Some of the city cameras' footage was removed. Even our spy cameras were somehow disabled. And that needs some very high technology, which only happens to be with only two people in the world, aka. two best gangs in the world . The Kings and The Elites. Well, we still don't happen to know that who exactly the person was aiming at. So if it was you, or Ethan for that matter, it would be The Elites. If it was Vanessa, then it was The Kings for sure. Because The Elites would never harm a innocent girl, no matter what." He said. "Call me back after you find out more." I said and ended the call.

Well, you can say that I have a lot of useful contacts. I am the son of the Great Joseph Thompson after all. And it sometimes comes very useful. But unfortunately, no one helped me during Emma's death. All ran off. So even after three f*cking years, I still haven't figured out who was behind it. But I promised to myself that I wouldn't let that be the case with Vanessa. I saw how devastated she was after what happened to Ethan. Even though I don't like him, he is a important part of her life. And I can't see that part go away from her life without any explanation. So that's why I put all my men at the task of finding that shooter.

I was making my way back to Ethan's room when I heard some noise coming from that room. It was someone singing, but in a very low volume, which could have been easily ignored. But you can say that I happen to have 'vamp-hearing'. I moved a bit closer and peeked in. And there she was, Vanessa, singing to Ethan. I knew she could sing. She always had a sweet voice of a singer.

Will you ever come back to me?
Will you ever come find me?
Need you now, oh hold me closer
Stop the wheels of time

When I close my eyes
You're here by my side
All I ever really need is you
Nothing I could say would ever be enough

Stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?
Stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?

That's so f*cking good. And the lyrics are unrecognizable. Which means its a original. Wow! She writes songs too. Her voice is so beautiful that I could listen to this song my whole life. But then why the hell did she lie to me?

I've been waiting for something new
I've been waiting to be someone's world
Now I know it's all you
The silver lining to my dark cloud
Truth in this world of doubt

Now that I have you
Don't let me go
Oh, I know that time to leave has come
I'm not ready for this moment to be done

Stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?
Stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?

She dedicated a whole song to Ethan. She does love him very much, even though he is a a*shole. But when you think of it, I don't actually know why I hate him. You are just jealous that he gets all her love and you don't. Shut up brain. This song is so mesmerizing that it even made my genius brain sound stupid.

Won't let go, cannot ever let go
The light of your memories
Won't let go, cannot ever let go
Every joy, every misery

Oh, what's this feeling?
It's just so true
I'll cross the seven seas
Give my life for you
There is nothing that I wouldn't do

Don't you dare leave me now
Don't you ever leave me
Don't you please
Stay a little longer with me brother
Won't you stay?
I need you here with me

Stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?
Please stay a little longer with me, brother
Won't you stay a little longer with me?

She ended her song and sighed. It was clear that she was so engrossed in the song that she had no idea that I was hearing her. I barged inside, a smirk plastered on my face.

"Look who sings!"

A/N:

Hey guys!
Hope you like this chapter!

Thank you soooo much for 1k reads...I love you guys!

BTW what do you think about Stefan's POV?

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