Alden- Part 4

Alden glanced at Cardia who stood in a black dress, not showing any emotions. Mason Lethar was standing right beside him and Lucien stood a few feet away, his eyes cold as he stared at his parents.

The funeral ended quickly and before he could talk to his sister, her husband took him upto their bedroom. Lucien smiled at Alden once and then went back to his room as well. Alden walked over to where Arthur stood and raised his eyebrows.

Arthur lowered his eyes to the ground, indicating that he knew it was a murder. "Did you do it?"

"No, it was the young master," he replied. "Or so Cardia believes."

Alden nodded and headed upstairs. "Lucien," he knocked on his door. "It's Alden."

He opened the door and motioned for him to come inside.

"Did you do it?" Alden went straight to the point. Lucien smiled, not replying. Alden stared at those blank eyes which reminded him of himself and looked away, unable to bear gazing any longer. "If you tell me the truth I will save you but you have to-"

"Yes," Lucien admitted shamelessly. "I killed my brother."

"Does my sister know?" he asked sternly and Lucien shrugged.

"Maybe," he sat down on the bed. "According to her, whatever goes wrong within a twenty meter radius from me is automatically my fault."

"Do you hate her, Lucien?" he asked. Lucien stared blankly at the floor.

"No I don't," he answered honestly, thoughtful. "I just hate it when someone comes in between us. I don't mind you she doesn't even care about you anymore so..."

Alden clenched his teeth. He knew Cardia didn't like him anymore. But Lucien didn't have to rub it in his face like that. Last time he came here, Cardia had made it clear that she didn't want to spend time with him anymore and although he partially blamed Louise for it and intended to eventually do something to him, he didn't expect Lucien to act faster.

He nodded and then left Luciens room to find his sister. Cardia was sobbing in her bedroom, Mason nowhere to be seen. He stood by the door quietly, surprised. He had never in all his life seen her shed so many tears and look so sad. He wanted to hug her and comfort her but a part of him also thought she deserved it all. Before she could notice him, he turned around and left.

He could feel himself falling out of love with his sister and that was really new. He had loved her for as long as he could even remember because she was always someone he could look up to, beautiful and cold, cruel and merciless. She was the person he admired most for she had no weak points. But seeing her as a sobbing mess now made him feel disgusted with her. Why did he ever think she was so amazing when all it took was the death of two of her pathetic children to make her this miserable?

He looked up at the grey sky and thought about Lucien. Lucien had the best qualities of his mother yet there was something about him that made him different from her. His ability to love was terrifying. He could justify any action through love and Alden wished he could do the same.

He looked back at the door of Cardia's bedroom and promised himself since she had become this poor pathetic woman it was high time for her to stop breathing. The more he saw this side of her the more his love for her vanished. He didn't want to remember her as the current her but as the beautiful woman he knew and loved. He got into his car, leaving the Lethar mansion behind knowing that the next time he came back Lucien and his mother would lay in the graveyard where Louise now rested.

-

Alden stared at the ground. It was pouring hard and he should be concerned about the fact that the shirt was totally soaked through and his bones had turned numb from the cold downpour but he could not feel much of anything. His one and only sister was now dead, leaving behind nothing but her eldest son who was now sitting inside his fancy car, drinking coffee peacefully.

It hadn't even been a week and you'd think that someone whose mother just died would look a little sadder than the boy who was peacefully drinking coffee.

Alden glared at him with hatred but Lucien calmly continued sipping his coffee, not even noticing the man standing in the rain a few ways from his car.

"Reminds me," Lucien leaned forward and placed his cheek on the drivers shoulder, "Uncle Alden didn't turn up at mom's funeral, right?"

"He didn't, young master," he replied.

"Of course he didn't," Lucien laid his head back on the seat. "He loved mother too much to do that."

Alden turned around and started walking in the direction of his car. He always had an inkling that Lucien would do something to his mother but every time he asked him about it, there was genuine love for her in his eyes. Then where did it go wrong? How is it that Lucien got to her before he did? He hated the fact that he was not the one to put an end to her life. He clenched his teeth.

Days, weeks, months, years.

Time kept passing by yet Alden felt like his time had stopped. He worked, ate, slept but he felt numb. He handed over the business to his younger brother and went abroad to try his hand at something new. He took up the job of an assistant teacher in an university he didn't even care to know the name of and started a new life.

Even then, something always felt amiss. He walked into the campus one day, wanting the day to be over as soon as possible when a girl bumped into him. He looked down at her with a scary look on his face, clearly irritated and she looked up at him at the same time.

"Sorry," she murmured and his throat felt like it was closing in.

No way.

No way, no way, no way.

There was absolutely no way that was Cardia. But the resemblance was uncanny.

He chased after her as she went inside a classroom and he stood outside, looking at her through the glass. She took a seat at the back beside the window and glanced out of it.

Cardia was dead. Then who was this? She sounded and looked just like her. Of course it wasn't his sister for this girl was much younger but the duplicate same face had him shocked.

He watched her closely for the next few days, following her everywhere until he noticed something amusing. Not only did she have him stalking her, there were two other people doing the same thing.

And surprisingly, one of them was Lucien.

Alden walked into a bar one night, thinking about what exactly he could do with the information he currently had. One of her classmates was busy killing while Lucien just watched her from a distance, like him. But the Lucien Alden knew wouldn't just be a spectator. He always wanted to be the main lead, the actor leading the play.

He sipped on his drink and looked beside him at the man who sat with a hunched posture. "Tough day?"

"Yeah," he replied, without lifting his head up. "Can't drink on duty."

"Oh?" Alden turned around in his direction and finally noticed the badge on his shirt. A policeman. The same one that was interrogating the students in the university he taught in. "Could you be the one handling the investigation?"

The man finally lifted his head up. His eyes were dark blue. "I'm Noah Clarke."

"Alden, a pleasure," he smiled. Noah noticed with a start that he had the same cold smile Lara did, the girl he had been investigating. Their smiles made the receiver uncomfortable and cold.

"Would you like to know some inside details about the case, officer?" Alden downed the rest of his drink, resting the empty glass on the counter.

It was going to be a long night.

Alden laid in his bed that night, smiling. He had finally found a reason to live. His sister was gone but that didn't mean he couldn't replace her with someone new. Lucien might have gotten to her first but he had different plans.

That night, he finally slept peacefully with no nightmares for the first time in six years.