Chapter 4
1137 Words
Lucien’s POV
“I have never, not for a single second in a thousand years, forgotten her.” I say it out loud, even though there is no one here to hear it.
The city stretches beneath me, restless and loud, lights blinking and shifting like it matters, like any of it matters. Cars move, people walk, lives continue in small, meaningless patterns that repeat over and over again.
I stand by the glass wall of my penthouse, one hand resting lightly against it, my gaze fixed on a single point far below.
Catherine.
Time does not feel the same to me anymore. It stopped meaning anything a long time ago. Empires have risen beneath my feet, burned, and turned to dust while I remained exactly the same. Faces blur, names disappear and Places change until they are unrecognizable.
But her?
She never disappears.
Different names, different lives and different endings but it’s Always her.
I close my eyes for a second, exhaling slowly.
“I remember all of them,” I murmur.
Every version of her, Every way she dies. It is never peaceful.
I push the thought away before it can settle too deeply, my gaze sharpening again as I focus on the building across the city.
Her bridal suite.
There’s movement, Small and Fragile. She steps out.
“She’s moving,” I say quietly.
I don’t need to see her clearly to know it’s her. I feel it. The rhythm of her heartbeat reaches me faintly, carried through something deeper than distance.
My jaw tightens slightly.
“You’re afraid,” I mutter under my breath.
I watch her pause briefly outside the building, her hand tightening around her phone. Even from here, I can read her body. The tension in her shoulders and the hesitation in her steps.
I’ve seen this before, too many times.
Different cities and different nights, but it’s always the same pattern. She leaves and finds something she was never meant to see.
And then… My eyes darken.
I don’t need to finish the thought.
Images flash through my mind without permission. Her body lying broken at the bottom of a staircase, Blood pooling beneath her in a dim alley, a car crash that crushes everything in seconds. Different lives but the same ending.
My fingers curl slightly against the glass.
“I could stop it,” I say.
The words come easily.
I could be there in seconds. I could take her before she reaches the truth. Remove her from it completely and protect her.
Keep her somewhere no one would ever find her.
My gaze hardens as the thought deepens. “I could take you away from all of this.”
I picture it.
“She would hate me,” I say after a moment.
The truth settles heavily in my chest. If I take her like that, she won’t understand. She’ll fight and she will fear me and I don’t want fear. I don’t just want her alive, I want her to choose me.
Slowly, I straighten, my hand dropping from the glass.
“No,” I murmur. “Not like that.”
I let out a quiet breath. “I’ll wait.”
Something shifts, It’s subtle at first. My head tilts slightly, my focus sharpening instinctively.
“The threads of fate snap tonight,” I say quietly.
Her father and her fiancée are going to kill her. My expression hardens instantly.
“There you are,” I mutter. “I should tear them apart,” I say, my voice dropping.
The thought is clear.
I could end them before they even touch her. Rip them apart piece by piece until there is nothing left but blood and silence.
The urge sharpens, rising fast, uncontrollable… but I stop.
My jaw clenches.
“Not yet.”
Even though every instinct in me is screaming to.
“She has to see the truth.”
If I stop this now, she will never understand, She will go back to them, Trust them and cycle will continue Again.
“No,” I murmur. “Not this time.”
My gaze sharpens again, locking onto her presence.
“You need to see what they are,” I say quietly.
Even if it breaks you or destroys everything you think you know.
My chest tightens slightly, but I don’t look away.
“I’ll fix what comes after,” I add.
But I’ve watched her die too many times to pretend this isn’t necessary.
Then… It hits.
“I can hear her struggle,” I say, my voice tightening.
The connection flares violently. Her fear spikes, crashing into me like a wave. My fingers curl into fists.
Fragments of sound bleed through faintly, I could hear her struggle.
My eyes snap open, Something inside me cracks. My body tenses, every muscle locking into place.
“Enough,” I mutter, my control slipping.
I take a step forward. “I’m coming,” I say, my voice low, dangerous.
The connection pulses again , this time Stronger and then It stutters.
“No,” I say immediately, I hear her heartbeat fading slowly… And then silence.’It crashes into me so hard I physically stop moving.
My entire body freezes. The world outside continues cars, lights, distant noise but none of it reaches me because she’s gone. Her heartbeat… Gone.
I stand there, unmoving, staring at nothing.
“No,” I repeat, quieter this time. My chest feels tight, but I don’t breathe. A strange, hollow emptiness spreads slowly through me.
“This is not happening again,” I say. “ I’m late again.”
It always does, a single tear slips down my face. I don’t wipe it away, I let it fall.
Carrying a thousand years of the same ending.
“I waited,” I whisper. “I let it happen.”
My jaw tightens.
My hands curl into fists so tightly I feel the tension crack through my bones.
“No more.” I whispered “This time,” I say, my voice dropping into something darker, something absolute, “you won’t die.”
The air around me shifts. Pressure builds, thick and heavy, responding to something deeper than emotion.
“I refuse it,” I continue, my gaze hardening. “I reject it.”
I move toward the balcony without hesitation.
“She will not remain human,” I say, the words settle like a promise.
“I will not watch her slip away again.”
I step outside. The night air greets me, cold and sharp against my skin, but it does nothing to slow me down.
The city stretches endlessly below but my focus narrows to one point.
Her!!!
Where she lies and Where they left her. My expression hardens completely.
“I will not fail you this time, Catherine.”
- Writer
